Yvonne Watterson Writing
Yvonne Watterson Writing

considering the lilies & lessons from the field ©

More About Yvonne

More About Yvonne

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.

  • American Dream,  Arizona,  Belfast,  Borders,  Bullying,  Gay Marriage,  Governor Jan Brewer,  Human Rights,  Immigration,  Marriage,  Politics,  Racial Profiing,  SB1062,  SB1070,  Soundtracks of our Lives,  The Troubles

    do the right thing this time, Governor Brewer.

    February 21, 2014 / 14 Comments

    A version of this article also appears at IrishCentral.com: Arizona Governor Could Show us That Lessons of History do not Apply to her Again.  The last time I hoped Arizona Governor Jan Brewer would do the right thing was in the summer of 2010. I was sitting in my Principal’s office, only half-enjoying a visit from a former student – each of us…

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  • BC Action,  Belfast,  bombing,  Breast Cancer Advocacy,  Breast Cancer Awareness,  Breast Cancer Awareness Month,  Breast Cancer Treatment,  Cancer Language,  Culture of breast cancer,  Language matters,  Language of Cancer,  Memoir,  Memoir,  Pink Ribbons,  Pinkwashing,  Sexism,  Shopping,  The Troubles,  Themes of Childhood

    booby-trapped this October?

    September 24, 2013 / 28 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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  • Blogging,  Educating Rita,  Field of Dreams,  Goodfellas,  grandmother,  Health Activist Writer's Challenge 2013,  Memoir,  Memoir,  Northern Ireland,  Soundtracks of our Lives,  The Deer Hunter,  The Natural,  The Troubles,  Themes of Childhood,  Versatile Blogger Awards,  Writing

    Congratulations. A reprise.

    April 29, 2013 / 4 Comments

    On this, the penultimate day of a month long writing challenge, I am resorting to cheating, and I am going to plagiarize a post I wrote not too long ago. The nice folks over at WEGO are asking for some self-congratulatory smugness, having completed (almost) thirty posts in thirty days, giving us free reign to wax lyrical about our own awesomeness.…

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  • Blogging,  Diary,  Educating Rita,  Memoir,  Memoir,  Northern Ireland Culture,  Seamus Heaney,  Seamus Heaney,  The Troubles,  Themes of childhood,  Writing

    it does a body good: why I write

    April 1, 2013 / 17 Comments

    The third annual Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge begins today, and I’m in. As a disclaimer of sorts, lest I falter on the challenge to write thirty posts in thirty days, let’s consider this the April Fool’s Day post. That way, I’ll always have an out. So why do I write about my health online? What was it that got me started? I suppose…

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