Hello loyal readers.
Well Mother’s Day was not easy – loving and missing my mother and my son. It’s rarely been an easy holiday for me due to many reasons I won’t go into here. The candle for my mother is still burning.
Moving along … in the past week, I learned a poem of mine, On Virginity, would be published in “Remembering Hal Sirowitz.” Also, a slice of memoir was accepted to be included in “Bronx Memoir Project – vol. X” and that slice is called, Big Butt; He Cannot Lie.
Good things happen along with difficult things – the ups and downs, the yin and yang of life.
I’ve needed to return to selling things. In the cold and cool weather, I set up my table in my lobby. That limits my customers to neighbors. When it is warm again and I set up outside, I have the possibility of many more customers but also many more shady characters to deal with. In the lobby today, I only made $4, but it is 4 more than zero. Anything helps financially and helps getting things out of my overloaded apartment.
My creative writing class is going very well. I judge it by how good students feel, what they say, the work they do, and how good I feel at the end of a class. Similar to when I taught folks who wanted to complete their basic education, I find the students are so relieved when they realize the teacher is a regular person. That’s my claim to fame – not coming from teacher-land. Simply being the person I am. From there, we do great work.
It is really nice to be teaching again. The subject matter is different from what I used to teach, so I have to work to come up with plans. It varies depending on what each group of students hopes to get from the class. I try to address most of what they want. Sometimes, I write alongside of the students, and sometimes I also share what I’ve written. We truly have a good time. One student in the fall cycle said, “This was like a writing party!” That felt great.
Now, for the funny – on Wednesday, May 20, from 6-9pm, Diana Gitesha-Hernandez is having her jazz show, Diva Dive, at Tio Pepe’s. I am going to do 2 short comedy sets on their breaks. They are at 168 West 4th Street. No cover. No minimum. Good food, good music, good comedy.
Hope you’ll want to be part of the fun.
Mindy Matijasevic
So much love to CGG-M ❤ 💕 ❤
May 14, 2026
