October 2023

En route to San Diego on Friday morning, I saw this Dia de los Muertos installation in the Harvey Milk Terminal at SFO.

Passersby were invited to write the names of loved ones who had died on heart-shaped sticky notes, affix the note to a popsicle stick, and insert the stick in a bed of crepe paper flowers.

I added the names of my parents: Gerry and Bob.

A wonderful evening in San Diego with the book club of my friend and former museum colleague Andee, discussing 3 of my favorite subjects: Guatemala, adoption, and writing. The group read Mamalita—one of the members prefers audiobooks; yes! “Mamalita” is on Audible—and it’s thrilling to know the memoir still resonates, 13 years after publication.

A bonus of the quick trip was I got to visit with my sister Adrienne and brother-in-law Paul.

I’m grateful for good friends, old and new.

In case you missed it—and there are compelling reasons why you may have—here’s what’s been going on in Guatemala following the August runoff victory of President-elect Bernardo Arévelo, progressive intellectual who ran on a platform of anti-corruption.

Maria Consuelo Porras, the country’s attorney general, claimed election irregularities and is attempting to overturn Arévelo’s victory. Many in Guatemala view Porras’s investigation as a “slow-motion coup,” and tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets calling for her resignation, grinding much of the country to a standstill as they block major thoroughfares and rural roads. As of now, Porras refuses to step down.

President-elect Arévelo’s inauguration is slated for January 14, 2024. But this being Guatemala, it’s hard to predict what will happen next.

A Facebook “memory” cheered me up, reminding me I once wrote a novel and I can do it again. Not only that, according to the review cited at least, the novel was pretty good: “Impressively original and deftly crafted” with a “narrative storytelling style that fully engages the reader’s total attention from first page to last.”

If you’ve read Mother Mother, thank you! If you haven’t, there’s still time! Xoxox

PS: Here’s the original post:

I’m over the moon thrilled with this review of Mother Mother in the October 2020 “Small Press Bookwatch” of Midwest Book Review, written by editor-in-chief James A. Cox.

 Critique: An impressively original and deftly crafted novel by an author with a genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling style that fully engages the reader’s total attention from first page to last, “Mother Mother” will prove to be an immediately welcome and enduringly appreciated addition to both community and college/university library Contemporary Hispanic Literary Fiction collections.  

I love any review that describes me as “an author with a genuine flair”– for anything! Thank you, Midwest Book Review!