At age 26, Flores was a veteran of the United States Air Force, where he was a member of the Air Force Police. He had a love/hate relationship with the military.
He also owned a short-lived business installing car stereos. “That was an interest that had been developing for a while,” said Flores. “I have a deep love for music, but possess no talent to create it whatsoever. I saw this as a way of reproducing beautiful sounds without having to struggle through lessons.”
Before his divorce from his British wife, Flores was a househusband, who took care of their son. Flores said that was something he had always wanted to do, but in retrospect, he believes staying at home damaged his marriage.
At age 35, Flores was quite unsure about his direction in life after his divorce. His brother, who was once a history professor at Palo Alto College, dragged him to the college to give him that second chance.
Flores was apprehensive about returning to school, but what he found was another side of him that he didn’t know was there. “I had no idea that I could write until I took Freshman Comp I and II,” said Flores. “It was a little weird how I was able to start writing without any kind of previous experience.”
“Every instructor I had was nothing less than encouraging and supportive, and I know from what others have told me who’ve been to other schools that it’s a rare thing,” he said.
While Flores attended Palo Alto College, he worked in the SLAC office as an English tutor and worked on the school literary magazine, “The Palo Alto Review.” He then created an offshoot to Palo Alto’s Writer’s Guild called Nine Sisters.
At this time, Flores began writing freelance for the San Antonio Current, where he continues today. Flores said the Current spoils him because of all of the benefits he receives. Many people who advertise in the alternative paper give him books, CDs and concert tickets.
Flores mostly writes feature articles and food reviews for 12 cents a word. He has built quite a reputation for the brutality of his food reviews. “I either love the place or hate it,” said Flores. “My food reviews have garnered me a legion of enemies. Restaurant owners fear me.”
Flores prides himself on his straightforward approach to writing. That is one reason he enjoys submitting his work to the Current. He said that the alternative paper allows him to express his opinions, and that the editors and staff at the paper back up those opinions. He believes he is able to tell it like it is.
Under Joseph Booker, English professor at Palo Alto College, Flores learned a useful technique called micro-themes. In Booker’s class, Flores learned how to develop and work with the focus of the story. Flores said that to write creatively, one must first learn the rules of writing in order to develop style. “It takes discipline,” he said.
And discipline is what Flores has plenty of. “Lupe sets high goals, and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t accomplish them. He doesn’t sit around and wait for something to happen to him. I am not surprised by his success,” said Booker.
English professor, Rafael Castillo said, “Lupe is quite thick skinned when it comes to rejection and criticism. Maybe that is why he is so successful.”
Castillo taught Flores English 1302 and 2332. “Lupe’s work in both my classes was marked by a high degree of language facility; he would immerse himself into the assignment and approach it like an artist approaches a canvas—intense devotion to ideas,” said Castillo.
Flores is adamant that older writers are better writers because they have experienced more life.
“Read everything, make contacts and get out of your own universe,” said Flores. “Anyone can do what I am doing, you know. You just have to stay relatively sharp; focus on what you are doing.” Castillo added: “Lupe, of course, is not your regular student, because he came to Palo Alto widely traveled and well-read. He has a strong eclectic style that incorporates vernacular and formal English into high drama.”
Now 38 years old, Flores is a student at Our Lady of the Lake University, taking six hours of weekend classes a semester. Flores also works on the University’s public relations staff. He found his present job while looking on a bulletin board at Our Lady of the Lake.
His job duties require him to write the majority of the University’s newsletter, and he said that he enjoys the environment and likes promoting and selling the private institution to prospective students and faculty.
Flores insists Our Lady of the Lake University is a larger version of Palo Alto College and that the atmosphere of the campus just feels good to him. “I actually made the Dean’s list last semester,” he said.
The best part of his job, he said, is that he has his own office and computer, and that the University actually pays him to write. But, the most important entity of Flores’ life is his 6-year-old son. “He is the center of my universe,” he said.
In his spare time, Flores works on an independent student film that is being produced by the Nine Sisters Art Group. He has advertised on Palo Alto’s bulletin board in the Student Center for actors and technical staff who are interested in trying out for various roles. He is also in the process of revising the second draft of a novel.
Flores’ second chance at life is off to a great start.