Porque una imagen dice más que mil palabras...

Y porque en las prisas del empaque y de las despedidas se me pasó una semana sin subir nada...  dedico los siguientes días a presentar siete fotos representativas de lo que ha sido mi vida hasta ahorita...
(las fotos continuarán después de esta semana, pero posiblemente de manera más aleatoria y quizás no en días continuos...)
(...  ooo...  cómo ya estamos viendo que eso de que el blog sea dominguero nomás no me está funcionando porque lo subo en días diversos, mejor tan sólo dejemos que estás siguientes fotos sean fotos conmemorativas de mi vida, jeje)

Esta foto es del arroyo La Victoria, en las cercanías de Durango...  simboliza mi niñez y las aventuras que viví con mis primos de Monterrey...  también mi conexión con la naturaleza y mis tendencias nomádicas...
...ahh...  fue tomada, revelada, escaneada, emaileada, copiada, copiada de nuevo, y finalmente subida por este medio...  también forma parte de uno o dos de los libros de vegetación de mi mamá...
... y simboliza también la conexión que efectivamente siempre tendré con México, donde quiera que esté!

...y ni se diga de todas las aventuras que se crearon en mi cabeza a partir de numerosos viajes a campo, sierra, desierto y mar!!

Mañana le toca a Chihuahua ;)

Cheers!

The day(s) I was born in this lifetime

(Edited on Jan 12 2016 – I didn’t change any integral part of it, just added the preamble for the third time I was born in this lifetime!)

Thirty-two* years ago I was born early.  I was in fact being born inside a car, in the middle of the road between Vicente Guerrero and Durango.  Well, I ended up being born, by a matter or seconds, in the hospital IN Durango, but that experience was definitely my very first learning experience...

To begin with, I learned how to show through actions (and to use my words the correct way) whenever I needed something...  not that I mastered it right away – it did take me about twenty-eight years to do so, but phew! I finally did!  Back then, I of course didn’t have a voice yet, and I was pushing with all my might for my mum to let me out (not that I wasn’t cosy or anything, I just wanted to start with life!).  She, of course, was not aware – because sometimes mothers aren’t when the baby comes early – that this time it was for real; she took her time to realise it was, then my parents borrowed a friend’s car to drive us to another town (back then Durango was the best option to deliver me even if it meant driving for about two hours).  My dad was, of course, like a lot of dads are when the baby comes early, trying to convince his wife to go to the hospital from the beginning (I guess that’s when the usually unacknowledged male sixth sense kicks in?), and it was him who took the beating from the hospital staff about not getting us in there sooner, like, again, so many dads are.

So, two-three hour drive and borrowed car aside, my birthday wasn’t at all anything out of the ordinary, family-wise.  My sister was at some other friend’s house, happily waiting to see what her parents would bring back home.  My parents were delighted I was coming, even if had given them such a scare (and eventual embarrassment about the car business).  And I was born in a moment of intense hurry and stress and a little bit of panic – no wonder I’m always running everywhere!  No wonder I’m always set on finishing what I start, no matter how long it takes or how painful the delivery process is...!  Frankly, there are only three things in life I’ve left unfinished, two of them were jobs that were draining me of peace and joy and sanity, and the other was a novel, but that one eventually mutated into something else, so I guess something good came from it even if I didn’t know where it was going at first... Oh, wait, there was also Graphic Design!  But that change of BA was good for my mind, heart and sprit, so we can let that one go, right?

So, yes, I was in such a hurry to live that the feeling has never left me again, even in moments of deepest depression or trauma.  Yes, I am The Woman Who Is Always Running (yeah, you know I did, those of you who get this reference!).  And yes, I have a driving need to finish everything that I start.  I think that the first decision I ever made was the right one!

But that was not the only day in this lifetime that I was born...  there have been at least two* more times, although because of certain events that have happened during the past few weeks, I am a bit unable to point out when the second day was...  A few months ago I thought that it had been September 2^nd, 2013, when I officially moved to London, but lately I have realized that I can actually take it further back...  To Newcastle maybe, London-inspired as the Masters decision was?  Or to May of 2010 when I came to London for some writing workshops and a lot of inspiration?  Or maybe even twenty* years ago (darn, has it really been that long?) during the summer of ‘94, on the first family vacation to Europe, and my first sight of London.  What I can fairly say, in any case, is that London was the place of my second birth...  It would make sense for any of those times to have been it, because after every birth there has to be a period of growth, most commonly called life, and what London gave me – what London has always given me – is a new aspect of myself to be discovered at each step, a handful of letters to be taken from every corner and placed dotingly upon my notebook, and a will to become a greater person than I ever thought myself possible to be.  The wish to remain here, or to return at every given chance if that’s the case, is what drives me at this moment to keep learning and to find a whole new array of skills that have lay dormant for years and years while I polished my first love: writing...  London has been kind and patient with me, and also driving and intense, and even warm, though most people do not believe me (but I should say that the darker colour of my arms should be evidence enough: it has not faded in three and a half years, even though I’ve worn long sleeves for most of that time and rubbed on many a clarifying lotion...  granted, it did get re-enhanced last summer in Edinburgh – who knew?)  (Nothing personal against tanning – that’s just material for another blog entry).

