I am an unsympathetic character. And I take myself way too seriously. I’m too earnest. To top it all off, I am not sure how...
Archive for tag: Alice Walker

Report from the Field: Of Myopia, White Supremacy and the Personal Essay
In 2017, I took my first creative nonfiction workshop with a reputed author, editor, and teacher of creative writing in the heart of Los Angeles,...

Hobbling the Leader
It’s rare when the disabled writer is invited to teach in a workshop. According to the VIDA Count, it’s rare when a disabled writer is...

Happy Little Failures (On Women Who Refuse to be Humbled)
Alice Walker has this essay: “Refusing to Be Humbled By Second Place in a Contest You Did Not Design.” In it, she pays tribute to...

Guarding the Self: Some Notes from the Commute
The importance of protecting the inner life against the stresses and assaults of ordinary life seems to be on everyone’s minds lately. Vox Populi published...
Building Community: On the Power of Women Mentors
At 17 years old, I kept what I imagined was a riveting journal of high school life. It was rife with rowdy, drunken kisses tasting...

Report from the Field: My MFA Career as a Recovering Prestige Fiend
Nearly a decade ago, I made a critical career decision to divest my life from academic institutions that didn’t value me. As a woman of...

Who’s Coming for You?
Sarai Walker’s novel Dietland (2015, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) has an unusual way of merging the violent with the mundane. Along with narrator Plum Kettle’s journey...

VIDA Reads with Writers — Treasure Shields Redmond!
What are you reading on the subway or in the waiting room today? I am reading Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and Toni Cade...

VIDA Reads with Writers — Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib!
What are you reading on the subway or in the waiting room today? I just got an incredible trifecta of poetry books: Phillip B. Williams’...