UNO: Study Abroad in Writing

The following was sent to me by Dinty Moore, three time UNO Creative Nonfiction Workshop leader. He’s one of nearest and dearest, and these are some of his words about witing and exploring with UNO. Also included are some of Dinty’s majestic photos from our first year in San Miguel:

I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in three of the University of New Orleans Low-Res MFA Summer Programs – two in Madrid and the most recent in San Miguel de Allende.

There is so much good to say about the program and the workshops – but I’ll leave that to the students. (Hopefully, even a few of my students.) But I wanted to say a few words about living in a foreign city for the full month, which is a part of the experience that I truly value.

Most tourists are lucky to spend three days in a new city, or maybe a week if time allows, but the full month experience is a wonderful opportunity. Yes, as part of that month, you will see the tourist sites and eat at the usual restaurants that are listed in the usual guidebooks, but for me the simple pleasures of going grocery shopping in an unfamiliar culture, of cooking my own meals, of getting to know the people who sell you fruit, of trying unknown vegetables and cheeses and wines, of seeing the city wake up, go to bed, move through the day-to-day transitions of work and weekend and weather, of negotiating laundry and haircuts and other personal needs, is what becomes the most fascinating.

You don’t know a city until you live in that city, and though a month is not like moving abroad for a full year or two, it certainly shows you a lot more than you might see if you breezed through over three days. Because you live there – you don’t just take pictures.

I call it immersion, and it fascinates me each time.

Dinty W. Moore

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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I am going to be psoting some accounts from different program participants over the next few days.  Here’s the first from post-grad member and Spanish Conversation teacher Emily Lupita Plum.  Emily talks about her experience reading, and gives some tidbits from our post-grad workshop:

Excerpt from Emily Lupita Plum’s blog she kept while in San Miguel: http://starmountainview.blogspot.com/

Last night I read for the first time from my recently completed childhood memoir, Growing Mexican Plums. And…I sang because one of the sections I read was called “Song” and is about the songs I used to listen to as a kid. I sang lines from Supertramp’s The Logical Song and had the audience join me in a few lines from Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2). I also sang a lullaby my mom used to sing when I was little, in Spanish.

It was the first time I’ve ever sang during a reading, and I found it powerful. The audience was wonderful…gracious and generous. I felt a surge of energy when I was reading & just afterward. It helped me to remember why I’ve “chosen” the life of a writer, anyhow.

We had two guest speakers at our writing group this week and they were both fantastic. They talked about their path to becoming successful writers and gave us suggestions…imparted wisdom.

Dinty W. Moore said that writers need to pay attention to three things: karma, responsibility, and opportunity. (For more…see Dinty’s journal, Brevity).

When asked what advice she would give to writers beginning their career, Amanda Boyden said, “If you can imagine yourself doing anything else with your life and being happy, don’t be a writer…do that other thing. But if you cannot imagine yourself doing anything else, then be writer.”

Good words from both. I am learning exponentially.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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