Transcript of the Marfa Mondays Podcast #16: "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Finding Composition in the Landscape"

Marfa Mondays 16: "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Finding Composition in the Landscape"  was posted as podcast (listen in anytime on podomatic or iTunes) back in January, but the transcript has just been posted here.

I'm aiming to post transcripts of all my podcast interviews, both the Marfa Mondays and Conversations with Other Writers (for the latter, so far, transcripts are available for Rose Mary Salum and Sergio Troncoso). Stay tuned for Marfa Mondays 17, an interview recorded in Fort Davis with Texas historian Lonn Taylor.

> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. My newsletter goes out soon; I welcome you to sign up here.

P.S. If you want to just follow the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project and related posts, check out my other blog, Marfa Mondays.

Cyberflanerie: The Voynich Manuscript, Books, Used Books, Rare Books, and the Future of Bookstores Edition

Totally huge news: The mysterious circa 15th or 16th century Voynich manusucript might be of Mexican origin: Arthur O. Tucker and Rexford H. Talbert make a very interesting case in, of all places, HerbalGram, the Journal of the American Botanical Council, issue 100, 2013, in their article "A Preliminary Analysis of the Botany, Zoology, and Minerology of the Voynich Manuscript." Could the strange, supposedly cipher, language have been simply a dialect of Nahuatl?

To see the Voynich manuscript on-line, check it out at the website of Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. 

Sam Quinones, a most original and intrepid journalist, who hosts the Tell Your True Tale website, has just brought out the Tell Your True Tale: East Los Angeles, in both paperback and Kindle.

Novelist and blogger Carmen Amato has asked Yours Truly and other "influential bloggers" to pontificate on the Future of Bookstores. (For some visuals, try this.)

The Rambling Boy of the Big Bend Sentinel, Lonn Taylor, goes browsing for bargains at used bookstores.

Find books with Bibliopolis.

Here's a cool new venue for selling books: Gumroad. Stay tuned on that front.

More anon.

Heterotopia by Crystal Ann Nelson in Marfa, Texas

Well, I am so delighted to be participating-- with my "Marfa Mondays" Podcasts-- with artist Crystal Ann Nelson for her show, Heterotopia in Marfa, Texas this October 5- November 2, 2013. Real all about at the ApexArt.org website 

http://apexart.org/exhibitions/nelson.php

P.S. The latest Marfa Mondays podcast is an interview with Dallas Baxter, "This Precious Place." Listen in anytime at this link:
http://www.cmmayo.com/marfa/podcast-12-dallas-baxter.html

Next up on the Marfa Mondays Podcasts: Historian John Tutino, who says some very Atom Bomby things about Mexican North America.

COMMENTS

Marfa Mondays Returns with an Interview with Dallas Baxter, "This Precious Place"

A metaphorical asteroid took out the past few months, but (whew) the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project resumes today with podcast #12, an interview with Cenizo Journal's founding editor, Dallas Baxter.

Baxter had just turned over Cenizo Journal to its new owner when I interviewed her last February 2013 in Alpine (about an half hour's drive from Marfa). She had arrived from New York just around the time of 9/11, and as editor of a journal covering the arts and history of the Big Bend / Trans-Pecos region of far West Texas, Baxter has an usually rich experience and perspective. If you wonder how a print publication can make it in this crazy digital age, and what it's like to live in such a remotely beautiful place, listen in. 

There will be 24 podcasts, and the project now extends through 2015.

Listen in to all the podcasts anytime at www.cmmayo.com/marfa

Check out the dedicated Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project Blog

Recent Marfa Mondays Podcasts include

+Cowboy Songs by Cowboys

+Mary Baxter, Painting the Landscape (no, she's not related to Dallas Baxter but they are friends)

+A Visit to Swan House

+Moonlight Gemstones

+A Spell in Chinati Hotsprings

... and more. Listen in any time, free, to all of them here.

COMMENTS? Always welcome.

