“When we are bewildered by existence, art is the way we try to put a frame around a piece of reality and make sense of it. Seeing other people do that work, whether it’s on the page or listening to music, or watching a film, feels like a balm to me right now. Even if the only meaning they can make is a representation of their own bewilderment, it makes me feel less solitary.”

Iowa City author Garth Greenwell spoke about art in the time of isolation as part of Mission Creek Underground. Mission Creek Underground is a six performance series with local musicians and authors provided virtually. The performances were filmed at The Englert Theatre and are available for viewing on the Mission Creek website, and the festival’s YouTube and Facebook accounts.

Greenwell is the author of two books, Cleanness and What Belongs to You. These two titles have accrued many accolades, including but not limited to a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, an IndieNext Selection, and British Book Award for Debut of the Year. He writes in various genres, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and VICE, among other publications.

The format was quite different from the typical reading at Prairie Lights that the Iowa City literary scene has come to know. Greenwell read underneath the glow of a lone spotlight on stage of the Englert Theatre to empty seats, but with a familiar warmth.

“I think art is what we turn to when we want to communicate what our lives feel like on the inside. And so, art, for me, is the greatest experience I have of intimacy with other consciousnesses.”

In addition to talking about creating art in this uncertain time, Greenwell read from his most recent book, Cleanness. The collection was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in January of this year. The first selected passage that he read came from the beginning of the story “The Frog King.” Greenwell described the passage as being about the joys of ordinary happiness, of being with another human being, and the happiness of touch.

The following is an excerpt from the reading:

I was still groggy with sleep when I turned in to the main room, and I stood uncomprehending for a moment before I realized that R. had rearranged things in the night. He had moved the table to the middle of the room, and had placed my winter boots on top of it, beside the little tree we had bought earlier that week. Sticking up from the boots were packages wrapped in newspaper, his Christmas gifts for me; he must have hidden them somewhere after he arrived, he must have got out of bed in the night, careful not to wake me, he must have been quiet as he moved the furniture. I caught my breath at it, I felt a weird pressure and heat climb my throat. I felt like my heart would burst, those were the words for it, the hackneyed phrase, and I was grateful for them, they were a container for what I felt, proof of its commonness. I was grateful for that, too, the commonness of my feeling, I felt some stubborn strangeness in me ease, I felt like part of the human race.

Mission Creek Underground is currently ongoing and will run from April 1st-4th with all acts viewable on their website.

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Writers of Color Reading

Fatimah Asghar, a Pakistani-Kashmiri-American poet and Fulbright fellow, leads with Writers of Color Reading Series for this year’s Witching Hour. Asghar co-created and wrote an Emmy-nominated web series called “Brown Girls”. Other readers include Natalia Reyes, Siyanda Mohutsiwa, Bruna Dantas Lobato, Aimee Fredericksen, Leon Pan, and Joe Emanuel.

This reading series will take place at The Englert Theatre on Saturday night starting at 8pm.

Julie Byrne

Julie Byrne, performing a concert co-presented with UI student organization SCOPE, is an atmospheric guitarist and vocalist. She has released two albums and two EPs in her career, the most recent titled “Not Even Happiness”. This recent album is inspired by Byrne’s first time witnessing the Pacific Northwest, and it is clear that nature drives her as soon as the album starts playing. Along with being a musician, Byrne is a seasonal park ranger at Central Park in New York.

Byrne will begin her set on The Mill’s stage Friday at 9:30pm after Squirrel Flower plays at 8:30pm.

Puddles Pity Party

Puddles Pity Party is described as “the sad clown with a golden voice.” He remains completely silent when he isn’t singing in a deep, melancholy voice, which caught public attention after his cover of Lorde’s “Royals” went viral. Puddles has performed his acts around the world and was a runner-up on America’s Got Talent. Puddles is an entirely emotive artist, and his work can reach everybody’s heart in some striking way.

The event will begin at The Englert Theatre at 8:30pm on Friday night.

Jack Lion and Jaimie Branch

Electronic, jazz-infused trio Jack Lion will be opening for Jaimie Branch, an experimental jazz trumpeter. Jack Lion, based in Iowa City, draws from each member’s formal jazz training for musical inspiration. Jaimie Branch, also a recording engineer and presenter will be performing with a band full of long-time collaborates for Witching Hour.

