BTW, Ramu was an excellent teacher — just one correction, Ramu: What you and Bella called an ocho is actually a back volcado. No big deal — names don’t alter the step.

Probably because my last time dancing was such a major high – both literally and figuratively – I was able to go this long without tango. On August 4, I gave a presentation on tango, my book and the dance, to a marvelous audience of more than fifty in Truckee. The Squaw Valley Institute sponsored me (as they do many other authors). Naturally, I had to show the dance, so I invited Michael Wheeler to be my audacious partner. He is a talented tanguero with an unquenchable exuberance and optimistic outlook on life and tango—a combination to prize highly. He is from Santa Cruz and teaches, DJs, and like me is generally a tango missionary.

Michael (with Deborah Kelly, right, above) made a video of our dancing and the presentation, which I’ll post at a later date. Before I even said a word about tango, Michael and I danced for the audience to a fun version of Hernando’s Hideaway. We chose this music for its easy recognition by the uninitiated and because we wanted to start off “showy.”  Then I read from my book and we showed them how tango in  a Buenos Aires milonga would look–tight and close and not so fancy. We danced to Carlos DiSarli, my faovrite romantic composer. By the end of the evening, people were popping out of their seats with questions—really good ones. They were engaged and I felt the same edification of connection that I feel in dance or in writing. We found a few passionate tangueras in the audience who were more than willing to dance with Michael, thus showing the audience different styles of this obsession. (That’s Michael with Mary Hopf below). Michael worked hard and under challenging conditions:

We were close to 8,000 feet in elevation and the floor was indoor carpeting. Despite those challenges, we feel we converted more than one soul. I sold more than a dozen books. I kept making the point, that you could tango anywhere. Even in a prison cell—the concrete ones, or the metaphoric ones we all create. That is the single most stunning beauty of this dance.

Three days later, on August 7, I flew to Newark, NJ. My mother had fallen yet again (last time was ten months before). This time she broke her elbow and had surgery with pins and plates added to her bones. She is mending well now and what to do about her living situation is a major preoccupation for me and my nine siblings, scattered throughout the world.

After spending time with sisters—Grace (Union City), Donna (Nairobi), and Terry (Belmar, NJ) and some high school chums, we drove to Stevensville, MD, where Mom lives. She was still in rehab and they wanted to keep her two weeks. I told them, I was taking her home after one week. They agreed. She goes down like a kewpie doll. And rebounds (so far, even at 88), like one of those nursery toys with ballast in their bottoms and all hot air up top.  I have been with her since shortly after getting here in all her glory and gory moments. Today, (she doesn’t know it yet) but we are about to start up her tango therapy—which I gave to her last year, last break, also (See Tango and mi madre). This afternoon her PT will come and approve my methodology. That’s a big word for nothing more than having mom hear tango music, watch me (and Oscar) dance, or dance in place with me. It is I, as much as she, who needs the embrace of tango – the gentle moving to music in sync with other. Nothing to it. But it’s like breathing, you have to do it.

Did I mention Oscar the Grouch is visiting? Yes. His son is coming in December to work for the national park concession, Evelyn Hill, at Ellis Island and Liberty Park. So Oscar is scouting out the details for him. And visiting me. He is a big help under the circumstances. And the very oxygen I need.

Sunday, August 29, 2010 – I managed to get away again and attend the al fresco Milonga a la Libertad in Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C. It was awesome. I could see the Capitol shining one block distant and feel the heat of some 50 couples dancing Argentine tango. It was sultry hot and very dewy. But I felt patriotic and Argentine all at once. I didn’t mind the stone plaza, though I did hear many complaints.

Two points I’d like to make before giving you a link to some of the material I’ve begun to transcribe:

1. Tango is different from other types of dancing for reasons that are definable and some that are not. You’ll hear about the pauses, the silence, the partners not speaking, not thinking, not looking at each other. The embrace is soft and sliding and so intimate, it’s as if the two partners are undergoing cell-fusion. The music has no fixed rhythmic pattern. The dance has a simple structure but is open to infinite improvisation (think of how few elements there are in the universe relative to the infinite ways they differentiate matter).

2. There is no such thing as tango. It only exists when two or more people agree there is such a thing as tango. So, if your divining rod to the chi, divine, Samadhi, god or god-ness, one-ness, bliss, or that zone is knitting, playing the accordion, surfing, cooking, hiking, or whatever, you need not change course. Unless you’d like to try another gateway to the same place.

Link to my notes from the Tango Therapy Conference.

Tango

Sunday, August 1
10 am – 5 pm

Anyone who writes, professionally or informally, experiences how it taps a different brain from the everyday one. Invariably, the writing space, entered as in meditation, allows loss and submerged pain to float to surface. Writers often face these feelings, along with the joyful ones, as signage to meaningful, redemptive stories, taking refuge in the practice. Consider this daylong workshop, a safe haven for personal writing—about loss or gain. We will write, chat, and work on crafting your precious material, with occasional personalized “soft” critiques.

Participants are invited to contact Camille by email if they have questions about the class: ocaramia@earthlink.net.

Fee: $70; $63 members; $56 limited income. Registration: Please call the City Center Office at 415.863.3136.

ANSWERS TO THE MANY QUESTIONS YOU’VE ASKED:

You needn’t be professionally writing. This is creative non-fiction – but if you want to write fiction (I do both), this workshop will still be helpful (there’s a thin semi-permeable border between fiction and non-fiction). If you want to want to work in poetry or poetic prose or other forms, experimental or conventional, that is great. They will all work well.

We will do exercises to prime the pump and to help you focus your story. And there will be periods of writing. The writing about “loss” is merely one of the boundless “dharma gates” into writing. It’s a great one, especially if your orientation is Zen-like. My experience working with individuals in past workshops has shown me that, whether they subscribe to Zen Buddhism or not,  invariably most of the “energy” of creating, of art, of writing is around real or perceived loss. This is not to ignore the wonderful trumpeting of the joys of life, but no matter what your religion or philosophy, we all are bound by the same profound message of ultimate loss/death. Or impermanence as we perhaps too glibly call it in Buddhism.

You need not share any of your writing – I work with the group and with each participant one on one in private, and that is what I mean by “soft critique.” My role is to help you see the ways to craft your art – you have the art already.

As they say in 12-step meetings – what you say or show here, stays here. So, I feel bound to protect your privacy.

Laptaps are more than welcome – I’ll also have paper and pens for everyone.

Any other questions, email me: ocaramia@earthlink.net

Sunday, August 1
10 am – 5 pm

Anyone who writes, professionally or informally, experiences how it taps a different brain from the everyday one. Invariably, the writing space, entered as in meditation, allows loss and submerged pain to float to surface. Writers often face these feelings, along with the joyful ones, as signage to meaningful, redemptive stories, taking refuge in the practice. Consider this daylong workshop, a safe haven for personal writing—about loss or gain. We will write, chat, and work on crafting your precious material, with occasional personalized “soft” critiques.

