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rebeccathenaturalist · 6 months

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Prairie Days

Originally posted on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/prairie-days/.

I’m in the middle of my fall peregrinations, currently staying with family in the Missouri Ozarks as my base of operations while I do some exploring of the area, and get up to my preferred flavor of trouble. Which, of course, includes volunteering.

Ozark Rivers Audubon Nature Center

I actually got to do a little back home at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge right before I left town. They’re doing some coast meadow habitat restoration at the South Bay Unit, and so a whole pile of us showed up Wednesday before last to spend a few hours digging up invasive plants cropping up in some patches that had been intentionally planted with natives like early blue violet (Viola adunca), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea). I confess I didn’t get any pictures because I was A) pretty preoccupied with the upcoming trip, and B) nothing makes me zone out more than sitting with a trowel digging up weeds for hours at a time. By the time I get back the “nice” weather (aka warm and sunny) will likely be done for the year, but I’m hoping for more opportunities to get back out there.

But that certainly wasn’t the end of my habitat restoration efforts for the month.

For the past couple of years, every time I come into Rolla, MO I stop at the Ozark Rivers Audubon Nature Center to see if they have any upcoming stewardship activities. They’ve done a beautiful job of restoring the remnant tallgrass prairie and oak savanna there and protecting the oak-hickory forest and that surrounds them, but invasive plants being what they are there are always more to be removed as the seed bank keeps new generations popping up.

This time around we were out in the prairie/savanna area with a bunch of folks from the officer training program down at Ft. Leonard Wood just down the highway. The objective was to remove as much of the autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) as possible; this invasive shrub with a silvery underside to its green leaves can quickly shade out native prairie plants, and doesn’t offer local wildlife nearly as much food. Prescribed burns help knock it back, but some more resilient specimens manage to resprout, and of course there’s that pernicious seed bank in the soil.

Autumn olive

Most of these were much too large to simply pull up, so the most effective way to get rid of them was to go out in teams of two. One person uses loppers to cut the plant down as close to the ground as possible, and the other immediately dabs herbicide on the fresh stump, which then kills the roots and keeps the plant from regenerating. It’s a minimal use of the product when compared to spraying wide areas of foliage, and only treating the stump with a quick, targeted dab minimizes the chance of accidentally affecting surrounding native species. And since it doesn’t cause disturbance to the soil like digging would it’s less likely to stir up seeds that would then be even more likely to sprout.

I know herbicides are super controversial–they’re not my favorite thing either. But as I wrote in my chapbook Habitat Restoration: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and How to Get Started, judicious and careful use in habitat restoration is one of the few times I’m okay with it, and it’s about the only way to reliably get rid of some invasive plants permanently. Given that invasive species removal is one of THE best ways to make an ecosystem more resilient in the face of climate change, habitat restoration has to be a big priority now and going forward. While I am not ignorant of the environmental impact of routine overuse of herbicides in agriculture and yards alike, the targeted use of them in habitat restoration is definitely a “lesser of two evils” situation that deserves more nuance.

While autumn olive was the main target, we also managed to remove a few other pernicious invasives. Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) was easy to spot with its leaves still bright green amid the various browns, golds, and reds of native vegetation. We also got rid of some privet (Ligustrum spp.), and a little Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) winding its way through the meadow. While there’s still plenty to go around for the next volunteer crew, we did make a big dent in that area.

New England aster

It wasn’t just the invasive species in evidence, though; there were plenty of native plants to enjoy along the way. One of the most prominent was field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis nemoralis), and while some had gone to seed others still had a touch of yellow. There was a splash of purple here and there from New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), and delicate white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) edged the treeline. Amid inland oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) and other native grasses, young northern red oaks (Quercus rubra) and white oak (Quercus alba) added splashes of scarlet. It was incredibly peaceful to be immersed in these beautiful species and more.

At a time when it’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of environmental devastation on multiple fronts, there is something empowering about getting my hands in the dirt, so to speak. No, removing some invasive shrubs from one remnant prairie won’t save the whole world. But it helps that ecosystem become more resilient, and gives the native species there a better chance. It also makes that place a better illustration of the grasslands that were much more common in this portion of the Midwest, and is an important reminder that it wasn’t always cornfields and cattle pastures.

Yarrow

On a microcosmic level, I just feel better after spending a few hours doing a little something good in the world. I felt better walking away knowing that native plants like this young yarrow I found beneath an autumn olive we removed will be more likely to thrive in the years ahead. I’ve absorbed some of the beneficial effects of being outside, too, and gotten a good bit of exercise at my own pace. And it’s good social time, too, in a setting that feels pretty darn comfortable, and we’re all united by a common interest in that moment. This is likely my last outdoor volunteer time of the year, but it was a great note to wrap things up on.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

#habitat restoration #invasive plants #invasive species #gardening #restoration ecology #ecology #herbicides #nature #environment #conservation #Missouri #Ozarks #prairie #tallgrass prairie #oak trees #oak #forest #wildflowers

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disabled-dean · 4 months

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hi hello i need to know more about The Last Great American Cowboys 👀👀

Hiiiiii Jenna 💕 (and hiiiii Taylor cuz you asked about this too!)

The Last Great American Cowboys is a poetry & prose chapbook I'm working on about my experience working with my great aunts on their ranch. They are 90 years old and have led literally thee most incredible lives. And now they live in an ambiguous platonic partnership on an unproductive horse ranch in the mountains. I have so so many stories about them (and would love to share more from the collection) but I am late to a meeting and then a cute little procedure!! So I'm just gonna start with the series of poems that got me writing again after five years.

More under the cut and tw for horse death (I got horse death poem three published in a zine last year along with the illustration, Snowfall)

horse death poem one

a horse falls in the barn outside

there's nothing to do but go inside and wait

for the man to come with the heavy tools to bury her.

she has fallen in such a way

that it will be difficult to move her

halfway in and out of the barn,

on the crusted snow that has fallen

off the roof.

if she dies in the stall,

it will be ugly.

her open eyes are glazed

her body frozen.

not upright.

not taking nourishment.

her paddock-mate,

a handsome red gelding,

runs frantic circles

in the pen beside her.