In London I have laughed my most and ran my most, and read my most and danced my most...  I have loved my most and cried my most and written my most...  I have sighed my most and organized my life my most and been late my most...  and even ate my most and slept my most and been sick my most...  And I do not mean most in all my life: there are plenty of those things that I have done way more in other places...  chances are that ALL of them I have done most in Durango (except the eating thing, that’s a nose to nose between Monterrey and Chihuahua).  But in London...  oh, London is the place for each of them to become epiphanies... and for an artist –for a writer – that’s just invaluable...  To me, losing London is like losing a child, and I have cried with the same intensity at that prospect...  To me, London is the place where a word turns into a novel and a sound turns into consciousness and a step turns to reality...  That is my London, that is what it’ll always be.

And that’s how I can state that I was born a second time here...  I do not say re-born or born again, because that usually means a prior defeat, which I, thankfully, didn’t have...  not when I was twelve, not in 2010, not when I moved to Newcastle and most definitely not when I made de decision to move here, giving up a sure job in Durango to try my luck, actively deciding that my novel Wideawake had to be finished here, purposefully charging head-first into the time around graduation when I was broken with terror and uncertainty and loneliness... I was never dead; I was never beaten or surrendered before coming – or while going back.  My relationship with London has always been one of intense growth: every time I come I undergo a deep healing process, because I know that London deserves me to be the best person I can be while I’m here.

I’ve said it before: it is because of England that I became a writer...  I would not have had that defining moment if it hadn’t been for Alice’s trip into Wonderland: it was me falling into that rabbit-hole at age seven, it was me discovering that I had to know who I was and where I wanted to go to get somewhere in life...  I think I’m still in that process.  I also think that another part of me will always remain at Never Land, and I will always have chills during that scene in the Disney version when Peter takes Wendy, John and Michael along with him and they land for a brief moment in the Clock Tower, now renamed Elizabeth, after a flight along the slanting rooftops and chimneys of a sleeping London.

Then again, Jo March carries a great responsibility in my actually deciding to go with writing, and Borges’ labyrinths defined a great deal of my personality, so even now I am fully conscious that I have taken into me bits from everywhere I’ve been to and every person I’ve met and every piece of literature or any other art that has connected me to different places...  I’m an eclectic collage of discoveries, and I have been smart enough to take the best of each and include them in me...

What Mexico means to me, how the pain and awkwardness of the actual (biological) growth process shaped me in Durango, Chihuahua and Monterrey, how the joys and laughter of childhood and teens and early adulthood shared with a family beyond improvement and a wide array of friends that came and went and sometimes came again, that is something that no-one and no place can ever, ever take away from me.  If a year from now I’m there or here or somewhere else entirely, I know that I will be in the right place for me for that time being; because that’s what my life has been so far: a collection of right places at the right times for the right reasons.  Even if some of them felt like death, even if some felt like the world was going to end because there could be no God evil enough to allow the world to go on when I was in such searing pain, even then it was the right time, because without those moments, I simply wouldn’t be here now!  Mexico will always mean sunshine and colour and family ties and endearing friends; even if I hate the music (and cried a little the other night when I realized that I might have to give up soon the bus stations with classical music over the loudspeakers), and even if I am extremely sensitive to heat, or even if I have never known true love in Mexico or I have never managed to understand people’s obsession with TVs in restaurants and stores, Mexico is the blood pumping through my veins and thus what keeps me running, just as much as the States is the origin of eternal friendship and with it, and the snow, the neurological birthplace of my Cassandra; and Italy is that place where the first ever need to change and better myself actually came forth (for better or worse, it was for someone else, not for me...  shame on me, I know, but I was only 18, I could still get away with that kind of dramatic outlook; still, it was  the first turn of the machinery of my betterment...  so for that and for the rivers and the mountains, Merano deserves my heartiest thanks...). Then there was Canada, where I took the decision to leave acting and focus on writing (I didn’t see the irony till years later, because I was in Vancouver precisely to study acting, and so I didn’t want to say anything until much much later... which, also, came to be an excellent choice, because in those gray months of pulling towards both sides I got the chance of being an extra in Bandidas, and you can actually see me twice, one from the back and one quick shot of my face almost right behind Steve Zahn...  I think it’s around the third minute of the film or so).  It was all a kick-start for my first novel, La Sombra Detrás, so thanks Vancouver!  And London comes in, then: it is that neurological part of my life that delivers the words from my brain to my fingers.

