Yvonne Watterson Writing

More about Yvonne

Yvonne Watterson is a Northern Irish-born writer and educator, now based near Guadalajara, Mexico. Her career in public education spans 30 years, during which she led school reform initiatives featured in national outlets including The New York Times and Education Week. Her work as a high school principal in Arizona focused on equity, inclusion, and student advocacy, earning both local and national attention. Yvonne's writing life began in November 2011, after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis sent her searching for answers online. What began as survival grew into a practice of storytelling, with her work appearing beyond this blog in The Irish Times, Irish Central, Reading Ireland, and other outlets. Yvonne's essays and reflections explore themes ranging from The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the poetry of Seamus Heaney to personal experiences of illness, loss, and resilience after being widowed in 2013. She compiled and edited Documented Dreams, a bilingual collection of letters documenting her advocacy with young immigrant students, and she contributed to Bravados: An Anthology, featuring 21 personal narratives by expats living in the Lake Chapala region. Most recently, she collaborated with Stephen Travers on The Bass Player – Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre. Yvonne’s social justice advocacy has earned her numerous honors, including the City of Phoenix Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” Award and the YWCA Tribute to Women Social Justice Leader Award. She is also a musician, performing with her partner, Scott Henrich, in The Old Souls Band, a six-piece Americana ensemble based in Ajijic, Mexico and she plays violin in the Lake Chapala Community Orchestra. Her daughter, Sophie, also a writer, lives in Arizona. “If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.” ― Seamus Heaney

About Yvonne

From there to here . . . Yvonne Watterson is a Northern Irish-born writer and educator, now based near Guadalajara, Mexico. Her career in public education spans nearly 30 years, during which she led school reform initiatives featured in national outlets including The New York Times and Education Week. Her work as a high school principal in Arizona focused on equity, inclusion, and student advocacy, earning both local and national attention. Her writing life began in 2011, after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis sent her searching for answers online. What began as survival grew into a practice of storytelling, with her work appearing in The Irish Times, Irish Central, Reading Ireland, and other outlets. Her essays and reflections explore themes ranging from The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the poetry of Seamus Heaney to personal experiences of illness, loss, and resilience after being widowed in 2013. She compiled and edited Documented Dreams, a bilingual collection of letters documenting her advocacy with young immigrant students, and she contributed to Bravados: An Anthology, featuring 21 personal narratives by expats living in the Lake Chapala region. Most recently, she collaborated with Stephen Travers on The Bass Player – Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre. Yvonne’s social justice advocacy has earned her numerous honors, including the City of Phoenix Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” Award and the YWCA Tribute to Women Social Justice Leader Award. She is also a musician, performing with her partner, Scott Henrich, in The Old Souls Band, an Americana ensemble based in Ajijic, Mexico and she plays violin in the Lake Chapala Community Orchestra. Her daughter, Sophie, is also a writer, living in Arizona.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Memoir, Themes of Childhood

the five people you meet in cancer country . . .

April 2, 2013 / 15 Comments

tongue-in-cheek (adjective) ~ characterized by insincerity, irony, or whimsical exaggeration I will be fifty years old next week. I can barely believe it. How did I get here so quickly? Cliched, I know, but it was just yesterday that I was sitting in school, waiting for something awesome to happen. Dressed in my uniform with “Tolerance and Development” embroidered in yellow…

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Memoir

women . . . booby-trapped in October

October 27, 2012 / 11 Comments

boo·by trap Meaning: A practical joke. Also a concealed and possibly lethal trap. Noun: A thing designed to catch the unwary, in particular Verb: Place a booby trap in or on (an object or area): “the area was booby-trapped.” Synonyms: snare, trick into doing something “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November . . .” the rhyme reminds me, as…

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month

make metastatic breast cancer matter

October 23, 2012 / 52 Comments

Reposted from March 23, 2012 in support of increasing awareness and support for Metastatic Breast Cancer research. Please visit METAvivor to learn about “The Elephant in the Pink Room.” Perhaps it is because my family history is bereft of breast cancer. Perhaps I was lulled into a false sense of security by three mammogram reports that lacked information about the density of my breasts.…

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BRCA genes, Breast Cancer Treatment, Cancer Language, Diagnosis, Dispatch from the Diaspora, Early Detection, Family history, Mammograms

myths that matter

November 21, 2011 / 10 Comments

Cancer has settled into our house, with its attendant complexities and choices. Although a newcomer, I have quickly surmised that for those ensnared deeper in its labyrinth, cancer is a full-time job. The shock of the diagnosis is initially numbed by a flurry of appointment-making and form-filling, the latter of which necessitates a foray into the family medical history, which…

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