Hello!
It's been over a year since I sent an update. How did that happen? Can I blame my three-year-old? Or pink wine? Or our so-called president? Yes, yes, and damn skippy. But seriously, blame aside, thanks for opening my email and reading.
First, I have an announcement: a few spots are still available in my writing workshop in Morocco this spring, from March 31-April 8th, with Deep Travel Workshops. When I visited in 2017, I was blown away by the country and its people--Morocco is nothing short of magical. Every day I discovered something new to fall in love with, and today the sounds and colors and tastes and faces of the Fez medina's 9,000 byways still swirl in my heart, drawing me back like a call to prayer. So ... want to join me? Ok, I know it's a last-minute invite, but I also know some of you were born for this sort of thing. Here's info...
And now, other news and a few highlights since I last wrote to you:
In March, I co-taught a 10-day workshop in Nepal with the wonderful Jeff Greenwald. We visited some of the world's most sacred Buddhist sites and meditated and put pencil to paper. We saw the full, glorious Himalayan Range spread out before our sleepy eyes on multiple mornings. We explored chaotic Kathmandu and celebrated Holi and visited the ghats of Pashupatinath Temple. Then, after the workshop ended, I got to fly in a helicopter to Everest Base Camp. (What!) I still get goosebumps writing that sentence. It was a humbling and exhilarating experience I'll never forget. (OH and HEY: if you're interested in visiting Nepal, I'll be returning October 12-22 with Himalayan Writers Workshops, this time co-teaching with the amazing photographer Ted Seymour! Email info@himalayanwritersworkshops for more info!)
I bookended my trip to Nepal with a whirlwind layover in Korea, where I once lived. I had about 30 hours there, so I used it to sing my heart out at noraebang (Korean karaoke) with friends I hadn’t seen in seventeen years, and to fill my belly with bulgogi and kimchi and banchan. But happily—SO HAPPILY—I’ll be returning to in March on assignment! This time I’ll spend a week in Busan, the city I called home for six years. I cannot even believe I’m finally, really going back.
I also visited Boulder (Utah) and San Francisco to celebrate the launch of This Immeasurable Place, the new narrative cookbook from Hell's Backbone Grill, which I co-wrote with my sister Blake and her business partner Jen (my unofficial sister). The book had a great year, with stellar reviews and a mention in the NEW YORKER!!! (As they say in Utah: Oh my heck.) It was beyond thrilling to see Blake and Jen's restaurant and activism covered in this 12-page New Yorker feature--and it wasn't bad seeing my name in the story, either. It's written by Pulitzer prize winner Kathryn Schulz, and it's an incredible read, and I highly recommend it!
(And for a much shorter read about the roots of Blake & Jen's activism, I wrote this article for Ms. Magazine.)
In other writing news, a personal essay about my struggles to find home was published in Longreads last week. It took me thirteen years to get this essay into the world, and according to Longreads, it'll take you thirteen minutes to read it! I'm really grateful it finally found a good home. I have a few more personal stories coming out this year—for example, AFAR magazine sent to me to Spain to (sort of) follow in my guitarist father's footsteps in 2017, and that feature comes out in their July/August print issue.
I've also written a couple of small pieces for AFAR.com about New Orleans recently--this one about my favorite small museums, and this one about crawfish. A few more are in the works, too, about Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.
It's been fun writing about my new home--and New Orleans IS slowly feeling like home. I love the relaxed pace here, the small-town vibe (it's hard to leave the house without running into someone you know), the music (have you heard the latest from Galactic? So good). I love the potholes (it means everyone drives 20 mph, which bugs other residents but delights me). I love the live oak trees (Did you know NOLA has the oldest grove in the world? One tree is 900 years old!), and I love the architecture, and the food, and the warmth in the air and in the smiles of everyone who passes on the street. I love how the ladies call me “baby” and tell me to have a blessed day. And I love my writing group, Peauxdunque (y'all must read my Peauxdunquian friend Maurice's new novel, We Cast a Shadow--it's on every must-read list, and for good reason). I also love saying “y’all.”
As for Ellis, my tenderhearted tornado of a preschooler, he loves riding the street car and dancing in second line parades and climbing the aforementioned centuries-old oak trees, and everything about Mardi Gras. And it goes without saying that my husband loves NOLA—he’s been trying to convince me to move here since our second date. (We do flee to Cape Cod in the summertime, though.)
Ok, that's it for now. I'll write again in a year or so, or maybe even sooner! Thanks for being here, and happy 2019, and I hope to see y'all sometime soon--in New Orleans or Morocco or Nepal--or somewhere, anywhere, on this beautiful spinning planet!
Love,
Lavinia
ps. Since you read this far (thank you, I love you), I give you one last photo, a strange and surreal one from the Atlantic Magazine.
