The Rich and the Famous

Last night I attended a reading by author, Allegra Houston (yes, legendary film director John Houston's daughter)on her new book, "Love Child: a memoir of family lost and found" at the well known Taos venue, Mabel Dodge Luhan House. She and her brother live in Taos. I didn't realize it at first but I was sitting in the same row as her brother, Tony Houston, and right behind her husband, Cisco Guerva(with ties to Che Guerva). Alas Angelica was not there.... It seemed so natural, no paparazzi, no fanfare but alot of warm claps and hugs. Allegra is beautiful, in her early 40's, and chronicled her life with John Houston as her father. Throw in the fact that he wasn't really her bio father - a fact she only became aware of at 12 when she was unceremoniously introduced to John Julius Norwich(a Brit aristocrat who was married at the time that he and her mother had an affair)by Houston's fifth wife, Cici. Her mother, Ricki Soma, had died tragically in a car accident when Allegra was only four. John Houston had graciously taken over her upbringing despite the fact that he had long since split from her mother.

Allegra told some of her story and read a few sections of her book (too few - I was hungry for more). She had a slight british accent (which I swoon over)and was very sweet and charming. She ended her reading by calling up her stepson, Pancho, to sing happy birthday(along with the whole audience)to her husband, Cisco. One of my observations is that she married a man who is similiar in energy and physical appearance to Houston. Cisco is a larger than life character (he walked into the room with a huge felt hat on his head), a gifted storyteller and has a raucous laugh. Sounds a little oedipal to me. Someone told me that they're celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary tonite so it must be working. One of my coworkers told me that she has cared for their son, Rafael. I'm rubbing elbows with the rich and famous.

The Beat Goes On

Well can't compare to last week's blog of a mechanical bull, Nashville and Alabama. this week back to my usual schedule of writing, exercise, classes and working at the gym. Luckily I had scheduled myself a body work session last Monday as I was limping thru the day after the whirlwind of traveling over the weekend. Natalie Goldberg's class continues to amaze. It is different than any other class I have taken.... She does not critique our work; her aim is to build our "writer's spine" by imprinting upon us the importance of daily writing practice; and to allow our "wild mind" to surface - not judging whether what we write is good or bad. She believes that the inner critic is what shuts down writers more often than not and is responsible for many budding writers to quit their craft. I must say that it is a relief to read what I've written and know that I'm not going to get any critical feedback (I get enough of that in other classes); just commentary on the phrases, words, images that people like the most. Natalie studied with a Zen Master for seven years in Minneapolis, MN, and uses meditation on a daily basis to improve her concentration, focus and ability to be fully present to her mind.

On my coffee table I have all things Natalie: here's the list of books of hers I've read so far: "Long, quiet highway", "Banana Rose", "Thunder and Lightening", "Wild Mind" - and two I've just started: "Writing down the Bones" (actually her first book and most well known), and most recent, "Old Friend from Far Away". She said in the last class that by reading we can align ourselves with great writers, maybe some of their talent can rub off on us. I think it's a good sign that we both share some favorite authors - Carson McCullers is one of them.

I wish I had kept a book diary and recorded every book that I've read - with a little synopsis of what I thought about it. I think it would reveal alot about where I was in my life at the time I read it - highlighting issues and dilemnas. But I guess it's never too late to start. As usual I have about five books that I'm in the middle of: "Departures" by Paul Zweig (a memoir), "Our Losing Season" - Pat Conroy, "Writing down the Bones" - Natalie Goldberg and a book of essays by Charles Baxter on developing subplot in stories. Sort of like the way that I am with my knitting projects but the books are more of a constant and not so dependent on the cool weather to inspire me...

I'm off to a rewrite of a piece I did last week - it didn't get rave reviews - I have some serious revisions to do. Later on to Santa Fe to sit in Natalie's class and soak up her words hoping that they will serve as a springboard for my own writing.

Riding the Bull

Well this past week was full of new adventures. First was the beginning of Natalie Goldberg's memoir class on tuesday in Santa Fe. There were 22 people in the class and I'm sure we all hung on her every word. She was much more down to earth than I expected, showed up in class in an old sweater and pair of sweat pants. We started the class with a ten minute meditation with her reminding us that memory comes from stillness, the ability to quiet the mind so that images, thoughts, experiences can come forward. We did two in-class writing assignments - one was entitled, "what I remember" and the other was "what I don't remember". She stressed the importance at looking at opposites so that the hidden shadow side can be prompted to come out. It was obvious that there are many talented writers in the class, a bit intimidating...

