COLONIAL OR POST-COLONIAL?

Dogs barking downstairs, loud voices, someone outside the door sweeping, phone ringing, today will not be a quiet day like yesterday.  I can just see it.  And in the afternoon Claire arrives.  Which is great.  Yesterday I was alone all day, writing, reading, eating, until the evening when I went out to dinner with a few new friends.

It was so quiet yesterday. No one around. The dog was quiet. I did the laundry and worked peacefully.  I suppose I should just give in and go with the flow.  That's what life is about.

The dinner people consisted of an English woman who lives here, a New Yorker who lives here part-time, a Mexican man, and a young woman from the Bay Area who lives in Oaxaca part-time. First they told me to meet them at Fenicia, a Lebanese restaurant, but when I got there the place was closed for the day.  I thought they were trying to ditch me.  I called the young woman.  I know, it's closed, she said, we are at Cafe Monet.  

Oh, ok, I'll be there in two minutes. Cafe Monet is a few doors down from Fenicia.  Owned by Bill, an American, is one of the gringo favorites.  They were sitting in the back.  

I shook hands with each one and sat down, ordered a beer.  They were laughing, seemingly about private jokes.  But I didn't mind.  Eventually I ordered spaghetti a la bolognese and joined in the conversation.  The young Mexican man and I spoke about the invasion of the gringos.  He said that in a few years they will own everything and we'll be working for them more than we are now.  I am very intrigued about the feelings and opinions of the locals towards the foreigners - mostly North Americans and Canadians.  They mix very little.  Very, very little.  

It feels colonial, someone told me.  From the first time I came here in 2012 I've felt an uneasiness about the overwhelming presence of the people from the North.  I can't explain it.  It's different from being immigrants or tourists or visitors.  And one of the things that bothers me most is when I hear the North Americans disparage the locals for being always late, or disorganized, or inefficient.  If anything goes wrong, if you complain about something, the answer is always: This is Mexico.Get used to it.  What does that mean?  I find that offensive.  And I say so.  

Then you have those who patronize everything and everybody.   I've met many men and women who come for a visit and decide to stay because It's a magical place. Really. And the locals are so kind, and easy going.  However, very few try to learn the language and communicate with the San Miguelenses.  They speak to clerks and taxi drivers and cleaning ladies and waiters in English.  Are you kidding me? I want to tell them.  Make an effort, learn to speak Spanish.  If you want to live here, shouldn't you learn the language?  And I remind them of the big stink North Americans make up North when an immigrant doesn't speak English.  

Come to San Miguel this February!

Concurrent Workshop, Session #1: Thursday, February 14  9:00 – 10:30 AM

CRAFTING STORIES FROM REAL LIFE: Literary Nonfiction

Literary or creative nonfiction is the fastest growing literary genre.   The telling of facts in a creative manner entertains readers, surprises them, and teaches them something about real life in the process.

Creative nonfiction walks a fine line between fiction and truth with style and confidence.  Create stories that read like fiction but are based on real life.

In this workshop you will learn how to write a gripping opening sentence, how to use dialogue and bring characters alive, how to incorporate research to add depth to your writing, and the essential techniques of successful and interesting creative nonfiction writing.

We will also look at examples of creative nonfiction from an array of authors and study them to learn about voice, style, and structure as we produce our own essays by the end of the session.

Beatriz Badikian-Gartler’s publications includeMapmaker Revisited: New and Selected Poems; Old Gloves: A 20^th Century Saga; travel essays in The New York Times, The Winfield Post, New Directions in Travel Writing, and others. She has also published short stories, film reviews, poems, and personal memoir essays in journals and anthologies in the United States and abroad.

Badikian-Gartler holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been teaching for the last 25 years at various institutions of higher learning, such as, Northwestern University, Loyola University, Roosevelt University, Columbia College, University of Wisconsin, Newberry Library, and others.

Her writing has won several awards, including a nomination for a Pushcart Prize in 1993, a Time Inc. fellowship, and grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Chicago Office of Fine Arts.  She is a popular performer in the Chicago area and lectures often on women’s issues, art, and literature.

In 2000 Badikian-Gartler was selected as one of the “One-Hundred Women Who Make a Difference in Chicago” by Today’s Woman magazine.  She is also an Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar.

Come to San Miguel next February!