The concert begins with Jack Lion at Gabe’s on Saturday at 10pm.

Janelle James and Liza Treyger

Janelle James is a comedian, providing hilarious commentary on aging and family life along with her raunchy storytelling. Liza Treyger recently released her first half-hour Netflix comedy special, used to work on Chelsea Lately, and was a cast member on MTV’s “Joking Off”. The two female comedians’ sets will meld together to create a perfect, humorous evening.

James and Treyger will perform at The Englert Theatre starting with James at 9:30pm on Saturday night.

Parts Unknown Dinner

In the wake of chef Anthony Bourdain‘s death earlier in 2018, the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program and the Chef de Cuisine of St. Burch Tavern, Gabe Branch, collaborate to present the Parts Unknown Dinner. Bourdain was not only the host of a food-based television show, but made an extreme effort to fully appreciate and understand the people who showed him cuisine from across the word. He wanted to know the people, not commodify their food.

The dinner will take place at St. Burch Tavern on Saturday at 5pm, but has sold out in advance.

Passes are still available, and some events have individually priced tickets. For the first time this year, Witching Hour Festival is also selling student passes at a discounted and very affordable price. If you’re interested in attending the festival, check out passes here!

The post Witching Hour: KRUI’s Top Picks appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas is the author of Drown/Sever/Sing, winner of the 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award as well as Don’t Come Back. Her fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translations have been featured in journals including The Bellingham Review, The Chicago Review, Fourth Genre, Poets & Writers and the Sunday Rumpus, among others.

She won the Best of the Net, the Iron Horse Review’s Discovered Voices Award, has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes and is a Rona Jaffe fellow.

Cabeza-Vanegas opened the reading with a power and poignant reflection on her experience grappling with recent political injustices against her native country. This injustice inspired her to translate a poem a day for seventy-eight straight days.

Cabeza-Vanegas read a poem she recently translated called “Monday Song” written by an El Salvadorian poet. She encouraged us to reflect on our own political stances and view all countries for what they truly are.

Cabeza-Vanegas read from her essay collection Don’t Come Back, which reimagines nonfiction through a balance of evidence and transcendence. Small moments accumulate, creating lyrical and narrative harboring great emotional intensity.

Don’t Come Back, “chronicles the immigrant’s ever-present tug of family and the familiar—what is left behind—and the equally strong pull of the new land with its lure of stability and security,” said Norma E. Cantu. “Lina’s story asks readers to venture into the migrant heart’s dilemma—to go back or to stay in the new country.”

Cabeza-Vanegas used the image of a gun being pressed against one’s body that when the trigger is pulled the gun burns through one’s clothing to describe the process of writing Don’t Come Back.

“I knew a book that jumped genres, timelines, and perspectives, while utilizing diagrams, images, and untranslatable aphorisms, was the most impractical book I could write, and I thought I’d never be able to place it,” Ferreira said.

“Even though Don’t Come Back is a book from a fairly small press, and is written in a language none of my subjects speak, writing down their stories to the best of my abilities is my most sincere act of rebellion against a system that refuses to acknowledge their heroism.”

Don’t Come Back features an experimental form, meshing prose with translations, illustrations, and graphs. Cabeza-Vanegas mentioned that translation and description were, “metaphors for the same life.”

Cebeza-Vanegas weaves between, “nations, languages, and mythologies,” said E.V. De Cleyre. “The re-telling of Jorge Gaitán’s assassination in Colombia in “The Peach Orchard” is reminiscent of Elena Ferrante’s depictions of Naples. The images and graphs in “Empire of Toes” look and feel like the essays of Ander Monson or Patrick Madden. The shifting perspectives and circling of minor, and major violence read like Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Small Backs of Children.”

After six years of reporting for both national and regional newspapers, Sarah Viren enrolled in IWP. Her writing has appeared in the Oxford American, Texas Monthly, Guernica, the Iowa Review, The New Inquiry, and others. Her essay “My Murderer’s Futon” was selected by Lee Martin for The Pinch literary journal’s 2014 Nonfiction Prize.

Viren read from Mine: Essays, which was the recipient of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. Viven said the essay collection was “ownership and the contingency of facts.”

