“. . . whatever /
returns from oblivion returns/
to find a voice.”
- from “The Wild Iris,” by LOUISE GLÜCK
I grapple with these subjects partly on the basis of life experiences, times I doubted who I was or lost the thread, even, of my own story. But through all my questioning, I’ve come to a fuller understanding, I hope, of what it means to be human – all our flaws, vulnerabilities and triumphs included in an almost impossible mix.
My current screenplay, ¡Baila, Corazón!, is set to Rock n’ Roll and Disco in early 1980s Mexico City. It tells the story of Flora, a 19-year-old dance prodigy coached by her mother, her search for a father figure after news the father she never knew has died, and her willingness to risk everything in a bid for autonomy by crossing the Rio Grande.
My blog, Third Place Cafe Stories, is an ongoing project relating small moments of connection — stories shared across languages, countries, and cafe tables. I write and post tiny true tales from third places, your chosen havens away from home or work. Whether you’re an armchair traveler or a digital nomad, whether you seek a window to the world or refuge from it, these spaces are what you choose to make of them. And the stories they tell are what I hope to share with you.
I’m a bilingual essayist, screenwriter and storyteller. My personal essays appear in both English and Spanish-language publications such as Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, the Mexican lit mag El Golem, and the cultural section of the Mexican newspaper Milenio.
As a writer, I love to make people laugh. But I’m drawn to dark subject matter. Themes such as psychological manipulation, sadomasochism, Shakespearean kinds of betrayals – the same dynamics that mold the moralistic masks described in the nineteenth century by Nietzsche, those that form the core of some of Shakespeare’s most indelible characters. Think Iago in Othello, King Claudius in Hamlet.
When our lives become confusing, do we have to remain forgotten, even to ourselves? I believe that by reclaiming our narratives, we recover ourselves. This mission is at the heart of my work, whether lyrical or humorous, fiction or memoir, flash prose or screenplay.