(Horses apparently can become very attached to one another)

Pat says, these ones in particular.

we cover her in an electric blanket.

there is nothing to do but wait.

we go inside.

Pat practices the music

for her upcoming concert.

60 years in the Yakima Symphony

first chair violin.

Micki starts to take

the ornaments down

from the Christmas tree.

The orange barn cat

sneaks inside

as she's taking the wreath

down from the door.

I make bacon at the stove.

we spend

several minutes of lively

debate

trying to tell if it has turned.

Micki says,

"With the things we do and the things we eat, we should be dead by now." and they both laugh.

they tell me a story about getting lost in town the day before, trying to find their hairdresser.

we debate

trying to move

the horse before the man

comes- the first foal

born on this ranch when they moved

from California

33 years ago.

Outside,

she is lying in the sun.

Micki says,

"There's something very sad about putting Christmas away.”

horse death poem two

we go out to the barn

with shovels and pick axes

and try to chip

her frozen hind quarters

free from the ice.

kneeling in snow

and frozen manure.

The orange cat watches solemnly from the stall door.

A long, orange extension cord

is run from the house to power a small, purple hair dryer.

The man has not come.

horse death poem three

The next day a vet comes

with a long silver needle

and we stand around in the snow,

talking about the small,

painted colt

with the hole in her heart

Who -29 years ago-

wasn’t supposed to make it

through the night

(Sorry tumblr fucked with the spacing and I am too late to fix it!!!)

#poetry #origonal work #the last great american cowboys #oh no I am going to cry life and death is beautiful

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authorivyljames · 2 months

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"lesbian" isn't a bad word

(from my upcoming sapphic poetry chapbook The Orange and Pink Sunset)

First I identified as bi, even though I never liked dick. Everything I did in bed with men was to avoid something else. I was a strong believer of “It doesn’t matter what’s in someone’s pants” until I slept with a woman for the first time and liked every part of it.

Later I identified as sapphic, despite my wife’s insistence that it wasn’t a real label. I had a hard time saying “lesbian” but “sapphic”? Sure. I knew I liked women. That had been a constant since I was seven: watching Sailor Moon, half in love with Neptune; admiring my first-grade friend Kasey’s new perm; drawing busty women, one after another, and never a singular man.

One February night as I rewatched Arcane, I curved my palms around “lesbian.” I drew it in, held it close. Gave it a little smooch on the forehead. It felt like a space heater, soft and warm and cozy. It was Vi. It was Caitlyn. It was me. I tried it out on my tongue with a joke: “How can I live laugh lesbian in these conditions?”

Yesterday I smoothed a witchy lesbian-pride sticker onto my water bottle. The orange and pink sunset felt good. Felt right. It’s not all of me, but it is part of me, and I’m no longer afraid of the word.

#writing #writeblr #writers of tumblr #poetry #poets on tumblr #writers and poets #poems #original poem #female poets #lgbtq

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anxietylord · 2 years

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Alrighty tungle, here’s another poem I’m throwing in my upcoming chapbook

Hide and Seek

If I look you up now I find all I need to know. Google provides photos, links, articles. You’re a lawyer now, in Australia. It sounds like the punchline to a joke.

If you look me up now, what would you find? It depends on who you search I suppose. I’ve been so many different people and only scraps of evidence that they ever existed remain.

I read the things you’ve written now, a man and not a boy. It’s sleight of hand; you jumble your million dollar worlds, tying your tongue into knots no fingers could undo after this many years of fumbling and backtracking. If you keep tangling and talking fast enough maybe no one will notice what you’re saying doesn’t actually mean anything at all.

What would you say if you read what I wrote now? Could you even bear to look at its oozing surface except through gaps in fingers, peeking like a child? It’s bloodied, pulpy surface pulses and throbs under scrutiny, my words look like they’ve been run through a meat grinder several hundred times.

I see your life now. You’re married to a woman. What more can I say except that she’s a woman since she has no other defining characteristics. Weird guys always go for average women in the end they say, it’s easier to project your fantasy on someone who’s a blank slate. But maybe she isn’t as empty of a vessel as you’d like to believe. Inside, her soul might be screaming and pounding at the walls of the prison she made for herself, the prison she made her body and heart and mind because society told her to make herself invisible so men like you could consume her. I hope she breaks out one day.

What would you see if you saw my lover now? They are world weathered in the way you used to pretend to be. What could a 19 year old boy sitting atop an ivory tower know about pain? Could he know what it’s like to live defiantly in the face of a world who won’t acknowledge what you are? No. They have a darkness in them that may taste bitter to some, but then so does a fine whiskey. I taste smoke and earth and peat as they feed me their soul through open mouth kisses. Could a man like you, sitting atop a mountain of gold and ignorance ever satisfy a refined pallet? No. They are bold in ways you’ll never comprehend. They know life, they’ve tasted it’s poison and come back for more, a handsome Lazarus, living and dying and living again. And they could kick your sorry ass.

What do you do to refill your cup? Who’s to say these days. Maybe it’s the same as it was when we were young. You go skiing at a members only lodge in Vermont. You travel to Europe for a quick weekend getaway. You spend your sodden spring wandering out in the ankle deep mud of your family’s many ancestral acres. You summer in elba when you have your heart broken, the worlds most expensive temper tantrum. Even Napoleon had the self respect to pick up and leave before daddy ordered him to come home.

It would be a lie if I told you that everything I did fed my soul. I take the train. I clean my apartment with the windows that let in the bite of winter. I pull my rumpled laundry out of my broken dryer. I spent hours sifting through the dirt to find another shitty job that doesn’t pay me enough to live, since I deserve to spent my whole life suffering for not having a college degree. I take them up in my hands like a lump of clay and squish them down as hard as I can until they transform. I watch my friends tell secrets on stage to hundreds of people. They scream without making a sound, they tear their former selves to shreds. They change in front of our very eyes, rising from their old skin, raw and new. I open my hands and the lump of clay has turned into a diamond. I’d say that’s worth it all, don’t you?