Marfa, Capital of Quirkiness, on 60 Minutes

In a segment that aired on Sunday, "60 Minutes" calls Marfa, Texas "The Capital of Quirkiness." The sweetly artsy spirit of this remote small town of far West Texas was precisely what appealed to me when I first came across it more than a decade ago-- and what drew me to start writing a book and podcasting about it back in January 2012. But as I delved in, reading and traveling and interviewing a wide variety of artists, scientists, business people and others, I soon realized that there's a far larger, more complex story, or rather, stories, to tell about the Big Bend region. Start with the fact that the Spaniards called it the Despoblado (Empty Quarter), and on pre-20th century maps it appears only vaguely as "La Apachería..." It's one of the earth's "Thin Places," to steal an Irish term-- and with a frightening history, a starkly beautiful swirl of landscape, border country. . . Watch "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" for an idea of what it looks like.

So far, of the projected 24, I've posted 11 podcasts about the region. A few favorites:

Cowboy Songs by Cowboys

A Visit to Swan House

Mary Baxter, Painting the Big Bend

We Have Seen the Lights

Charles Angell in the Big Bend

Listen in to all the podcasts anytime at www.cmmayo.com/marfa

Next podcast: an in-depth interview with Dallas Baxter, founder of Cenizo Journal.

P.S. Follow my other blog, Marfa Mondays Blog, for updates about the podcasts, photos, videos, and more.

Comments

Boquillas is Big News for the Big Bend

After much rumor and anticipation, the Boquillas border crossing into Mexico from far West Texas's Rio Grande Village in the Big Bend National Park has just-- today-- thanks for the tip, Charlie Angell-- reopened for the first time since 9-11. This is one of the most remote places in the Lower 48, and in northern Mexico's state of Coahuila, and though the number of people crossing was always a mere trickle, the border's closing after 9-11 had devastated the Mexican town of Boquillas (which means "little mouths").

>Read more in the San Antonio Express-News

I'll have a lot to say about these remote areas of the US-Mexico border in my "Marfa Mondays" podcasts and in my work-in-progress about far West Texas. Recently I visited the remains of the  long demolished informal bridge over the Rio Grande at Candelaria. There was maybe 15 -20 feet across as I recollect, and I saw paw prints in the mud on both sides, going down from Mexico and coming up into Texas: a coyote, I mean canine, had crossed.

I'm also working on a podcast and an essay about the Big Bend National Park-- one of the most geologically varied and starkly beautiful places I have ever seen. Stay tuned.

The Next Big Thing: A Bloggy Round Robin, from Karren Alenier to Yours Truly on World Waiting for a Dream

Karren Alenier

My amiga the DC-based poet and Gertrude Stein (and Paul & Jane Bowles) expert Karren Alenier tagged me for this blog round robin (I guess one could call it that), wherein one answers a set series of 10 questions about one's own work, then tags few more writers to carry on the following week.

>>Read Karren Alenier's blog post about her fascinating Next Big Thing, The Anima of Paul Bowles, here. (We almost coincided in Paul Bowles' workshop in Tangiers... she in 1982, me in 1983.)

And going back from there, check out previous blogger, Sammy Greenspan of Kattywompus Press, here.

This week, along with me, Karren Alenier tagged one of my favorite poets, Bernadette Geyer, who used her round robin to talk about her forthcoming book, The Scabbard of Her Throat.


Now for Yours Truly:

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

C.M. Mayo on Pinto Canyon Rd, south of Marfa, Texas

1. What is your working title of your book (or story)? 

World Waiting for a Dream: Travels in the Big Bend of Far West Texas

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? 

More than a decade ago I visited this jaw-dropping place and have yearned to explore and write about it ever since. Finally got around to it.

3. What genre does your book fall under? 

Travel memoir / creative nonfiction / literary journalism. 

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

Tommy Lee Jones would have to make an appearance at some point. I wouldn't mind being played by Deanna Durbin bursting out in a rendition of "Grenada!" Just kidding. 

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

In-progress, starts with Cabeza de Vaca, the conquisitor who got lost (really), works its way through Comaches and Apaches, railroads, the Mexican Revolution, the arrival of the wizard of cubes aka Donald Judd, scads more about Mexico and Mexicans than one might expect, OMG the sky, and OMG the sky at night, meditations on dinosaurs, et voila. 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

Agency, but as I'm writing it I'm hosting a podcast series, Marfa Mondays: Exploring Marfa, Texas & Environs in 24 Podcasts 2012-2013. 

