Category Archives: Books & Resources

Want to Live in Mexico? Advice from a Wisecracker!

Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak is a zany memoir by Mark Saunders (Fuze Publishing, LLC, McLean, VA, ISBN 978-0-9841412-8-9), who, with his wife Arlene Krasner, moved to San Miguel de Allende (SMA) shortly after falling in love with the place.  The book’s tag line is “Drop out.  Sell everything. Move to Mexico. Sounded like a good plan.”  Not!

Saunders’ writing is tongue-in-cheek witty, with a sprinkle of irreverent, brash, and self-deprecating thrown in for good measure.  Overall, it is an entertaining and fast read.  The book could be a primer for Baby Boomers on the eve of retirement who believe that relocating to Mexico is the answer to a less-than-adequate retirement income.   Saunders’ sardonic underlying message is a “don’t do what we did” warning to greenhorns who think they can move to Mexico on a wing and a prayer (or maybe in a 10-year old high-performance Audi Quattro) without adequate preparation (or an expert, specialized mechanic in tow).

Saunders’ memoir focuses on the couple’s experience moving from Portland, Oregon, to SMA, with their standard poodle and cat. (He’s originally from Sacramento, California, and she grew up in New York City.)  Wooed by blue skies and balmy days, bolstered by a vigorous ex-pat community, their story will resonate with anyone considering living anywhere in Mexico as an alternative to the northern part of North America.  Anecdotes and vignettes of mishaps, miscommunication, and missives fill the pages.

And, Saunders is unabashed while dissecting the realities of living in Mexico for uninitiated American and Canadian expats:  constant dust, barking dogs, lack of central heat and air, long queues to pay bills (which must be done in person) and at banks, past due utility bills and interrupted utility services, cars in need of repair, bodies in need of repair, the meaning of “manana,” and the ubiquitous language barrier.

Most importantly, Saunders raises important questions underlying the humorous pokes at himself, at “gringolandia” [a place where a lot of expats live in Mexico], and his situation.

Subtextual Questions — Self-examination BEFORE you move:

  • What are your primary reasons for the move?
  • What is your experience living in another culture?
  • How adaptable are you?
  • How dedicated will you be to learn or improve your Spanish?   How much patience do you have?
  • Do you need the same conveniences and lifestyle (food, entertainment, shopping, etc.) in Mexico as you had living in the U.S.?
  • Do you expect to live among English speakers?
  • How well can you negotiate through problems?
  • What special health care issues do you have that may require medical attention?

The book is sprinkled with Saunders’ own drawings and cartoons depicting daily gringo/a challenges and misadventures.  The ending is pure redemption  and I won’t give it away!  And remember, a sense of humor will take you a long way.

Here are my 9 Tips for Living in Mexico.

If you are an expat living in Mexico, will you share your advice with us for making the transition smoothly?  If you are a Mexican who wants to add your suggestions about ways to make the landing softer, please do so!

Clay Times Magazine Features Dolores Porras Video Review

Oaxaca is known for folk art and especially pottery.  Potter Dolores Porras was one of those exceptional self-taught people who took their traditions, skill and creativity to the next level.  The Atzompa pueblo, where she lived and worked, provided the cooking vessels and ornamental pottery for Monte Alban, one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica.

The autumn issue of Clay Times magazine reviewed the video about Dolores and her work.  Dolores Porras died in early November 2010.  She is missed by many.  When I visited her studio in February 2010 she was suffering from Parkinson’s and there were only a few pieces left on the shelves of her home gallery.  This video, created by potter Michael Peed, captures Dolores in the fullness of her creative expression. Today, in the Atzompa pueblo, about 30 minutes outside of Oaxaca city, there are many who produce beautiful pottery.  Some are adaptations of the style Dolores Porras developed, including the wonderful work of Teodora Blanco.

Art Book Binding. What Is It and Why in Oaxaca?

When I talked with Lisa Gilbert about teaching an art book binding workshop in Oaxaca, I had a smattering of an idea about how beautifully elegant and simple the process can be.  Lisa follows  the path of all the great book binding artists who have gone before her.  And, she is an expert in her own right.  (See Lisa’s complete bio below!)

Lisa Gilbert's Handmade Books within a Box

Back story:  A few years ago, I had the pleasure of helping Warren Wilson College art professor and author Gwen Diehn assemble her handmade books at the Asheville BookWorks in Asheville, NC.  The National Museum of Women in the Arts awarded a grant to Gwen to do the book design, woodcuts, typesetting, printing and bookbinding.  It was fun and relaxing to gather around the table stitching the papers together with a group of enthusiastic people.  Many of us had no experience doing this and we were there to support Gwen and to learn.

  

   

Photos above illustrate the coptic stitch technique in a class I took recently taught by Lisa.  I love this traditional bookbinding art form. 

The experience I had with Gwen & Company triggered the idea of organizing a book making workshop in Oaxaca.  We will start with a visit to San Agustin  Etla, a local village known for its handmade Amate paper studio started by Oaxaca artist Francisco Toledo.  There, local and international artists create books, journals, jewelry and kites made from this material.

  

  

When I enrolled in two art bookbinding workshops with Lisa, I discovered what a joy it is to learn from her.  Lisa’s style is gentle, affirming, and encouraging. She provides in-depth learning materials, diagrams, and instructions.  She is a coach, a mentor and colleague in the book making process.  And, she supports people who are beginners who want to learn the craft.

Our process in Oaxaca will be to select the papers, fold them and assemble our signatures, stitch the signatures together with the cover, make the box, and add embellishments.  What you put in the book is totally up to you — you can use it as a journal, a sketchbook, or any combination of visual or art journal to capture your travel adventures.

copyright Norma Hawthorne

Stunning handmade journal in red, white and black

We hope you will make plans for August 2012 to join us in Oaxaca for this very personally satisfying art book binding and travel journal making adventure!

