Good News

I applied to present at the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers (TACWT) Conference in Austin and I was accepted. Not in the role I wanted, having my own panel titled "De Pocho a Chicano, y Back", but i was placed on a panel of poets. That might seem like "blah" but that's actually quite good. One lesson I learned on my mini-vacation is that there is not always a "pocho" at every reading. lol

Being from the RGV and all, there are a lot of chicano or mexican themes embedded in the poetry. However, when I performed at Open Mic at Ruta Maya this past week I was the only "mexicano". Not to say that all others were strictly American. I'm pretty sure one guy was british and another was french. It was good to listen to different nationalities reference problems from their respective countries. And then the strange, loud poets were also present. It would be too easy to say, "I want to live there because there is more variety". Yeah, as far as nationality there appeared to be more variety than in the RGV, but I think for my own "research interest" the variety in the RGV works quite good. Even though it may seem we are all "mexicanos" tambien hay sur americanos, whom have their own culture and traditions. It's simplistic to group "mexicanos" but i'm interested in the differences among us.

Back to the conference: I was planning on having a friend present with me as well, but our panel was not accepted, although the organizer did say there was room for more panels. This means 1. there was a mistake (lol) 2. I am going to resubmit the panel and hope it is accepted this time.

I plan on having fun in Austin while I am there. Not crazy fun, but poet fun, such as reading in other venues and relaxing. reading/writing in the park or cafe...etc. The conference in Sept. 22nd-24th although i have to see about work or when I have to attend. I'm assuming I don't have to attend the entirety or the banquet and such. I'll see what i can manage.

So, that's some good news for you. ;-)