The son of Guatemalan immigrants, Hctor Tobar has served as the national Latino affairs correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times" and was part of the writing team that won a Pulitzer for covering the 1992 L.A. riots. He has also written for "The New Yorker" and "LA Weekly," and is the author of a novel, "The Tattooed Soldier," that was a finalist for the 1999 PEN Center USA West Award.