And of course the BIG trip on Friday am - from Albuquerque to Dallas and then onto Nashville. A little excitement with messages/texts back and forth about a tornado warning in the area and a stressed phone call from my youngest sister, Gretchen, who arrived early in Nashville and was weathering the sirens, storm warnings, torrential rains by herself on the 19th floor of the Renaissance Hotel in downtown. By the time my middle sister, Marianne, and I got to Nashville all had blown over and we were ready to hit the town. After walking around in circles for a bit we discovered the main drag, Broadway Street, and its assortments of bars, restaurants and honky tonk shops - replete with cowboy hats for $5 and cowboy boots. We vowed to get matching cowboy hats for Easter brunch but somehow we never managed to pull that off. After a quick dinner of nachos and chix fingers, we scouted the bars on both sides of Broadway and began our drinking adventures. Each seemed to have live country music and as the everning wore on, more and more dancing. I spurlged and had several drinks, even half of one shot of tequila. This earned me the disdain of my sisters - though - because they told me that sipping shots was definitely a "no-no". Gretchen proved to be the wildest of the three and at the end of the night with a sufficient amount of alcohol consumed we found the bar that advertised the "meanest mechanical bull" in town and she rode it! Actually she did quite well and managed to stay on for quite a while - longer than some of the men we watched.
This was on her "bucket list" - along with completing a half marathon of 13 miles in March.

The wedding was anticlimactic after that night. My nephew, Michael, and his new bridge, Candance seemed very happy and on Monday they flew off to their honeymoon in the Bahamas. As the wedding offered no alcoholic libations there were many creative disguises used by family members to "smuggle" some in to the reception. Nips, flasks and water bottles were the weapons of choice. All went well and there were no conflicts, debaucles or disgraces...

Flew back on sunday afternoon and spent most of yesterday recovering - went to the gym but only had the energy to use the steam room and hot tub...

Shamanic Journeying

My new experience from last week involves Shamanic Journeying. The same person who did the sweat lodge (Apache traditional) also offers vision quests and drumming circles. I am often lured to try anything (within limits - bungee jumping and sky diving are definitely out)once and when my friend, Jan (my Tarot teacher) mentioned it I knew that I'd have to give it a go. Jim started the evening by giving an intro to the effects of drumming, its particular rhythyms, what they individually mean and how they induce altered states. He talked with me individually for awhile as he knew that I was a "virgin" and suggested that during this first journeying experience I hold the intention of meeting my power animal. In native american spirituality there is a belief that we have power animals and spirit animals that offer us protection, support, and guidance to hear spirit's messages. The drumming assists our unconscious in "traveling" to an altered state, similar to meditation, to have waking visions (dreams). Holding this intention proved helpful. The first thing I "saw" in my mind's eye was a bear. I asked whether he/she was my power anmimal and I heard "no, but I can take you to him." A long sequence ensued traveling across different types of landscape; the bear's fur changed from black to white (polar bear) when we got into the colder regions. We arrived at a cave and then I saw a snake and remembered thinking - oh, no, I hope that's not my power animal as I hate/fear snakes. Then I heard the roar of a lion and I knew instinctively that this was my power animal and had confirmation in the vision that this was the case. Towards the end I saw an eagle and had an experience of being lifted by the eagle to have a wider view of the earth and life. Jim told me the meaning of each animal - bear for healing; snake for transformation/awakened sexuality, lion for courgage and strength and lastly eagle for vision. He commented that I had quite a vision for my first journeying experience!

Writing practice this week has focused on my memories of a solo bus trip I took at age eight to Tonawanda, NY, to visit my Aunt and Uncle. I'm finding that memoir (at least for me)begins with a vague memory of an event that I then use creative license to turn into a story. Many of the details are not factual but the framework, time period and general emotional feel of the story are accurate. It's fun to combine truth with imagination and transform it with words into a story. I saw a biographical program on TV the other night on Annie Proulx (author of Brokeback Mountain, the Shipping News, etc)and she chronicled the process of writing her most recent novel, "That Old Ace in the Hole" over a period of two and half years.... At the end of it she said she thought it might be her last novel because the process took her so long - she much preferred writing short stories because she could crank one out within a month. I feel like the chapters in my memoir are each like mini short stories, fashioned that way because I read three pages/week in my writing groups. Because I'm reading out loud I often create a beginning, middle and end of each vignette. I've had the idea that maybe some of them could be published as "stand alone" pieces in literary magazines. Speaking of which I am working on editing twenty pages of prose to submit to "Discovery Awards" in New Mexico - specifically designed for unpublished authors. I'm also going to submit the same sample for a scholarship to the Taos Writer's Conference which will be happening July 12 - 19th this summer. Wish me luck!