If you looked me up now, you’d never find me. I’ve hidden myself well, deep in the chasms of the earth. No matter how desperately you claw at me you’ll never dig me out. It took me so long to sew up the wounds you left as you sunk your silvery teeth into my flesh the last time we met, I’ll never let you get another taste. They say the things that hurt us loom larger than life, and seeing them again makes them small. Your shiny fangs and dark, wet maw have lost their sheen, tarnished by time. You could never find me now, you wouldn’t even know where to look. The best you can manage is the trail of breadcrumbs that ends abruptly where my real life begins.

If you saw me now, how long would you be able to stare? Cover your face with your hands, shield yourself with your arms against me. Behold me and blind yourself. I burn brighter than any star. All you can see now are the scorch marks.

#i have another one but I do t think tungle is ready to hear my scathing criticism of classism in musical theatre #bird boy writes #and yes a house is not a heart is going in the book too don’t worry

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finishinglinepress · 1 year

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FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: The Firetalker’s Daughter by Regina YC Garcia

ADVANCE ORDER: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-firetalkers-daughter-by-regina-yc-garcia/

The Firetalker’s Daughter honors the power of #mother’s love and tender #teaching, the value of #ancestral gifting and wisdom, the necessity of mourning for movement, and the audacity to hope and act for a more just future. Spun along a motif of fire, these poems carry searing incantations that evoke an awareness of the relevance of the literal, figurative, and spiritual #fires that breathe down lines and throughout time.

Regina YC Garcia resides in Greenville, NC and is a Poet, Writer, Voice Artist, Narrator, and English Professor at Pitt Community College. She holds a BA in Speech Communication with a Concentration in the Oral Interpretation of Literature from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a Masters in Education with a Graduate Certificate in Multicultural and Transnational Literature from East Carolina University. She is the 2021 National DAR American Heritage Poetry Award Winner, a 2021 NCLR James Applewhite Semifinalist, and is published in a variety of journals and anthologies. Additionally, she has both written and video poetry featured in The South Florida Poetry Journal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, The Book of Black, Black and…, The Amistad, The Black Light Project (a documentary), and others. She additionally has upcoming work in Main Street Rag, and poetry and voice work to be featured in the Sacred 9 Project, a series of musical and literary compositions, arranged by Curtis Raybon, Director of Choirs at Tulane University. Regina is the mother of three grown sons and one ‘daughter-in-love, and is married to the wonderful Romeo A. Garcia, Jr.

PRAISE FOR The Firetalker’s Daughter by Regina YC Garcia

Spiritual incantation and unspoken ancestral magic singed and sparked my heart, as I moved through the language and gospel of Regina YC Garcia‘s debut collection The Firetalker’s Daughter. Charting a path through her lineage of healers and those who could “talk the fire” out of burns and wounds, the gift passed over her, she burns her own powerful impressions of Black Light onto the breaking world, like an ancestor alive and witnessing. “I cannot talk the fire / Yet, I am Fire… Truth / My ancient magic renders demons cold.” Garcia takes the reader into the depths of self, motherhood, social justice cries, the erasure of Black history by the fires of an all-consuming whiteness, mourning a lost daughter in Breonna Taylor, and yet, carrying an unwavering hope in “the rise of indomitable spirits from the embers.” The seeds of generations are scattered in these blazing words, torched open. These poems— a phoenix rising from, all around us, a world of ash.

–Kai Coggin, author of Mining for Stardust, Incandescent, and Wingspan

The Firetalker’s Daughter is an offering, incantation, and invocation that taps into the power physically or metaphorically of fire. Through expressions of the inner self, Regina YC Garcia’s poems tap into the questions of reconciling fearsome nature with goodness and peacefulness as seen through this divine elemental creation.

Scorching imagery and passion create wisps of smoke. Smoldering narratives become lightning bolts and poetic kindling igniting substantive undergrowth for a brighter day. The Firetalker’s Daughterinvites the blaze that always illuminates the before time of far tomorrows.

–Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #chapbook #read #poems #fire #motherhood

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asianartsblog · 3 years

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LEK BORJA RENEWS FILIPINO HISTORY THROUGH ART

BY PRECIOUS RINGOR

Asian Pasifika Arts Collective New Outlooks Blog

April 2, 2021

http://ow.ly/fEby50FlQWZ

Editor’s Note: Precious Ringor brings us a second artist profile, this time of Filipino American interdisciplinary artist and poet Lek Borja, whose work is an attempt to track the continuous colonization across time, first within the Philippines from Spain and the United States, through present day America and trying to give voice to Filipino life against a white hegemony. Precious displays how Lek crosses borders of cultural stereotypes, seeking to expand the visions placed on Filipinos by other oppressive powers, and inserting her culture in art spaces where they are new and unfamiliar, but for the community, reminders of home.

Header Image: “Heritage at the Threshold” by Timothy Singratsomboune | Digital photography collage, 5400 x 4050 px, 2021.

Getting to know someone virtually is one of the sad realities we’ve had to face because of COVID-19 regulations. It’s both a blessing and a curse—we’ve become a global village, but at the same time we’ve all had more eye and back problems from sitting around and zooming this past year.

A zoom call and an hour was all I had to get to know Lek Vercauteren Borja, a Filipino American interdisciplinary artist and poet widely known for her thought-provoking work into the Asian diaspora. Chatting with Lek didn’t feel like a job though; time flies fast when you’re having fun.

One of the things I noted was Lek’s warm and friendly nature. Most of the time, it’s uncommon for an interviewee to ask questions about the interviewer. Lek unabashedly admitted that she did a bit of ‘stalking’ before we hopped on Zoom, “I like to know about the person I’m talking with, even before the interview starts.”