She read an essay titled “My Wife” which grappled with the inequalities of same-sex marriage. The essay documents her experiences marrying her wife Marta in Iowa and moving to Texas where that marriage was no longer valid under federal law. The essay differentiates the ideals of life from its stark realities.

The post Mission Creek Festival: Sarah Viren & Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas @ Prairie Lights 4/4/18 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and been given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals.”

Wow! That is definitely something I could not do and I would envy anyone who is able to achieve the same!

The reading started promptly, at 6pm. Saeed Jones, a very friendly, poetry enthusiast opened the show. He is one of those people, whose face shows their passion, in his case, poetry. He introduced Isaac Fitzgerald, whom he credited for changing his life, and being there when he most needed a friend. He also introduced Alice Sola Kim, who is Fitzgerald’s fiancé. After introductions, he handed over the stage to Fitzgerald.

Isaac Fitzgerald is a very talented guy. He brought us an essay he had written which was pretty interesting. The essay started off by talking about a little boy who is fat, and the world telling him that he is fat. Soon, we get to know that it is no one else’s story but his. He talked about how fat he was in his childhood, and how everyone’s comments engraved this message on his young, benign mind. He talked about an incident where his mom pulled up his t-shirt and slapped the layer of flab, which actually touched the listeners’ hearts.

The underlying message of his reading was that some events in our lives take place in a way that they leave a very deep mark on our minds, a mark that’s inerasable no matter what. In his story, he continued working on his weight loss, and eventually even became thin, but not to where he could call himself thing. Thirty years later, when he saw a picture of himself, he could tell how skinny he actually was at that time. But still, when he looked at the mirror, he could see his mother slapping the flab on his belly.

Alice Sola Kim graciously shared the beginning of her upcoming novel. Her novel begins by talking about a teenage girl, who does not get accepted into a college, but goes anyway! This really grabbed everyone’s attention in the room and she received a huge cheer. In the story, this girl is helped by an Asian family. Though the story started off well, somewhere in the middle, the track of the girl’s story is lost and many other characters are introduced. She was able to keep the audience’s attention consistently throughout the start, but could not do so towards the end.

Saeed Jones was the last one to read an expert that inspired one of his favorite poems. The excerpt talks about a sexual encounter he had when he was young. He was in Chicago as a friend of his had called him to help them be the judge at a high-school speech competition. After the competition he would engage with other men to have sexual relations and write about it. The rest of the story described his experience with a white man, who always liked to be the dominant one.

This makes him recall and recollect on various experiences from his past, where he was dominated upon by other people. At first, he was enjoying it and the writer in him kept reminding him to stay put. However, later he realized that he was just being used and being dominated upon, as his hands and feet were tied. This is when he resisted and said ‘no’.

Jones has a very unique and interesting way of narrating his story. He actually gets the audience to feel what he felt which is something only a handful of people are able to do! However, I would question if this style actually made the story interesting. The sexual encounters he describes are far too intense and his oratory skills get the audience to relate to his experience and actually “be there”, which could be too strong for some people.

However, Saeed’s way of writing does intrigue me and definitely makes me feel like reading a few of his other works.Saeed pointed out a very interesting pattern in the series of narrations—Fitzgerald told the story of a high-school boy, Kim about a college going girl, and Saeed about a young man.

The Mill happened to be a great place where these readings happened. The entire audience had a place to sit and the stage was located right in the middle, so everything was clearly visible.

The post Mission Creek: Isaac Fitzgerald, Saeed Jones and Alice Sola Kim @ The Mill 4/8/2017 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Independent book publishers and independent magazines from across the country took to The Mill, on April 8, 2017, as a part of the Mission Creek Festival. What better place could there be for book publishers and literary magazine writers to hangout, other than the only UNESCO City of Literature on the Western Hemisphere, Iowa City? This was the 8^th year in a row, when Iowa City had the honor of hosting the most exciting works of the most creative writers across the US.

The fair began at around 11 in the morning and was supposed to go till 6 in the evening. I showed up at The Mill at around 11:30, and I did not realize how fast time flew by. I spoke to various book publishers, who themselves were as interesting as their works were!