I see myself as a being made up of many countries, of many cities even within those countries (that’s why my accent is so funny, lol), and as a person who is able to take in all the good from each of them and carry it along wherever she goes...

Ooohh, it had been my intention to do this big, wordy writing about the history of London and of how each moment can be translated into external/historical learning experiences into my life (and everyone’s, for that matter), but it’s late (I’m late!  I’m late!  Pull out a pocket watch and yell: I’m late!) and I have to get ready for my birthday lunch!  (Hehehe, I’m actually uploading it after spending the day in the woods and now we’re having dinner in a lovely pub... cos of course I was out of data this morning, ha!)

That’ll be an entry for another time...  Cheers for now and till next Sunday!!

Sandra Tena ≈ Writer, healer, dreamer, lover

 

--I don’t want to go...

*I am 34 now, so it’s been 22 years since Cassandra was born in my brain!  Also, I was born a third time in Glastonbury, as I will speak shortly of in the entry titled The Mysterious Lady of Glastonbury Revealed.
 

You can read more of my blogs, stories, novels, healing writings, plays & performances I've been on, my modelling career and runaway thoughts in the following links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sandra-Tena/e/B00NWBFY6E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Facebook: His & Hers Theatre Company
Instagram: @sandracoleportfolio
Twitter: @PageStageSandra

  

Top 20 Books of 2013

Sooo….  My original plan was to make this a Sunday blog, but since I will be in Wales all weekend (yay!) in a personal tour of certain important regions regarding Celtic Mythology, I put it on today ;)

Besides, it works brilliantly, because this is an entry dedicated to the 20 books that made my heart soar during 2013, and hey, it’s Tolkien’s birthday!!  What better way to celebrate one of the top men who made me a writer than to speak of pretty books?  Ironically, none of his books are on the list because I’ve read them all, except The Children of Hurin, but I’ve chosen not to read that one for personal reasons… I reserve the right to change my mind about it, but that’s my choice as of now.  I’m also celebrating, very very proudly, I must say, that I managed to read 52 books during the year, double yay!  Not one every week, because some were much much faster to read than others, and some I read together at the same time.  Same difference.  Well, also ironically, not all of them are literature, because I like to read wellbeing books and philosophy or history too, but I’m focusing on literature on this list.

Off we go!

20.- Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse.

This was a Christmas gift from my friend Jamie (Christmas 2012), and it is, like Diana Gabaldon’s work, chic lit for the smart chic.  It has action, it has romance and it has magic (ha, same reasons as the next entry)...  and because I learned a lot about the Crusades and the Inquisitions (both from the actual book and from all the research that it led me to), and this feeds my own writing so organically!

This book has a lot of quality, no wonder they made it into a TV series... I have not seen it, but maybe one day...  there are so many things to watch out there!  The book is pretty cool; do check it out if you’re into historical fiction.

19.- Cross Stitch, by Diana Gabaldon.

                This was actually a birthday gift from my friend Michelle, partly as a joke, partly because she says (and she’s right) that all women should read a bit of historical romance now and then.  Truly, it is very relaxing.  I mean, not when they’re in the middle of a highland battle, or escaping from a prison or from being executed...  or when they’re being tortured.  Or not even when they’re having sex.

Uhm.  Why did I think this book was relaxing?

I’ve already said it: chic lit for the smart chic, and you even learn a bit here and there; there’s action, romance and magic all in one book.  And I have an anecdote to go with it: I actually finished reading it sitting at the bus stop, three blocks from my house, at midnight, the night I came back from Newcastle on my graduation week.  I did it because I knew my landlady was at home and I know how her mouth works: once it starts going, it might not finish until an hour or two later, and I was returning from my graduation, for God and the Goddess’ sakes, so I knew she would start speaking as soon as I’d walk in the door.  She did, by the way; we ended up talking for almost an hour.

So, the fact that I sat there in the cold to read the last two or three pages and be able to close the book peacefully made me realize:  this book deserves mention!

