I've been excited to appear in many in-person storytelling shows that have returned to the stage, but I'm also grateful for the virtual shows still online. They create opportunities for storytellers and audiences to share stories when they can't get out, make friends...
Personal storytelling is back to the live onstage world, and what a gift to fully interact with storytellers and audiences again. Through the pandemic, I've been grateful to use Zoom and other online streaming platforms to stay engaged with community via the art of...
The dedicated producers at KPCC In Person recently invited me to perform in their live storytelling series, Unheard L.A.—The Stories of Where you Live. In case you haven't seen it, please check out the video above. Unheard L.A. puts community voices center stage, true...
By Cara Lopez Lee This entire week, my husband and I have been awaiting word on our mortgage loan documents, hoping our lender draws them up soon so we can close on a new house. On Monday, nobody was answering our calls and we grew anxious. For the past three days...
For those of you I don't run into regularly, online or in person, I have news: after nearly 16 years in Colorado, and nearly 30 years away from California, I'm returning to my home state. It will still be a new home for me, because this time I won't be living in Los...
You don't have to travel far to discover other worlds within our world. I met former librarian Karen Levi-Lausa when she coordinated my book party at Denver's Bookbar, and we got to talking about her program that brings books to prisoners, Words Beyond Bars....
A friend of mine has me thinking about the fine lines between exceptional and exclusive, community and clique, special and elitist. She spoke to me recently about a couple of groups she's familiar with. She saw one as warm and welcoming, the other as striving to be...
If I’d taken the Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, I would have had to share it with some 500 people a day. I prefer something off the beaten track, where I can feel more attuned with nature and experience something unique. A Community Inca Trek gave me the...
On Monday, a Denver Post columnist wrote an article about this spring’s first-ever prom at Florence Crittenton High School for teen mothers, and the article elicited negative comments that so upset me that at first I was at a loss for words. I’ve been working on a...
Perhaps you’ve heard there are only two stories: 1) someone goes on a journey, or 2) a stranger comes to town. So, there’s really only one story, because “a stranger comes to town” is the flip side of “someone goes on a journey.” As a traveler and writer, I appreciate...
Cara Lopez Lee is the author of They Only Eat Their Husbands. She’s a winner of The Moth StorySLAM and performs in many storytelling shows, including Unheard L.A., and Strong Words. Her writing appears in such publications as Los Angeles Times, Manifest-Station, and Writing for Peace. She’s a traveler, swing dancer, and baker of pies. Cara and her husband live in the beach-town of Ventura, California, where they enjoy tending their Certified Wildlife Habitat full of birds.
