Here are true tales from the writer’s life, as well as essays and wild meditations.
Es de noche ya, 6:30 p.m., en Houston, TX. Me sitúo afuera, en la terraza que mira sobre la calle de divide el otro complejo de departamentos con el que donde yo vivo con Ela, mi esposa, y nuestro bebé, Constantin. Escribo con una birome Paper Mate “Write Bros” de […]
La primera página de Google cuando busqué uno en Houston mostró el de “JBD Estate” en el área de West U. Como estoy trabajando un texto donde la protagonista vive en ese barrio, pareció apropiado. Aparte, pareció divertido visitar el “Man Cave” retro. TEXTO COMPLETO (.PDF)
Yo† fui† al cementerio† Glenwood† el viernes† pasado† con mi esposa† Ela† y mi hijo Constantin†. Llegamos cuando se prendían los regadores automáticos.† No vimos a través del agua esparcida por las boquillas del césped y el viento alacre del atardecer ningún arcoíris que reluciera bajo la luz de la […]
Yo, Iván Brave, soy un ciudadano de doble nacionalidad, con el lujo de llamarme “americano” sin ofender a nadie, aunque suelo ofender a muchos, pues nací de padres argentinos en Houston, Texas, EEUU, es decir, mi constitución consiste en América del norte y en América del sur, da lo mismo, […]
Recuerdo a mi abuela, abriendo el último cajón de su escritorio, antes de morir. “Te las regalo si querés”. Tenía en sus manos la Torre Eiffel, la Fontana di Trevi, la Sagrada Familia . . . es decir, me entregaba como doce docenas de cartas postales, que ella y mi […]
Read part 1 here. And part 2 here. Next, part 3 aquí. THEN, we continue. But not before adding that the once tight thread of the book unraveled for me near the end. I enjoyed the first half. And there are two fascinating chapters in the second […]
Read part 1 here. And part 2 here. Then, let us continue. 1. Do you recognize your Character 3? Pause for a moment and imagine yourself being in this present-moment character. Let your left brain drift into the background as you bring your attention to the right […]
Read part 1 here. Then, let us continue. 1. Do you recognize your Character 2? Pause for a moment and imagine yourself engaging in Character two behaviors. Picture yourself feeling resentment or jealousy, or whatever your core issues are. Do you have strategies to calm this circuitry, or […]
On my desk sits a copy of Jill Bolte Taylor’s sequel to her incredible true story, Stroke of Insight. The second book is called Whole Brain Living, and it aims to pick up where the neuroscientist left off. Offering the moral lesson. Picture a successful Harvard professor, a leader […]
I open at random one of my favorite books of Nonfiction, Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands. Page 41: Half and Half There was a muchacha who lived near my house. La gente del pueblo talked about her being una de las ortras, “of the Others.” They said that for six months […]
Beth Kephart: It’s one thing to take a measuring tape to a set of architectural blueprints and announce a series of dimensions. It’s quite another to think and write of a house proportionately. What was small and what was large, and in relationship to what, precisely? Think of the work […]
“Installed in the moment. Awash with history.” That’s what writer Beth Kephart says about our childhood homes. And it is the line pushing me to post about this topic. A quick authorial note, I did not just happen on the article. But our instructor, and fellow doctoral student at […]
All around me: the crisp cool morning air, permeating the two exterior walls of my childhood bedroom; my wife in the room with me, tapping out the voice-over to her newest YT video; my sister downstairs singing to the dogs; the periwinkle blue carpet holding me up; a warm mate, […]
Lesson learned. No letting students filter in from other classes. Although, granted, my dream would be to host them all and have a ball. It is so hard to say no, you know? But today, when a student asked, CAN I BE IN YOUR CLASS NEXT PERIOD, my response […]
First, a charm. Second, a blast. Third, no prob. Forth and fifth too. But then came sixth period. A monster of a period. What do employees want to do their last hour? The bad ones slack off. The good ones sprint. Either way we expend our pent up oodles […]
Just a word. Any word. The class wouldn’t respond, weren’t responding. What starts with the letter P? Silence, followed by cell phone screen tapping and eye lash twirling. What about A? . . . A? One student’s lips trembled. I figured, that’s a start. […]
Man, got home with a terrible headache! Backache. I’m sitted (seated) crisscross at the floor of my childhood bedroom, pounding away at the keys. Welp, here it is, another installment of . . . VOCAB IMPROVEMENT. Today I read about the three words in the title of this post. […]
Today I would like to try something different. Instead of blurting out one exercise paragraph after the other, I figured to write about my day at school. The goal is the the same: avoid instances of the title irritations. No nodding. No “noisy” or “loud.” No Said! And No sitting […]
This exercise comes from the James Scott Bell’s plot book, but it hit me so hard I decided to treat it as something separate. Basically, Mr Bell takes the old adage, “Write what you know,” and makes it, “Write who you are.” It sounds almost Julia Camerom-esque. When you invest […]
My favorite thing to do is think. I know a lot of people don’t like to. But I was the kind of kid who would quickly put together his Lego set, just so he could lie on his tummy and stare at the pieces. I learned late in life that […]