Lek started in poetry. Armed with a love for Shakespeare, she pursued a dual concentration in Art and Creative Writing at Antioch University. It was there that she first fell in love with art history and sculpture. During that time, her first chapbook, Android, was published by Plan B Press. She took this as a sign to continue pursuing a career in arts.

As an artist, she admits that’s where she gets inspiration from, “I want to talk about the history of Filipinos, the invisible stories. Growing up in the Philippines and studying there, I realized there was a lot missing in our history books. It seemed as if it were written from a western perspective.” She reminded me so much of the Philippines, of home. Because of our similar upbringing, I immediately understood her search for truth.

The themes of home and longing, of memory and the present, and of giving Filipino lives new voices, carry across her work, and no more palpably than her piece Evolution of the Aswang Myth, what she calls “seed and the origin” to all her current works. Lek says “Without it, I wouldn’t be thinking about art, the way I’m making now.” This 8 x 8 feet painting explores the origins of the aswang or manananggal, a Filipino mythical creature typically depicted as a woman feared for its penchant for eating infants and unborn fetuses during the night. Interestingly, the aswang was also a word ascribed to the Filipina women who went against the forced religious conversion by Spanish friars during their colonization of the Philippines.

March 2021 marked 500 years since Spanish ships first arrived on the shores of the Philippines.

Since then, our country fought hard for liberation, first from Spain and then from the United States of America. In retrospect, it hasn’t been long since the Philippines became an independent nation. Today, we are striving to find our voice amidst the imperialistic erasure we’ve endured.

As Lek puts it, “What propelled me to tell these stories is the feeling that I had no voice. For one, I didn’t speak English well so I couldn’t really talk about what I was going through or how I felt. That’s why a lot of my work now focuses on bringing my experiences of living in the Philippines at the forefront and seeing how that’s connected to bigger conversations and narratives around us.”

Currently, Lek’s work called Anak (My Child) is being featured in the gallery at Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center.

View Anak (My Child) Exhibit: https://towson.edu/anak

Besides online exhibitions and virtual galleries, Lek is also conducting several workshops in Baltimore’s upcoming Asia North Festival. These workshops are a good model for Lek’s philosophy in making art out of personal histories. Whether it’s experiences of displacement or change, she points out that everyone’s story matters and there will always be a community of people who can empathize with that.

“I think it’s really important for our stories to be brought to light in the larger narrative. They think by calling us model minority, our problems can easily be brushed aside” I lamented the steady rise of xenophobic crimes these past few months.

“I agree, it’s a really complex issue” Lek adds, “Why are we so silent? Why do we stand in the shadows? I’ll probably look for an answer my entire life. It’s hard to talk about our struggles and it’s not easy to have conversations about the past. There’s a culture of silence that’s been normalized and it’s perpetuated even in our own homes. But that’s part of the work I do, bringing everything from the past into the forefront so we can have deeper conversations about it.”

Speaking of the past, Lek’s introduction to the arts started in Tarlac, a city located north of the Philippines. Besides being known as the most multicultural province, the city is home to numerous sugar and rice plantations. “The population of our barrio was probably less than 1,000. Our family had a farm as well as a sugar-cane and rice field plantation. My inang [grandmother] also worked in the market as a butcher. It was a pretty simple country lifestyle but my childhood was amazing.”

Life in the country has been instrumental to Lek’s artistry. “The memory of the landscape and of the community is an extension of my art,” Lek explains. As a young girl, her biggest inspiration comes from her grandfather who, like herself, was also an artist. Lek would copy his drawings and eventually create drawings of her own. Recently, Lek has started to incorporate banana leaves into her work. Banana leaves are incredibly important to Filipino culture as it is used for cooking and traditional homebuilding.

“Sounds like you had to find your own path, coming here at such a young age and experiencing culture shock. America is very different from the Philippines!” I quipped.

“It was snowing where I first came here!” she exclaimed, thinking back to her initial introduction of America. “It was November when we landed in New York, it was freezing. I remember our families bundling us in huge warm winter coats before wecould even say hello. It was definitely a huge shock.”

I laugh, thinking back to when I first arrived in California ten years ago. Silly to think I was already freezing in sunny temperatures when she had to endure piles of snow. “Do you think you’ve had to change yourself in order to adjust to that culture shock?”

“For a long time I really didn’t know who I was,” Lek admits. “When I was younger, the school I went to was predominantly white. What I thought about how I should present myself came from that image. I dyed my hair blond and put on blue colored contacts to fit in. It was a lot of assimilation and cultural erasure. I started talking less Tagalog and less Ilocano. But art has really helped me find myself. It made me think more deeply about who I really was and what was important to me on an authentic level.”

Halfway through our conversation, we slowly realized just how similar we were. From migrating at the age of ten to living twenty miles apart in the same city. It was also in chatting that Lek found out I spoke Tagalog fluently, one thing she regrets losing unexpectedly. As it is my first language, Lek asked me to speak it instead. Once again, her warm nature bled through the Zoom interview; I found it refreshing since hardly anyone thinks about the interviewer’s comfort.

Unsurprisingly, community building is important to Lek. Before working, she likes to ask herself the following questions, ‘How is what I’m doing connected to my family and everyone in the Filipino community? How can I better serve my community?’ One of the main reasons she moved to L.A. is to network with other Filipino artists.

“A few years ago, I showed my art alongside a group of all Filipino artists at Avenue 50 Studio gallery for an exhibition that Nica Aquino and Anna Calubayan organized (also both Filipinas). It’s crazy because I’ve lived in and out [of L.A.] for over 10 years now and it was only in 2019 that I started to be part of that community. It’s probably the most fun I've had at an art show, I really felt at home.”

“I’d love to visit the studio’s galleries once it’s safer to go outside”

“Definitely! I’ll keep you updated on any gatherings” Lek pitched excitedly.

“And I'll bring you guys homemade ube cakes and puto pao!” I teasingly replied back.

As our call came to a close I couldn’t help but ask Lek if she had any advice to give to budding AAPI artists.