Participants are invited to contact Camille by email if they have questions about the class: ocaramia@earthlink.net.

Fee: $70; $63 members; $56 limited income. Registration: Please call the City Center Office at 415.863.3136.

ANSWERS TO THE MANY QUESTIONS YOU’VE ASKED:

You needn’t be professionally writing. This is creative non-fiction – but if you want to write fiction (I do both), this workshop will still be helpful (there’s a thin semi-permeable border between fiction and non-fiction). If you want to want to work in poetry or poetic prose or other forms, experimental or conventional, that is great. They will all work well.

We will do exercises to prime the pump and to help you focus your story. And there will be periods of writing. The writing about “loss” is merely one of the boundless “dharma gates” into writing. It’s a great one, especially if your orientation is Zen-like. My experience working with individuals in past workshops has shown me that, whether they subscribe to Zen Buddhism or not,  invariably most of the “energy” of creating, of art, of writing is around real or perceived loss. This is not to ignore the wonderful trumpeting of the joys of life, but no matter what your religion or philosophy, we all are bound by the same profound message of ultimate loss/death. Or impermanence as we perhaps too glibly call it in Buddhism.

You need not share any of your writing – I work with the group and with each participant one on one in private, and that is what I mean by “soft critique.” My role is to help you see the ways to craft your art – you have the art already.

As they say in 12-step meetings – what you say or show here, stays here. So, I feel bound to protect your privacy.

Laptaps are more than welcome – I’ll also have paper and pens for everyone.

Any other questions, email me: ocaramia@earthlink.net

However, I can recall for years saying to myself, “I don’t care if I ever publish, I write for myself.” And it was true and there was a certain purity and freedom in that early writing that, however unpublishable, I love and treasure. And long for, at times.

So, yes, I encourage you to write without thought to who will publish your work. To feel the process, no, I mean to lose yourself to the practice so much so that you look up and forget where you are, who you are. And you know it’s good.

And then, later, when you have activated this autonomic writing system—where it’s like breath—consider the so-called markets where you might publish and find a readership. Then be prepared for editors with notions, who often know less than you, write less than you, but who are totally necessary and worthy of being listened to. You want to learn to dialogue, to discourse with your writing, so you will have to answer what seem like silly questions about your meaning and intent. And over explain things.

And, if you do it with scorn and cynicism, you will not grow as a writer, you will not advance. But if you take to heart this criticism, you will be irritable and annoyed for a while, but then you will see that there is a way—as with explaining things to children—to keep some purity and make things plain and palatable for an audience with a one-size-fits-all sensibility.

So, no, you won’t perish if you don’t publish. Au contraire, the risk of perishing your greatest thoughts and insights is higher when you start to speak to the tamed masses. But it’s worth the challenge.

Double or nothing

by Camille Cusumano

I wanted to gaze at the forest-clad shoreline of San Juan, the second largest island in Washington’s archipelago, the San Juans, from a single kayak. But no local outfit would take me out in a single. They’re less stable than double kayaks and the prospect of a client capsizing in the gelid water is a liability concern. So, I chose San Juan Safaris because they were the friendliest outfitter on the 20-mile-long island and they boasted naturalists as guides.

At Roche Harbor on the isle’s north end, I met my group, eager to glide far out on Haro Strait. I was matched up with Russell, a man who promised to be my ideological opposite—a software engineer for big oil in Houston. But except for a couple of quirks (his camera, my piloting), we got along. It was his first time kayaking, so I took the helm, which in a kayak is in back working the rudder. To go left, you push on the left foot pedal and vice versa. Simple. If steering is all you do. Add paddling, conversing, scouting wildlife, and my piloting goes to hell. I’d push on the left pedal to go right, then overcorrect only to lose more ground—or sea, as it were. For the first half hour, I apologized profusely to Russell, then decided this was no way to spend the next three hours.

There was too much to see. Nature lovers flock to the San Juans for their clean wilderness and teeming wildlife. When I wasn’t inside my head trying to coordinate left, right, dip that paddle, I saw tide pools brimming with a rich stew of sea stars, anemones, sculpins, sea lettuce. I saw pretty red jellyfish float by and a Steller’s sea lion. Birds charted course overhead, including a kingfisher and cormorants that looked as if they were doing wind sprints before takeoff. We didn’t see the big attraction, the orcas that migrate through in search of a salmon dinner, but we spotted many harbor seals. Russell wanted to photograph every last one—with a disposable Kodak—”to show my wife.” Each time a seal poked its head through the glassy strait, Russell pulled out the disposable and aimed, mostly into the sun. The seals, often indistinguishable from bladders of bull kelp, invariably vanished before Russell clicked.

I spotted an eagle in a Douglas fir and was pleased. Russell, who had never seen a bald eagle, was apoplectic. He swiveled—with camera—in such haste we might have capsized, but for my, at last, fancy paddle work. As we glided back toward Roche Harbor, only the guide and I saw the great blue heron taking flight like a prehistoric leftover. I didn’t tell Russell. He had wasted enough film.

San Juan Safaris, (800) 450-6858, www.sanjuansafaris.com, leads whale-watching and kayaking trips April through October. From Seattle, fly Harbor Air, (800) 359-3220, to Friday Harbor, then taxi 12 miles to Roche Harbor. Or take a scenic floatplane, Kenmore Air, (800) 543-9595, from Seattle’s Lake Union to Roche Harbor, where you will find lodging, including modern condos and the historic Hotel De Haro, (800) 451-8910; a bustling marina with shops; an excellent restaurant, McMillin’s, (800) 451-8910; gardens; and the fascinating ruins of a historic lime quarry.

I watched Sarah take the cure along Big Sur’s Pine Ridge Trail.For several years, her husband Arnie—my cousin—and I have backpacked into the mountains of California. For a week my cousin drops his corporate persona and becomes a regular backwoods guy. Sarah lives each trip through the opportunistic caterpillar, stray duff, and woodsmoke that hitchhike home on Arnie’s gear.

One recent summer weekend, Sarah agreed to a three-day go at this activity that transforms her husband into a paragon of serenity. I chose for us the Pine Ridge Trail, reached along the bluff-jumbled Big Sur coast. On this popular trail, Sarah would have lots of company as we traversed redwood-shaded glens and fern-filled gullies, held our ear to the roar of Big Sur River’s cascades, gazed across a canyon to chaparral-mantled Mt. Manuel, admired skeletal outcroppings bulging from the Rubenesque Santa Lucias.

Winter had been wet, so backcoun-try river and stream beds would be refreshingly swollen. And the plum: Sykes Hot Springs, tucked deep in the Ventana Wilderness. All this to distract from our labor up and down the trail’s unrelentingly steep grades.

