This week on Latino USA, we step back from politics on the national stage and look a little closer to home, with stories about dealing with tricky family relationships. Acclaimed author Sandra Cisneros talks about her childhood in Chicago, learning to be independent and moving to Mexico. We hear the story of two sisters separated across countries, living vastly different lives because of an accident of fate. And writer Esmeralda Santiago remembers the fraught relationship between her mother and her grandmother—and how they came together over food.

Featured image by National Cancer Institute