18.- A gathering light, by Jennifer Donnelly.

                I read this book for school, from the “optionals” list... such a great choice!!   We’d already read an excerpt in class, and I was very taken by the story, so I put my hands on it as soon as I could.  It’s a murder mystery, and not the only one you’ll see on this list.  Yet, more importantly than the murder, the story is about the effect that the sad event has on the protagonist, and about her pursue of stories...  the book is about that breaking point, the one that makes us all go “This is it, this is what I want to do...”, and of course it is also about all the obstacles that came her way once she chose; because it is like that with all of us, right? It is when we say we’ll go for something that the road suddenly seems full of blockages.

But we all go and get it in the end, whatever the cost, and that is what makes us great.  And that is what makes this book inspiring and heart-warming.

17.- The Bridget Jones Diary and The Edge of Reason, by Helen Fielding.

                I am counting them as one book because of their continuity within each other.  Cheating, I know, but brilliant non-the-less.

I’d wanted to read these two ever since I found out they were originally books.  I had my doubts, because of the diary-style, but I enjoyed the movies so much (just like Sex and the City, to be honest, but I’ve not felt the need to try to read those particular books), and the whole art within the art was so alluring that I just caved in!  I’m glad I did because they’re so funny that I just couldn’t stop laughing on the tube...  so it’s lucky that I’m in London, because I think here the word “weirdo” has lost all meaning, hahaha!

It was truly fascinating to see Colin Firth and Hugh Grant and Mr Darcy (the Austen one) go through so many layers in and out of the page and my image memory...  so, in this case at least, I am willing to say that watching the movies before the book was the best thing for me, hehe.

(By the way, I reread Pride and Prejudice and I loved it as much as when I was nineteen.)

Personal note after reedition (09/09/15): I feel like The Edge of Reason did not have the same kind of impact on me than the first one did, and if asked again about this list, I would probably leave it out.  But that’s just my viewpoint…!

16.- The Helper, by David Jackson.

               As a way to get experience (and read a heap of free books), I’m volunteering with TripFiction.com, reviewing books that take us to exciting places.  One of the many books I’ve reviewed is The Helper, a really great thriller!  I found it an absolute page-turner, and I won’t really say more than that because I have to publicize myself and I hope that you will all be turning into the TripFiction.com blog to see what I said about this book, hehe.

15.- The Beauty of Murder, by H.K. Benedict.

                This is another one of the books I reviewed (again, check out my review at TripFiction.com), and I really liked it because it was paranormal thriller at its best...  I loved the setting: Cambridge, which is the second British city I ever went to and thus the second British city I fell in love with.  The storyline is quite original, and the characters are very well rounded.  The mystery is well produced and the style is great, because the story is told in three different voices, which makes it delightful, psychologically.

                I took the three voices model for my own book, Wideawake, which you can find on Amazon Kindle; I think it works amazing for any thriller, paranormal or not.  Well, it works fantastic on any book!

14.- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell.

                Becasue of really interesting comments from my friend Hillery on an email when I first moved to Newcastle, I wanted to read the book before watching the film...  It was a bit like a double-sided knife, but I’m glad I did it, because the characters had plenty more meaning as I saw them on the screen...  of course it also made the whole same-actor-playing-different-characters thing more aggravating to me, literally speaking.

                The book is so original, and the style is so particular.  Big time.  It makes me think that Mitchell is a literary genius.  I want to read more of his books.  Hooray for him and for his penmanship.

13.- Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

                I’d wanted to read this book for many years, and it so happened that when my friend Spyros came to visit me in London, he suggested we go and watch the musical.  He has been a fan of the musical for a while, and I was getting pretty hyped to go with him.   Best. Musical. Ever.

                Bar none.  Best musical ever!  I loved the colour and the songs and the actors and the costumes and the storyline.  I bought a Glinda necklace and we took pictures with the actors and everything, it was awesometacular... The next day we were walking past a bookstore and Spyros goes “Hey, this is where I bought my first book in London”, and I’m all “That’s it, this is where I buy Wicked”.

I did, I read it, I loved it and I put it on the list.

Ironically, I do not like The Wizard of Oz.  Hm, probably that’s why I liked this one so much!

Word of advice:  for those musical enthusiasts, if you haven’t read the book, know that it is very very very different than the musical.  I enjoyed it immensely, yet have to admit I like the musical better.

12.- Glint, by Anne Coburn.