I knew we were in trouble the first mile when Sarah said, “So, this is what you do all day, just walk?” I quickly pointed to lingering wild iris, the carpet of redwood sorrel creeping under its namesake tree, a surprise pile of coral-tinged flicker feathers. How lucky we were to spot columbine, a fairy lantern in midsummer, I exclaimed as we traversed an open marble-stone slope. Sarah wiped sweat with a bandana and I could tell what loomed for her were intense dry heat, hot spots on her feet, sore shoulders, tight calves.

Seven miles out, at Barlow Flat, we pitched tents beside the Big Sur River near tanbark oaks, bays, maples, alders, sycamores. After several soaks in the river’s green-tinted swimming holes, Sarah was talking to Arnie and me again.

Next morning, we day-hiked 3 miles farther (one-way) to the legendary, if funky, hot springs. At the Big Sur River, you have to choose a boulder-hop or calf-deep wade to do the final half-mile to the hot springs. Dun-colored sandbags that look old enough to be, well, historic, section the 100°F springs into stone-lined basins. All the mystique of Sykes has to do with location—remote gushing waters in this temple, the Ventana Wilderness.

A young man sharing our tub said to Sarah, “How about a foot massage?” I saw shades of corporate disapproval cloud my cousin’s face as his wife floated her swollen feet, one at a time, into the hands of the stranger, taking her cure. Pine Ridge was, after all, her first—and last—backpack trip.

Getting there: Best AAA map: Monterey Bay Region. Pine Ridge trailhead is right off State Route 1, at Big Sur Station, a visitor center just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, 26 miles south of Carmel. Self-pay $4 per night for parking. Campfire permits (no charge) required—pick up day of trip at the visitor center, where you also can get a handy topo, check trail conditions, and find out about the several camps along Pine Ridge. Phone: (408) 667-2315.

Some info may not have aged gracefully – do check all contact info.

MENDOCINO, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/mendocino97.asp

BIG SUR, DRIVING THE BIG SOUTH

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/bigsouth97.asp -

JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/jackson98.asp

HAWAII’S ALOHA FESTIVALS

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/aloha97.asp

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/desertwilds98.asp

DESERT SOLITARY – DRIVING NEVADA -PAHRUMP AND MORE

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/desert99.asp

UTAH IN AUTUMN

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/utah96.asp

SALT LAKE CITY

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/salt_lake_city02.asp

ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/ferry03.asp

CARMEL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/carmel95.asp

COLUMBUS STREET, SAN FRANCISCO

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/columbus04.asp

KANAB, UTAH

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/fun03.asp

NAPA THE TOWN – GREAT WEEKEND GETAWAY

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/napa97.asp

KARAOKE IN VEGAS – LAS VEGAS AT NIGHT

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/dusk_vegas05.asp

PASO ROBLES, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/earth97.asp

HAWAII’S KONA COAST

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/getout97.asp

THE GOLDEN NORTH – GREAT DRIVE IN SOUTHEAST ALASKA

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/golden_north99.asp

SONOMA VALLEY

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/harvest96.asp

BIG SUR HIKE WITH SARAH AND ARNIE

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/hikes98.asp

NEW MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/mojave97.asp

ROBERT MONDAVI SMART QUOTES – INTERVIEW

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/mondavi01.asp

KAYAKING THE SAN JUANS

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/kayaking01.asp

SHOP LIKE A CHEF IN NAPA VALLEY

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/napafood98.asp

YAKIMA VALLEY, WASHINGTON

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/yakima_valley06.asp

ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/zihuatanejo01.asp

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/santa_barbara07.asp

GUALALA, CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/banana_belt06.asp

RENO’S ART DISTRICT – NEVADA

http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/renoart_district06.asp

SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA – GREAT WEEKEND GETAWAY

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/sausalito07.asp

QUINCY, CALIFORNIA – WELL KEPT SECRET IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/quincy03.asp

ZION NATIONAL PARK, UTAH, FRONT, BACK, AND CENTER

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/zion96.asp

March/April 2005 – VIA Magazine – check into below for updates

Downtown strip of Vegas at night

How To Bring Down The House

By Camille Cusumano

2 A.M. I could have sung “New York, New York” and worked the crowd into a frenzy with my comedic off-key rendition of this Sinatra standard, then snapped them out of it with a little ring-a-ding-ding. I had high hopes. I would show this throng, jaded by Las Vegas’s many lounge acts and stage spectacles, that I was one who had Frank’s phrasing down.

How often had his voice and mine fox-trotted a smooth slow-quick-quick over the years, with the nimble backsliding, through his decades at Capitol and Reprise? Granted, his was on vinyl, mine was in the shower. So it goes.

I chose “Come Fly With Me” for my karaoke debut at the local watering hole, Ellis Island Casino & Brewery. The clientele was my kind—people with more pride than cash in reserve. Esteemed DJ Timmy Welsh called my number and I hopped up on the 3-inch-high platform, eager to deliver some of the jazziest pentameter in pop music. “In llama land there’s a one-man band . . .” and so on

The result? Let’s just say luck was blowin’ on some other guy’s pipes. All my years of rehearsing did nothing for my timing: The words streamed across the monitor before I was ready for them, and the synthesized orchestra got ahead of me. Still, the audience, a generous bunch (many of them aspiring and off-duty performers), applauded. In the end, my act was worth the gamble—I did it my way.

Ellis Island Casino & Brewery Karaoke every night. 4178 Koval Lane, (702) 733-8901, www.ellisislandcasino.com.

Gold Coast Hotel and Casino Karaoke Wednesday nights. (800) 331-5334, www.goldcoastcasino.com.

Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino Karaoke Monday nights. (888) 227-2279, www.barbarycoastcasino.com.

As the twenties passed, with my own twenties marching a little ahead of them, my two juvenile regrets –at not being big enough (or good enough) to play football in college, and at not getting overseas during the war- resolved themselves into childish waking dreams of imaginary heroism that were good enough to go to sleep on in restless nights. The big problems of life seemed to solve themselves, and if the business of fixing them was difficult, it made one too tired to think of general problems.

Life, ten years ago, was largely a personal matter. I must hold in balance the sense of the futility of effort and the sense of the necessity to struggle; the conviction of the inevitability of failure and still the determination to “succeed” –and, more than these, the contradiction between the dead hand of the past and the high intentions of the future. If I could do this through the common ills –domestic, professional and personal- then the ego would continue as an arrow shot from nothingness to nothingness with such force that only gravity would bring it to earth at last

For seventeen years, with a year of deliberate loafing and resting out in the center –things went on like that, with a new chore only a nice prospect for the next day. I was living hard, too, but: “Up to forty-nine it’ll be all right,” I said. “I can count on that. For a man who’s lived as I have, that’s all you could ask.

