Author Stephanie Elizondo Griest will present two events at Scripps College: a workshop, “Traveling Sola: Tips for Wandering Women” on Tuesday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. in Scripps College’s SCORE Office; and a reading from her memoir, Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, as part of the Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series: Voice and Vision on Wednesday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Balch Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.
Got wanderlust? The workshop, “Traveling Sola: Tips for Wandering Women,” covers everything a woman needs to know before hitting the road, including how to: conquer your fear, fend off parasites (and “sketchy” men), handle culture-shock, and avoid getting tossed off Trans-Siberian trains for not having your papers in order. You’ll also learn about the world’s most “women-friendly” places.
Griest will read from her memoir Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines. After a lifetime of racial insecurities (“Am I Latina enough?”), Griest moved to her mother’s homeland of Mexico to learn more about her roots. Through her interviews with Mexican undocumented workers, indigenous resistance fighters, and gay/lesbian activists, she realized she wasn’t alone in questioning her own “Mexicanidad.”
Griest has mingled with the Russian Mafia, polished propaganda in China, and belly danced with Cuban rumba queens. These adventures inspired her award-winning memoirs, Mexican Enough and Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; and the best-selling guidebook 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. Her work won the Richard Margolis Award for Social Justice Reporting in 2007.
Upon graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1997 from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in journalism and Post-Soviet Studies, Griest went on to earn a certificate of advanced Russian from the Moscow Linguistics Institute. She later learned Spanish at Olé Language School in Queretaro, Mexico, and Mandarin on the streets of Beijing. She studied tribal gypsy belly dance for six years and has performed in China, New York, California, and Texas. Her wanderlust has taken her to 47 states and 30 countries.
A passionate activist, Griest founded and directed the Youth Free Expression Network, a program of the National Coalition Against Censorship, in New York City. She created a non-profit educational website, The Odyssey, which documents history generally overlooked in classroom textbooks. Griest also wrote for many prestigious newspapers, including: the China Daily, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Her travel adventures have appeared in a variety of publications and her works have been anthologized in more than a dozen separate volumes. Her written works have received widespread recognition, literary prizes, and academic accolades, including a Senior Fellowship at the World Policy Institute since 2004.
The Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series: Voice and Vision is made possible through the generous bequest of Scripps alumna Alexa Fullerton Hampton ’42. The series brings a broad range of renowned presenters and artists to Scripps College to share their unique voice and vision with students, faculty, staff, alumnae, and the greater Claremont community. The purpose of the series is to enlighten and inspire the audience as well as expose them to new ideas and perspectives.
Doors to Balch Auditorium will open at 7:00 p.m. A book signing and reception will follow the event in the Hampton Living Room. Books will be available for purchase both before and after the talk. For more information, contact the Malott Commons Office (909) 607-9372.