Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized, Writing

Beyond the B*itch Session: Writing and Motherhood

Mona Alvarado Frazier

writing in car-gettyimages

Writing and motherhood is something thousands of writer’s experience. I can hear several of you saying , “…been there, done that,” or “doing that,” this minute.

One of the AROHO panel discussions I missed, because there were so many to attend, was “Beyond the B*itch Session: A Candid Conversation About Writing and Motherhood.” Heard it was bitchin’, lol. (Bear with me I need a laugh today).

Although I missed out on this panel, a fella AROHO sister, Tania, posted about the session, including each panel presenter’s topic. Tania Pryputniewicz describes herself as “A poet by night, by day I find great joy in teaching Transformative Blogging and Poetry of Motherhood and Fatherhood.” Here are the posts:

Barbara Rockman, writes a guest post at Tania’s “Mother, Writer, Mentor.” I love when Barbara says, “I wrote our lives. I became motherpoet.” Here’s her post: Mother Writer: Boon of the Parallel Journey,

Mandy Alyss Brown wrote “How dismal a world is it when our peers or mentors shake their heads at swelling wombs and pity the mothers.” Creator: Rejecting theMotherhood vs. Writing Dichotomy.

Nicelle Davis shares poetry to her mother in: No Love is Singular: Confessions of a Poet Daughter.

Believe it or not, my YA kids are bickering and I’m about to throw a chancla (flipflop) at them, so I’ll be brief. Write on.

Chingonas, Strong Women, Uncategorized, Writing

A Community of Writers

Mona Alvarado Frazier

On my first evening here, I stood outside of my casita at 11:30 p.m., and waited for the Perseid showers to jet across the indigo New Mexican sky. The big dipper appeared to balance itself on a deep purple mesa in front of me. In that moment, I felt the celestial showers celebrated the end of my first day at Ghost Ranch in Abiqui, New Mexico.

My Casita at Ghost Ranch
My Casita at Ghost Ranch

In this moment I am grateful. I am in awe of the experience I will be blessed with during this week. Imagine, a community of 100 women from all over the world gathered here to write, share, listen. By that very act, the community creates, inspires, enlightens.

There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, right now. I’m on my second day of a weeklong retreat. Ghost Ranch is a magical place, not only because of its surrounding red and creme striped cliffs, purple mesas, and huge trees, but because of who is here-a community of writers and poets brought together by the A Room Of Her Own (AROHO) Foundation.

Imagine the visual beauty, while walking to the dining hall on a dusty path, while rabbits scurry and deer graze on the surrounding hills. Where the scent of sage, hay, and clean air visit.  While a rainbow leads the way.

rainbow over Ghost Ranch
rainbow over Ghost Ranch

After breakfast, we come together and hear soul touching poetry and words that sink into our bodies, lift us up or carry us away. More than once we feel the presence of strong women (bien chignonas), not in their personalities, but because of their passion for what they do. We carry journals and laptops, pens and little notebooks, jotting down words that fly around us, hoping to capture the feelings and presence of this experience. Others take photos, sketch or use watercolors to capture the essence of this place.

It’s good to be in community.