Victor Villasenor was born on May 11th, 1940 in Carlsbad, California where his parents had settled down after immigrating from Mexico. He grew up on a ranch with his four siblings in Oceanside where they only spoke spanish until they went to school. Because Victor only spoke spanish he was bullied by teachers and students alike for his heritage and inability to do well in school. Being bullied and ridiculed when he was a child is why Villasenor was insecure about where he came from and who he was, and inevitably shaped him into who he was in and out of school. Villasenor did poorly in school because he had trouble with English and reading he primarily got all D’s and F’s, and had to retake third and fourth grade because he flunked, which resulted with him resorting to cheating the rest of his academic career. It wasn’t until 7th …show more content…
Villasenor believes that “real magic gives us the power and strength to endure and triumph in everyday life,” (Villasenor: 1). He believes that there is a spirit and a kind of magic that inspires and helps us learn and understand life. He writes with beautiful similes, metaphors and personifications in his works. In his short story “The Smartest Human I Ever Met: My Brothers dog Shep” he writes about his brother, Joseph, dying when he was 16 years old, and the reaction his dog had had the night before. He believed in a spirit, that Shep had a higher understanding of what was happening, almost as if he were a human. In “Midnight Duke” he writes about a horse his family had when he was a child that was very protective of mares and their foals. He would watch over them and make sure they were safe. When another horse, Diamond, threatened a mare and her foal, Midnight Duke attacked him like he had never done before. Victor believed he had the same kind of devoted spirit that Shep had had, and it inspired