“The experience that you are having is the experience that you need,” my psychiatrist once told me after listening to my account of a terrible accident I witnessed. I was terribly depressed at the time and harboring self-harming thoughts. Then the horrific experience changed my perspective about life. The following…
At 500X under the microscope, one can see the fracture of a metal that has been exposed to stress or high temperatures. First there is the initiation, when a triggering event produces a fissure, a distinctive line following a pattern. In sand stone, the concentric circles of the propagation…
I own this moment No deceiving man No fidget tinkering around my legs No monsters from the past. At La Palabra The voices rise softly Between drinks and tacos Celebrating the work of Inspiring women. Two new books are born. At La Monarca Bakery on 59 The smell…
Chiwan Choi’s The Yellow House (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2017) embraces us like a sad song for what is lost and left behind. The image of the Yellow House seems at times to represent the emotional weight of nostalgia, and at times the madness we inhabit, the place between here and…
Publishing is a great enterprise. The big companies have entire editorial teams with specific role descriptions for copyrighters and proofreaders. Administrative assistants pay fees and register titles and buy ISBNs. Graphic designers take care of cover and formatting. The writer writes. Self-publishing a book is a great enterprise. It takes…
Unlike the years I was raising kids when my weekends revolved around laundry, groceries, and children’s activities, now the end of the week is filled with excitement and possibilities. At times cultural, at times festive, always exciting, my empty nester weekends bring me amazing things to do. Last Saturday was…
To celebrate my friend and dance instructor Abel Peña’s birthday, I headed to SoHo Dance LA last Saturday. The crowd I found was a mixture of professional dancers, hardcore salseros, and salsa aficionados like me. I was mesmerized from the beginning, watching Abel dance with all his friends. Each one has…