life rattle show no. 1213

Presented on Sunday, July 15, 2012

Hosted by john dunford

featuring

Evangeline Torres Sled reading her stories
"Peas"
"Funny Day"
"Pork Chop I Do's"
"Whopper Goodbyes"
and
"Prayer Three"

tonight's Show

On tonight's program we present four new stories, plus a little something extra, from new Life Rattle Writer Evangeline Torres Sled.

Evangeline Torres Sled was born in the Philippines in 1985. She was five years old when her dad moved the family to Canada to chase the Canadian dream. They settled in Etobicoke, Ontario, near Sled’s grandparents and her Uncle Jhune. The family soon realized the dream was not so easily obtained. Her parents struggled to find employment, and even though her father possessed an engineering degree and her mother worked as a midwife in the Philippines, the family of four was forced to share a one-bedroom apartment in Canada.

Sled learned to speak English and fell in love with writing. In grade one, she was given her first journal; in university, she majored in Professional Writing and Communications.

Evangeline Torres Sled currently pursues a career in writing. In her spare time she enjoys the art of cooking—experimenting with spices, new greens and meats—just they way her mother taught her.

The stories you will hear tonight carry on the narrative began last Sunday, all from Sled's recently published collection, Three Tiny Prayers and a Princess.

In her writing Sled is unafraid to show herself, warts and all, and her stories are by turn funny, sad, moving, inspiring and, especially, honest.

Tonight's featured stories focus on a loving but complicated relationship between a young woman, our narrator, and her father, after he is diagnosed with cancer. The stark reality of her father's illness penetrates every scene. We witness his extraordinary spirit and determination as he refuses to go gently into that good night. Instead he plans his final party, visits friends and family in his homeland, and, with is wife, renews his wedding vows. In the final story of tonight's program, gut wrenching in its intensity, Sled shares a heart break that most of us will face, the loss of a father, her beloved Valentino.

With this courageous series of stories, Evangeline Torres Sled reminds us what it means to be human.