A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old X

A Revision Update:

I'm back from Nicaragua, where I had a marvelous time visiting haunts of old. In my first days back home in Panamá I was able to place Chapter 34 of The Saint of Santa Fe in the can. This was a particularly difficult chapter to tame, but I'm pleased with the results. I am now working on Chapters 35-38. Chapter 35 needs a little more work, but Chapters 36 and 37 are virtually ready to go.

Sunday, my wife and I will be heading for Costa Rica, where we will spend two weeks. Because my wife's trip is related to her work, I will be spending my days in the inn where we're staying, revising away. My hope is to at last finish The Saint of Santa Fe while there.

On the publication front: I received an email yesterday from Nicolás Kanellos, Director of Arte Público Press. He read the manuscript of Meet Me Under the Ceiba, says it's a "wonderful read," and is eager to publish the novel. There are, however, a few changes he has requested. If we agree on the changes (which I don't think will pose a major problem), expect to see Meet Me Under the Ceiba in print within the next year.

Revisiting Obsessions of Old:

Ana Castillo is one of the first Latina writers to open my eyes to the possibility of telling my own stories in English. I have loved her work for many years now, and I've had the honor of being introduced by her at my first reading of Bernardo and the Virgin, at the Book Expo in Chicago a few years back.

A couple of years later, she asked me to translate a few poems into Spanish from her collection, Watercolor Women, Opaque Men.

I invite you to read about this honor she bestowed on me in "Translating Ana Castillo."

A Brief Report from Nicaragua, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old IX

A Report from Nicaragua

I'm in Nicaragua with my mother and Sandy, the youngest of my two sisters, reliving the past. My mother and sister live in Fresno, California and because of the difficultly of travel more than likely this will be my mother's last visit to her homeland. It's been a pleasant experience revisiting with fond nostalgia places and people that impacted our lives.

I've also been taking plenty of notes of personal impressions gathered during this visit that will certainly become future postings.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old

The question of cultural preservation and the evolution of culture intrigues me. At what point does cultural preservation become stagnation? And what facets of life should a society fight to preserve? These questions, I believe, are at the heart of the conflict between the Western world and Islam.

But, locally (in Panamá, that is), the question arose on a far less troublesome arena after the tragic deaths of several notable Panamanian musicians. Listening to their funeral over the radio so impressed me that I was moved to write an article that received a warm response from several readers, including one from D. A. Sonneborn, Ph.D., the Assistant Director of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings division.

I invite you to read, or reread, "Honoring the Lost Songs."

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old VIII

A Revision Update:

There is progress to report this week as I am now working on Chapters 34-38. What’s more, Chapters 34-36 are almost ready. There will be, however, a delay: I’m leaving for Nicaragua this Friday for a family reunion, of sorts. During this time I'll have to set rewriting aside. The good news is that after this trip, revising will be my full-time job as the school year ends tomorrow. And I expect to have The Saint of Santa Fe polished by August 1, the day I return to work

What also is a cause for celebration is that I expect to return with a notebook full of observations from my trip to Nicaragua. Many of these experiences are bound to become future blog entries.

An Invitation to Revisit a Posting:

Two days ago, June 9, marked the thirty-seventh anniversary of Father Héctor Gallego’s disappearance. While conducting research for The Saint of Santa Fe, which is based on Gallego’s life, I noticed that he was constantly compared to the revolutionary Colombian priest Camilo Torres—as both praise and criticism. I mentioned to Isabel Montoya—a student who lived with my wife and me for a year and became a daughter to us—my desire to learn more about this Latin American icon of the 60s. A couple of weeks after my comment, Isabel’s family, who live in Colombia, sent me a wonderful gift: Camilo: El cura guerrillero by Walter J. Broderick. After reading this fascinating account of Camilo Torres’s life, I was moved to write the following posting, which is one of my personal favorites: “Three Paths to Martyrdom: Ambrose Bierce, Camilo Torres, and Héctor Gallego.”

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old VII

A Revision Update:

There’s not much new to report from the rewriting front, I’m afraid. We are in the last week of classes at Balboa Academy and then it’s off to finals. The tasks involved in this yearly ritual, the most hectic part of the school year, have consumed me. Nevertheless, I did manage to whip Chapter 34 into pretty good shape. When I wrote this chapter of The Saint of Santa Fe—in which Héctor Gallego is lost for four days in the jungles of Veraguas (a true incident)—I knew that revising it would be a bear because of my experimentation with time and point of view. Fortunately, after much work the chapter is turning out nicely. (Beware of the prowling jaguar.)

An Invitation to Revisit a Posting:

I’ve had the pleasure of several long chats with Cristina García. She is one of my favorite authors. I urge everyone to read Dreaming in Cuban, a fascinating, gentle, and superbly surreal look into how La Revolución Cubana has driven a wedge between Cuban families, dividing them physically, spiritually, and ideologically. But as boring as my description may sound, Cristina’s poetic writing beautifully brings to life the plight of Cubans who are trying to become whole.

I invite you to read my thoughts about Cristina’s work in "Cuban Identity as Dreamworld: On Reading Cristina García."