                Glint is a children’s book, but I can pretty much say that all fantasy-loving adults will enjoy it as much as any child.  I found the story very metaphorical – yet, even if Ann Coburn was my teacher at Newcastle University, and a great teacher at that, I couldn’t go and ask her about the meaning of the duality...  It is a universal truth that even if the author has one idea about his or her book, it’s the reader who will give it its last meaning down that line...  and then there are discussions between readers and a new line might be created, and so forth.  But this I have to say: as much as I was tempted to, I did not ask her.  And now I regret it.  I will probably email her one day and ask her.  Blimey, now I’m contradicting myself online.

                Moving on!

11.- The Silver Linings Playbook, by Mathew Quick.

                I also wanted to read this book before the movie came out...  I loved the book very much – but I have not seen the film!  I do want to, and maybe I will just rent it at some point, or something, but the thing is that I really enjoyed the book.  It’s written in a very original way, with a very original voice, and like a lot of the books I’ve mentioned on the list already, this one is quite heart-warming as well!

                I might do a follow-up when I see the movie, but for now, this is definitely one of the books that I recommend for everyone, whatever age or gender or cultural background.

Note after re-edition (09/09/15): I saw the film and I loved it! Kudos for all the actors and crew!

10.- Strange Pilgrims (Doce Cuentos Peregrinos), by Gabriel García Márquez.

                A Hundred Years of Solitude has been one of my favourite novels for over a decade, and now, while working on the MA, we had to choose our own books to read to make our points with our own stories.  I picked this one...  I’d read some of García Márquez’s short stories before, but not a full book of them.  I picked it because I was going to write about a Latin American who comes to England for studies (yes, a bit autobiographical), and I wanted to experience that feeling through his pen.  It was absolutely wonderful.  There are some stories there that you can just feel in your veins; being a migrant or a tourist or a student, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you’ve entered into a different land, for whatever period of time, and from whatever original nationality, this book will make you feel something very very deep.  Everyone should read it!

9.- The Great Gatby, by (The Great) F. Scott Fitzgerald.

                Frankly I only wanted to read the book before the Leonardo DiCaprio movie came out...  and I fell head over heels with it!  I could not believe what I had missed all these years...  I mean, I usually felt illiterate and a bit of a fake for not having read it (even though I’ve read a great many masters anyhow), so when the movie was about to come out I said “This has got to stop, I have to read it!”  I did.  I loved it!  Oh, I have not seen the 60’s movie, btw, but I will see it as soon as I have the chance.

                Ah, and I cannot help but stop for a minute and say how much I liked Tom Hiddleston’s Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris.

                So, with the book, I breathed in the light of it...  it was just so poetic, the light in the pages, and the characters are so extraordinary, and the dialogue just so potent...  I just love it.  Love it!

8.- The Drive, by Tyler Keevil.

                 The Drive is another one of the books I’ve reviewed on TripFiction.com (I recommend my review on the blog as much as the book itself).  It’s funny and heart-warming and very appropriately located in the West Coast of the US.  I particularly loved Sprite.  And it’s bound to make anyone say “What the hell...?” in more than one passage.  Totally worth it.

                I would recommend this book to the younger adult readers, but I’m sure that more than one mature adult would also enjoy it immensely.

7.- Londoners, compiled by Craig Taylor.

                I’ve often said that I’ve been in love with London since I was 12, so a few months ago I came to visit along with my friend Cata, who’s been here plenty of times and had a book called Londres Insólito y Secreto (Secret and Incredible London) so we decided to discover some of those things that are not on the usual tourist routes...  and we found so many secrets!  One of those secrets was The School of Life, where I got the book and a few other things (and where I’ve taken a great many workshops, now that I’m living here).

                Londoners changed my way of seeing London.  For good or bad, it’s too early to say.  This is the only book on the list which is not literature; but it is stories: real, personal, heart-warming stories, and it has given me a new perspective on what it means to live and breathe London.  It also took me into Treadwells, where I met my new friends Mani, Vathani and Fiona, and that makes me feel so blessed.

                This book I recommend to all who would like to know more about this wondrous city from a deeper outlook and a sharper angle.

            Note after re-edition (09/09/15): this book and how it led me to Treadwells is also the reason I met my future husband, actor and playwrite Stephen Cole!  Check him out on Facebook and YouTube as The One Man Theatre Company.  (Give me three cheers for synchronicity!!)

6.- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Trilogy of Five (books 1-4), by Douglas Adams.

                Yes, just books 1 through 4.  The fifth might make you want to jump out the window if you’re not emotionally prepared to cope with it.

