Special Events
Opportunistic Parasites
In a sick way, scammers and con artists are pretty good psychologists. If only they’d use their skills for the forces of good…. For my second novel, The Adventures of Infinity & Negativa, I painted 24 oil canvases to illustrate the story. Perhaps, in retrospect, it was a cumbersome way to illustrate a book, but … Continue reading
Welcome Back to the 21st Century
February 15th through the 21st will forever live among my select memories as “The Lost Week of 2021.” Karma also kicked my ass. I no longer enjoy most time travel movies, so the sudden loss of all the amenities that contribute to life in the 21st century, fetched my daily survival back to the 19th … Continue reading
Snow Apocalypse
Presidents’ Day: Monday, February 15th, 2021 My battery-operated alarm clock sounded at 6:30 AM. Presidents’ Day: Monday, February 15th, 2021 My battery-operated alarm clock sounded at 6:30 AM. I blindly slept walk to my bathroom, flipping on the light. Except there wasn’t any light. Just the empty gesture of moving the light switch. Even in my morning brain … Continue reading
2021 Inauguration
Never has an inauguration been so riveting since when Obama was first elected. Back then, I lived and taught at an American school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In order not to miss the historic moment, I got permission from the high school principal to organize an assembly just so I could watch it. This time around, … Continue reading
Snow Day?
Usually when I advise someone to “take a picture, it’ll last longer,” I’m being sarcastic. This time though, I was being practical. Austin normally gets ice storms and flooding rains. So, when I prepared the living room for my daily virtual yoga class and witnessed a light dusting of snow, I figured it would melt … Continue reading
Im-Peach-Mint Cocktail
On January 6th, some Christians celebrated Three Kings Day, to commemorate when the three wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus. I’ve never observed this celebration, but I thought it was fitting that the two democratic Georgian senators, Warnock and Ossoff, officially won their elections on this day. There were many factors that led to … Continue reading
2020 Capital City Black Film Festival
Last year, I volunteered for the CCBFF for the first time because I had never heard of this festival before. This year my very first short film, There’s Always Something, had been selected to participate. With giddy excitement, I experienced the behind the scenes activities of being selected, starting with participating in a prerecorded panel … Continue reading
On Friday the 13th
Exactly eight months ago on Friday, March the 13th, 2020, the president finally stopped denying the truth: we were indeed in the midst of a pandemic rather than a hoax. So, I hoped that he’d once again, lift his veil of denial to concede that he’d lost the election. After all, it was Friday, November … Continue reading
Halloween 2020
Given the fact that half of my closet is costumes, I could have easily recycled a past character. Yet, the past four years, culminating in the existential crisis time period known as “2020,” inspired me to pull together my art and costuming supplies to devise a new character: Ms. Information the Pseudoscientist. I decorated my … Continue reading
Original Tales of Terror
Here’s another fine example of showing up being half the battle. I submitted the one and only spooky poem I’ve ever written, which was about my hat. My submission was supposed to go into a box with other submissions from members of my woman-identified film group. The writer of the randomly drawn submission would represent … Continue reading