Border Artist 13

José Sánchez - I grew up in Weslaco, TX in the 1960s. When I was 13, I began writing poetry. Later that year, I began playing guitar. Around the time that I began performing professionally, at 30, all the poems became songs. A few years later, I founded a band, I Ching Gatos, to perform my songs, which we still do to this day.
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My college degree from Harvard University is in Folklore and Mythology A career as an elementary teacher followed, as well as a Master’s Degree in Education from Our Lady of the Lake University.

Now, I live on South Padre Island. My wife, Lucinda Wierenga (Sandy Feet) invented Sand Castle Lessons, and so I am an Sand Castle instructor. With her, I am also an inn-keeper. We live the artist’s life with seven dogs and two cats. The band plays on.

The Border Arts: Beyond the Barriers is LIVE and available for purchase. (CLICK HERE for a short sample of what's inside.) 

For the next several days we will be posting each of our contributors' bios and pictures here in the order that they appear in the anthology "Contributor Bios" page. 

The aim of this publication was to showcase some of the artistic talent that often gets overlooked by some when topics of the US-Mexico border arise. The artists and writers who contributed to the Border Arts: Beyond the Barriers anthology are some of the most accomplished. These are their bios...