Strange Bookmarks Over at Hebdomeros

Reads like a poem. Once, in a biography of General Bazaine, I found a typed receipt for pounds sterling dated 1942.

Testimonios: Early California Through the Eyes of Women

Just yesterday, on a sunny patio overlooking Mexico City's cathedral no less, I got my autographed copy of Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815–1848, Translated with introduction and commentary by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz. Here's the jacket text:

"When in the early 1870s historian Hubert Howe Bancroft sent interviewers out to gather oral histories from the pre-statehood gentry of California, he didn’t count on one thing: the women. When the men weren’t available, the interviewers collected the stories of the women of the household—almost as an afterthought. These were eventually archived at the University of California, although many were all but forgotten. Having lived through the gold rush and seen their country change so drastically, these women understood the need to tell the full story of the people and the places that were their California. Some of their words are translated here into English for the first time."

The stories and the voices are amazing. I'll be away from blogging for a day or so in order to finish it. Hasta la vista.

Richard Peabody's Novel Class

If you're in the Washington DC area and have a novel that needs work, don't miss this one. Richard Peabody's novel class is limited to 5 students. He writes:

"We meet every two weeks on Wednesday day nights 7:30 until 10pm at my house in Arlington, Virginia. Four to five blocks from Virginia Square Metro station. June 27; July 11; July 25; August 8; August 22; September 5; September 11 [Tuesday]. Cost is $500 to be paid before the first night....Why do I teach this class? Because you can go to your favorite bookshop and lift any number of contemporary novels off the shelf and read a few chapters only to discover that they fall apart at chapter four. Why? I’ve found that most MFA programs only critique the first three chapters of your manuscript. Plus, I’ve learned from the hands-on experience of teaching this course that a complete reading and critique is absolutely the best way (dare I say only way) to go. What’s the advantage of a small class like this one? There’s nothing quite like having five people discuss your characters as though they were living people for 2 ½ hours...."

Alumni from Peabody’s 22 years of university, Writer’s Center, and private classes with filmed screenplays, books in print (or forthcoming)include: Mark Baechtel, Doreen Baingana, Toby Barlow, Maggie Bartley, Jodi Bloom, Sean Brijbasi, Peter Brown, Robert Cullen, Priscilla Cummings, Katherine Davis, Lucinda Ebersole, Sandy Florian, Cara Haycak, Dave Housley, Catherine Kimrey, Adam Kulakow, Nathan Leslie, Redge Mahaffey, Charlotte Manning, Meena Nayak,Matthew Olshan, William Orem, Mary Overton, Saideh Pakravan, Carolyn Parkhurst, Sally Pfoutz, Nani Power, Carey Roberts, Lisa Schamess, Brenda Seabrooke, Julia Slavin, David Taylor, Lisa M. Tillman, Sharlie West, and Yolanda Young.

Read more about this workshop and all about Richard at www.gargoylemagazine.com.

Best Blog on the Internet

Is by Pabu. Woof.

Yet More Pix of Las Pozas

By my amiga N.: Sir Edward James's surrealistic garden, Las Pozas," in Xilotla, San Luis Potosi. (Here's my recent post.)

>> READ THIS POST ON THE NEW PLATFORM, WWW.MADAM-MAYO.COM

Dawn Marano in Pilates Style

Dawn Marano, the fabulously talented, dream of an editor of my book, Miraculous Air, back when it was published with University of Utah Press (it's just out now in paperback with Milkweed Editions) has since gone freelance with Dawn Marano & Associates. But her own writing is powerful and quite fascinating. To get a taste of it, check out this month's issue of Pilates Style, in which she recounts her story with figure skating. She was an accomplished skater but after a severe injury, she had to give it up. Years later, it was her dedication to a regimen of pilates that gave her the strength and flexibility to return to the ice and now, at the age of 50, she is competing on the national circuit. It's an amazing and inspiring story.

Kim Roberts's Zora Neale Hurston Walking Tour

My DC poetry amiga Kim Roberts writes:
"The Zora Neale Hurston Walking Tour I wrote is now available on line! You can download the tour now from the Humanities Council of Washington, DC website. Go to this page and click on Zora's photo. Or--- here's the direct link to the PDF file. This tour sweeps you back to an earlier time: a time of blues and jazz, and—amid the cruel oppression of segregation-—- a time of great aspirations... The literary and arts movement we now call the Harlem Renaissance was just starting, and, despite its name, it was starting here."

To read Kim Roberts's previous post on Madam Mayo, click here.

Maximilian Links Update

A few updates to my Maximilian page.

Fanny Chambers Gooch: Face to Face with the Mexicans

Fascinating discussion today with the Mexican translator of Fanny Chambers Gooch's classic tome, Face to Face with the Mexicans: the domestic life, educational, social and business ways, statesmanship and literature, legendary and general history of the Mexican people, as seen and studied by an American woman during seven years of intercourse with them. This richly documented 584 page portrait of Porfirian Mexico was originally published in 1887 and not brought out in Spanish until about 10 years ago. A severely abridged version, of which Madam Mayo does not approve, was published by University of Southern Illinois in 1966. Links anon.

Fundacion para las Letras Mexicanas

A very interesting meeting yesterday at the Fundacion para las Letras Mexicanas where I met several of their young writers in residence-- some from as far away as Chiapas. And I was given a copy of the massive (really, it weighs as much as a brick) new French anthology, Cent Ans de Litterature Mexicaine, edited by Philippe Olle-Laprune. I was delighted to see that it includes many of the writers and poets I've either translated or published in Tameme or included in my own anthology, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion: Carlos Fuentes, Jaime Sabines, Fernando del Paso, Ines Arredondo, Julieta Campos, Carlos Monsivais, Rosario Castellanos, Gabriel Zaid, Alvaro Mutis, Juan Villoro, Daniel Sada, Fabio Morabito, Alberto Ruy Sanchez, Jesus Gardea, Guillermo Samperio, Elsa Cross, Coral Bracho, and Eduardo Hurtado. But there are many, many more to discover. More anon.