Tisha Reichle-Aguilera, poet, educator, and author of the YA novel Breaking Pattern, joins Cody Sisco in conversation about rodeo sports, growing up in Southern California, difficult family relationships, and challenging norms and expectations around gender roles and socio-economic status.

Chicana feminist and former rodeo queen, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera (she/her) writes so the desert landscape of her childhood can be heard as loudly as the urban chaos of her adulthood. She is obsessed with food. A former high school teacher, she earned an MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and is a PhD candidate at USC. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and featured in Best Small Fictions 2022. Her YA novel, Breaking Pattern, was published by Inlandia Books. She’s a Macondista and works for literary equity through Women Who Submit.
Find out more at http://tishareichle.com/.
Tisha Mentioned These Books
What I’m Currently Reading
Books That Changed My Life
Books That Shaped My Writing Style

Faults by Terri de la Peña
Why My Books Might Be Banned

We believe in the human right to life, liberty, and security. We believe in the right to asylum. We believe in the freedom from arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment. We believe in access to justice.
At a time when political leaders in the United States are negating human rights and leading us into darkness, we believe in the power of stories to create hope, to heal, and to chart paths toward better futures for anyone seeking life, liberty, and security by crossing borders.
We are gathering book recommendations from authors and advocates who want to share stories of migration and diaspora. Many thanks to Tisha Reichle-Aguilera for bringing the titles listed below to our attention.