-And then, ten years this side of forty-nine, I suddenly realized that I had prematurely cracked

II

Now a man can crack in many ways –can crack in the head- in which case the power of decision is taken from you by others! or in the body, when one can but submit to the white hospital world; or in the nerves. William Seabrook in an unsympathetic book tells, with some pride and a movie ending, of how he became a public charge. What led to his alcoholism or was bound up with it, was a collapse of his nervous system. Though the present writer was not so entangled –having at the time not tasted so much as a glass of beer for six months- it was his nervous reflexes that were giving way –too much anger and too many tears.

Moreover, to go back to my thesis that life has a varying offensive, the realization of having cracked was not simultaneous with a blow, but with a reprieve.

Not long before, I had sat in the office of a great doctor and listened to a grave sentence. With what, in retrospect, seems some equanimity, I had gone about my affairs in the city where I was then living, not caring much, not thinking how much had been left undone, or what would become of this and that responsibility, like people do in the books; I was well insured and anyhow I had been only a mediocre caretaker of most of the things left in my hands, even of my talent.

But I had a strong sudden instinct that I must be alone. I didn’t want to see any people at all. I had seen so many people all my life –I was an average mixer, but more than average in a tendency to identify myself, my ideas, my destiny, with those of all classes that I came in contact with. I was always saving or being saved –in a single morning I would go through the emotions ascribable to Wellington at Waterloo. I lived in a world of inscrutable hostiles and inalienable friends and supporters.

But now I wanted to be absolutely alone and so arranged a certain insulation from ordinary cares.

It was not an unhappy time. I went away and there were fewer people. I found I was good-and-tired. I could lie around and was glad to, sleeping of dozing sometimes twenty hours a day and in the intervals trying resolutely not to think –instead I made lists- made lists and tore them up, hundreds of lists: cavalry leaders and football players and cities, and popular tunes and pitchers, and happy times, and hobbies and houses lived in and how many suits since I left the army and how many pairs of shoes (I didn’t count the suit I bought in Sorrento that shrunk, nor the pumps and dress shirt and collar that I carried around for years and never wore, because the pumps got damp and grainy and the shirt and collar got yellow and starch-rotted). And lists of women I’d liked, and of the times I had let myself be snubbed by people who had not been my betters in character or ability.

-And then suddenly, surprisingly, I got better.

-And cracked like an old plate as soon as I heard the news.

That is the real end of this story. What was to be done about it will have to rest in what used to be called the “womb of time.” Suffice it to say that after about an hour of solitary pillow-hugging, I began to realize that for two years my life had been a drawing on resources that I did not possess, that I had been mortgaging myself physically and spiritually up the hilt. What was the small gift of life given back in comparison to that? –when there had once been a pride of direction and a confidence in enduring independence.

I realized that in those two years, in order to preserve something –an inner lush maybe, maybe not- I had weaned myself from all the things I used to love –that every act of life from the morning tooth-brush to the friend at dinner had become an effort. I saw that for a long time I had not liked people and things, but only followed the rickety old pretense of liking. I saw that even my love for those closest to me was become only an attempt to love, that my casual relations –with an editor, a tobacco seller, the child of a friend, were only what I remembered I should do, from other days. All in the same month I became bitter about such things as the sound of the radio, the advertisements in the magazines, the screech of tracks, the dead silence of the country –contemptuous at human softness, immediately (if secretively) quarrelsome toward hardness- hating the night when I couldn’t sleep and hating the day because it went toward night. I slept on the heart side now because I knew that the sooner I could tire that out, even a little, the sooner would come that blessed hour of nightmare which, like a catharsis, would enable me to better meet the new day.

There were certain spots, certain faces I could look at. Like most Middle Westerners, I have never had any but the vaguest race prejudices –I always had a secret yen for the lovely Scandinavian blondes who sat on porches in St. Paul but hadn’t emerged enough economically to be a part of what was then society. They were too nice to be “chickens” and too quickly off the farmlands to seize a place in the sun, but I remember going round blocks to catch a glimpse of shining hair –the bright shock of a girl I’d never know. This is urban, unpopular talk. It strays afield form the fact that in these latter days I couldn’t stand the sight of Celts, English, Politicians, Strangers, Virginians, Negroes (light or dark), Hunting People, or retail clerks, and middlemen in general, all writers (I avoided writers very carefully because they can perpetuate trouble as no one else can) –and all the classes as classes and most of them as members of their class…

Trying to cling to something, I liked doctors and girl children up to the age of about thirteen and well-brought-up boy children from about eight years old on. I could have peace and happiness with these few categories of people. I forgot to add that I liked old men –men over seventy, sometimes over sixty if their faces looked seasoned. I liked Katherine Hepburn’s face on the screen, no matter what was said about her pretentiousness, and Miriam Hopkins’ face, and old friends if I only saw them once a year and could remember their ghosts.

All rather inhuman and undernourished, isn’t it? Well, that, children, is the true sign of cracking-up.

It is not a pretty picture. Inevitably it was carted here and there within its frame and exposed to various critics. One of them can only be described as a person whose life makes other people’s lives seem like death –even this time when she was cast in the usually unappealing role of Job’s comforter. In spite of the fact that this story is over, let me append our conversation as a sort of postscript:

“Instead of being so sorry for yourself, listen –“ she said. (She always says “Listen,” because she thinks while she talks – really thinks.) So she said: “Listen. Suppose this wasn’t a crack in you –suppose it was a crack in the Grand Canyon.”

“The crack is in me,” I said heroically.

“Listen! The world only exists in your eyes –your conception of it. You can make it as big or as small as you want to. And you’re trying to be a little puny individual. By God, if I ever cracked, I’d try to make the world crack with me. Listen! The world only exists through your apprehension of it, and so it’s much better to say that it’s not you that’s cracked –it’s the Grand Canyon.”

“Baby et up all her Spinoza?”

“I don’t know anything about Spinoza. I know –“ She spoke, then, of old woes of her own, that seemed, in the telling, to have been more dolorous than mine, and how she had met them, over ridden them, beaten them.

I felt a certain reaction to what she said, but I am a slow-thinking man, and it occurred to me simultaneously that of all natural forces, vitality is the incommunicable one. In days when juice came into one as an article without duty, one tried to distribute it –but always without success; to further mix metaphors, vitality never “takes.” You have it or you haven’t it, like health or brown eyes or honor or a baritone voice. I might have asked some of it from her, neatly wrapped and ready for home cooking and digestion, but I could have never got it –not if I’d waited around for a thousand hours with the tin cup of self-pity. I could walk from her door, holding myself very carefully like cracked crockery, and go away into the world of bitterness, where I was making a home with such materials as are found there –and quote to myself after I left her door:

“Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?”

Matthew 5-13.

The Crack-Up

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

February, 1936

Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work –the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside- the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once. There is another sort of blow that comes from within –that you don’t feel until it’s too late to do anything about it, until you realize with finality that in some regard you will never be as good a man again. The first sort of breakage seems to happen quick –the second kind happens almost without your knowing it but it is realized suddenly indeed.

Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation –the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the “impossible”, come true. Life was something you dominated if you were any good. Life yielded easily to intelligence and effort, or to what proportion could be mustered of both. It seemed a romantic business to be a successful literary man –you were not ever going to be as famous as a movie star but what note you had was probably longer-lived –you were never going to have the power of a man of strong political or religious convictions but you were certainly more independent. Of course within the practice of your trade you were forever unsatisfied –but I, for one, would not have chosen any other. READ MORE.

I am writing to promote Argentine tango as the perfect “stimulus package” for our entire nation. Tango is definitely stimulating. It is affordable and minimalist (for us women: skimpy attire, one good pair of shoes, one good man, any wood floor, music). It’s organic—based on natural body movements, such as embracing, walking, flicking of legs. It is green with strictly clean emissions—only occasional sighs, coos, warm breath. Best of all, it’s innately peaceable, a dance born among immigrants of the urge for intimacy. Thus tango dancing guarantees, in one fell swoop to stimulate the economy for the masses, spread love, and end the wars that are costing us billions per month, all this while restoring our planet to health.

Viva el tango! If you don’t believe me, just read about it in my book, Tango, an Argentine Love Story.

His first story broke my heart—Hold the Enlightenment. It poked fun at a sacred cow – - – wanting enlightenment and writing occasionally about it. Apparently, says Tim, all these guys are self-published and take themselves too seriously, even when they can write, and well, therefore, enlightenment is anathema to real writers like he—who don’t have to self-publish. I don’t exactly want to be enlightened, I decided. I like the old saw that I just be enlightened about my delusions—and not deluded about my enlightenment.But I guess that’s not funny. So forget I said it. For now.

Tim is funny. I recommend anything you can get your hands on – he is a lot like David Sedaris in his delivery. Oh, and he graduated from SF State (as did I).

Check out more upcoming lit events at San Jose State at www.litart.org.

Later I will write and write. My hands and feet work. Break the rules. Write already.

We talked all too briefly but urgently on books, writing, publishing, creativity . . . all the good stuff of life. North Atlantic is like my publisher—Seal Press—whom I’ve worked with for the past five years: dedicated to a certain type of book that wouldn’t get the treatment it deserves from the Big Fish.

Lindy knows a lot about shaping a manuscript and making a book coherent and easy to read. She’s worked with many authors over the many years North Atlantic has been publishing.

She’ll be ramping up her  consulting business soon—so keep checking for her website.

This is excerpted from the North Atlantic home page:

Founded in 1974, North Atlantic Books has been located in Berkeley, California since 1977. Over this period, North Atlantic has become a leading publisher of alternative health, martial arts, and spiritual titles.

“Our mission is to affect planetary consciousness, nurture spiritual and ecological disciplines, disseminate ancient wisdom, and put forth ways to transmute cultural dissonance and violence into service. We have given voice to many new modalities of living and thinking about our world since the 1960s–ways to interrogate and rediscover diet, healing, mindfulness, psychotherapy, somatic and martial practice, and creativity. Our specific strengths are martial arts, bodywork, history of medicine, homeopathy, archaeo-astronomy, transdimensional realms, Eastern religion, diet and natural foods, live food, fine literature, and quirky aspects of pop culture. We publish widely and diversely, mixing commitments to our niches with broad-based general trade books. Although not our main rubrics, we publish environmental titles; graphic novels and comics; urban literature and detective novels; cookbooks; art books; sports books; and new perspectives in dance, film, and theater.”

• Eight nights in Dandi Royal, an exquisite tango-themed mansion in San Telmo barrio – near to everything.

• Welcome luncheon (on Monday, November 16) at Dandi.

• Eight breakfasts.

• Three scrumptious dinners featuring typical Argentine cuisine (which, despite what you’ve heard is NOT all grass-fed beef—omnivores and vegetarians both will feast well).

• Introductory lessons to tango—with Argentine teachers, who will help you feel comfortable dancing their favorite “folk” dance. Or just watch and enjoy the most sensual dance on earth (and take notes for writing about it—see below, writing workshop).

• Admission to three popular milongas (or tango dancing salons) — with me as your host to explain all the etiquette and culture–and introductions to local dancers.

• Meetings with Porteños, Buenos Aires natives who will talk to you about tango and their  beloved city (some are “famous” characters from my book – see next).

• A signed copy of my book, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY (published by Seal Press, 2008).

• Option of two afternoon writing workshops with me OR take a Swashtya (dancing) yoga class OR another tango lesson. The two afternoon intensives of writing are to help anyone who has long wondered how to shape and craft a travel story from the many inspired recordings you make in your journal as you wander the globe.

• One guided day around Buenos Aires with me and a local. I’ll show you around, including my old barrios where I lived, wrote, and danced for the better part of three and a half years.

• Lots of free time to explore on your own – with handy customized printouts with info for getting around (easy in this city) to museums, cafes, restaurants, bookstores, barrios, shopping. I’ll offer all the consultation you need—based on my extensive experience living here.

BACK TO RESERVE PAGE

• Five nights in Dandi Royal, an exquisite tango-themed mansion in San Telmo barrio – near to everything.

• Three nights in an elegant “posada,” a country inn, in San Antonio d’Areco (less than 2 hours’ drive from Buenos Aires through the famous pampas).

• Welcome luncheon (on Friday, November 5) at Dandi.

• Eight breakfasts.

• Three scrumptious dinners featuring typical Argentine cuisine (which, despite what you’ve heard is NOT all grass-fed beef—omnivores and vegetarians alike will feast well).

• Transportation to and from San Antonio de Areco (departing from Buenos Aires).

• A guided tour of San Antonio with a local bi-lingual guide, introductions to real-working gaucho town and gauchos (right), a visit to an old gaucho pub (pulpería) with a round of libations for all. We’ll see a spectacular event–an amazing parade of gauchos –on Sunday—for Dia de la Tradicion.

• Introductory lessons to tango—with Argentine teachers, who will help you feel comfortable dancing their favorite “folk” dance. Or just watch and enjoy the most sensual dance on earth (and take notes to write about it – see below).

• Admission to three popular milongas (or tango dancing salons) — with me as your host to explain all the etiquette and culture–and give you introductions to local dancers.

• Meetings in Buenos Aires with other natives who will tell you about tango and their beloved city (some are “famous” characters from my book – see below).

• A signed copy of my book, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY (published by Seal Press, 2008).

• Option of two afternoon writing workshops with me or Swashtya (dancing) yoga class or another tango lesson. The two afternoon intensives of writing are to help those of you who have  wondered how to shape and craft a travel story from the many inspired recordings you make in your journal as you wander the globe.

• One guided day around Buenos Aires with me and a local. I’ll show my old barrios where I lived, wrote, and danced for the better part of three and a half years.

• Lots of free time to explore on your own – with handy customized printouts with info for getting around (easy in this city) to museums, cafes, restaurants, bookstores, barrios. I’ll offer all the personal consultation you need—based on my extensive experience living here.

