Summary

In “Church Basement,” Hernández visited “an evangelical church in the suburbs of Virginia” that held a screening for the kissing bug disease (213). While there, she met Javier and Carmiñia. Because Carmiñia “already knew she was infected” and Javier’s father had had the disease, Carmiñia “insisted they get tested” (214). Rachel Marcus had cofounded LASOCHA, “the only patient advocacy organization” for the kissing bug disease in the States (215). With her cofounder, she had “brought together a group of bilingual volunteers to draw blood and interpret for parishioners” (215).

While helping volunteers at the church, Hernández “realized that these families . . . were figuratively and literally underground” (219). They “constituted . . . a Second America” (219). Hernández and her family would have been a part of this America, a class of poor, non-white individuals. Although Carmiñia had the disease, she and Javier...