What Is Your Lego Cinema Showing?
Readers of this blog may recall that I bought the new Lego modular Palace Cinema on the day it became available to VIP members. I've been working on the model…
Passive Protagonist Syndrome
I'm in an online discussion group for writers that's run by the lovely and brilliant author of the just-published middle-grade fantasy Jinx. Last week her topic was "Passive Protagonist Syndrome,"…
Writing Prompts
I'm nearing the halfway mark in my Portuguese class. We've had one test so far, another next week, and the two-day midterm exam the first week in April. We also…
The Next Big Thing: Rogue Edition
Back in November, when I was in Portugal minding my own business, some authors in Australia created a blog hop called The Next Big Thing. Each author answered ten questions…
The Lesson of “NO”
My friend and VCFA classmate Linda Washington just started her blog with a review of the film The Artist, and it inspired me to write about a film I saw…
The Fix Is in at Little Brick Township
In the two months between graduating from Vermont College with my Masters in Fine Arts and my departure for Portugal, I created four chapters of a graphic novel set in…
Fado de Intervenção
Since 2007 I have served as the assistant host of "Los Vientos del Pueblo," a program of Latin American and Spanish music, poetry, and history that airs every Sunday afternoon…
A New Semester for Language Lessons
Last Wednesday was a lucky day for me. After an e-mail back-and-forth, I decided that the Elementary Portuguese II class at the University at Albany (where my husband teaches) was…
Dining in Lisbon: A Guest Post by Richard Lachmann
My husband's take on the food in Portugal.
Good Food, Bad Food
Coming back to the United States and being shocked by the lack of fresh food and the preponderance of factory-produced snacks.