BACK TO RESERVE PAGE

November is spring in Buenos Aires. The broad-canopied jacaranda trees burst into magnificent bloom, carpeting streets, parks, and plazas, in glowing lavender blossoms. The city called “Paris of South America,” for its European culture and spectacular French & Italian Renaissance architecture, never looks finer. The weather is warm and lovely then. This  nine-day trip includes a fun side trip to nearby gaucho country and plenty of time in Buenos Aires, the city that never sleeps.

WHEN: November 5 to November 13, 2010 – Price $1,775, or $1,275 for doubles (rooms have twin or double beds).

Trip #1 includes all this (click here).

Trip #2, very similar, runs November 16 to 24, 2010 and is ALL Buenos Aires.

Reserve with $500 or Pay in full. If you want to pay by check, email me for the address: ocaramia@earthlink.net or ocaramia@mac.com.

Trips #1 or #2

Reserve $500.00 In full (double) $1,275.00 In full (single) $1,775.00

OPTIONAL EXTRAS:

• I’ll arrange your airport (Ezeiza) pickup and dropoff ground transportation with a bilingual driver—$70 total.

• If you’d like to take the writing workshops and the yoga or get an extra tango lesson – we can arrange both for nominal fees.

WATCH A COOL VIDEO OF MY TANGO DAYS IN  BUENOS AIRES

ANOTHER COOL VIDEO OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE EARLY 1900S

• If you’d like to do some horse riding in San Antonia de Areco, it can be arranged for a nominal fee.

• If you’d like Spanish lessons, private classes are very affordable; I can arrange them for you with great teachers.

• My first days in Buenos Aires I hired an occasional “taxi” dancer (for a nominal fee) to accompany me to tango dance halls and dance with me only. If you’d like, we can arrange that–for either men or women.

• It’s good to arrive at least a day before the trip starts–and consider staying longer than 9 days. If you want other lodging options, I’ll give you a list, once you’re a registered participant.

• If you are interested in side trips around Argentina (or anywhere in South America) I can refer you to two reliable local travel agents (from whom I accept no commission) to put together a trip for you.

1. A Thousand and One Words - Find your Writing Setpoint – Just as with body weight, we all have a writing setpoint—a natural length that suits our message and determines our ideal genre. 1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink wrap and tighten. We’ll meet four goals in this class: embracing your personal setpoint; understanding when to unpack or shrink; preserving the narrative arc, no matter what length; and writing with full confidence. All levels writers welcome.

2. Travel Memoir Writing - With the travel-writing market evolved beyond the go-here/see-this approach, personal experience and artful story in travel is more and more in demand. As a magazine editor, I successfully moved from the traditional how-to travel writing to publishing my personal experience travel stories in books and as essays in publications. I’ll help participants understand how they can do this, too. Even if you are still writing for the traditional travel outlets you can infuse your story with sparkle – snap, crackle, and pop. We’ll look at how you can satisfy the reader’s needs and still craft a story with your personal style.  All levels welcome.

3. Tap into your Autonomic Writing System - Much can be said about the Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind approach to unlocking the writer within. Now is the time to circle back to the discipline and the practice of craft—without killing the golden goose. This class is designed to tap into the autonomic system of writing—where words begins to flow and to arrive on schedule, like breath. All the while, we consider craft. The goal of this workshop is to have participants leave inspired, enthused, excited, perturbed, riled up, having tapped into their own autonomic writing system; and ready to face the empty white page, armed with their own art and skill. All levels.

4. Writing about & from loss - Many of my students found me through my memoir, TANGO, which is my writing about my own loss (and finds) through tango and Zen practice. I’ve worked with aspiring writers who were ready to face the blank page as a place of refuge after tremendous losses and grieving. When we sit down to write about our lives, pain, grief as well as bliss and contentment rise to the surface. Putting down the words gives a sense of meaning to life in dark times.

Since late 2005: I work full-time as a freelance writer and editor; and I teach English, writing, and occasionally tango.

1988–2005

Editor, VIA Magazine (viamagazine.com) San Francisco. I was responsible for all phases of editorial production of travel and food features and columns for this bimonthly magazine, from idea development, line editing, and oversight through copy editing, fact-checking, and proofreading as well as design concept, captions, headlines, decks, and other display copy. Assisted the online editor.

1987-1988

Developmental Editor, Benjamin/Cummings (Addison Wesley), Menlo Park, Calif. – Edited and managed college science books, mainly one microbiology text (Tortora, Funk, and Case). Worked closely with authors. Evaluated and line-edited text, advised changes based on market needs, competition, and content peer reviews; coordinated art and all visuals (tables, graphs, line drawings, and photos); developed schedules and production-ready manuscripts.

1985 – 1987

Full-time freelance – see Book Credits below

1981–1985

Editor, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA – Worked in all stages of book development for this progressive publisher of food, health, and fitness material; prepared proposals, budgets, and production-ready manuscripts; acquired material from freelance authors; researched and wrote chapters as well as books, magazine articles; promoted books on national radio (including on Fresh Air with Terry Gross) and local TV.

1977-80

Production and editorial assistant

Le Journal Français d’Amérique, San Francisco

Helped produce this national bimonthly French language newspaper. In addition to production and design duties, wrote stories (in French) on French film, restaurants, fashion, culture, and other francophile topics.

EDUCATION

1977 M.A. French language and literature, San Francisco State University

1976 graduate studies at Université d’Aix Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, France

1973 B.A. Psychology, Kean University, Union, NJ

AWARDS/HONORS

2006 – Third place in the Kurt Vonnegut fiction competition; my short story Plot Theory has been published in the literary journal, North American Review.

2003 and 2004 Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction finalist, for short stories A dying tiger moaned for drink (’03) and Virgin Vision (’04)

2000 James Jones First Novel Fellowship finalist for novel, The Last Cannoli, Legas, New York, 2000

1999 The Pleasures of the Table, short story, received Honorable Mention in Explorations, literary magazine of University of Alaska Southeast.

1999 Second place, Society of American Travel Writers Western Chapter, Hiking the Chilkoot (travel story in VIA)

1993 Gold Award, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Getting Hold of Big Sur (travel story in VIA)

SKILLS

Computer-proficient (Quark Xpress, Microsoft, Excel, PowerPoint other software). Tech-savvy: able to manage online content, upload videos, images, and media, and generally manage a Web site, including generating interesting text, tag-weighting, studying analytics, and enhancing overall user experience. Fluent in French and Spanish; conversational in Italian. Argentine tango—certified to teach.

BOOK CREDITS

Tango, an Argentine Love Story, a personal travel memoir, Seal Press, Berkeley, Calif., 2008.

France, A Love Story, Italy, A Love Story, Mexico A Love Story, and Greece, A Love Story, edited and contributed essays to this series of books published, beginning in 2004, by Seal Press, Berkeley, Calif.