“I’ll echo what people who have supported me have said in the past: trust yourself and trust that you can make a difference. It’s hard to figure out who you want to be when [the world] has expectations and demands from you. We’re lucky to live in a time where there’s so many possibilities. Figure out what you want to do authentically and genuinely, and go for it.”

Lek continues on, “Personally, it took me a long time to find my voice. When I was in grad school, I had a lot of doubt in myself because most visiting artists and curators couldn’t understand my work. What made it all worth it were the moments that people got [my voice] right away.”

Getting to know Lek and learning about her commitment to showcasing invisible stories has been awe-inspiring; it made me proud to be a Filipino American artist. And in the wake of our hurting AAPI community, I believe it’s incredibly important, now more than ever, to highlight and support works of people like Lek. People who have had to fight for their voice in this world, who our youth could look up to and be inspired to become.

About the Author:

Precious Ringor is a Filipino-American singer/actress/writer residing in Los Angeles, CA. Ringor graduated from Cal State University, Fullerton with a degree in Human Communication Studies where her research is geared towards Asian American socio-cultural communication norms. Besides performing in various theatre shows and indie film sets, Ringor also works as a content contributor to Film Fest Magazine and Outspoken

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tessiete · 3 years

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Author Interview Game

Thank you for the tag @kckenobi - Really enjoying these!

Name: tessiete

Fandoms: Right now, we doing Star Wars. And Star Wars is the fandom I’ve been the most prolific in. In the past, though, I’ve written for Star Trek: AOS, X-Files (1 abandoned fic - don’t go there!), Teen Wolf, Kingsman, ER, The Good Wife, and The Haunting of Hill House.

Where you post: Everything is HERE on AO3, our shared home.

Most popular oneshot: A Better Grace

Okay, this surprised even me. Is The Good Wife a really popular fandom? Or am I a really unpopular writer? (It’s the latter). It’s also funny, because like so many of my fics, this is Crack on Malicious Compliance. A prompt - actually possibly @pebblysand? - made a joke about Will Gardner falling in love with himself. So I wrote him as Narcissus…

I thought it was funny XD

Most popular multichap: One Human Thought

This is a Saved From Slavery baby Obi-Wan AU. Like A Better Grace, this was ALSO Crack on Malicious Compliance. @lieutenantmittens wanted a story about Obi-Wan Kenobi as a bed slave of Qui-Gon Jinn, and like...this is what happened. Technically, that is the impression Obi-Wan’s previous captor was convinced Qui-Gon was taking him for. But Qui-Gon would never. And so instead, we have this Jedi Temple as Hogwarts, Obi-Wan “Not a Jedi” Kin’Obi, Father/Son Growing Together fic.

It got away from me...yeah.

Favorite story you’ve written: The Eternal Spring

My baby. My child. The only story for SW that I’ve ever written that I’ve taken seriously. It’s a Padme Lives AU which sees her travelling to Tatooine with a severely traumatised Obi-Wan Kenobi, and her twins. She and Obi-Wan are reeling, and unable to reconcile to the point that after they fight one night, he runs away in a misguided effort to kill the Emperor and end things, leaving her on her own. She gets her shit together, puts a bounty out on Obi-Wan to be brought in warm, hires Boil to fill it, who gets help from Rex and Bo-Katan, who assign him a guide/pilot in Korkie (MY BOY!), and together they drag Obi-Wan’s dramatic ass back to life.

It’s a reimagining of the myth of Psyche and Eros. It’s the first fic I wrote poetry for, the first fic I made con-langs for, and yeah...I just……….it’s probably the closest to how I imagine my Star Wars.

Fic you were nervous to post: A Summer Swift. It’s mine. It’s still under anonymous. But it was the first time I wrote smut (all, like, two paragraphs), and I just...rampant sex IRL is Not My Thing, and it’s not what I go looking for in fic, but I - AGAIN the malicious compliance - promised to write a “realistic coffee shop AU” and was determined to show how depressing this romanticised venue really is.

Definitely get the MOST outrage for that, but not for the reason I thought. Apparently, perpetual mediocrity and eternity in a menial service job depresses people. Who knew. The fact that it’s probably the closest reflection of my actual darkest fears maybe is what makes it...effective?

Of the fic publicly posted under my own name - Everything Grows. It’s an a/b/o QuiObi fic I did for a challenge with @lieutenantmittens because I wanted to see if I could do it. It was...a strange journey. We did a lot of research, asking people what tropes they liked, and reading as many SW a/b/o fics as possible, and by the end, honestly, we were more exhausted than Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. 10/10 Learning experience. Don’t think I personally nailed it - I would not have gotten anywhere without @lieutenantmittens who did so much of the heavy lifting - and it didn’t really sell me on the trope, but I’m glad I proved I could do it, you know?

How you choose your titles: What’s the theme? → Google “quotes about fatherhood/light/royalty/inheritance/love/hope” → Insert TITLE of ⅔ of the words from that quote.

Ex. Everything Grows (rounder and weirder) = “Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.” - Carrie Fisher

One Human Thought = “How DARE you and the rest of your barbarians set fire to my library? Play conqueror all you want, Mighty Caesar! Rape, murder, pillage thousands, even millions of human beings! But neither you nor any other barbarian has the right to destroy one human thought!” - Cleopatra (1963)

The Eternal Spring = “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” - Alexander Pope

Also poetry. Like…...99% of what I write revolves around poetry. Which is ironic bc I don’t love poetry. I’m not educated in it. But…???

Do you outline? No, not really. I usually wait to come up with the opening line in my head, and then once I have that, I just go. HOWEVER, especially with One Human Thought - since it had no concept when I first conceived it - I’ve found it SO helpful, even necessary, to talk through basic ideas in DMs with my loves. It really speeds up my writing.

Complete: 20/22 of my fics are complete. (Fffff to my X-Files fic)

In progress: One Human Thought. Only, like….three more chapters, I think? Coming down to the wire. Does the structure worry me? Yes. Why is the darkest night of the soul SO close to the climax and resolution???? I don’t know.

