Tag Archive for: Macondo Writers Foundation

2024 Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Juliana Aragón Fatula

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Dear Reader,

Just so you know, I’ve switched to every other month so this is my first post and I’ll be back in April 2024.  As for what I’ve been up to lately, I’ve been away from home staying with a friend and working on my novel. I’ve made the changes suggested by my editor and have been killing my darlings. I’ve cut 1/3 of the pages and will be rewriting scenes that were too distracting from the plot.

This is my first attempt at writing a mystery novel. It’s taken me years but life gets in the way. When I’m away from home staying with my sister/friend who gives me a room of my own, I can write freely without interruptions. At home, I’m always distracted by my husband, the doggies, laundry, etc. Here I write and read and do research and enjoy the process as it should be with no one but me and my characters.

I have a fabulous editor who is working with me from Macondo. Macondo Writers Workshop is a weeklong experience for professional writers. The Macondistas recognize their place in our society. They are professional or master’s level of writers. I signed up for the writing workshop called Chuparosa con Ganas.  Translated this means butterflies with desire. I accidentally sent my editor an email with Chupacabras con Ganas in the subject line, oops. We had a good laugh.

Her notes to me were thorough and professional. She told me what I needed to hear. The good and the bad. I have thick skin and have done several workshops over the years and received critiques of my writing but as a poet, not a novelist. I’m learning and becoming a better writer because of listening to those master writers who critique my work and give me positive feedback. I’ve also critiqued writers and given my feedback on their writing. I enjoy the experience of workshopping. I miss the camaraderie and passion of working with other writers.

I was invited and accepted to blog for the Stiletto Gang, thanks to Linda Rodriguez, a Macondista. I met her at an AWP conference in Denver many years ago. She has been instrumental in my writing my first mystery. So I share a post every other month for the Stiletto Gang; she also writes once every other month. I’ll be her partner in crime.

It’s been a year from hell for me but I’ve taken my lemons and made margaritas. Emily Dickinson said it best.

Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.

We slowly drove—He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess—in the Ring—
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—
We passed the Setting Sun—

Or rather—He passed us—
The Dews drew quivering and chill—
For only Gossamer, my Gown—
My Tippet—only Tulle—

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground—
The Roof was scarcely visible—
The Cornice—in the Ground—

Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity—

Emily Dickenson 1830-1886

Last year I lost my only child, Daniel. This year I’m saying goodbye to my sister, Judy. The circle of life teaches us about death and makes us appreciate our loved ones while they are here on Earth. This post is dedicated to Daniel and Judy.

Juliana Aragón Fatula, a 2022 Corn Mother, women who have earned accolades for community activism and creative endeavors is the author of: Crazy Chicana in Catholic City, Red Canyon Falling on Churches, winner of the High Plains Book Award for Poetry 2016, and a chapbook: The Road I Ride Bleeds, and a member of Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors, and Macondo, “a community of accomplished writers…whose bonds reflect the care and generosity of its membership.” She mentors Bridging Borders, a Teen Leadership Program for girls. No justice no peace.

 

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Bridging Borders 2017

Pueblo,
Colorado, 

by Juliana Aragón Fatula


Bridging Borders 2017 Writing Workshop
at Rawlings Library, Pueblo, CO.

The Stiletto Gang represents women who are
mystery writers; I haven’t published my first mystery novel, I am writing my
first manuscript. I switched genres from poetry to follow my dream of writing a
mystery.

Today, I’d like to focus on a project I’ve
participated in the past three years. Bridging Borders is a leadership program
for young women and empowers them with skills, builds confidence, teamwork,
entrepreneurship. The future of our country falls in their hands and I’m proud
to be a mentor and to assist the teens with writing skills through my writing
workshops at the Rawlings Library.

The El Pueblo History Museum and the
Department of Social Services sponsors the teens and provides excellent
mentors. I happen to be one of the mentors being honored this year at a banquet
to celebrate the year 2017 and the Bridging Borders Graduates: Anysha, Cheyene,
Elian, Reigna, Zoe, Alyssa, Jakiah, Jaylee, Alex, Jaden, Elena, Sophia, Amaya,
Taylor, Marisol, Rhyia, Iliana, Chloe, Anika, Mayala. I know these young ladies
will become future leaders, some even political leaders and I’m very proud to
have been a part of Bridging Borders.

When I met the first-year participants I
didn’t know what to expect. What I found that day: writers, poets, confident,
intelligent, creative, high-level thinkers. The second year I met young ladies
who taught me more than I taught them. They were so welcoming and eager to
learn. I kept in touch with a couple of incredible ladies and followed them on
their path to freshman college.


This
year, the third year of my involvement, the number of ladies grew: I met a
larger group than in the previous years. I met ladies ready for whatever I
threw at them. They met my challenges and exceeded my hopes for a productive
writing workshop. I asked for volunteers and they volunteered. I asked for million-dollar
words and they impressed me with their vocabulary; they are young,
at-risk, and marginalized by society.

I asked them to write for five minutes.
Five minutes later they volunteered to share their poem with the group and impressed
me again with their eloquence, command of the stage, their confidence in their
writing. I cried tears of happiness. I laughed with them and hugged them and
told them how proud I am of them.  My day
was spent surrounded by young leaders who will make a difference in this
country and change the way we treat women in society.