The Unsavvy Traveler, anthology, 2005, Seal Press, contributed humorous essay, A Splendid Duck.

Far From Home, ed. Wendy Knight; 2004, Seal Press, contributed essay, Of Gods and Fathers.

Women Who Eat, ed. Leslie Miller; 2003, Seal Press, contributed opening essay, The Big Night in Sicily.

America Loves Salads, GuildAmerica (Doubleday), New York, 1993, author.

Christmas, A Celebration, Annette Spence, recipes by Camille Cusumano, Michael Friedman Group, New York, 1993.

The New Foods, Henry Holt, New York, 1989, author

Microbiology, An Introduction, third edition, Tortora, Funke, and Case, Benjamin Cummings, Menlo Park, CA, 1988, developmental editor.

The Fit Body, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1986, associate editor.

International Great Meals in Minutes, Time-Life Books, 1986: wrote introduction to new edition published by Little, Brown, & Co., Boston.

The Italian-American Catalog, ed. Joseph Giordano, Doubleday, New York, 1986; contributed two chapters: Fennel, Culinary Cure-All and In Search of My Sicilian Heritage.

Hunger and Health, Claude Aubert, Rodale Press, 1985, translated from the French by Cusumano et. al.

The Prevention Total Health System, Rodale Press, 1985: contributed sections to three books in the series, including High Energy Living, Using Medicines Wisely, and Pain Free.

Tofu, Tempeh, and Other Soy Delights, Rodale Press, 1984, author.

Rodale’s Basic Natural Foods Cookbook, ed. Charles Gerras; co-writer with Carol Munson, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA, 1983.

Rodale’s High Health Cookbook Series, 1982, prepared text and recipes for The Good Grains, Soups Supreme, No Salt Needed, and Low-Cost Natural Foods.

Everybody’s Business, An Almanac, Moskowitz, Katz, and Levering, Harper & Row, SF, 1980. Research assistant.

California the Beautiful, Galen Rowell keepsake edition: some 85 images of Rowell’s photography is paired with the prose or poetry of some fifty California writers, including Maya Angelou, Mary Austin, Ray Bradbury, Joan Didion, Gretel Ehrlich, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, M.F.K. Fisher, Robertson Jeffers, Jack Kerouac, Clarence King, Jack London, Henry Miller, John Muir, William Saroyan, April Smith, John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Nathanael West, and Walt Whitman, and Camille Cusumano (an excerpt from a story I wrote on Anza-Borrego Desert appears).

I bring to my workshops more than thirty years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including essay, memoir, food, travel, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more. My latest book, a travel memoir, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY, was endorsed by bestselling authors, Sylvia Boorstein and Laura Fraser. My work has appeared in numerous publications, including Islands, Country Living, Yoga Journal, North American Review, Vegetarian Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, and the New York Times. My short story, Plot Theory, won third prize in the 2006 Kurt Vonnegut short fiction contest. I’ve just returned to my home of many years in San Francisco from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I lived and taught during the past three and a half years.

1. Understand and embrace your writing setpoint. Just as with body weight, we all have a writing setpoint—a natural length that suits our message and determines our ideal genre. 1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink-wrap and tighten.

2. Learn to optimize your setpoint:

A. If it tends toward shortness, we’ll learn when/if/how to unpack and expand what might actually be the bones of your outline, where to put the flesh.

B. If your pieces tend to run long, we’ll look at when/if/how to deftly “shrink wrap” your piece without losing a trace of flavor.

3. Learn to preserve the narrative arc.  All pieces and genres need this little wave of intrigue, no matter what length. We’ll look at and understand how to make mini or maxi pieces arc effectively.

4. Gain full confidence with your writing setpoint, no matter where it tends. You’ll be able to move forward with finishing work, knowing how your “setpoint” allows you to do that – and never again having that Zeno’s hare feeling that the all-important end is not attainable.

All levels writers welcome.

enre, so it’s good to consider the genre best suited to your writing. Understanding your own propensity for which length can help you shape and craft your words, whether you are writing an essay, feature, short or medium-size article, a vignette, chapter, novel, or even a journal entry for later use in a book or memoir, say. If you are just getting started as a writer, this workshop will provide encouragement to write freely without the usual beginner’s obstacles.

“As a novice writer, I  felt sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. It was Camille’s words, “I want to hear more,” which  moved me from ‘thinking about the possibility’ of being published to setting my first writing goals to this end.” - Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Camille Cusumano’s 2-day writing workshop infused my writing practice with a much needed boost. In the workshop, I generated new material and breathed life into old work. Camille created and held the space for me to clarify and focus my writing for two days, allowing me to take a big step closer to my writing goals. And the one-on-one coaching sessions alone were priceless. I walked away from the workshop with a targeted list of targeted resources, valuable insights from a seasoned author and editor, a polished story, the best query letter I’ve ever written and a fistful of additional tools and tips for use in my writing practice. Camille’s teaching method is compassionate, supportive and focused. No matter where you are on your path as a writer, you will benefit greatly from taking Camille Cusumano’s writing workshop!” Katherina Audley, Portland, Oregon, January, 2010:

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.”
Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010

I have done my share of writing classes and workshops over the years and, most recently, started one-on-one consultations with Camille which have proven to be HUGELY beneficial. Camille treads tenderly on my art-side of writing, always encouraging and highlighting the good; then she fearlessly takes a surgeon’s scalpel to the craft-side of the writing and demonstrates and explains in great detail how to make the piece stronger and more compelling. At the end of the session, I am left with a polished piece of writing that is true to my story, but one that I also love reading again Life circumstance now puts us in different parts of the world, but thanks to internet and Skype, our consultations continue! I recommend Camille’s coaching/editing services highly Oga Cho, world citizen, March 2010

Camille’s 2-day workshop was exactly what I needed! I’ve been writing alone and in writing groups for years but have never felt any of my work was finished and ready to submit. Camille helped me get there. Her knowledge of the market, guidance in approaching editors and getting published, and her patient and focused editing of my work helped me rewrite with a clearer focus and feel confident that it’s ready. I’ve written my first query letter, and I’m excited about working on my many other pieces with the same vigor. I came away with a much better understanding of how publishing works, and a much greater confidence in my ability. Thank you, Camille! Angela McCallum, Buenos Aires, http://santelmoloft.com.

These photos were taken on the day of “graduation.” I handed out “diplomas” (blue-bound notebooks, dedicated to each one’s strength). I felt a little like the professor in the Wizard of Oz, who comes out of hiding, from behind the curtain . . . . And then we popped the cork on some Chandon, and celebrated.

I’ll be leading many more workshops, including later this year in Argentina. Check back for details. Upcoming Events, right, will list my workshops, including one on Zen Writing— how Zen practice helped me write better—what exactly is Zen? One answer is it’s exactly what you’re doing right now. Another answer is this

The book, wrote former San Francisco Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “attests to the power of storytelling to hold life together through all its diasporas.”

