Cinco de Mayo Edition

I usually post on Mondays and Wednesdays but I had to make an exception this week for the 150th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo. No, this is not Mexico's Independence Day; it commemorates the victory of the Mexican Republican forces against the invading Imperial French Army at the city of Puebla (near Mexico City) on May 5, 1862-- a temporary victory, as it turned out. Before the Republic could be reestablished, there was that brief, tragic, and very painterly interlude known as the Second Empire (Maximilian von Habsburg et al).

Herewith 5 links:

The aftermath of that long-ago battle is in my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.

Read more about Cinco de Mayo over at my blog post on Donald W. Miles and his work.

My south of the border music selections (ye olde guest-blog post for Wendi Kaufman's The Happy Booker), apropos of my anthology of 24 Mexican writers on Mexico, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

My favorite place to visit near Puebla (nothing to do with the battle): Eulogio Gillow's English-style castle in a trout pond.

A really fun and informative blog post about Mexican murals, over at the MOMA blog: "Five for Friday: Mexican Muralists on Cinco de Mayo" by Bonnie MacKay.

VIVA!

The Happy Booker: Back Blogging

My amiga, DC area writer Wendi Kaufman, one of the pioneers of lit-blogging, is back blogging after a summer hiatus. Check out her excellent blog, The Happy Booker. More anon.

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is Not the Question in the Web 2.0 World

Just back from this morning's Washington Independent Writers Fiction Seminar panel on writers's blogs--- with fiction writer and journalist Wendi Kaufman (The Happy Booker), novelist Leslie Pietrzyk (Work-in-Progress), freelancer and improv artist Shawn Westfall, blogger for Dcist.com, and poet Deborah Ager of 32 Poems. I'd had no idea that Wendi got the idea to start her blog (one of the first and best lit-blogs out there, by the way) after her eight year-old son launched one for Pokemon characters. And wow, Deborah is a wordpress wizard! But to the point:

To blog or not to blog, I repeat, that is not the question. A blog, supposedly, is a web (on-line) log, or diary or journal. I say no, it's anything you want it to be. Call it a newsletter. Or take a newsletter and call that a blog. It could be an on-line magazine column. Updated once a year. Updated eight times a day. Longish personal essays, whole books, pictures with or without commentary, or, say, nothing but lists of links to kitty videos on Youtube. Did I mention videos of people crying while eating? Mustaches of the 19th century! Some blogs invite comments, others (such as this one) do not (though if you want to send me an e-mail, click here). It's the Wild Get Out of Dodge West. So what I'm saying is, if you're on-line in any way, you might as well accept it, it's a Web 2.0 world, morphing at warp speed--- and you might as well consider what you do blogging. For lack of a better word. We do not have an adequate vocabulary for any of this. More anon...specifically:

---->The main misconception about "blogs"
----> Making time for blogging (why and how) and my Bushman (and I do not mean the W) goes to Whole Foods analogy.
---->The perplexing problem with print-outs of blog posts.
---->Then, Maximilian galore, new pix & more.


---->To view the archive of Madam Mayo on blogging, click here

In Washington DC, Freelance Central: WIW Freelancing Seminar Coming Up October 13th

I highly recommend this one--- another excellent Washington Independent Writers Seminar. Here's the scoop:

FREELANCING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
All-day Seminar on Saturday, October 13, 2007 Jointly sponsored by Johns Hopkins University Masters of Arts in Writing program and Washington Independent Writers. Topics include "Focus the Story: How to take a variety of good ideas and build them into functional and salable stories, what an editor is looking for and how to present your work successfully." "Writing Profiles: every publication from general interest magazines to annual reports and from sales brochures to specialist booklets, have profiles in them and you can write for all of the markets." Plus freelance technical resource people—a tax expert, a rate-setting veteran, a newsletter producer, a freelance journalist and a marketing wizard are all available for one-on-one questions and answers. And! "Electronic markets: web, blogs and more..." Speakers include David Everett, Dale Keiger, and Wendi Kaufman (aka The Happy Booker). Register online at www.washwriter.org, by telephone at (202) 775-5150 or by FAX at (202) 775-5810.

More anon.

The Happy Booker Goes South of the Border-- Top Five Mexican Music Selections by Yours Truly

"If I Only Had an iPod..." This is DC area writer Wendi Kaufman's regular feature on her long-time and widely read litblog, The Happy Booker. And hey, c'est moi-- engaging in shameless promotional efforts apropos of the release of my own audio CD, "The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico City." (Yep, what I'm doing here is quoting The Happy Booker quoting myself. If this ain't blogging, what is?)

SOUTH OF THE BORDER, MUSIC SELECTIONS BY C.M. MAYO
Yo quiero Mexican music! It isn't all "para bailar la bamba" and the Jumping Bean song. I prefer certain categories. For instance, La Voz; Suave (Cool); Joyas (Jewels); Fresa (literally, "strawberry"-- the closest translation would be "princess"), and this uncategorizable phenomenon that everybody except the clinically depressed wants to raise their hands and clap to --- and dance to -- and shout out to! I am talking about Juanga. I love Juanga. Little grannies love Juanga. Hairdressers love Juanga. You, too, will love Juanga. "Viva Mexico!" sings Juanga.

Here are my top five, by category:

LA VOZ
Lila Downs: "Tengo Miedo de Quererte." Lila Downs has a voice that could float an elephant.

SUAVE
Santana:"Twisted." Carlos Santana's music is like a slithering snake crossed with a flock of birds crossed with a great big chocolate ice-cream birthday cake.

FRESA
Mecano: Descanso Dominical, "Laika" The disco ode to Laika the space dog. Acually, this group is Spanish. Ni modo. Wierdly mystical.

JOYAS
Chanticleer: Mexican Baroque: Music From New Spain, "Ignacio de Jerúsalem: Mass in D Major" Carved gilded roses of sound.

JUANGA
Juan Gabriel: Viva Mexico. Fiesta to the max. Think Paul McCartney x Elton John x Englebert Humperdink x Salma Hayek. But he doesn't look anything at all like Salma Hayek.

Sombreros off to la Booker Feliz!