Here is Lisa’s Bio:  Lisa Gilbert has been an enthusiastic book artist since childhood. She has been illustrating professionally, and teaching art and/or health for the past 20 years. Known for her use of color, finely tuned creativity, and excellent technical bookbinding, Lisa has been invited to show her work in two North Carolina exhibitions.  She has studied bookbinding, paper making, and box making at programs across the U.S., and most recently completed a Penland School of Crafts program.  She has taught bookmaking classes throughout North Carolina, and has a reputation as a patient, encouraging, imaginative, and effective teacher.

Lisa considers herself to be a “cultural navigator” – a well-deserved designation since she has traveled to more than 25 countries.  She purchases, collects, and uses exotic papers on her travels, most recently from Panama, Scandinavia, and India. Lisa has visited paper making facilities and bookbinderies across India and has fashioned books from wood, papyrus, metal, mica, fabric, plastic, vinyl as well as from traditional materials such as handmade and machine-made decorative papers.

She attended Colorado Institute of Art, holds degrees in art and business, and the PhD in health education from University of Maryland.  Her background is versatile and inventive.

Novelist, Poet and English Professor Robin Greene Leads Creative Writing Workshop

Robin Greene, novelist, poet, English professor, yoga practitioner, parent and wife, is a native New Yorker who is a “Southerner by choice.”  She came to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1989, and joined the faculty at Methodist University where she is now Professor of English and Writing, the Director of the Writing Center, and Literary Editor of Longleaf Press.

Greene recently completed “Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman,” a  novel based on the oral history of a former Fayetteville slave compiled by the Works Progress Administration.  It expertly weaves together Greene’s imagination of what happened with the sparse written legacy recorded in the Library of Congress archives.  The book took Greene ten years to write and she included herself in the novel.  “I exist as Professor Greene, an inquisitive English professor who finds her way into an old mystery,” she says.  In a twist of events, the protagonist Sarah Louise Augustus, the former slave, emerges from the narrative to become the Professor’s teacher.

“The novel is a commentary on black feminism, race-specific reactions to historical inquiry, on sexuality and rape and the quest for identity,” explains Greene.  In 2010, she was invited to teach American Slave Narrative as Literature at a university in Romania.  And, then Norma Hawthorne selected her from an applicant pool of over 100 published writers and writing instructors to lead a creative writing retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat (March 2-9, 2012) is a natural extension of Robin Greene’s reflective nature.  In Oaxaca, Mexico each spring she offers coaching, inspiration and guidance to other women writers.  “We come together as a supportive community and develop a spirit of strength that is often transformative,” Greene says.   “The life of any artist is a complicated one, and emergent writers need to learn not only how to write but also how to make their lives work.”

Novelist and Poet Robin Greene in Oaxaca, Mexico

Greene is passionate about this:  “Many writers need help to integrate the many demands on their time.  It is hard to write, edit, publish, make a living, and be an effective parent.”  Her own life experience tells her so.

When Robin Greene earned the Master’s degree in English from State University of New York at Binghamton and the Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, she was married and then became a mother. She knows what it takes to balance work, home, family, commitments, and creative endeavors.  She goes on to say that, “Today, writers also need to be able to handle Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—plus all sorts of electronic information systems.

Her nonfiction book, Real Birth, took Greene eight years to complete. Memories of Light and Lateral Drift, two volumes of poetry, were published after years of getting up at five o’clock in the morning before her family awakened, then writing for two or three hours in solitude before turning to the responsibilities of getting children fed and ready for school.

Greene knows how difficult it is to try to negotiate the many incongruent parts of a writer’s life. Her advice:  “In order to write successfully, you must first schedule writing time. Writers must selfishly honor that time regardless of all other commitments.”  She also believes that grammar is at the core of knowing one’s craft.  She includes optional grammar mini-sessions in the writing retreat.

Writers must also have a commitment to lifelong learning.  “A writer’s education is never complete,” she says.  “Writers need feedback, need to understand the business side of writing, and show always focus on improving technique. This happens over a lifetime.  Writers are marathon runners, not twenty-yard sprinters. It is why attending a professional development program like our women’s writing retreat can be so important and essential, no matter what your level or personal accomplishment.”

And for her next project? Greene is at work on a collection of open letters of advice and inspiration from a range of poets, from the “old masters” to the “younger, less established who are looking to find their way.” The book will offer guidance for emergent poets that is now offered at some of the best writing programs. She is now in the process of searching for a publisher! Does that sound familiar?

Resources:  See Robin Greene’s website! You can Order Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman from Amazon

Liza Bakewell, MADRE: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun, Gets Oaxaca Welcome

http://wp.me/pRHvb-pB

My friend and Oaxaca colleague Shannon Sheppard writes about her experience reading the book, her impressions, and connecting Liza with both the local and ex-pat community in Oaxaca. I think you will find her comments entertaining and informative. Click on the link above to read

My mobile office is now two feet from Highland Lake in Bridgton, Maine. Thank goodness for 3G and my iPad. There is no Wi-Fi here nor is there a landline. It is definitely a retreat and I can bring the world in as I choose. Liza Bakewell is on a neighboring lake about an hour from here with her daughters. She and I plan a meet-up next week.

Last night, Stephen and I had dinner with Nancy Coleman and Dulcie Whitman at Vignola in Portland. Great restaurant with even better friends. Nancy attended the Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat last March. It inspired her to write and submit to national literary journals and she is getting great response! Dulcie just completed the MFA and is teaching. My hope is to connect them with Liza who is bring together Maine women writers.

What an extraordinary world we live in! Now, for the lake.