World Arts Day

My son's favorite musical instrument is the drum. No surprise, I suppose, since he's four years old and I've never met a four-year-old who doesn't love the drums. It was a given then that we would go to an event called "World Arts Day" just because he would be able to take part in a drum circle like they do in Senegal.


My son and daughter here are exploring Rangoli, traditional sand art in India.

The big surprise is that World Arts Day over the weeekend turned out to be a hit with my son not because of the drums but because he discovered dancing. And not just any dancing. Folkloric dancing.



Instructor Jesus Mejia led an energetic group of youngsters at California State University, Los Angeles through more than an hour of vigorous exercises and dancing. My son appeared to be the youngest but that didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the traditional dances from Mexico.



Still, he wasn't too tired to want to create his own piñata when he finished dancing and happened upon the scene shown above. Piñatas are fairly easy to make, but are so much more fun when you have an instructor to show you exactly what to do.

Here, the instructor is showing me the base that my son and I used to build our piñata so that we can recreate it at home with our own cardboard to make more piñatas.



The best part of making a piñata is that most materials are likely already in your home, headed for the recycling bin. This next photo shows our piñata as it looked after the cardboard base was covered with newspapers using a flour-water mixture. Next to it, is a finished piñata that has been decorated with red and blue tissue paper.



Later, my kids and I were on our way to buy our weekly dose of pan Mexicano (Mexican pastries) at a Mexican supermarket when my son squealed with delight at the sight of these:



He and my daughter excitedly broke out in chatter, pointing out the ones they liked and want to make. It looks like we'll be making more piñatas in the months to come.

Creative mom: Singer finds new bliss teaching music

"I learned how hard work and constant practice can achieve not only great results musically, but can change and mold a person's character as well," Maya Guerrero, former opera singer now children's music instructor

Maya encourages silly dancing at her Music Together classes.

Today, I'm proud to announce the debut of my "Creative Mom" series to to showcase talented women in our midst and to inspire moms everywhere to find new ways to allow their creative selves to emerge. Along with finding out what inspires these moms, I'm asking them how they balance their family responsibilities with their creative passions so we can all glean some tips.

Opera singer Maya Guerrero is a great example of someone who has found a way to continue sharing her musical talent with others even though her primary focus these days is her four-year-old son, Vijay. Maya and I met, appropriately enough, at an ampitheatre near our homes more than two years ago as our sons played together.

Maya travelled with her husband and son on a trip to India, Fiji and Tasmania last year. Here, her son, Vijay, enjoys a walk in Tasmania with a cousin.

We soon began spending time together and discovered a shared love of The Beatles, travel and a yearning to reconnect with our creative selves. Just last week, Maya wrapped up her first quarter of classes for young kids under the Music Together program, a dream that materialized after much researching, planning and training.

I wanted to write about Maya because she is a kind person, as warm-hearted and generous with her friendship as she is musically talented. She is the kind of person who you would want not only as your children's music instructor, but as someone in your circle of friends. Though she's clearly at home on the stage singing, at heart, Maya feels the most joy connecting with nature and loved ones, as she reveals in her idea of a perfect day. The best introduction for why I chose Maya as the first creative mom in the series comes by way of this video of Maya singing a few years ago.

Maya sings "Voi Che Sapete" from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart at a college faculty recital.

Here she answers my questions about her creative pursuits:

What is your creative passion?

My creative passion comes in the way of singing as a way to express myself. I love the way that singing feels. I'll sing anywhere, at the bus stop, walking my dog, in the kitchen. Singing to me is an outlet, something that I feel at home doing. I also love to see people change and grow in their appreciation of what music can do in their lives. Music making is a way to connect to your soul. That's why children are so open and free at feeling and expressing music.

What sparked your interest in music?

When I was very young (elementary school), my mother was surprised that I was able to harmonize to the songs on the radio without even really knowing the song. My ear would just pick up the tune and I would harmonize to it. Because it was natural to me and not taught, I realized from an early age that music would play an important role in my life.



Maya's mother, Gwat, whose name means moon in the Chinese language of Fujian.

My mother was the biggest influence of music and culture in my youth. She would sing to me in her native language of Indonesian, and expose our family to all kinds of cultural events: Gamelan concerts, East Indian films and music, Japanese festivals, marionettes, opera, ballet, shadow puppet plays, art museums. I think that because of so much exposure to different cultures and their music, dance, art and food, I have an open mind towards all cultures (artistically that is) and I try to actively embrace them and their differences.

