Special Events
All in the Family
This year’s family reunion had a wonderful surprise: pictures of the original twelve Strange siblings, especially my guardian angel since I’ve been traveling around the world and living in Austin, my Papa, Floyd B. Strange. And I was especially moved to see my grandmother, who married into the Strange family, was the first Avon lady … Continue reading
Lunch with Amiri Baraka
There are some fabulously creative people here in Austin and occasionally, several of them get together and do wonderful, enlightening things. One such occasion was the special lunch that I attended this past Thursday at 11th Street Station. For the second weekend in a row, the Black Arts Movement festival had lined up a selection … Continue reading
Graduation Day 2012
Usually I only attend a high school graduation if there are a significant number of seniors who I know are walking. After teaching at the same high school for the past three years, my advisory class has finally grown up and walked across the stage. For some seniors, they had one of my science classes … Continue reading
What’s in a Name? Austin Writers Roulette
http://www.facebook.com/events/303758879712204/ Back in December 2010 when I self-published my first novel, Tribe of One, I naively thought that after seven years in the making, the book would be easily promoted through email, blog and readings. I enthusiastically bought audio equipment, talked with my friends, Monica and Gustavo, at Esquina Tango about hosting my reading debut, “Cupid’s Naughty Secrets,” … Continue reading
2012 Batizado e Troca de Corda
For most capoeira groups, the yearly batizado e troca de corda is their biggest event. A batizado is a capoeirista’s official induction or baptism into the Brazilian culture of training capoeira. A troca de corda is a change of cords, going to the next highest one as recognition for all the training that a capoeirista as undergone … Continue reading
Setting Things in Motion
Two things that I set in motion for the upcoming batizado e troca de corda are printing up Tribe of One T-shirts and getting a credit card swiper for my smartphone. Both endeavors have had hidden challenges. First of all, the original credit card processing company I wanted to go with would have given a … Continue reading
Living My Dream
So I first got the heads up that I needed to exit the teaching profession the first year I taught in Austin, TX. That conclusion came to a shock to me since I’d never thought that I would ever need to exit the classroom until I retired. I’d taken so much time researching where I wanted to live … Continue reading
Brazilian Music Weekend
By an extraordinary mix of schedules, I spent the better part of this weekend immersed in some genre of Brazilian music. One of my friends and fellow capoeiristas discovered that a Brazilian band was scheduled to play at one of my favorite dance venues this past Friday. Since that was the day grades closed for the … Continue reading
Spring Tango Festival 2012
One of the lessons I learned two years ago was that attending dance workshop blitzes only left me feeling like a zombie, too pooped to enjoy the big dance party on Saturday night. So, for the past two dance festivals, I just skipped all the torture and just partied at the Saturday night hoopla! Since … Continue reading
2012 Capoeira Evolucao Fundraiser
For months, I’ve suspected that my capoeira group had become significantly better ever since we moved into our new studio last year. Initially, we all swelled with pride at how beautiful our training facility was: newly installed wooden floor, freshly painted walls the colors of the Brazilian flag and featuring a mural of Mestre Bimba, … Continue reading