There were some brilliant poetry publishers, and independent poetry writers, whose works I enjoyed going through the most. One of these was the POETRY Magazine which I came across. I had some previous knowledge about the POETRY Magazine and was hoping to know more about it and after going through their poems and publications, I am totally driven to subscribe to the 100+ year old Chicago based organization.

Another very interesting publication I came across at the fair was the Black Ocean. Originally based out of Boston, Chicago and Detroit, they bring together a spectrum of influences from fields of music, poetry and silent film to produce books. The most interesting book I came across at their book sale, was a book called ‘With Deer’, which is written by Swedish poet, Aase Berg and translated to English by Johannes Göransson. I don’t think I understood her poems at my first shot, but they did make me deeply interested.

Apart from the poetry publications there was the Two Dollar Radio and UNESCO City of Literature. The Iowa Review was one of the biggest crowd pullers at the fair! The University of Iowa’s very own Ink Lit Mag was also at the fair.

I stuck around at the Lit Mag and Small Book Fair till about 1:30 pm. The Mill was an ideal location to host the event. Its size, and layout was ideal for the fair. Yes, there were times when it was feeling too small and too cramped up, however, that gave the entire event a cozy and homely feeling. It was a wonderful event and it brought a lot of creative and talented individuals to Iowa City! The event made me feel privileged to be associated to the Iowa City community and it was great to see budding publishers and authors being given a chance to showcase their talent.

The post Mission Creek: Literary Magazine and Small Press Book Fair @ The Mill 4/8/2017 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I definitely did not go into this reading expecting to hear about a “Demon Lover”/actor with issues involving a sex tape, who’s in love with a former co-star from a movie they were in together, but here I was on a Tuesday night listening to author Kelly Link read from her short story, I Can See Right Through You.

Kelly Link is the author of a few works including Get in Trouble, which got her nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Magic for Beginners, which won a Locus Award for a short story collection, Pretty Monsters, and other books and short stories. The genre that she chooses to write in most often is usually science fiction, horror, or fantasy- something she calls “the fantastic.”

Going into this reading I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a journalism major and someone who writes regularly, I enjoy hearing people read from and talk about their work, even if I’ve never heard of them. After I got over the awe of Hancher, the new performing arts center I hadn’t been in yet, I took my seat and waited anxiously to hear what she was going to read.

When one of the first sentences out of her mouth included the phrase “sex tape” and “demon lover” I wondered what the hell I got myself into. But as she read on from the story I Can See Right Through You I found myself laughing and genuinely curious about what was coming next. So you can imagine my disappointment when she stopped just as it was getting to the part about a missing nudist colony.

After the reading, Link sat down with a PhD from the English Department to have a short conversation, followed by the crowd asking her questions. People asked everything from how to deal with writers block to what inspired her to write fantasy and horror stories. She also talked about her influences, her favorite reads, and Small Beer, a press that her and her husband run that publishes works from other authors.

One of my favorite parts from the discussion is when Link talked about the difficulty of writing about things people already have ideas about. She enjoys writing about ghosts and zombies and the Fantastic but people already have their own ideas of how those things act, what they sound like and what they look like. “It’s difficult to still make it pleasurable to the reader when they already have these ideas in their head.”

This is something that I’ve never thought about, but after hearing realized it’s most likely a problem for a lot of authors. However, after hearing a short piece of her writing its clear that she overcomes this problem fairly easily. The story also jumped from time period to time period and I had no trouble following along and keeping up with what was being read aloud.

Kelly Link is a great writer, and even though I had never heard of her before Mission creek, it’s clear after one night of listening to her that there is a reason she is an award winning author. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future, and seeing what happened to this Demon Lover from I Can See Right Through You. 

Check out her website here or buy one of her books on Amazon.

NY Times Get In Trouble

The post Mission Creek: Kelly Link @ Hancher 4/4/17 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I was sitting in the park on one of the giant hills the town has trying to read my book, when I was approached by a stranger.

He was tall and muscular. Not like Hulk muscular, no, he wasn’t like that. You couldn’t see his veins. It was a kind of muscular that was nice to look at. Especially in the arms.

But, that’s not the point. The point is, he was walking towards me. Me. Of all people. Usually I get to see the backs of people, not the fronts.

