Thank you for reading Fake Flamenco this year! Your comments and *likes* on the page and in person have meant so much to me. I appreciate each new follower; the wisdom and experience their comments and presence bring to this site. Fake Flamenco is dedicated to bridging cultures. You and I, we are all a piece of the world puzzle. Together we forge connections and become neighbors.

Thinking back to my website’s beginnings, right before the Wisconsin Writers’ Institute Conference last year, my memoir teacher gave me a mandate. She said, “Before the conference you WILL have a website.” That message was unmistakable, it wasn’t might, could or should, it was will! So I checked out WordPress, the platform friends recommended. In a moment of clarity one morning, I thought of my website name and laughed myself silly. Hee hee, Fake Flamenco! I’ll let you in on what it means to me.

My second year of college, I took a Spanish class taught by a Peruvian doctoral student. Each student wrote a short presentation en español. My subject was flamenco. I talked about the East Indian, Roma, African, Jewish and Spanish roots of the dance. After that information, I grabbed the edges of my full skirt, twisting them forward and back, stomping and throwing one arm in the air. I repeated the sequence and yelled, “¡Olé!” Now, I took tap lessons for a few weeks when I was five and had seen one Spanish movie about flamenco. That was the extent of my training. I was fascinated and adored flamenco music and movements. My dance was fake, but with feeling. Amazingly, it gained applause.

Now I’m working to publish my quirky, comical, memoir about coming of age in Spain. I have more training in writing and Spanish than I did in dancing flamenco. But here I am, a novice again, this time in the non-fiction publishing arena. After twelve months of writing about travel, Latin culture, and bilingual life, I’m ready to discuss my watershed semester in Spain with a literary agent. Thanks for your support everyone. And now, we dance.

Gracias for reading Fake Flamenco! Olé!  –Rebecca