Embracing the Inner Jíbarahttp://open.salon.com/user.php?uid=2747Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:03:06 -0400Starting on February 22, 2010, we will be offering two intensive writing e-workshops. One is for participants who are interested in writing contemporary women’s fiction (including but not limited to the ever-popular “chick lit.”) The other is for those who...http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/12/31/sister_outsider_entertainment_online_classeshttp://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/12/31/sister_outsider_entertainment_online_classesThu, 31 Dec 2009 14:12:58 -0500 http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/12/31/sister_outsider_entertainment_online_classes_1http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/12/31/sister_outsider_entertainment_online_classes_1Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:12:58 -0500I was seven years old when my abuela took me to the library to get my first card. Every week after, I returned to visit new worlds that were beyond my imagination. Transported from my working-class neighborhood to other countries,...http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/06/04/support_your_local_public_libraryhttp://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/06/04/support_your_local_public_libraryThu, 4 Jun 2009 22:06:02 -0400 <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p style="text-align: justify;">I was seven years old when my abuela took me to the library to get my first card.&nbsp; Every week after,&nbsp; I returned to visit new worlds that were beyond my imagination.&nbsp; Transported from my working-class neighborhood to other countries, lives and possibilities.&nbsp; I learned that the power of reading and knowledge.&nbsp; As a teenager, I was lost among the stacks one day and&nbsp; I began searching for books that represented my experience as a young Puerto Rican girl without even a dictionary in my house.&nbsp; Desiring to enter the library and see an abundance of books by authors with Spanish names I was inspired to write.&nbsp; I loved Judy Blume, but didn't understand what it meant to own an Angora sweater or a two story home.&nbsp; My world spoke more than one language, rode public transportation, diverse sexualities, had one parent and was multicultural.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today, you can go to the library and there are more books on the shelves by multicultural authors then there were twenty years ago.&nbsp; But, public libraries still need funding to provide a free service to the community.&nbsp; Support your local library, so the next Judy Blume, Esmeralda Santiago or Toni Morrison will be able to follow her dream and transport young people for years to come to places both familiar and foreign. Beyond even reading or becoming the next Junot Diaz, Richard Price or Langston Hughes--libraries are a free resource where we can learn about anything! </p><p style="text-align: left;">They impacted my life. How much do they mean to you? </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p></div> http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/06/04/support_your_local_public_library_1http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/06/04/support_your_local_public_library_1Thu, 4 Jun 2009 22:06:02 -0400Currently, I'm working on a creative non-fiction memoir. I'll be working on this piece at VONA this summer in San Francisco. I'm excited about being accepted to VONA and I'm looking forward to the structure and support this space will...http://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/05/20/inspire_your_muse_create_a_word_portrait_of_yourselfhttp://open.salon.com/blog/elisha_miranda/2009/05/20/inspire_your_muse_create_a_word_portrait_of_yourselfThu, 21 May 2009 01:05:01 -0400