Padme’s Chapbook - a zine I’m doing that’s a collection of poems Padme has curated and collected from amongst her friends, with three sort of meta-narratives as well.

Coming soon/not yet started: Silent and So Near. It’s my WWI/Clone Wars fusion fic where Qui-Gon lives, Anakin is not prematurely knighted, and Obi-Wan goes to the frontlines alone. It doesn’t go well. (But it ends...happily?).

And then an Obitine Double Date fic, with Obi-Wan and Anakin obliviously flirting their way through a Senatorial gala while Satine and Padme run interference and drink.

Prompts: I love prompts but I don’t always do them. The prompts I love are the ones I can twist - the bed slave, obi-wan dressed as padme, falling in love with yourself, sad coffee shop, etc.

Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About: Silent and So Near. I love WWI and I’m excited to see if there’s a way of drawing thematic parallels between the idea of the death of a Belle Epoch, of the end of gentlemanly warfare, of war by attrition, of the Industrial Age and the mechanisation of war….all that.

No pressure tags: @tree-scapes @pebblysand @lieutenantmittens @pomiar @acatbyanothername93 talk to me! ....if you want!

#text post #writing

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atelierwriting · 4 years

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I'm half asian (chinese) but I feel that because I was born in america and wasn't immersed in my culture that I'm not qualified to write books with asian/chinese themes because there is so much I don't know. I'm not expecting you to solve this or anything, maybe it's just insecurity and I also me needing to do more research, but anyway I was kinda wondering in what ways you are adding and incorporating your asian culture into your wip?

tbh i kind of know that feeling you have about not being qualified to write with those themes. imo you shouldn’t have to worry, because everyone experiences their culture a little differently (especially if you’re born in america or something, see divorcing yourself from your culture to assimilate) but ofc its all up to u! if u feel like u need to do more research, go ahead! whatever you’re most comfortable with you should do.

i’m by no means the authority on this topic--in fact, i think that i’m constantly learning how to better myself and become more familiar with my own culture. that’s all i can do if i want to have good asian representation in my wips.

(under the cut, a little long)

for me, though, i incorporate asian culture v differently in wips. in the ones set in a more modern world, typically i try to focus on different familial pressures + desires of the actual characters and conflicts that can arise.

the drowned girl really revolves around this, but also the idea that people’s perceptions and expectations of you can be stifling. it centers around three people (noah cunningham, callum south, and viv yee) struggling against the mold they’re forced into. in all of their cases, the pressures come from their family, because i really wanted to show that the belief that asian families are so demanding and all that isn’t specific to asian families at all.

the bluebell thief on the other hand is just. wish fulfillment. an entire asian main cast. doing typical ya things like going on adventures, sneaking out of their dorms, accidentally stabbing their friends in the chest- wait what

as for lady knight, though, it’s a little different since it’s a fantasy world. there’s an entire empire (crumbled now, because nobody likes being conquered and nobody likes being mistreated), a bunch of other kingdoms, and even more nations that i write as asian. i try to work in a complex history between all of them, because i don’t want all of asia to be equated as the same in a fantasy world. i started hardcore worldbuilding during a world history course, and i wanted to make it obvious that the idea of “east and west” is a false division when the history of the entire world is interwoven together with none of those divides. so when i began piecing everything together for lady knight, i wanted to hold true to that even though it’s just a fantasy world.

honestly i just want asians written as humans in media, so that’s what i try to do.

my favorite example for how i incorporate my asianness in a wip is angel island, though. in my upcoming chapbook, i tackle a story made up by a third generation chinese american about her second generation chinese mother. once i release it, i can fully break it down for you if you want! i’d love to talk about the little bits and pieces.

#i hope this answers your question anon!#all we can do is our best #and be willing to learn #i'm sorry the bluebell thief is like #literal wish fulfillment #like i just want a typical ya story #but make it all asian #make the cast asian #tris responds #anon

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rustbeltjessie · 2 years

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About the interstate, near Peoria. The jaw of the cemetery; the graves as teeth, chewing // the dusk. The radio towers looming behind, blinking red and slow through the fog. The radio // playing some waxy old American tune, that haunted country, and it was the song of someone // I once knew. I am trying to tell you about the night, and the music.

Jessie Lynn McMains, from “I’ll Try to Find You (Left of the Dial)” (30 Days, 30 Lines Challenge / August 15)

#jessie lynn mcmains #my writing #poetry #excerpt #30 days 30 lines challenge #this one's from my upcoming chapbook #left of the dial #the // are stanza breaks

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halberdierminister · 3 years

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January 2021 Goals Check-In

Oh wow it’s already the end of January and I never even posted about what my goals for 2021 are. Okay let’s go.

Year Goals

1. Move Out I did not do this in January. In order to do so, I will need to find a job with either

1a. Better Pay or Different Location I applied for one job in January. That was not many. I kind of networked. A bit. Guh.

2. Get a Car I did not do this in January. I did take a preliminary look at the online inventory of the Carmax in Madison. That will require a GREAT deal of money. In order to do that I will need to make a

2a. Tighter Budget I am actually doing pretty well at this. What am I doing? Well for starters I have to

2ai. Make lunch at home I cannot keep eating out every goddamn day. In January, I only ate out maybe two or three times. The rest, I successfully brought lunch from home. I also am allowing myself a

2aii. Weekly nonsense allowance Every monday, I add a certain amount of money to my nonsense budget. If I do not spend the whole budget, it rolls over into the next week. I can also add to this budget by selling things I already own. I can then -- and ONLY then -- spend that money on nonsense. At first I considered buying lunch nonsense, but I figure that the lunch goal and the nonsense budget goal are two separate things, and as long as I break rule 2ai very rarely, I do not have to consider doing so as dipping into the nonsense budget. In January, I did not exceed the nonsense budget, which was so very hard to do because there are so very many frivolous things that I wish to buy. God I want to buy so many frivolous things, you guys. Oh yeah, I also need to get a

2b. Credit Card If I'm going to have a car, I should really have a credit card for emergencies. I've never had one. It will not be easy to get one, considering my credit score is the sound of crickets chirping uncomfortably. I did not make moves to get one in January.

