Dr. Cheryl Hopson: A Lifetime on the Pages

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Yes. So I, for example, I'm not an accountant, and I'm not a chemist. I am very good at what I am good at and I love it and I value it so much. And so I recognize it as my gift, and my mother has always said to me, when you've been given a gift, it is your responsibility to share it. Now, she has her religious background. But I have that belief also. Probably because I'm her daughter, but also because my grandmother said the same. And whatever that gift is, if you are really good at making people laugh--I love comedians. I do. Probably because of all the trauma, but for me, laughter is healing. So if you can also read one of my poems and smile or laugh, that's awesome. I like that.

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Cameron MacKenzie: Historical Fiction and Mythic Revolution

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"The book tries to understand revolution, but what drives the novel is a filtering of revolutionary actions through the context of myth and the role played by storytelling in the creation of those myths. I became fascinated by the myriad depictions of Villa in the historical record, how he was and remains a remarkably contested figure, and how the outlines of that figure have been determined by stories that seem to channel the desires of a culture and a society through a singular man. Pancho Villa is a mythic character, and I try in the book to convey the manner by which that boy became that myth. "

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