Now What?
Life After Cancer
by Laura Davis
TODAY WAS MY BIG DAY. I woke up nervous this morning at 4:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally, after being here for almost a week, it was time for me to teach! That’s why I came down here to begin with, and despite having 20+ years of experience teaching writing successfully, I …
Today, I slipped out of the San Miguel Writer’s Conference with Maria Caponi, a multi-talented, adventurous world traveler I met at my writer’s retreat in Tuscany last spring. Maria is attending the conference, too, and we wanted to spend some time together. So we hatched a plan to take for the afternoon off from workshops …
Live from San Miguel de Allende #7: In the Garden Read More »
Having my first experience of simultaneous translation tonight through an earpiece: Spanish to English. Tonight’s keynote speaker is Mexican novelist and journalist, feminist and activist, Brenda Lozano yes. This is how she introduced herself: “I am part of a young generation of women who fight from the trenches—in my case from culture—for freedom of expression, …
I first learned of San Miguel de Allende forty of so years ago when I was in my mid-twenties and my mother was in her fifties. She raved to me about this place for twenty years before I ever saw it for myself. My parents divorced when I was a teenager, and my mother took …
When I was a little girl, my mother worked for a while as a nursery schoolteacher. And for one year, when I was four, I was in her nursery school class. One thing, probably the only memory I have from back then, was that when the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town, …
Well, I’ve arrived at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende! I flew in Friday night and have been enjoying the company and hospitality of my old friend and host, Susan Evans, ever since. Yesterday, we wandered the cobblestoned streets, walked through the Candelaria where blocks of succulents, cacti and herbs were …
After last night’s celebration and Claire’s wonderful chocolate cake, it’s finally the last morning of the Writing as a Pathway Through Grief, Loss, Transformation and Change retreat. And what I see around me is laughter, hugging, connecting and yes, some tears. The tough part of a retreat is always when it’s over. So we always …
Before I left Commonweal, I had to take one last trip out to the Meditation Hut, aka the Chapel, aka the Shrine and probably a dozen other pet names. I like to lay on the straw mats out there, flat on the floor and talk to my mother. It’s one of the places I hear …