3. Find a Publisher for the Poetry Manuscript I have a poetry manuscript. I submitted it to a publisher last year. It got rejected. This year, I intend to get it accepted. Except this month I also decided that it needed more poems in it. So I did not take any steps in January toward shopping the manuscript around, because I instead have been working on adding to it. It is still a work in progress.

4. Get Something Published Every year, I've gotta get something published. In January, and specifically today, the fifth issue of Fuckit: A Zine came out, and with it, an essay I wrote. So I did get something published this month! I also have been working on self-publishing physical copies of the two short collections I made back in 2018. Today, I finalized changes and ordered new proofs. Hopefully, these are the last edits I have to make.

5. Second Draft of either A Legitimate Businessman or Life and Love along the Fourth Wall Last year, I finished writing a novel-length fanfiction that I started writing in 2012. Coincidentally, 2012 was also the year I finished writing the first draft of a play called Life and Love along the Fourth Wall. This year, I want to write the second draft of either of these. In January, I took no steps toward this goal. Kind of forgot about it. Ah well.

6. Finish Writing The Knight out of Space This one shouldn't be too difficult. It's a longer short story I've been writing for the Archive of Our Own based on Homestuck. I have most of it outlined. There is no reason why I shouldn't have it finished by the end of this year -- ideally sooner! But I didn't do anything about it in January.

Month Goals

1. One Poem I wrote MORE than one poem in January!

2. One Short Story I TRIED to write a short story in January. Got a good distance through it too. Might have done more today if I hadn't needed to shovel. But I don't think I was going to finish it, even by first draft standards. I think I will consider finishing this first draft of it to be an additional goal in February, alongside writing February's short story. February's short story can be pretty short. Just gotta find a good short story that wants to be written.

3. One AO3 Post In January, I posted a couple times on the Archive of Our Own! These were pretty short posts, but posts nonetheless. I've got a lot of active fics on there. I have lots of options in terms of posting.

4. Promote My Writing I posted a little bit about it on my book Instagram, which I also promoted to more people. I have been more active on my author page on Facebook. I shared posts about Fuckit and my upcoming chapbooks. So I would consider that, in January, I succeeded at this goal.

#goals #goals check in #monthly goals check in #new years goals

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metvmorqhoses · 4 years

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I would love, to at some point in the future use some of your beautiful words as a tattoo, is that possible and how would I go about crediting you? Respects to you and your beautiful words.

darling, this really means the world to me. i’d be honored to have my words as one of your tattoos, i only ask you to wait a bit until my upcoming chapbook is out (a matter of months, really). the only way i wanna be credited by is you telling people your tattoo is from one of my poems

#those are the moments i live for #altheawanders #my writing #happy tag #about me #lovely ppl #lis' glorious moments #asks/replies

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lifeinpoetry · 5 years

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hi! would you happen to know any poems/poets that/who deal with psychosis? if not nevermind :) happy holidays

Sorry for such a late reply.

I’d not known any off the top of my head when you sent this so I’d saved this post to get back to. Hope you don’t mind, let me know if you do.

Roberto Harrison’s “Bridge of the World” in Bridge of the World is explicitly about the speaker transitioning from one anti-psychotic medication to another. Unsure about the rest of the book.

Topaz Winters’ upcoming poetry collection Portrait of My Body as a Crime I’m Still Committing has a few poems with anti-psychotics and/or psychosis.

There’s a brief reference in Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick’s chapbook A Stranger Longing (Agape Editions) in the poem “John 3:8.” Also: self-harm cw for the poem.

Will reblog with additions if I come up with more. I really need to dedicate a new tag so I can keep track.

Thanks!

#kultainene

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authorivyljames · 2 months

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there goes the sun

(from my upcoming sapphic poetry chapbook The Orange and Pink Sunset)

I was afraid to come out Because I knew things would be different—worse— and I was partially right: My entire family, save one sister, boycotted my wedding. I’m no longer welcome in church if my wife is with me. Scripture falls apart when I touch it. Some things have deteriorated.

Yet others stayed the same: My closest friends remain. Writing frees me. The moon waxes and wanes.

And others still are better now: My relationship with that sister is on the mend. I have a new queer circle of friends who hold me tight. I can write everything I want to. I’m honest with the world and with myself.

The sun has set on what my life used to be, there’s no going back, but that loss allows the stars to shine, and I’m more at home in the moonlight anyway.

#writing #writeblr #writers of tumblr #poetry #poets on tumblr #chapbook #writers and poets #lgbt books #sapphic #lesbian #queer community #lgbtq

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charmingpplincardigans · 5 years

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Writer Tag Game

Tagged by @sullymygoodname!

Author Name: momebie

Fandoms you write for: Many. My most current fandoms are The Umbrella Academy and Good Omens, but I wrote a metric ton of The Raven Cycle fic and that will probably happen again come November.

Where You Post: momebie @ AO3

Most Popular Oneshot: Hello, I haven’t checked the numbers on any of my The Raven Cycle fic in a couple years, but apparently This Isn’t A Heist (aka, the one where Ronan and Adam are fake dating to annoy Declan and then real dating obvs) has 1,900 more kudos than the next runner up. So I am astounded to say it’s that one.

Most popular multi chapter story: Without Having to Say, a The Raven Cycle Ronan/Adam college AU where Adam is a sculptor and Ronan agrees to model for a sculpture of Satan. I’m actually really fond of this one because I love both Adam’s sculptural style (I modeled his work after Claire Morgan’s) and some of my descriptions. As is typical for my TRC fic Adam is trying very hard to be understood and going about it in a difficult way. I love him.

Favourite story you wrote: I think it’s the weird TRC/BoysGirls fusion I wrote called Not a Dreamer, The Dream. Ronan/Adam, Blue/Gansey. They’re all myths and archetypes living in a strange and (I hope) beautiful world where love comes with magic and from it. I was trying to work in Katie Farris’s style, because I think it’s startling and achy and lovely and I’d love to write that way on my own. I wrote it for a friend who still hasn’t read it. I live in hope that one day she actually might.

