Cheekwood’s Celebration of El Día de los Muertos: A Nashville Tradition

I was thrilled yesterday to be headed again to  El Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  With all the changes that have happened in Nashville over the three years I lived abroad,  I was happy that Cheekwood still hosts one of my favorite fall events and one of the most important festivals in Latin American culture.   On El Dia de Los Muertos …

Staycation in Nashville…Fond Farewell

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.–Henry Miller I’ve always enjoyed staycations in Nashville, my home for almost thirty years.  After two years of living in Morocco, I am in town for the summer, and, as friends said I would be, stunned by how much this It City has grown.   In a week I move to The…

My Nashville

Roots and wings. Nashville has and is (for me) both. This progressive place with a legendary past is the 7th fastest growing city in the US. Friends told me of new restaurants and music venues, of more traffic in the year I was away, but I was still surprised by all the change. Growing up in Kentucky, I romanticized Nashville and its icons.  As…

Past, Present, Future Dickens of a Christmas

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. –A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Fall Weather Back Home

This week in Nashville we had our first snow flurries.  It was even colder than a month ago when I stepped off the plane in The Netherlands to a twenty degree temperature drop. On my fall break trip to Europe I was forced for the first time since May to exchange flip flops for close-toed shoes. I also broke out the scarves, a fleece…

Dancing on Grapes

April Kim Kim and Mayuresh Last Saturday was as good as it gets. A year ago my friend, April, invited me to Italian Lights, calling me back to my first love affair with a culture. Check it out here: http://atomic-temporary-5988497.wpcomstaging.com/2010/09/18/finding-an-old-love-in-new-venue-italian-lights/. This year, I invited a gang and I was back in Italy again. I spent hours at table exchanging stories, laughs and food with…

Summer Art and Play Dates

Like freebirds we picked up bright and shining things along the way…good conversation, laughs, leisure. We met artists who reminded us we are all made in the image of the Great Creator. By honoring their inner children with their work, they invited ours to join and play.

All that Glows: Summer 2011

The 2010-11 school year is over, and I’ve moved back into my summer home. Vacating the classroom means taking up residency here, on this blog, where I can exhale. Having done my penance of papers, I can stop grading others and maybe even myself. Though it will take a miracle not to measure the next seven weeks by how much I cross off my…

Christmas Catch-up

Apologies for disappearing since September…too busy living the “Rich Life” to record it. Since returning from Magic, I was more motivated than ever to grow Classic Coup…and meanwhile the mom/teacher/writer/salsera world kept spinning… Now there’s the holidays when I really run behind…family coming to my house for dinner tonight and still grocery, cooking, gift wrapping to go. No complaints. At Christmas I catch-up on…

Staycation #12: The Beauty of Belcourt

It’s cool to be one of the Village People…sans YMCA hand motions. Whether you’re high art, low brow, or slapstick… Steve Martin, Prince or Igor Stravinsky, Belcourt Theatre, Nashville’s most majestic and eclectic art house, has patrons still huddling round the hub of its culture and history. Dating back to silent films in the 20s and Opry performances in the 30s Belcourt has provided…

Staycation #9: The Golden Age of Couture

Not since opening night of SATC2 have I seen so many women so excited. In fact, though I’ve seen many-an- art- enthusiast enjoying exhibits at the Frist, I’ve never been bumped along in a crowd as happy…downright jubilant…as last night.

Staycation #6: Movies in the Park

Staycations are about making-like-Dorothy and finding fun in one’s own backyard. For the fifteenth year the Nashville Scene is hosting free movies in Centennial Park.