Tango: A journey to happiness

In 2006, Camille Cusumano went to Buenos Aires planning to stay two months. But after two days, she cancelled her return ticket and that trip turned into a year and a half and the book, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY (Seal Press). She has now lived in Argentina three-and-a-half years. Camille will perform a live demonstration of the dance, Argentine tango, talk about its magic and the writing of her book, as well as of the tango/writing communities in Buenos Aires. She’ll tell you the pros and cons of quitting your day job to go live in another hemisphere, “write” now!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Program begins at 6:30 (cocktails & appetizers)

Cedar House Sport Hotel, Truckee

Please confirm exact time at SVI’s site.

Bar opens at 6:30.

Before you come,  I hope you read my book, Tango, an Argentine Love Story—whether you get it from a friend, or buy it in a bookstore, at Amazon or other online stores, or even on Kindle. What I love about that book, my favorite of all the ones I’ve written or worked on, is that I got to write of all the things I love—food, travel, my Zen practice, yoga, my father, my mother, my nine brothers and sisters, Sicily, France, Buenos Aires, and tango, tango, tango. And a lot of other little subjects like love (the many types), life itself—and even death (of my father).

The  Squaw Valley Institute, which has hosted such luminaries at Greg Mortensen (Three Cups of Tea) and Bill Fink.

More on my writing/editing services, and workshops.

On my writing/editing services, and workshops.

What writers who have taken my workshop say:

“Camille Cusumano’s 2-day writing workshop infused my writing practice with a much needed boost. In the workshop, I generated new material and breathed life into old work. Camille created and held the space for me to clarify and focus my writing for two days, allowing me to take a big step closer to my writing goals. And the one-on-one coaching sessions alone were priceless. I walked away from the workshop with a targeted list of targeted resources, valuable insights from a seasoned author and editor, a polished story, the best query letter I’ve ever written and a fistful of additional tools and tips for use in my writing practice. Camille’s teaching method is compassionate, supportive and focused. No matter where you are on your path as a writer, you will benefit greatly from taking Camille Cusumano’s writing workshop!” Katherina Audley, Portland, Oregon, January, 2010:

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.”
Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010

I have done my share of writing classes and workshops over the years and, most recently, started one-on-one consultations with Camille which have proven to be HUGELY beneficial. Camille treads tenderly on my art-side of writing, always encouraging and highlighting the good; then she fearlessly takes a surgeon’s scalpel to the craft-side of the writing and demonstrates and explains in great detail how to make the piece stronger and more compelling. At the end of the session, I am left with a polished piece of writing that is true to my story, but one that I also love reading again Life circumstance now puts us in different parts of the world, but thanks to internet and Skype, our consultations continue! I recommend Camille’s coaching/editing services highly Oga Cho, world citizen, March 2010

Camille’s 2-day workshop was exactly what I needed! I’ve been writing alone and in writing groups for years but have never felt any of my work was finished and ready to submit. Camille helped me get there. Her knowledge of the market, guidance in approaching editors and getting published, and her patient and focused editing of my work helped me rewrite with a clearer focus and feel confident that it’s ready. I’ve written my first query letter, and I’m excited about working on my many other pieces with the same vigor. I came away with a much better understanding of how publishing works, and a much greater confidence in my ability. Thank you, Camille! Angela McCallum, Buenos Aires, http://santelmoloft.com

“I could not have felt more affirmed as a human being or more sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. Not only to hear Camille’s words, “I want more,” but to see in her body language that she meant it, is more than I even hoped for. – Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

1. A Thousand and One Words - Find your Writing Setpoint – Just as with body weight, we all have a writing setpoint—a natural length that suits our message and determines our ideal genre. 1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink wrap and tighten. We’ll meet four goals in this class: embracing your personal setpoint; understanding when to unpack or shrink; preserving the narrative arc, no matter what length; and writing with full confidence. All levels writers welcome.

2. Travel Memoir Writing - With the travel-writing market evolved beyond the go-here/see-this approach, personal experience and artful story in travel is more and more in demand. As a magazine editor, I successfully moved from the traditional how-to travel writing to publishing my personal experience travel stories in books and as essays in publications. I’ll help participants understand how they can do this, too. Even if you are still writing for the traditional travel outlets you can infuse your story with sparkle – snap, crackle, and pop. We’ll look at how you can satisfy the reader’s needs and still craft a story with your personal style.  All levels welcome.

3. Tap into your Autonomic Writing System - Much can be said about the Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind approach to unlocking the writer within. Now is the time to circle back to the discipline and the practice of craft—without killing the golden goose. This class is designed to tap into the autonomic system of writing—where words begins to flow and to arrive on schedule, like breath. All the while, we consider craft. The goal of this workshop is to have participants leave inspired, enthused, excited, perturbed, riled up, having tapped into their own autonomic writing system; and ready to face the empty white page, armed with their own art and skill. All levels.

4. Writing about & from loss (See August 1, Writing as Refuge)- Many of my students found me through my memoir, TANGO, which is my writing about my own loss (and finds) through tango and Zen practice. I’ve worked with aspiring writers who were ready to face the blank page as a place of refuge after tremendous losses and grieving. When we sit down to write about our lives, pain, grief as well as bliss and contentment rise to the surface. Putting down the words gives a sense of meaning to life in dark times.

1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink-wrap and tighten your writing. This workshop is for all levels, fresh beginners and experienced writers. It is designed to pump your “autonomic writing system” by understanding your personal writing “setpoint” and thus help you focus your writing, reach your target audience, or just satisfy your own need to finish a piece.

WHEN – Choose from either Saturday, May 29, Thursday, June 3, OR Saturday June 19, 2010, Each workshop is 8 hours  —  10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

WHERE – Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California – by the beautiful Bay.

GOALS: In this 8-hour workshop, we’ll accomplish 4 main goals—READ ABOUT.

INSTRUCTOR: I bring to my workshops more than thirty years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including essay, memoir, food, travel, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more. My latest book, a travel memoir, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY . . .READ MORE.

Price per 8-hour workshop:

$125 (lunch included)

Each workshop is limited to 12 participants.

All participants are entitled to a free follow-up consultation on your progress, in person, by phone, or email.

Workshop Dates

May 29, 2010 $125.00 June 3, 2010 $125.00 June 19,2010 $125.00

Reserve now. Email me with any questions and tell me a little about your writing: ocaramia@earthlink.net or ocaramia@mac.com.

“Camille’s workshop was the perfect first sentence to begin the story of my quest to be a writer.” James Christopoulos, Chicago, IL USA

ON DEMAND WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE

“As a novice writer, I  felt sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. It was Camille’s words, “I want to hear more,” which  moved me from ‘thinking about the possibility’ of being published to setting my first writing goals to this end.” - Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.” Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010 - READ MORE ENDORSEMENTS