What’s the earliest experience, or a stand-out experience, you can remember that made you realize that you can be yourself, write as yourself, and write...
Archive for tag: racism
The Authored Self
Writing, for me, means freedom. Which is to say, everything prior to discovering writing was entrapment. You cannot desire freedom, you cannot be gripped by...
Voices of Bettering American Poetry Volume 2 — Jericho Brown
What have you been reading, watching, or listening to lately? I’ve been falling in love with this poem all over again and the ways that...
On Writing As Liberation
I. What is the word ‘expression?’ An utterance, a declaration, a representation. Of feeling, of thought, of character. Becoming a radical against silence, expression is...
Body of a Poem: La Loca
I remember it like it was today because it was yesterday, maybe this week, this month, or I’m not sure. I remember a group of...
The Dictator in My Notebook: On Censorship and the Risks of Writing
My mother used to warn me, “Never write anything down you wouldn’t want someone else to read. Not in a letter. Not in a diary....
Intersectionality and Activism in the Literary Landscape Podcast and Panelist Discussion
On Monday, June 6, 2016 VIDA presented Intersectionality and Activism in the Literary Landscape at Housing Works. The conversation featured writer-activists Jennifer Baker, Cat Fitzpatrick,...
Where We Go From Here: Writers Who Remember Freedom
You say you are my ally, stand up! Brush yourself off. There is no time for tears, for self-pitying platitudes. There is a rich, racist,...
Compassionate Curating: Creating Black Intentional Literary Spaces
I will always remember this past summer as one riddled with Black death. I was living in isolation at the time, with my parents in...
Where Do We Go From Here? Against Hegemony, Toward Integrity: The Dissident Artist’s Struggle
Artists have declared their dissent from Trump. #WritersResist, #ArtAfterTrump, and #J20ArtStrike are a sample of many anti-Trump events organized by artists worldwide. It’s important to...