I watched Maya Angelou strut across the stage in 1978~and now, a French castle.

Just a glimpse of her stays with me

Mt. Holyoke College: where Emily Dickinson attended but left after one year. Mt. Holyoke College where I wandered the halls on our way to visit my boyfriend’s sister. Compared to University of Massachusetts where I was a first year, this was the lap of luxury and privilege. I can still feel the discomfort of traveling those beautiful paneled hallways. Jewish and barely middle class, I felt in my bones that I didn’t belong.

And then I heard: the loudest female voice ever, echoing all around me. Beyond booming—delicious and powerful and fully engaging: Maya Angelou (1928-2014). It was before the 50 honorary doctorates, before “On the Pulse of Morning” written and read for President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, before I knew any of her work beyond I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

I followed the sound to outside an elegant auditorium. The doors opened and in my mind’s eye, I see Maya Angelou moving back and forth elevated above us, all hipsway and sensuality. She owned the stage. Here in this fancy-pants New England college, Maya Angelou took charge. Her body, her voice, her entire spirit possessed that room. I stood transfixed. I’d never seen such female power before or since. Never.

Now as someone who teaches poetry at Highline College, I see my students respond to her work again and again when I ask them to choose a poet whose work they would like to recite. “Still I Rise” is a magic spell just as much as it is a poem. My students take the spotlight, channel the power and resilience of that poem. Of that woman. The same thing happens with Phenomenal Woman.

I wish I had known then that Angelou had lived several years in West Africa, had come back to the United States at the request of Malcom X to work with him, a short time before his assassination. That she’d also been an activist, a movie star, a model, and a singer. Angelou could do literally do anything she set her mind to. What if I had had had a fraction of her self-confidence; her belief in simply doing? How would I have lived my life differently? Is it too late?

Here is the castle in Bordeaux, France where I will be teaching in May 2026.

Recently, perhaps I have channeled something of her spirit in that alchemical Maya Angelou way. I am going to France to teach in a castle in Bordeaux, France. A castle! This is all possible because of some dear friends and the Foreword Retreats which offer all different writing retreats across France. It is also possible because even though it seemed impossible, I still went for it. And dear reader, it is so much easier to not try, to self sabotage.

There are several friends whom encouraged me after I announced at a Two Sylvias Weekly Muse class on “The Art and Allure of Travel,” where I said something like, “I loved preparing for this class and now have enough material to teach for a week; all I need is a castle.”

Afterwards, I was texting with my friend, poet Erin Murphy who is just launching her beautiful and important new book, Human Resources. I texted her “What I really want is someone to bring me somewhere beautiful to teach a weeklong class. Italian castle?” And because Erin is Erin, she was off to the races. On the third try she found Foreword Retreats which highlights a castle on their retreat page.

Because Erin was kind enough to Google on my behalf and offered me a gentle nudge to send out a proposal, I felt obliged to my friend to try. Before I went to bed, after teaching for the Weekly Muse, I took ten minutes to compose an email to Carol at Foreword Retreats and went to bed. When I woke up, to my complete surprise Carol had written back, “Let’s talk!” And two days after that we had a Zoom call.

From there, everything moved very quickly from contract, to my class description, to finding a bird sanctuary nearby, to my workshop appearing on the website!

Perhaps this magical opportunity to teach in a castle after I had offhandedly mentioned I’d like to do so was my Maya Angelou moment, forty or so years after I saw her command the stage at Mt. Holyoke.

So here is my unsolicited life advice. Ask the universe for what you want—no matter how preposterous. Who knows, you might find yourself teaching in a castle.