My mother also supported all of my musical interests like singing in choir and learning to play the guitar and cello. I joined the guitar club in sixth grade and then in seventh grade joined my junior high school orchestra class. So the schools that I went to had a lot to do with my musical growth as well. My dad's biggest influence on me musically is his childlike spirit. My father (Anandamoy Bhattacharjie) is very encouraging and derives great joy from simple things like trees and birds. I try to bring that spirit of wonder and play to my teaching because children love that!

It really wasn't until high school that the biggest musical influence of my life appeared in the form of a choral conductor named Phyllis Zimmerman. Because of her great passion for music and discipline in knowing how to musically get what she wanted from us, I learned how hard work and constant practice can not only achieve great results musically, but also can change and mold a person's character.



Maya playing the guitar at a Music Together class, while her son enjoys the music.

What role does music play in your life now?

Music plays a bigger role than ever in my home now that I am doing Music Together. My family listens to me practice constantly, and I like to try out new ideas on them to see if something works or not. My husband and son come to class every week so that we can implement music-making into our home life as well. The downside to all of this musical goodness is the time that it takes to start a business. My goal is to find that balance between family time and work time.



Jesus Guerrero, Maya's husband, enjoyed father-son time while Maya traveled to Northern California for a few days of music training.

Would you mind elaborating on how you arrange your schedule as a mom to accommodate music activities/teaching?

The way that I've handled the time consuming - marketing/website building part of the business has been to drink a lot of coffee and stay up late into the wee hours of the morning. I feel as though sometimes time stops when I am in front of the computer, and so does the cleaning. You could say that I have more than my fair share of dust bunnies hopping around my house.

There are many nights where I don't cook and we have to improvise on the dinner menu. I really did not know how time consuming it was going to be until I started doing it.

Luckily, I have the most supportive husband one could ever imagine. As for my son, I make time to do two or three things a day with him so that we have our special bonding time. We take our dog on walks, go on outings with the moms club that we belong to, or just spend time lying on the ground playing games with our imagination. It's my last summer with him before he starts kindergarten, so I'm relishing it but it's also bitter-sweet.

How do inspire your son, Vijay, to embrace music, as well?

I try to expose Vijay to a wide variety of music making and listening activities. When he was a baby, I was always dancing and singing to him. We noticed that he liked to bang things a lot so when he was two years old we bought him his first drum set. He has an electric piano in his room and plays me a song on it every night before bedtime. He has a guitar that he'll make up songs on as well.

I love hearing his compositions, it's always about something from our everyday lives like taking the dog on a walk or about a bug. He loves insects. Sometimes I'll bring out my cello and he'll use the bow to make music on it. We listen to music quite a bit also, a little bit of everything. I try not to show him how to do anything musically, I just let him explore instruments himself and he learns by watching me do musical stuff.

It's been a blessing to live so close to (an) amphitheater. I love to take Vijay to the live concerts, art shows and other cultural community events that they have. I want my family to have a cultural connection to the community. It's important to me.

Your favorite type of music and musicians?

It's hard to say what my favorite type of music is. My first obsession with music was when I was in elementary school with a group called The Andrew Sisters. I heard their music in a shopping mall and knew immediately that I had to have an album. I would sit in front of the record player for hours listening to those harmonies, just mesmerized. I did the same thing when I discovered The Beatles and later in high school when I discovered opera. I guess my favorite music is the music that has a connection to my heart and soul...doesn't matter the genre.

Maya and her sister, Indira, visited the Taj Mahal in their father's native India last year.

What inspires you?

Nature inspires me to go deeper within myself, so does music. My husband and son inspire me to be a better person. My sister inpires me to be eco-friendly. My friends inspire me to keep dreaming for the future.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

My idea of a perfect day would be to go camping with my family. Hiking, exploring nature, great food cooked on an open fire, and in the evening, singing songs around the campfire ... and of course, s'mores!

Most treasured possession in your home?

My most treasured possesion in my house is my wedding album. That was one of the most amazing days of my life! I married late in life. To me, it is a miracle that I was able to meet and fall in love with such an amazing person as my husband. I am so grateful to have him in my life!

Photographer Jesus Guerrero.

Author chat: Writer illuminates relationships amid rich cultural backdrops

Thrity Umrigar is a writer who usually takes us to her native India in her books, but the terrain that she really explores in her writings is more about the mysteries of the heart and less about a country.

Relationships are Ms. Umrigar's specialty. She is a bestselling author who skillfully weaves stories about mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and others in four novels that have been widely praised and frequently discussed in book clubs. So much so that I think her memoir, First Darling of the Morning, has gone almost ignored.

Memoir writing is a tricky business. Writers must recapture times past in their lives with an eye out for good stories while also remaining true to actual events and feelings. Ms. Umrigar does both, rendering a portrait of a privileged yet emotionally trying childhood in Bombay, a city she paints as one of great disparities and ironies, and one that ultimately becomes a character itself in the hands of this writer.