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

I'm not there yet. My goal is to finish the podcasts by the end of 2013 and then spend a year on the manuscript. 

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 

It will be similar in structure and style to my previous travel memoir, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions). And that was modeled on a mashup of V.S. Naipaul's A Turn in the South, and works by various other travel writers / literary journalists, among them, Sara Mansfield Taber, Ted Conover, Bruce Chatwin, Ian Frazier, Robert Byron, and Alma Guillermoprieto. 

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

I was born in the furthest west of Far West Texas (that would be El Paso) and I wanted to write about this part of the country that, because I grew up in California, I don't know all that well, at but mainly, it was just a strong intuition that this book needs to be written. And I'm curious enough to stay with it for as long as it takes.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? 

Have a listen to some of the podcasts. Many are interviews with artists and/or about remote and beautiful places such as Chinati Hot Springs. The area is also famous for its ghost lights which were noted by the Apaches more than a century ago. 

>Complete list of "Marfa Mondays" podcasts.

Listen in anytime.

P.S. I'll be reading from the work-in-progress this January 29 for PEN San Miguel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Tagging for next week:

---> Rose Mary Salum

PS I tagged Deborah Batterman, but she declined because she'd already been tagged! Read about her Next Big Thing, Dancing Into the Sun, here.

Source of Inspiration: A Film by Linda Blomqvist

From the website:

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION is a 14-minute documentary portrait about Roland Pantze, a Sami artist living alone in the untouched wilderness of Lapland in northern Sweden. Remote living allows him the undisturbed space for his philosophies on life and a continuous source of inspiration for his art. Roland represents a generation that in its time has transitioned from the ancient to the modern world; lavvus (Sami alternatives to tipis) have become houses, skis have become snowmobiles, and oral tradition the Internet. In this new world he has found his own oasis, and through him we explore the possibility to live a life in another pace and rhythm, in which convenience has been replaced with an unbroken connection with nature. 

Watch it here.

(This reminded me so much of far West Texas's Big Bend.)

Marfa, Texas: What's Next?

Over at National Public Radio's website there's a brief article, Marfa Texas: An Unlikely Art Oasis in a desert Town" by  Neda Ulaby, and link to listen in to the Morning Edition show about Marfa, TX.

As for my own writing and podcasting project, "Marfa Mondays: Exploring Marfa, Texas & Environs in 24 Podcasts," though I'll be covering the fascinating and vibrant art scene there, I'm writing a book -- as yet untitled-- about the Big Bend region. Along the lines of my travel memoir of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, Miraculous Air, I'm delving into the natural, cultural, economic and political history, interviewing all variety of people, and venturing into both obvious and odd pockets of a mind-blogglingly huge area. Rather than write articles as I go (though I may still do that), I've been posting a podcast per month-- and will do so through the end of 2013.

So far (just click on the link to listen in):

Jan 2012 Welcome & Introduction

Feb 2012 Charles Angell in the Big Bend

Mar 2012 Mary Bones on the Lost Art Colony

April 2012 Avram Dumitrescu: An Artist in Alpine

May 2012 Cynthia McAlister: The Buzz on the Bees

June 2012 Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones

July 2012 We Have Seen the Lights (on the Marfa Lights)

What's next? It involves lithium and Elvis and a wee art gallery so remote you have to hike to get to it. Tune in on the 20th of this month. 

Just a few likely future topics: Apaches, Egyptian architecture, astrophysics, rock art, charismatic megafauna.

Want to be alerted when the next podcast is available? Free newsletter here.

Marfa Mondays #6: Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones

Now live: my podcast interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones, the 6th is a series of 24 podcasts about Marfa, Texas and environs apropos of a book-in-progress (as yet untitled).