                Books 1, 2 and 3 are all pretty much alike, all hilarious and exciting.  Of course, it’s 100% sci-fi so it might not be for all, but those who like Star Wars and Star Trek and of course Doctor Who will really enjoy it.  Those who don’t like those series might also really enjoy it actually – it’s not a rule, by any means!  Douglas Adams also became one of my favourite British authors, and the fact that he was a script writer for Doctor Who for many years and that some of the Hitchhiker books came from unused Who scripts just makes me love the books all the more.  Oh, and the Hitchhiker was recommended to me (for years) by Alan, Nikolas, and my cousin Paola.

                Now, the fourth book: that one is still very good, although the style and tone changes completely.  I would recommend it to all who liked the first three, but not everyone might react to it in the same way, so it’s tricky.

                The fifth book just made me want to jump out the window.

5.- The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie.

My mum loves to tell a story of how, when I was about to graduate from high school and was in a panic because I could not decide what BA I would go into afterwards, she asked me: “What would you like to be doing when you retire?”  She thought that the kind of activity I imagined doing at retirement could give me a clue as to what I would be retiring from.  She is incredibly proud of my answer:  “I would like to lie on a hammock and read Agatha Christie novels”.  Seriously, she tells it to everyone she can.  And seriously, that’s what I would like to do!

So, because there are over 80 of them and I would probably go mentally insane if I tried to read them all during retirement, I decided to give myself a head start! Slightly OCD as I am, I chose to start from novel number 1 and make my way through them like that.  I did not do it like that, I started by my favourite: And Then There Were None (otherwise called by me in different media as Ten Little Indians).  I loved it as much as I did when I was in high school.  And then I started from the beginning.

Agatha Christie needs no introduction: she is the Mistress of Mystery Novels.  As much as Arthur Conan Doyle is the Master...  so yes: if you love crime and mystery books, this is a complete go-to.

4.- Basket Case, by Carl Hiassen.

I’ve liked Hiassen since I read Stormy Weather years ago, and I pretty much knew that this book would deliver just as much.  I was not wrong.  As far as detective novels go, this is awesome; and as far as humorous books go, this is pure genius!  I recommend it to everyone, something that I cannot so with most of the books on the list because I know everyone has different tastes, and I think Hiassen could satisfy most if them.

3.- The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

This book is simply amazing.  From top to bottom, it’s just perfect.  It’s got fantasy to keep you going for years and mystery and romance... and some of the best word games I’ve ever read!  The characters are so well rounded and the literary references are great...  and the play into Jane Eyre is just phenomenal.

I got it on my very last day as a student at Newcastle.  It was my gift from me to me for finishing the Masters.  It was also recommended by Nikolas (it was our last trip together to Oxfam Books, a great way to say good bye to the city and our literary rituals).

Btw, Fforde is rapidly climbing the ladder of my new favourite British authors, and his birthday is right before mine, thank you very much!

2.- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman is without a doubt my favourite British author...  yes, Tolkien and Rowling and Carroll and Austen and Christie and Conan Doyle will always be my favourites, it’s just that now I’ve discovered another one!

Neverwhere had been thrust towards me continuously by two close friends, Alan and Nikolas, and the only reason I had not read it was for lack of time...  but for a London lover like I’ve been since I was 12, and for a fantasy lover since I discovered the use of word, then it was a complete and utter must!!  Frankly, I thought it would be the number one in the list, and they were very much nose to nose, I just had to pick one for listing...  it was hard and it still is, even as I write this...!

Anyway, storywise, Neverwhere has it all: it is a story about a trip into the darkest parts of your soul (at least that’s the symbolism for me), and it’s full of magic and wonderful creatures and amazing discoveries in every turn of the page.  Absolutely perfect.  Or else, the only thing that made it come second was the thing about the cats.  When you read it you will understand.  Still, just what the doctor ordered!

Last year I also read Stardust and M is for Magic; I really liked Stardust as a movie, and I was very pleased to discover that it didn’t make me like it less when I read the book.  The book is precious in every sense, and the movie is hilarious in ways that could only have been conveyed by film, so they’re both good in their own way.  M is for Magic is fantastic!  Most of the short stories are perfect in every sense, particularly Chivalry, which is bar none my favourite short story ever and makes me so so so glad I read it.

OK, this is me giving three Gaiman books second place in the list.  Yes, it’s cheating, I know, but it was kind of hard to avoid doing it, since I gave first place to someone else...

1.- Dance Dance Dance, by Haruki Murakami.

