+ creative writing, essay, memoir, racism, writing
During the summer of 2020, following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, I wrote an essay entitled “I Have a Secret.” The essay appeared in Down Yonder ‘Zine in the first part of 2022. Unfortunately, the zine’s site is down, so the essay, with great illustrations by Rebekah Cardova, cannot be accessed. You can use the WayBackmachine to see the site, but you … Read More I Have a Secret
Every now and then I write a short story. These usually arise from travel when I’m exploring a new space, walking through streets and finding my way. It was during one of these trips that I wrote “Adieu.” I hope you enjoy it.
Over the past few months, I have read a lot of Eastern European authors, specifically from Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine. I started with Hungarian writer Miriam Katin’s Letting It Go, a graphic memoir that details the lingering impacts on the Holocaust on Katin, especially as she visits Berlin to see her son then to go to a museum exhibit highlighting her work. I picked up Polish … Read More Time and Memory in Tanja Maljartschuk’s “Forgottenness”
What makes Lillian Smith’s work endure? What makes any writer’s work endure? The relationship between an author and their text, and a text and its audience, is a cooperative experience — they hold hands, speaking to one another in a circle. This “collaboration of the dream,” as Smith refers to it in “Trembling Earth,” encourages artist and audience to collaborate in the construction of … Read More Lillian Smith’s Enduring Legacy
Every semester I tell my students how Ernest Gaines would respond when someone asked him how to become a better writer. Gaines would look at the questioner and say, “There are six words to make you a better writer. Read. Read. Read. Write. Write. Write.” During my own educational journey I had teachers tell me that in order to be a better writer I … Read More Six Words to Be a Better Writer
Interminable Rambling 