Mental Illness Issues

I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir

  I write to survive the shipwreck of my childhood, holding on a piece of debris, adrift in the dark, deep ocean that is my mind. I write to understand the shifting world around me, throwing me off balance, taking away my sanity along with the cardboard boxes in the moving truck. I write to…

On Becoming a Writer

My second grade teacher in the Grupo Escolar Simón Rodríguez, la Maestra Olga, asked the children in khaki pants and red gingham dresses in front of her to write a composition about a popular character in our town, Guarenas. Sitting towards the front of the class, I reached inside my bag for the thin Cuaderno…

How to find home

How to define home when living an entire life in transition? During the last 20 years, I have lived in three different countries and moved eight times. It’s not packing boxes what unsettles me. Each move has required passports and immigration procedures, driving licenses, professional certification, and helping my family thrive in the new culture.…