Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla
A long essay on the Mexican literary landscape and the power of the book. Kindle edition.

Mexico City, January 2017—"The dream of dreams is to dream a book," writes Mexican bookseller and book historian Enrique Fuentes Castilla. So here I am in Mexico City, an American, or estadounidense as the Mexicans prefer to call us, enveloped in dreams, that is to say, surrounded by my bookshelves filled and in places even stacked-to-the-ceiling-crammed with books about Mexico. If you were to pull out a couple of biographies, you might get a glance at the bandoliered glamor of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. I have history, sociology-there, the dusky Virgin of Guadalupe in her cloak of stars; here, a bright paperback with the leering skull of La Santa Muerte. Archaeology, poetry. One luxurious tome I bring out for visitors, for they all want to go there, is La Casa Azul, about the startlingly cobalt-blue house of painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Oh, I know how popular the Casa Azul is because I live in the neighborhood; rare is the afternoon that I walk my dogs without being overtaken by a "Frida" trolley, its guide nattering into a microphone... READ MORE

On the Relación of Cabeza de Vaca
Originally published in Scoundrel Time, May 2017

What the Muse Sent Me About the Tenth Muse, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Madam Mayo blog, March 20, 2015

On Seeing as an Artist or, Five Techniques for a Journey to Einfühlung
Transcript of my remarks for the panel on "Writing Across Borders and Cultures"
Women Writing the West Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 15, 2016

On Writing About Mexico: Secrets and Surprises
Transcript of my Centennial Lecture for the University of Texas El Paso. October 7, 2015.

We Have Seen the Lights: The Marfa Ghost Lights Phenomenon


On the Trail of the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos

Over Burro Mesa
A hike over Burro Mesa into Apache Canyon, one of the most remote places of the remote Big Bend National Park in Far West Texas. From Cenizo Journal, Fall 2015.

A Visit to Swan House
Presidio Texas' unique adobe teaching house inspired by the legacy of the great Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy
From Cenizo Journal.
C.M. Mayo reads for PEN San Miguel, San Miguel de Allende, February 29, 2013





A Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary Sullivan
Inside Mexico, March 2009 Now also available as a free podcast on my "Conversations with Other Writers" page.


From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion
Massachusetts Review, December 2006. Now available as an audio CD (2 CD set) read by the author, and a Kindle edition from Dancing Chiva. Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2007


The Essential Francisco Sosa, or, Picadou's Mexico City
Creative Nonfiction, Mexican Voices issue, ed. Ilán Stavans, Summer, 2004. Included in the anthology Hurricanes and Carnivals: Essays by Chicano, Pochos, Pachucos, Mexicanos and Expatriates, ed. Lee Gutkind, (University of Arizona Press, 2007). Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Personal Comment, First Place (Gold), 2005. Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2005





From
Miraculous Air:
Journey of a Thousand Miles through
Baja California, the Other Mexico
Visit this book's website

Only Pearls: A Brief History of Pearl Fishing in Baja California
Planeta.com winter 2003. Excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007).

Hell, I Knew It was Paradise
The Mexico File, Dec/ Jan 2002-2003.An excerpt from a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)
Now a podcast

The Visitors / Los Visitantes
Traducción por Bertha Ruiz de la Concha (Tameme, 2002) A bilingual version (English / Spanish side-to-side) of a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

Lay Thine Hand Upon Him
Massachusetts Review, Fall 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007). Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Environmental Tourism, Third Place (Bronze), November 2003

El Halloween and the Día de Muertos
North American Review, Fall 2002. An excerpt of a slightly dfferent version of a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007). Included in the anthology Writing the World: On Globalization, eds. David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor, (MIT Press, 2005)

Oceans of Tears
Planeta.com, Fall 2002. Excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007).

A Touch of Evil
Fourth Genre, Spring 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007) Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Cultural Journalism, First Place (Gold), November 2003

In the Land of the Clouds
Southwest Review, vol. 87. No.1, 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

Into the Sierra de San Francisco
Brevity, Winter 2002. An excerpt from a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

Bay of Angels
Southwest Review, Winter 2000. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)





More from magazines and newspapers:


Heady Xalapa: Into the Heart of the Veracruz Coffee Country
Business Mexico, March 1999

Underground Art in Lower California
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1998. Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters' Stanley Walker Award for Best Work of Journalism in a Daily Newspaper, 1998
(Note: the title is not mine; the cave art is not underground.)

Old California, Missions and Murals
Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1997