Month: April 2018
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Writing From the Classroom: Ava Rutter
Ava Rutter is a student in my Nonfiction Workshop at Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles. She’s a poet, fiction writer and essayist, and has a unique voice in all three genres. ©2018, Ava Rutter
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Grandmamá Martina and Papa Polo
I was close to my grandfather, Papa Polo. He was an intelligent man, spoke English like a Brit; and he saw in me an eagerness to learn. He ordered El Tesoro de La Juventud (The Book of Knowledge), an encyclopedia of 20 volumes, just for me! He had a very serious conversation with me: I had…
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Amanda’s Story
(The above is a photo of my mother Amanda in 1929, in El Salvador) This is my mother’s story, in her own words: I have been on an off and on merry go rounds with my writings; well, I just have to get on it for real and DO IT!! I am over ninety years…
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Know Their Past, Know Thyself
Dear Readers of TWB, This is an essay from the archives, regarding my parents. For the next few days, my mother is going to take over. She lives with us, is ninety years old, and has been writing her life down on paper. This essay is an introduction to her world. I’ve written on the…
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The Tracer Bullets
The battle between the Sandinista and Contra soldiers broke out in a valley just below us. Michelle and I were walking to a village in the northern mountains of Nicaragua. It was dusk. The road was more a ledge on the side of the mountain. Just over the lip, in a small dip in the woods,…