I got this book one sunny day in Dublin, in a wonderful bookstore called The Winding Stair.  I actually saw the bookstore through the window of the tour bus, and, since we were planning to dine at the Clarence Hotel, and the bookstore was just a few blocks from it across the river, my mum and I decided to go check it out.  Long story short, I told her that I’d always wanted to read Murakami and she bought it for me, yay!!

About the book, I can say that it’s very magical without being a fantasy book...  it takes place during the eighties, and because  most of the references weren’t known to me until the nineties or even the early two-thousands, it took me back to my adolescence and early adulthood.  It is a story about search, friendship an evolution, all of my favourite things, with just the right touch of mystery and romance.  Loved it big time!!

So, that’s my list for this year...  I have, as of now, only 652 books to read...  plus all the ones that will enter because of TripFiction.com, plus all the ones people will recommend me, PLUS a bunch that I know people will give me now and then...  So, I do not know if I will manage 52 books again (at all) a year, but this was a really fun year for trying and succeeding... and in future lists I might just do a top 10 or something quirky.

As they say, so many books... so little time!

In any case, enjoy if you pick any of these books, and do recommend me some if you believe I would enjoy one of the ones you’ve read.

And again, a Cheers! straight from the heart!

Sandra Cole ~ Lover, Dreamer, Seeker, Writer

Opportunity

This year a great many things came together for me: finishing a Masters in Creative Writing in the very same country that fed me stories and characters and the joys within the letters spread within any given page (and thus made me want to become a writer myself); happily graduating in early December, however wet the storm made me be that day; enjoying mystical London during Samhain and Yule with my new friends in the city (and my sister ever present in the distance); and the chance to surround myself with amazing people from all over the world, who are close to me even across countries and oceans and time differences...

Starting a whole new cycle as the year comes to a close, as the Moon starts its Winter round and my age gains a smallish quantity as January tip-toes, makes me realise I need to find a way to honour this feeling of growth and movement, and the best way I could think of was a blog...  I am a writer; I knit Fantasy from icy British December evenings and sunny beaches off the coast of Spain.  I talk with Athos and Legolas and the Cheshire Cat...  or sometimes with Jo March, if I ever need writing advice.  I weave the long Sierras of Mexico into a memory my Cassandra also has; I chant into my notebook a few long lists of what my characters should be like (sometimes for a second too long before I realise that I should write them down with my pen instead), and I travel to and from the Cemetery of Lost Books to find a treasure yet unread... and I justify all my forgetfulness with the simple words “I’m sorry, I’m a writer, so, you know...?”.

So to commemorate my graduation and my new beginning, I start this blog with the Student Orator Speech that I auditioned for the post with. I did not get it, but it was always my intention to hand it to the world, and since I cannot think of a better way to express my gratitude to Newcastle University, to my fabulous teachers, my wonderful friends, and my overall amazing luck at having experienced everything I did, I go ahead and post it here tonight.

Good morning everyone, Headmasters and Deans; Professors, Lecturers and Fellows; members of the Faculty staff; fellow Graduates; dear family and friends.  It is a great honour to have been chosen to speak in the name of my school, and I hope my words will give credit to all of our thoughts and feelings on this happy day.

Opportunity.  That is the first word that comes to my mind when I think of Newcastle University.  I am sure I’m not alone in considering our alma matter an open door towards professional and personal growth: after all, in studying here we all took a path that began with very high-quality education and will undoubtedly lead us towards the realization of our greatest life-goals.

We stand here as we finish this grand period of our lives, with our eyes joyful and our chins up high, for yes, we must feel proud of what we’ve achieved.  We must know that however hard it might have been for those of us who came from far away to leave a home, or for those that were from around to get used to a new routine, or for all of us to work through the complexities and intricacy of academic life, my friends, we did it!  We graduated from the University that we chose and that chose us (because, finding a University is a little bit like falling in love: you look at all of its qualities and attributes, you compare and contrast between institutions, and then, when you have selected the one, you declare yourself to it and proceed to hope that it will be as smitten with you as you are with it.  I know that was the way in my case).

When the University accepted me I was beyond myself, mostly because my degree does not exist in my country, but also because between all the institutions where it does exist, Newcastle offered a better programme, highly-qualified professors, and a more striking campus (yes, anyone who knows me knows that I am head over heels for the Arches... I mean, who isn’t?).  And I am certain that I’m not the only one with that story to tell!  The story about finding our place to be, to become and to evolve, is a story we all share and that binds us in our choice and its fine outcomes.

