Entries Tagged as 'General'

Nonfiction Guru Dinty Moore Writes about Immersion and Exploration

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:

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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.

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

Dinty W. Moore

Lupita in San Miguel

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/

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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.

Getting/Transferring Money Abroad

If you’re planning on getting traveler’s checks, don’t waste your time or money. Nobody takes them anymore, and you have to pay sometimes exorbitant fees to get them changed into cash while abroad. The easiest and best way to change money is o simply use your ATM card. You get the daily exchange rate without a mark-up by a currency exchange company. However, do beware of bank fees. You may pay a fee at both ends - from your home bank and the one you are trying get money from abroad. Do yourself a favor and talk to your bank before leaving - sometimes banks can waive certain international fees for a limited period if you talk to them in advance. And also, make sure you let your credit card companies know you will be abroad. Many of them now have theft protection plans where they monitor your spending, and if they see (or if the computer sees) spending out of the ordinary, they will close the card. I’ve known a number of people this has happened to, and it really is simple to fix ahead of time by letting them know. Also, make sure you have numbers you can call FROM your destination (ie a US 1-800 number probably isn’t helpful) in case your card gets lost or stolen…. Although these numbers are readily available on the internet, sometimes it takes some surfing ot find the right one, and you don’t want to be having to surf the net while you’re in panic mode because your wallet or purse has just been stolen.

And finally, you can minimize those bank charges by being careful with your planning. You don’t want to have to get money out every day. But you also don’t want to be carrying tons of cash on you as you explore foreign grounds. Think carefully about how much you legitimately need for the next 4 or 5 days, add a little to it, and get that much. And never, ever, carry all your cards, cash, and id on you at once!

Ok, I hope all this was helpful. I just think its best to plan for the worst, and hope for the best!

J Boyden Wins the Gran Prix!!!

Ok, not THAT Gran Prix, the Prix Litteraire, a major French literary award. He just received notice that Three Day Road has tied for first place in this competition, thereby reinforcing his International Bestseller Status.

Commenting on the news of the win, Joseph said, “I’m well on my way to becoming the Jerry Lewis of France.” To which Amanda said, “Or something like that.”

Joseph’s short story collection is also up for an award in France. His new novel is slated for publication this fall, and can be pre-ordered from Penguin Canada.

Here’s Penguin’s description of the book:

From internationally acclaimed author Joseph Boyden comes an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city. When beautiful Suzanne Bird disappears, her sister Annie, a loner and hunter, is compelled to search for her, leaving behind their uncle Will, a man haunted by loss.While Annie travels from Toronto to New York, from modelling studios to A-list parties,Will encounters dire troubles at home. Both eventually come to painful discoveries about the inescapable ties of family. Through Black Spruce is an utterly unforgettable consideration of how we discover who we really are.

I for one can’t wait to read it! And congrats to Joseph on his big win!

Bus Travel to and From San Miguel

So some info on taking the bus to San Miguel from Mexico City, and from San Miguel to other places can be found here. And here’s a link to the About.com article on Traveling by Bus in Mexico.

Southern Living Chimes in on San Miguel

Ok, it seems we have dueling articles out there this month. Southern Living also has an article, “A Change of Pace,” which I was keyed in to by Bryan CampParroquia Sunset and his fiancee. Of the two articles, I like this one better. This one also made me hungry talking about some of the food - I am going down to San Miguel (I think) later this month, and I will be sure to do my best to rate as many more restaurants as I can!

In the meantime, a quote from the article:

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“San Miguel has great rooftop bars—perfect for winding down before dinner. And the city’s restaurants serve an incredible variety of cuisines, including Italian, Arabic, organic-vegetarian, Chinese, and German. You can also sample an array of local dishes, from fancy corn fungus crêpes served in a rooftop restaurant to gorditas made to order at a wildly popular stand across the street from the public library.”

hmmm. Corn fungus? I’ll try anything once….

The NYTimes on Acid Kool-Aid and Mexican Waves

Read the NY Times article on Ken Kesey’s Mexico, and have a trippy good time doing it.

I Dare You!

Yes Ladies and Gentleman, its that time. Two truths and a lie time.

1. I am an acrobat who once made it to Olympic trials.
2. I didn’t submit any work anywhere for over a year after I graduated.
3. I am, in my spare time, a writer of soap operas.

Ok. So that should have been easy. I have no spare time, and have never set foot nor flip near the Olympics. Its number two thats true. Thats not to say I didn’t write anything new after I graduated, just that I stopped sharing it with people, for a variety of reasons. But what I really want to talk to you all about is the pact I made with several friends and writers here in New Orleans over the Christmas holiday. We made a pact to submit to at least twenty different places by the end of Christmas Break. We set a date for a dinner far enough in the future that we could expect to have most of our responses back (which, ladies and gentleman, requires about four months). Anyone who gets anything picked up brings a bottle of something bubbly and good to the dinner. Our goal of course is to have a lot of bubbles. We also threw in a provision that we’ll chip in for a bottle of something fun for the person who gets the most hand written rejections. And a punishment - anyone not meeting their goal of 20 submissions has to pick up the tab for the dinner. For about five people. So this works for us - it mainly gets us submitting - which is a chore at best. What appeals to me most, though, is that it makes the whole process a social affair. It makes it fun and you get more rewards than those rejection letters would normally bring all by themselves ;). There are a number of different ways to structure it, and you have complete freedom as to what you do. But I am going to dare you, San Miguelers and Brunnenburgers - submit to twenty places in any genre by the start date of your program. Celebrations and consolations to ensue during the program. Who’s in?