Editor's Note: We were searching around YouTube for writing workshops and writers talking about their craft, and found this interview with Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street. It turns out she isn't a big fan of one of the most prestigious writing programs in the country. It's not particularly friendly to voices of color...perhaps they don't mean to be, they just don't know any better....

By Jan Lundberg Posted July 1, 2009 It is true that the Internet has challenged the newspaper business like nothing else. The Internet has also changed social networking and activist organizing. But we must also see beyond the Internet, a system that banks on the notion of unlimited non-renewable resources for computers, power generation, and shipping through petroleum. The Internet also operates...

by Virtual Gypsy She is the epitome of feminist artist. Or rather, caricature of the feminist artist. The first time I saw this film I instantly fell in love with her. I couldn't help myself. I thought she was fantastic with her first entrance into the story. Flying nude on ropes and splattering green paint on a canvas. She transports a Virtual Gypsy to the "Mystical Land of Feminism." "Does...

"Let Freedom Ring" - an open mic for readers is scheduled for Friday, July 3 at The Bookstore in the Grove. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. - hosted by the Miami Writers Association and the International Institute for Human Understanding. Let's get a good crowd for the night and celebrate writing. With July 4 banging the next day, a theme for the evening could be: Freedom (in the many ways that can be interpreted). I'm...

by Kemila Velan I met Jeile Marie, co-creator of GoLiveMiami.com on March 17, 2009 (see my typed out blog entries of our series of encounters below). Last week, we "got together" virtually to discuss the Miami blogosphere. The question was: Are there other chic techies in our Magic City doing what we are doing? Tuesday, March 17, 2009 I wake up at 3:30 a.m. PST. It is time to go back...

by Virtual Gypsy If you are anything like me, you think of your brain as a machine, or a computer, to be more specific, and it is important to frequently grease up the gears of your machinery and run them so the memories inside don't get L-O-S-T or worse, disconnected from the larger story that is your L-I-F-E. The way I do this is with movement. Inertia. I'm talking about mobility. When I get...

by Melanie Feliciano I've been wanting to go to Japan ever since I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" about 10 years ago. That's the beauty of fiction. It transports the reader to a different time, a different place, a different culture. A book can often fulfill our natural human appetite for escapism from the everyday grind...and its carbon footprint is less than a plane trip from Miami to Tokyo plus a...

7:30pm I park my truck on Purdy Ave (instead of valet parking) and walk across the Venetian Causeway carrying my bag of "tricks" for tonight's inaugural comedy and spoken word at The Standard Hotel with members of the Miami Writers Association (MWA), and whomever else saw the post on Facebook. It has been a while since I have set foot in The Standard Hotel. I was a member when it was a cult classic...but...

Jenny Perez, 36, mother of four children, says, "I have never taken any writing classes but I love to write and saw this Write Your Life Contest as an opportunity to share my experiences with the universe and see what it reflects back to me." She submitted the following when we asked writers in March to submit their writing to be featured on www.BiscayneWriters.com. We liked it because every writer...