Letters to the Moon....

Hello everyone,  Another year has come to an end. I do not know about you, but I am ready for 2020. As eager as I am to begin the year ahead, I must pause and share the lessons I learned this year. Here then are the lessons I've learned from 2019: -I had never heard of a Super Blood Wolf Moon http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2019/01/ -It helps me to write to Luna to gather my thoughts http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2019/03/dear-luna-march-2019.html -We cannot know one another, or come to know one another, without dialogue. People do not come with barcodes. letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2019/03/dialogue-part-one-barcodes.html -The challenge, and charge, about dialogue is engaging in dialogue with those you disagree with http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2019/03/dialogue-part-two-charge.html -I have not watched a lot of movies of late. That being said, I love writing movie reviews! http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2019/03/flick-picks.html -I am a convert to the Ko

Hello everyone,                                                                                                                          Happy Christmas to you all! I hope this Christmas missive finds you well. The past year has been a roller coaster ride, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, as well as some stomach churning moments. However, I have survived and am here to share my news of the year.             The first high point of the year was the opening of the new library. We closed our doors on Saturday, April 27, and held a going away party. Throughout the month of May we worked on getting moving the old collection, as well as adding thousands of new materials to our new collection. Opening day of the new library was June 1. The community welcomed us with open arms, with close to 1,100 people in attendance. It was a fun party and a truly amazing day.             Another high point in my year was being chosen to serve on the library’s LGBTQ services committee. Be

Lucky Number Seven Or Filling the Clock Hello all, I have exciting news to share with you. I have just published my latest book, “The Written Word." This is my fifth book published in English, and my seventh book published to date, with two previous titles published in Spanish. In this instance, I suppose you could call it my lucky number seven. Life has thrown me some curve balls this year. I am very late in publishing this book. However,  I give myself a year to publish each book. I knew that, if I could get it published by New Year’s Eve, I’d be in good stead. I’m already at work on next year’s book, title upcoming. My first book, “I am Hope”, was published in 2014. It surprises me that now, five years later, I am publishing my seventh book. Back when I was a writer dreaming of publishing my work, I started with one book. It literally took baby steps to get the job done. The possibilities loomed ahead of me; for months I was plagued w

“Connection is key.” I have been feeling so disconnected of late. Have you ever had that feeling? Caught up with life and work and not able to keep in touch with anyone, or work on that project you’ve been meaning to do? I’ve been so busy at work of late that I haven’t had time to dedicate to my writing.  I have several pieces that haven’t made it here yet. Part of why I have been feeling so disconnected was that I deleted my social media apps from my phone. After watching “The Great Hack” on Netflix, about the abuses of Cambridge Analytica, which I will be blogging about in another blog piece, I erased every phone application that would gather user data on me and or listen to me when the phone is turned on. Trailer for “The Great Hack”: It is ironic to think of life as disconnected. Think about it: with all of the social media networks that exist in the world, we are the most interconnected population that the Earth has ever known. Any person in in any corn

There is a word for everything in the human experience. Well, almost everything. I find myself at a loss.  I know there is a word for what I am experiencing, yet  I have not discovered it as of yet. Have you ever finished a book and then felt a void in your spirit, a sort of emptiness, from not having another book to read? Many readers have experienced this from time to time. Working in a library, I hear this a great deal. I have experienced this feeling from time to time; however, as a writer, I experience this feeling when I do not have a notebook of blank paper to write in.  I try to keep at least one notebook in my home for my writing. I write letters, grocery lists, poems, essays, random thoughts that no one will ever see.  I recently found myself without a notebook to write in. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me; in those times, it felt as if  I had a cloth wrapped around my mouth, which rendered me silent.  I don’t like to experience this at all. As such, I try to

Life has been upside down of late. Ever since the accident, nothing is the same. My life has been a comedy of errors. I have been in a perpetual state of limbo. Down is up. Black is white. Tuesday’s Wednesday. (A “Xanadu” movie reference.) Everything has been upside down for me. Everything is out of sorts. So many things have no resolution. I feel I’m walking on unstable ground which undulates beneath me, sabotaging my every step. Everything is in a state of limbo. Things need to resolve themselves. I need to have resolution. In the days ahead, I look to resolution. The puzzle pieces need to come together. I crave for this, I yearn for this. Things will not be complete without it. I will not be complete without it. I need this. I need to be made whole. Resolution is coming. It's a matter of time. I’m nervous yet excited for its arrival. I look forward to the relief and release which comes from resolution. ©

There is a unique celestial event happening tonight: a Black New Super Moon. What is a black moon you might ask? It is not a moon honoring Harry Potter’s godfather, Sirius Black. Today is J.K. Rowling’s birthday, and Harry Potter’s birthday as well. Happy Birthday Harry and J.K.! A “black moon” is when there is a second “new moon” of the month; it is a rare occurrence, happening only every 32 months. A “super moon” is when the moon is closer to the Earth, making the moon appear larger in size, and often brighter. It happens every 12 or 13 moons. A “new moon” is defined as: "the first lunar phase, when the sun and moon are aligned and the sun and the earth are on opposite sides of the moon."  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/black-super-new-moon-2019-will-able-see-lunar-event-uk/ image source:  https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/30/us/black-moon-trnd-scn/index.html In researching a black moon, the phenomenon will not be visible at night: “During t

Life can change in an instant. One moment you are going about your day, not a care in the world, and then wham!  A sudden impact can send you reeling. A few weeks ago, I was in a car crash in which a semi-truck ran over me. I cannot divulge the details of what happened that day, as there is an ongoing investigation. While it might sound completely melodramatic, it is no exaggeration when I tell you that I could have been killed in that crash. The day of the crash I was working a later shift than I normally do, to cover the work schedule for co-workers on vacation.  I was not supposed to be where I was that time of day; I would have normally  been at work. Yet something-or someone-knew where I was, and spared my life. After the crash, there were a number of people who stopped to see if I was alright. I confirmed that I was fine, and that the police were on their way. I thanked everyone that inquired about my well-being; it was heart-warming after such an awful orde

The Nazi rallies held in Charlottesville, North Carolina in 2017 horrified the nation. White men marched on the city, carrying tiki torches, chanting Nazi slogans, spreading their hateful rhetoric of white supremacy. Nothing like that had ever happened in my lifetime. Never in the history of the United States had the Nazis had such a rally, on such a national platform. Or so I thought. I saw a movie recently which reveals this to be entirely untrue.  I normally post movie reviews on my movie blog, "Flick Picks" https://ehflickpicks.blogspot.com/ Yet this movie demands to be known. “A Night at the Garden” is archival footage from an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, held on February 20, 1939. An early scene of the film shows the marquee of the Garden, which reads “Pro American Rally.”  It was, in actuality,  a Nazi rally. There were over 20,000 people in attendance that night. They were there to support the “German American Bu

Fifty years ago the history of the nation changed forever. Change came in the most unlikely of places-a bar. Namely, the Stonewall Inn. I had never heard of the Stonewall Inn until President Barack Obama referred to it in his second inauguration speech: “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall, just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone, to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth." https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/01/22/169984209/stonewall-explaining-obamas-historic-gay-rights-reference Upon hearing the President’s words, I began to research what the Stonewall was. Near Christopher and Gay Streets in N