Last night I went to the inaugaral party for the island’s new cultural magazine, Ruido. My husband had hoped to go, but we couldn’t get a babysitter so he stayed home.
I had a good time. There was the inevitable speech to begin with, about the magazine, its aims and the contents of the first issue. I wasn’t mentioned, so I assumed I’d been bumped into issue two. Fair enough – they probably have enough egos to deal with. Then someone read some of the contents, and to my surprise, this included my micro fiction, “Dream On” (Sigue Soñando), so I’m in after all. I don’t get paid, but I got paid when the English version was published in Chat. It’ll be the first time I’ve been published in Spanish, and it’s the first time I’ve done my own translation. Best of all, people laughed aloud at the end, which felt GREAT!
Then we had music from a funk group. At the interval there was free beer (Thank you Dorada) and exhibitions to look at. I briefly helped out at the desk collecting signatures on a petition for a concert hall. There isn’t a single one on an island of 80,000 inhabitants. Can you believe it?
After the interval, we were supposed to see a documentary about local groups, but that was cancelled due to a technical hitch. On the other hand, the best jazz group on the island played for longer than planned to compensate, so we were all happy.
I’m also pleased to say that the concert raised enough money to pay for printing Issue 1. It’s early days, but I think this baby is going to survive. And like any baby, who knows what the future holds?