I sat there casually reading my book, pretending not to notice him because that is what I do in awkward situations, when he said, “Are you Kyra?”

“Depends on who’s asking.”

He chuckled, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Now that’s just creepy.”

“I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Now, why would I do that?”

“I know about your powers.” My head snapped up from my book. He was staring intently at me. His green eyes were hard to look away from. It gave the appearance that there was something more going on than his face was saying.

“There are others like you, Kyra. You’re not alone in this.”

“I have powers?”

“Don’t play dumb, Kyra.”

“So, if you’re telling me that I’m special and can do anything I want to, you should be a counselor. They’re great at trying to get me to believe in myself.”

“I’m not trying to get you to believe anything. It’s inside you. You can’t ignore it.”

“You know, that’s exactly what the counselor says.”

“Look, I can’t leave until you agree to come with me.”

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to go with someone I don’t even know just because

he told me I’m special? Haven’t you ever heard of ‘stranger danger’?”

“My name is Collin. I’m a junior at the University of Utah. I work for the place that wants to protect you and I’ve been

there for three years trying to make sure people like you are safe.”

“People like me? You think you can just label us like freaks? What are you going to do? Put us in cages and let people stare at us while we use our powers?”

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Oh really? I find that hard to believe.”

“Will you just come with me? They can explain it better at headquarters.”

“You know, I don’t think so. I’ve got to be to work in twenty minutes.” And with that I got up and left. He didn’t even try to follow. I wish I would’ve known that was not the last time I was going to see him.

****

Usually, work isn’t that bad. The job itself is horrible, since, you know, it’s my high school job. But the people aren’t that bad; even though they are all high schoolers and they think they’re life is so complicated right now.

All night I got to hear about their problems when all I could think about was that Collin guy. I didn’t believe anything the guy said, but what if it was true? What if there were other people out there like me?

I didn’t fit in anywhere. I had no friends throughout high school and I didn’t make even one during my first year of college.

Maybe his offer doesn’t seem so bad.

I didn’t know anything about it. Would I be able to see my parents yet? Can I continue with my schooling? Or do I have to restart my life?

Well, he was gone and hopefully never coming back, so why did I feel like I was missing out on something?

My curiosity didn’t have to last long. The next day I was sitting in one of the parks reading my book, again. But this time it was a different park and a different book.

I looked up and there he was. Walking toward me.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to take you with me.”

“Persuade me, then maybe I will come with you.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Do you want to continue hiding who you truly are? Or do you want to make a difference?”

“I just want to be normal.”

“And you can be. All you have to do is come with me.” His hand was outstretched, waiting to see what I’ll do.  And you know what, I took it.

Life has to start somewhere, right?

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary- Part Two appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s the middle of the night. Ginger has put the plane on auto pilot while he gets some sleep, and Esteban is passed out on one side of the plane. Since Martha had that little nap earlier in the car, she is wide awake, thinking about the day’s events.

Things haven’t been going so great for her. Anytime she takes a step forward, somehow she is always taking two giant steps back. Escaping the police after robbing Six Flags worries her. Getting away from them was easy. Too easy. Something has to go terribly wrong now and whatever that unknown wrong is, it frightens her.

To try to get her mind out of a pessimistic place, she decides to read one of her favorite books, The Gift by Richard Paul Evans.

Before they blew up the store in their hometown, they gathered up the items they truly needed to get them through the plan and gave it to Ginger to put in the plane right away. Esteban packed up his guitars and Martha gathered up all of her books and her buddy, Kevin.

Kevin is a stuffed Minion given to Martha by her friend for her birthday one year when they knew they wouldn’t see each other as often as they did. All of her friends know how much she loves Kevin and would never leave him behind, so judge her all you want, but Kevin had to come.

When they awake the next morning, Martha is a little tired from not getting enough sleep the night before but once she has some breakfast and juice in her she is ready to go. Esteban has been up for a couple of hours already, waiting for her to wake. He has already had his morning chocolate milk fix and is waiting for her to get settled.

Martha moves Kevin next to her, has a plate of cookies for breakfast balanced on her knee and a glass of Mountain Berry, and says, “Now what?”

“You’re eating cookies? For breakfast?”

“No shame, Esteban. No shame.”

