Author: Alex Diaz-Granados
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July 2025: Heat, Grief, and Writing-Related Stress
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Anxiety, Blogging, Comings and Goings (Short Story), Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Going Full Circle: Back to South Florida I Go, Hurricane Andrew, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Miami (1972-2016), Life in Miami….Again, Life in South Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Summer 2025, Summer in FloridaWednesday Afternoon, July 9, 2025 – Miami, Florida Hi, everyone. Historically, July has never been my favorite month. Aside from the nearly six years I spent living in Colombia (1966–1972) and a more recent 10-month stint in New Hampshire, July in Florida usually means oppressive heat and humidity—weather that makes retreating indoors feel more like…
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The Distance Between Then and Now: Seville, 1988–2025
Midday, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, Miami, Florida In the fall of 1988, I participated in the International College of Seville/College Consortium for International Studies’ Semester in Spain program. I lived and studied there for 12 weeks, immersing myself in the country’s history, government, culture, and (por supuesto) its language. At my home institution, Miami-Dade Community…
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3,000 Miles from Home: A Column from Spain
Originally published in Catalyst – February 2, 1989Written in Seville, Spain – November 1988By Alex Diaz-Granados, Columnist SEVILLE, Spain (CCIS Program)One of the most important aspects of an extended trip overseas, especially for young collegians studying abroad (like us here in Spain), is mail from home—and no ritual is more important than the daily search…
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Poet’s Corner: Boston, 1984 (#2)
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Comings and Goings (Short Story), Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, Garratyverse, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Poetry, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Romantic Poetry, Writing as a CraftThe Story Boston, 1984. A party Jim Garraty never wanted to attend. A girl who didn’t look away. A night stitched together by mixtapes, quiet courage, and the ache of choosing to stay. Jim isn’t chasing romance—he’s just trying to outrun the noise. But when Kelly Moore enters the room with her drink, her Rachmaninoff…
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Being Seen (and Reviewed): A Small Request from the Author’s Desk
Asking for help has never come easy for me. Especially when it feels like the line between authentic connection and shameless self-promotion blurs under the weight of algorithms and sales metrics. But here I am, doing just that. Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen is out in the world now, carrying within…
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“This Night”: Music, Memory, and the Moments That Define Us
There’s something about music that stays long after the moment has passed. A lyric looping quietly in the back of your mind. A piano chord that stirs a memory you hadn’t meant to revisit. In Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen, one such song plays softly in the background—Billy Joel’s “This Night.”…
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Poet’s Corner: Boston, 1984 (#1)
Morning, Sunday, July 6, 2025, Miami, Florida I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. The earliest stories came to life when I was nine or ten, seated in a sunlit classroom at Tropical Elementary here in Miami. Back then, English was still a new frontier—a language I was learning word by…
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Writing, Storytelling, and Music: ‘Comings and Goings’ – The Playlist
+🎵 “You Were Here”: Source Music, Intimacy, and the Mixtape Mind of Comings and Goings Some stories unfold over weeks, with characters shaped by seasons and seismic shifts. Others happen in a night. A moment. A mixtape. Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen takes place over one Boston evening in 1984—a quiet…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Copy Editor’s Update to ‘Comings and Goings’
📘 Comings and Goings Update: A Little Cleanup, a Lot of Heart This morning, bright and early, I gave in to my inner copy editor. That missing hard return on one page of Comings and Goings had been irritating me to no end, so I opened up the Kindle Create app with one goal: fix…
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July 4, 2025: No Fireworks, No Sousa Marches…Just Grief and Dirges
🗽 “Fourth of July, Unfinished” Afternoon, Friday, July 4, 2025 – Miami, Florida Hello, everyone. Today is, as you likely know, Independence Day in the United States and its territories. The Fourth of July—“the Glorious Fourth”—marks the day in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, formally severing political ties between…
A Certain Point of View, Too 