First Darling of the Morning is a compelling tale of how Ms. Umrigar found her way in the world, pushing past her insecurities to pursue a life beyond that prescribed by the insular Indian community that forms the backdrop of her childhood and adolescence.

Ms. Umrigar joins us today for our latest author chat:

Photo courtesy Thrity Umrigar

Your memoir was about breaking free from constraints, both societal and self-imposed, to help you become the writer and person you are today. Did you find that revisiting your childhood and adolescence in writing this memoir was an easy process, or was it painful even after all these years?

It was painful only to the extent that I had to rely on not a regular "thought" or imaginative process but instead "feel" those thoughts, try and recall the outrage and powerlessness of a child. So it wasn't the memories that were necessarily painful but the process of putting myself inside a child's shoes.

In one of your writings, you mention that there is a "terrible giving up" of identity, language, family, etc. for immigrants. What did you lose in leaving Bombay for Ohio? Are you still friends with Jesse (childhood friend)?

Yes, I'm still friends with Jesse. But I've lost touch with many other friends. And I've lived apart from family -- although we're still emotionally close -- for many years, which means you miss out on the inevitable aspects of life: children growing up, parents growing old etc. And to a certain aspect, you stop being the person that you once were and grow a new identity in a new land. which is not necessarily bad but is a kind of loss.

I read that your memoir was first published in India. When or how was a decision made that this book would also find a receptive audience in the United States?

I kept getting e-mails from American readers of my other novels saying they'd heard about the memoir but couldn't find copies. I mentioned this to my agent who mentioned it to my publisher...

What is your fondest memory of readers' reaction to your memoir?

When people who bear no obvious resemblance to me -- in terms of upbringing, nationality, life experience -- tell me that I've told their life story. Or described some aspect of their emotional life that they've never revealed to anyone. That's a thrill.

Photo courtesy Thrity Umrigar

We no longer have just Salman Rushdie to rely on for a dose of modern Indian culture and writing. Who are some writers you would recommend for accurate depictions of life in India or the Indian community in the United States?

Gosh, there are so many great Indian/Pakistani writers. It's hard to know where to begin. Here are a few books I've loved in the last few years: Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid, Karma and Other Stories by Rishi Reddi.

I imagine you found it liberating to break away from journalism writing to writing fiction, but what are the challenges for you in writing fiction?

To write a book that's emotionally true and has integrity. To never make compromises in plot or character development. I dislike books that rely too heavily on coincidence or other cheap tricks to move the plot ahead.

Photo courtesy Rob Muller, who took the photo for the Cleveland Arts Prize, which awarded Ms. Umrigar a mid-career artist award this year

What inspires your writing, not just other authors, but life in general? How do you break away from the dreaded writer's block?

I think the best solution to writer's block is to write when you feel like writing and to write when you don't. Everybody goes through periods of "I have nothing left to say." But then you hear a bell ring or a bird chirp or a child cry and you find that the world is full of stories and your job is simply to "find" a story that's already there and tell it as elegantly as you can.

I think writers have to walk a fine line. On the one hand, we should be completely involved in the world -- we should follow the news, be involved politically if we are so inclined, go to parties, be absorbed in family life, etc. But on the other, we should live in our heads, live in an imaginary world populated with ghosts. It's a kind of double vision.

I'm currently in Chicago for a book festival and last night I was walking near the riverfront and taking in the beauty of those old bridges etc., but all that time I was also imagining two young people walking on that same street, who may or may not be the protagonists of my next novel. It was like having two imaginary friends, like walking inside a day dream.

Flickr: cfcheever

What is typically your writing routine? How do you incorporate it into academic life?

I find that -- as much as I hate the hours -- waking up really early and writing in the morning works best for me.

What other writing are you working on now? How do you continue to challenge yourself as a writer?

I am working on another novel about four women who were young political activists in their college days and who are now reunited because of a tragedy. I challenge myself by trying to write novels that deal with a different set of preoccupations in each one.

Published in April 2009

To read more about Ms. Umrigar, go to her website here. To listen to a podcast interview of her, go to Off the Shelf here (can be downloaded onto an mp3 or iTunes).

"On the seashore of endless worlds..."

"On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances. They build their houses with sand, and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds."

- from "On the Seashore" by Rabindranath Tagore
A native of Calcutta, India, Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

One of the great joys of being a stay-at-home mom to two little ones is being able to take off spur of the moment to someplace fun. Living in Southern California means having a multitude of options. Today, we hit the beach to fully enjoy the summerlike weather.

The poem above perfectly describes our day. We hope you're enjoying your weather, wherever you're at.