It was no exaggeration for historian Walter Prescott Webb to describe the Big Bend region as "an earthwreck in which a great section of country was shaken down, turned over, blown up, and set on fire." In short, there is ample evidence of millions of years of dramatic geological activity, with the craggiest of mountains to rocks of all kinds, from mammoth piles of boulders to pebbles. In this interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's magnet for rock hounds, learn about agates, thundereggs, and more. 

>>CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW

Related links to surf:

Moonlight Gemstones

www.moonlightgemstones.com

The etsy.com video, "There's No Place Like Here: Marfa, Texas" 

in which Graybeal makes a brief appearance. 

About the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project:

www.cmmayo.com/marfa

Listen to more Marfa Mondays Podcasts

Geology of Big Bend National Park

On flybigbend's YouTube channel:

Flying over La Junta
Flying over El Solitario



http://www.cmmayo.com/marfa

Marfa Mondays Podcast #5 Cynthia McAlister: The Buzz on the Bees

Listen in here.

Cynthia McAlister is an expert on the bees of West Texas, and as those of you who have been following this blog know, I'm crazy about bees, so this interview is one I was especially delighted be able to do. It was recorded in late January when I was traveling in the area for my book (as yet untitled). I've been back since and will be posting more podcasts-- they're scheduled for the  3rd Monday of every month through the end of 2013-- including one on the remote and restful Chinati Hotsprings and an interview with the owner of Marfa's fascinating Moonlight Gemstones. Stay tuned.

Links to surf:
About the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project

Previous "Marfa Mondays" podcasts:
-->Avram Dumitrescu, An Artist in Alpine (April 16, 2012)
-->Mary Bones on the Lost Art Colony (March 19, 2012)
-->Charles Angell in the Big Bend (February 20, 2012)
-->Introduction and Welcome (January 16, 2012)


More related surfing:

Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute and Nature Center

Cenizo Journal (download for free and read McAlister's article in the bees in the winter 2012 issue)

Farm Stand Marfa Blog, "The Bee Is Not a Machine" and "The Bee, the Blossom and the Beginning of Civilization"

My Mexico City Melissa Garden (mini-clip video)
(a melissa garden is a garden for bees)

An excellent recent article in the San Diego Reader, "Marfa Moments" by W.S. Di Piero

And another in the El Paso Times by Ramón Rentería, "Old-time Marfa Lives on in Memories" 

Many more links to read about Marfa & Environs here.

Marfa Mondays Podcast #4: Avram Dumitrescu, An Artist in Alpine

The monthly Marfa Mondays podcast is live: an interview with Avram Dumitrescu, an artist whose paintings have been featured in "Marfans: Art from the Plateau" at the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery in Odessa, and also showcased in Cenizo Journal. A native of the Channel Islands and raised in Belfast, Dumitrescu earned a bachelor's degree and Masters in Applied Arts from the University of Ulster at Belfast. He is married to journalist Megan Wilde. For more about Dumitrescu, and to view his portfolio, visit www.onlineavram.com.

Recorded in late January 2012. (About 36 minutes)

>>Click here to listen in.

Brutal Journey: Cabeza de Vaca and the Epic First Crossing of America by Paul Schneider

It's peculiar that Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca is not better known. That old saw, "truth is stranger than fiction" applies in his case, or at least his version of events, which one might as well believe because the fantastic fact is, Cabeza de Vaca did reappear in northern Mexico in late April of 1536, one of only four survivors of the 400 who participated in the Narváez expedition to Florida in March of 1528. He left a memoir, translated as Castaways, and based on this, as well as other documents and archaelogical research about the peoples he encountered, Paul Schnieder has written a jaw-stopping story that reads like a novel. It's only January, but without a doubt, Brutal Journey will go on my top 10 books read list for 2012. A few links for surfers:

Paul Schneider's website

The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca 1542, translated by Fanny Bandelier, 1905

Nicholás Echeverría's movie, Cabeza de Vaca, on Netflix

A bit about Guillermo Sheridan's screenplay for that same movie

Angell Expeditions, owned by Charlie Angell, expert wilderness guide, who is very knowledgable about the areas Cabeza de Vaca visited in the Big Bend region (La Junta de los Ríos and northwest).


UPDATE : Listen to my interview with Charles Angell.