And weren’t our teachers great, by the way?  Full of invaluable wisdom, always pushing us to give our best in our papers, assignments and tests, and also always willing to lend a hand when we struggled.  We can trust that these people, so experienced and effective, give it all when it comes to instructing us.  Being a Professor, a Lecturer, a Fellow, a Tutor, it’s no easy job...  they have to learn the name and background of each student, know their strengths and weaknesses, remember what we all said in previous classes and link it to new commentaries.  But most of all, they have to be patient with our process of learning, with each and every one of us.  And to do it objectively, on top of that! True, in this context, postgraduate studies, we’re all adults and so the communication flows a lot more easily, but they need diplomacy still, and that’s an invaluable quality.  These are people who work towards professional improvement every day of their lives in order to provide us with helpful lessons and precious additions to our curriculum.  Wasn’t it in fact that classroom life was full of breakthroughs, concept-grasping, and alterations to our paradigms? There is so much lore within these walls, intertwined with history and progress, that our perceptions grew acute, and inevitably we walk out with sharper minds inside our pretty heads.  I tip my hat to our teachers, because they did a grand job and they deserve our admiration, respect and gratitude; and wherever significant we land later in life, it will be in great part due to them.

But classroom life would not have been the same without our amazing support groups, would it?  I’m willing to bet that nearly everyone here made at least a best friend out of a classmate.  And the ramifications of that are always good, from getting together to go over each other’s writings and projects (a more “professional” outlook to the relationship), to fun times at home while cooking and watching movies, or nightly outings or trips to other cities.  Beyond a doubt, the bonds formed inside the school can and will go a long way, so hold on and cherish them.

Nonetheless, school was certainly not the only place to make friends, especially considering the amount of people most of us were living with: whether you were staying at a place like Leazes Terrace, with four hundred other occupants and a complex shared kitchen usage; at a place like Central Link, in a little flat that made you feel perhaps more professional; or at a rented house, where maybe you felt more homelike... or maybe you were living in your own house, were you undoubtedly were at home.  In any case, whatever living arrangement you had, I can only assume that the roof over your head provided you with more than just warmth and protection, but also with amazing friends for life.  The kind of friends that stuck by you through sickness and sunshine withdrawals, that were pleased for quiet nights at The Trent House or Bar Loco just as much as going to Perdu or Tokyo or Revolution just as long as you were all together… in short, the kind of friends that will dance with you not only to the music but also to the rhythm of your hopes and dreams and revelations. 

Revelations did I say?  I do not mean dirty little secrets (though I’m pretty sure there were some of those here and there).  I mean the discovery of the abilities, inclinations, and possibilities that University life brings out in us.  As a student, every so often you feel surprised at unearthing an aptitude that lay well hidden inside you, whether it is playing a sport you enjoy, trying out for something adventurous like fell walking or trampolining, or finding out that you are in fact good at Math, salsa dancing or solving murder mysteries.  Finding the energy and courage to go for this type of activity is highly rewarding, and in the end, in a way we can say that we reinvented ourselves.  And the best part is, everything you tried out during your programme becomes part of you, making you bit by bit a more creative, capable, talented individual.  We all now have the chance to step back and compare our new selves with whom we used to be before starting our programmes.  And aren’t we just going to love those people?

So, during this year or couple of years we walked, aided sometimes by our tutors, accompanied often by our friends and classmates, and now we have reached the point of completion.  But this is not the end. No, by any means!  This is just a brand new beginning, shiny and fresh in all its glory.  Yes, it might make us want to crawl back into the safety of school, especially when we see how big the world is, and how difficult it can be to make it out there in “real life”.  But fear not, my friends and companions.  Fear not, because we have learned and we have created a better self, and the University has given us all the tools necessary for success; it’s up to us how we use them.  The good news is, we’re all pretty smart, so we’ll all be able to use them well, right?  There is in fact a broader path in front of us, full of possibilities that we could not have imagined before, so it’s up to us to walk along it and take advantage of them.

And so we return to OPPORTUNITY: Newcastle University gave us the opportunity to study here, in this wonderful city, as it is; our teachers gave us the opportunity to learn and think and discover; our friends gave us the opportunity to dance and travel and enjoy.  But most of all, we gave ourselves the opportunity to live and complete this altogether brilliant experience. 

Thank you all.

Congratulations Graduates, and Cheers!

Sandra Tena ≈ Writer, healer, seeker, lover

You can find my Amazon Author Page at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sandra-Tena/e/B00NWBFY6E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Or find me on Facebook as Sandra Tena Cole, on Twitter as @PageStageSandra, on Mandy Actors as Sandra Cole, and on Instagram as @sandracoleportfolio