They asked questions about writing and I
beamed with joy at their enthusiasm. In my experiences of teaching and
conducting writing workshops with teenagers I’ve witnessed these teens have a
lot to say; they are writing from their hearts about their truth: the bullying,
suicide, abandonment, but also about soccer, dance, music, love, and hope.

While they wrote, I circulated the room
and observed their hands and eyes. They were not given writing prompts other
than to write without limitations about anything but to make it memorable; they
wrote incredible poems and left me with their dreams, fears, hopes, and
questions about their world in the twenty-first century.

My first book of poetry, Crazy Chicana in Catholic City, juliana-aragon-fatula bowerhousebooks was
provided for them by their sponsors and if they weren’t busy writing; they were
busy reading my book. The delight I felt when I watched them write for five
minutes non-stop and read through the table of contents in my book gave me a
sensation of being part of something. Developing the minds of these young
ladies with the power of words and meaning in their lives brought me tremendous
joy, honor, pride, and humility.

This has been one of the most satisfying
experiences of my sixty years; I’ve had many journeys, but to share with these
young leaders my past: a teenage pregnant high-school-drop out who went on to be
the first in my family to graduate college, write and publish books, teach,
tour with the Department of Defense entertaining the men and women in the
military, travel the world, perform on stages across the country, and to end up
in Southern Colorado the place of my ancestors, validated I have fulfilled my
destiny to work with at-risk-youth and empower them to express themselves with
spoken and written word.

They give me hope and hope is all we can
ask for in this time of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia.
Have I left anyone out? This country needs new leaders and I know these young
ladies will bring it. How fortunate for us that they have been empowered to
teach us what women contribute to society and how they mold the next generation
of leaders. I learned about writing workshops from my mentor, Sandra Cisneros and The Macondo Foundation. I teach what I learn to the future writers of diversity: LGBTQ, and ethnic writers from the nation


Macondo Foundation Writing Workshop San Antonio, TX 

Founded in 1995 Mission:
The Macondo Writers Workshop is an association
of socially-engaged writers united to advance
creativity, foster generosity, and honor community.
Sandra Cisneros and Laurie Ann Guerrero
at Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio

Macondistas

Sandra Cisneros and Juliana at Rawlings Library

Sandra Cisneros’ memoir: A House of My Own: Stories From My Life

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  Juliana Aragón Fatula’s Review of Sandra
Cisneros’ memoir,

A House of my Own: Stories
from my Life

 

I waited patiently for A House of my Own: Stories from my Life, Sandra Cisneros’ new book
release and ordered two copies. One for me and the other for my sister, Aimée.
We would read it together and discuss it via Skype. The book arrived and I
devoured it. I was supposed to wait for my sister to catch up; but I couldn’t
wait to read more of Sandra’s story.

I found myself sticking tabs where I
wanted to return.  In all I made sixteen
tabs. I was so absorbed in the reading that I stopped marking and began, you
know, travelling with Sandra to all of those magical houses she lived in around
the world.

Sandra writes about her choices in life,
“True, I have no biological children, but I have, as it turns out, become a
mother nonetheless. I have over one hundred creative writers I mother directly
and indirectly through my two foundations, The Macondo Foundation and the
Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, along with thousands of reader of all
ages I work with through my public engagements in libraries and schools across
the country.”

And she writes about her houses and
privacy, “A front porch is supposed to be for waving at neighbors and chatting.
But for a writer it’s when you look like you’re not doing anything that you’re
actually writing: people who don’t write, don’t understand this.”

Sandra writes about memory, storytelling
and truths, “…as if with age we come closer to the bull’s eye of being admitted
the truth. The science writer, Jonah Lehrer, claims we never revisit a memory
without altering it. If this is true, then perhaps all memoir is a chance of
storytelling, and every story brings us closer to revealing ourselves to
ourselves.”

 Two
of my favorite chapters are: Tenemos
Layaway, or How I Became an Art Collector and The Author Responds to Your Letter Requesting my Book Be Banned from
the School Library. Her sense of humor is evident in everything she does.
She is a trickster. A chingona. A badass. She describes her writing days, “For
work, on the days I go barefoot, when I sometimes forget to comb my hair, when
I’m anxious to forget my body and need to be comfortable, without any
underclothes binding or biting me, I like my everyday huipiles de manta, of
sack cloth. The one’s I can stain with coffee or a taco and I won’t grieve.” She
brings us into her house and spends time with us, like a dear friend. The kind
you can be yourself around. She’s real.  Sandra’s humor and Spanglish bring fond
memories of growing up in a bilingual home, “Si los gatitos nacer en el horno,
son gatitos o son bizcochos. Just because the kittens are born in the oven
doesn’t mean they’re biscuits.”

She mentions a writer she admires. “Maria
Dermôut was a mother after all, and then a grandmother. By the time she was
done with the ten thousand distractions of being both, she finally had a little
time of her own and could profess her love of all things Javanese by taking up
her pen. Dermôut wrote two novels. Only two. But one book exquisitely written
is worth five not worth remembering.”

Sandra Cisneros is a Chicana from Chicago
that grew up wanting a house of her own. She wrote House on Mango Street and went on to win numerous awards and
accolades. She generously shares her talent with other writers through her Macondo
Writers Foundation. The mission statement: “A community of poets, novelists,
journalists, performance artists, and creative writers of all genres whose work
is socially engaged. Their work and talents are part of a larger task of
community building and non-violent social change and their commitment to work
for underserved communities through their writing.”   Read
her memoir: A House of my Own: Stories from my Life.  Buy two copies and read it with a friend.