Last week, students in Ms. Mendoza’s English Language Development class at Roosevelt High School wrote short essays on the topic of “What beauty exists in your native country?” In anticipation of visiting their class in the 826LA Writers’ Room on campus, writer Richard Villegas Jr. decided to do the assignment as well.

In addition to two books of fiction, Villegas wrote the short story that inspired Vida, a Starz show about Mexican-American sisters who move back to their Boyle Heights home after the death of their mother. He now serves as a producer on the show, following a long career as a kindergarten teacher and who wrote as a side hustle. But with his response to “What beauty exists in your native country?” he shared a personal anecdote from a time before all of that.

The summer after his freshman year at UCLA, Villegas explained, he came out to his family as gay and found himself frequently butting heads with his parents, who “didn’t want my brother and sister to catch what I had.”

“The version of their son they sent [to college] had died,” Villegas read. “I liked this new version so much better. I felt like a new car.”

His parents told him not to go on a cross-country trip. When he went anyway, they told him not to come home. He lived off cheap donuts for days, until an old white woman he met on the train bought him a burrito.

“The most beautiful thing about my country is its kindness,” Villegas concluded. “There isn’t a lot of it, but when you find it, it’s as beautiful as a box of donuts.”

Students pushed through their initial shyness and asked Villegas about his journey to becoming a professional writer. He spoke gently but candidly about being a relative newbie in Hollywood, observing that industry meetings often required him to recount his personal story.

“The ability to tell and write your own story will further your career,” he said. “There’s a lot of money out there for your stories. The sooner you learn to write or act or direct, the better. Latinx art is going to explode in the next few years. I’m excited for you. And for me too.”

While researching his family’s history in Mexico, Villegas said, he found records that indicated his great grandparents couldn’t sign their names. He marveled at the intergenerational progression from illiteracy to writing for a living. 

“I love being a professional writer,” he said, “but I also love being the person who writes eulogies and complaint letters for my family members. We’re the speakers for our families.”