Blog Post

Last Sat­ur­day, I shared an event with my good her­mani­ka (sis­ter, in Ladi­no), Kath­leen Alcalá, at Book Woman Book­store in Austin. Before we began, there was time to browse the shelves and exhibits. The com­fort­able atmos­phere and good vibes led me, as first speak­er, to turn the chairs, set up in rows, into a cir­cle so we could be a com­mu­ni­ty. And ear­ly on, there was a con­tri­bu­tion from a lis­ten­er with a query on some aspect of Sephardic his­to­ry. The replies came from oth­ers in the audi­ence and Kath­leen. We had bro­ken from the for­mal pat­tern of a sup­posed “expert” speak­er for 20–40 min­utes with ques­tions after, to a group of par­tic­i­pants respond­ing to each oth­er. We were both speak­ers and seek­ers. If you live in or near Austin, vis­it Book Woman and catch the vibes; plus enjoy the breadth and scope of its offer­ings. Say hel­lo to Susan, the own­er, and Alli­son, who were most hos­pitable to us.