Back from Macondo--Part Three

After the Friday vision session

Friday began with a vision and planning session where members of the foundation board and this year's participants looked at what worked and what didn't and planned for future growth to keep the foundation and the workshop strong and supple enough to meet the needs that the future would bring.

This discussion continued at a long lunch. Then the final afternoon seminar on translingual writers (those who write in a language other than their first language), which engendered an energetic discussion because we had so many translingual writers there.

Friday evening was our culminating public event. It was held at Casa Navarro, an historic building complex in downtown San Antonio. It kicked off with live music by Orqestra Tropicante.

Josslyn as Lady Day

Josslyn Luckett, emcee of many disguises, was in Billie Holiday mode as she hosted the evening. The dynamic writers reading were Liliana Valenzuela, John Olivares Espinoza, Jessica Lopez, Elaine Beal, Francisco Aragon, Deborah Miranda, and the magnificent Ruth Behar, introduced by Sandra Cisneros.

Liliana Valenzuela reading

Jessica Lopez reading

Francisco Aragon reading

Elaine Beal reading

Deborah Miranda reading

Ruth Behar reading

An after-hours party

Macondo is the brainchild of the incredible Sandra Cisneros, author of the novels, The House on Mango Street and Caramelo, the short fiction collection, Woman Hollering Creek, and the poetry collections, My Wicked, Wicked Ways and Loose Woman. She started the Macondo Foundation to help talented mid-career writers who were also involved in community-building. She started the Macondo Writing Workshop around her kitchen table. Sandra is still at the core of what Macondo is, although she has a dedicated board that makes decisions and sets direction for the foundation now and has done the necessary planning to ensure that the foundation will survive long after she is gone. But Sandra is the soul of Macondo.

La Sandra

Sandra having fun with Jennifer De Leon

Sandra and the Macondistas, those who belong to the Macondo community and return year after year, have written a code of conduct that every writing workshop/class/community would do well to study, The Compassionate Code of Conduct. And they are serious, very serious, about adhering to it. To read it, go to the Macondo website. This community that Sandra has fostered is like an ideal family--if your family were other writers who were also committed to creating a better world in one way or another. And I feel privileged and proud to be a member of that community.

Thank you to the Macondistas who took photographs--Deborah Miranda, Liliana Valenzuela, Jennifer De Leon, and any other I've forgotten.

Back from Macondo--Part Two

After the workshops, we attended seminars
(Seminar on writing short pieces with Belinda Acosta and Beatriz Terrazas)

Macondo Foundation staff sold Macondo bags and took donations at all the readings
Pictured here: Olivia Doerges and Yvette De Chavez

Resistencia Bookstore, founded by the late raulrsalinas, sold authors' books at the readings

Me, Jenn De Leon, Sebha Sarwar, after we read Wednesday night
with Liliana Valenzuela, Jenn's and my Macondo buddy.

Sebha reads on Wednesday night

Jenn reads on Wednesday night

Marjorie Agosin reading Wednesday night

La Marjorie reading Wednesday night
(She brought tears to my eyes with her dramatic, heartfelt reading.)

Josslyn Luckett emceeing Wednesday night's reading

Thursday night's readers with some from Wednesday,
Rene Colato Lainez, Reggie Scott Young, Ching-In Chen, Jenn De Leon, Charles Rice-Gonzales, Josslyn (again emceeing), Stephanie Elizondo Griest, and Margo Chavez-Charles

Fan Wu reads Thursday night

Ching-In Chen reading Thursday night

Celeste Guzman Mendoza reading Wednesday night

From Wednesday on, we had readings by participants every evening. I read on Wednesday evening with Vincent Toro, Rachel Jennings, Celeste Guzman Mendoza, Sehba Sarwar, Reggie Scott-Young, Jennifer De Leon, and the marvelous Marjorie Agosin introduced by Ruth Behar. We had a wonderful violinist and tango dancing. As with each evening's program, Josslyn Luckett hosted with humor and style.

Thursday evening, Fan Wu, Ching-In Chen, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Margo Chavez-Charles, Rene Colato Lainez, and Stephanie Elizondo Griest read with Pat Little Dog, the recipient of the Gloria Anzaldua Milagro Award from the Macondo Foundation. We had excellent mariachi music, and as usual, the party continued into the night at several venues around town.

More Macondo later.