Story you were nervous to post: I was really nervous to post Oddities Observed, Vietnam 1968 (The Umbrella Academy, Klaus/Dave) for several reasons. The first was that the Vietnam War was a very real tragedy that still affects lots of people, most importantly the people who live there. And I know it’s a common trope in American cinema and pop culture now that always signals back to things that have very little to do with the people whose homes and land were being ravaged. I didn’t want to make light of that or hurt anyone by writing this dumb fic, which is why I shied away from showing actual combat and let it live in the stolen moments. The second was that it was my first TUA fic and posting in a new fandom is always nerve wracking. The third was that we don’t know anything about Dave! I had to make it all up and what if people hated the way I wrote him!? Luckily, if anyone did they didn’t tell me.

How do you pick your titles: Usually it’s a lyric from a song I glom on to while I’m writing it. (What’s Done in the Dark was almost called With the Stars Pressing Down From Above OR It Matters But Little Babe before I settled on the Johnny Cash lyric, so you know, it’s mercurial until I post it.) Sometimes it’s a call back to a line I particularly enjoyed writing or another piece of art.

Do you outline: I have started outlining in the last year or so, especially with the longer ones, but that’s because I’ve started outlining my original work more as well so that’s just becoming the Way I Work. Anything less than 6k or so is probably still just a brain dump, though.

How many of your stories are complete? Everything posted is complete. Well, I still meant to add a fourth story to the collection of The Raven Cycle mermaid AU stories, but the stories posted are complete in and of themselves.

In progress: I want to finish writing this follow up to What’s Done in the Dark that’s about that week Crowley and Aziraphale spend in bed together that I glossed over in that one. (Er, no actual human sex though, it’s mainly about Aziraphale and control and what happens when he can see the effect he has on things immediately. He’s used to the long game, you know? Manipulating the love in the world is all well and good until your adversary/best friend/most beloved becomes a glow worm.) I also want to finish this pre-series Klaus & Ben Best Brothers fic I started ages ago. I should do that before season 2 drops, huh?

Coming soon: The only thing getting to anyone soon is this poem I’m late on for the anthology. (So not soon enough, clearly.) Then I have artwork, and chapbooks to compile, and editorial work that I owe others. Then maybe I can think about just dicking around with fic again.

Do you accept prompts: Yes! Feel free to leave me a prompt about whatever whenever. Just know that the odds of it being written are literally 50/50 depending on my mood and what’s happening in my life at the time and that there’s a long list of prompts just chilling in my inbox going back LITERAL YEARS that haven’t been answered. But hey, maybe like Lisa you just know how to make me do what you want? Won’t know until you try!

Upcoming story you’re excited about: I JUST WANT THE WORLD TO BE QUIET SO I CAN BE LEFT ALONE TO WRITE THIS, MY SECOND STORY ABOUT HOW BEAUTIFUL CROWLEY IS WHEN AZIRAPHALE’S LOVE TOUCHES HIM. JUST LET ME PINE AND ACHE WITH THESE CELESTIAL DUMMIES WHOM I LOVE. THANKS.

Oh, and also this prompt @z-bot gave me requesting Crowley and Aziraphale in my original cyberpunk universe (AMLD). I am thinking gleefully about that every moment I can.

I tag: @fourteenacross, @melayneseahawk, @farahandthemachine, @interropunct, and @anachronistique, and also anyone else who wants to talk about your fic! Tag me! I want to know!

#memes #i write things #i have written things anyway #mostly raven cycle fic #NO REGRETS #the raven cycle #the umbrella academy #good omens

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finishinglinepress · 3 years

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FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: A Void and Cloudless Sky by Ricki Cummings

TO ORDER GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-void-and-cloudless-sky-by-ricki-cummings/

Please share/please repost. RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Ricki Cummings is a trans writer currently living in Chicago whose most recent chapbook, Hypersigil, was published in 2019 as a limited release by Midge Books. Their work is upcoming or has been published in Poetry, Vallum, Court Green, Calibanonline, Solstice Literary Magazine, Columbia Poetry Review, and has been shortlisted for Vallum’s Award for Poetry. They received their MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR A Void and Cloudless Sky by Ricki Cummings

The sky might be void and cloudless in Ricki Cummings’ poems, but don’t mistake its emptiness as a sign of absence. Instead, A Void and Cloudless Sky burns with intelligence and roils with desire. These poems are planted firmly in an hallucinatory theater of the absurd whose conceptual blueprint is one part Samuel Beckett and one part Philip K. Dick: “There was supposed to be a metaphor here / but instead it’s maps and pins / and bits of string and wild hair / and cigarettes and unemployment.”

–Tony Trigilio, author of Proof Something Happened and The Complete Dark Shadows (of My Childhood))

A short and sharp and fast and dense and absolutely gorgeous collection. Alternately breathless and measured, Cummings’ pages bristle with multi-prong puns and genre-obliterating cultural allusions. A Void and Cloudless Skyis packed with highbrow references and lofi phrases that beg to be verbalized, to be invoked. A toothsome shock of poems.

–Meredith Yayanos, co-editor of Coilhouse Magazine, musician

Ricki Cummings’ stunning collection, A Void and Cloudless Sky, is a love affair of language and culture. A striking depiction of the battle of being human. You’ll find Kurt Weill, DC Comics, Derrida, and box wine in a single breath. But the real power lies in its vulnerability. “…The answer / to the question / of what is this poem about / is the body. Always the body.” The body subsists in and out of time—in memory, liminal spaces, and the exposed—until the body, like this collection of poems, creates its own space “ever-present, / unsettling, beautiful.”

–Shannon Elward, author of Third Lung Breathing

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

#poetry #chapbook #preorder #flp authors #flp #poets on tumblr #american poets #leah maines #chapbooks #transgender #trans writers

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