“You should eat Poptarts. Poptarts are amazing!”

“What are we doing now?” She tries to get back on topic.

“You should eat the brown sugar ones .They’re the best!”

“Esteban, stop talking about poptarts and focus on the situation.”

“Well, we can’t do anything in the air. We’ll have to wait until we land in Africa. Where are we landing again?”

“Johannesburg.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of time on our hands before we land so, what are we going to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to know!”

“I’m going to get myself some more chocolate milk. If we’re doing anything productive, then I’m going to need a little boost.”

Esteban goes to refill his glass of chocolate milk and comes back with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and hands it to Martha saying, “Here. Apparently it’s happiness in a cup.”

“First you judge me on my cookies and now you are giving me ice cream? You make no sense,” she says as she eagerly takes the ice cream from him, “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I planned on watching some New Girl and maybe playing some guitar.”

“Wow, you’re boring.”

“What else do you expect me to do? We’re a thousand miles above ground. It’s not like I can go outside!”

“Nothing’s stopping you,” she laughs, “but seriously, this is like your twentieth time watching that show, how can it still be entertaining?”

“New Girl changes lives! It’s the best show around!”

“No, Friends is the best show around! Have you even tried watching it like I told you to?”

“I did! I just can’t do it! It’s like an older version of New Girl and I don’t like old shows!”

“It’s not that old!”

“Whatever, I’m still not going to watch it. What are you going to do today?”

“Probably read. I haven’t had much time to do that recently and I’ve got a lot of books to start.”

“How is reading any better than what I’m doing? If anything, it’s worse!”

“It’s not! You just haven’t found the right book; if you had one that interested you, you would actually like to read!”

“Reading is boring.”

“Read The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans. I really think you’re going to like it.”

“I’m not going to read it.”

“It’s not that long! It’s only like 125 pages! That’s nothing!”

“It’ll still take me a year to finish. I’ll read the first page and never continue.”

They continue arguing about this for some time. Eventually, the conversation turns back them arguing about Friends and New Girl. Time passes quickly as they move through conversation after conversation, just talking away. They haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks, and all they’ve talked about was the plan, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

****

They land in Johannesburg and head to a hotel in the middle of the city, thinking that it’s best to be in the middle of a large crowd than stand out among them. Once they got settled into their hotel rooms, Martha asked, “Now what?”

“Now it’s time to meet with our dealer.”

The post Escape to Africa-Part Two appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month’s featured artist wrote my favorite poetry book “salt.” and describes the piece as a “journey through warmth and sharpness.” The book discusses a wide array of issues ranging from the diaspora to colonialism to misogyny, which conveys the fierce interconnectedness of identities. Painful and poignant, raging and gentle, Nayyirah Waheed encourages self-examination, gives readers reason to be critical, and leaves them with hopeful words that keep us pondering the complexity and depth of her writing.

The US-based artist began writing at age 11. As a self-identified “quiet poet,” the internet offers little information on her background and childhood, which conveys something about Waheed’s personality. In one poem, she writes “listen to my poems./but/do not look for me./look for you.” In another, she positions herself “a bridge” between “what you may feel but cannot say.” She doesn’t seem to seek fame or attention; Waheed simply shares.

Endlessly.

Since she has shared little information about herself, and I’m not even sure what she looks like, I’d like to share how her words help my decolonization.

The poem on above forced me to consider the psychic and physical violence that I have inflicted on my body since childhood. From internalized eurocentric beauty standards to self-harm, I constantly brutalize myself and the image of myself. Mentally and physically we damage ourselves in order to conform to an idea of physical beauty imposed upon us through brainwashing and colonization. Waheed softly but powerfully suggests a starting point to be gentler towards ourselves: an apology.

Her emphasis on self-compassion and love, while seemingly simple, revolutionizes the way many societies in our world dictate the way we treat ourselves. In the poem on the right, Waheed writes of the potential of self-love, and the weight of its absence on her mental health.

At some point, I just began copying down parts from the book in my own diary to consult on bad days.

Aside from self-love, I appreciate her theme of strength, especially woman-strength in her poetry. She often writes about the resilience built through her experiences as an immigrant in the USA, as a woman embedded in capitalist patriarchy, as a black woman in institutions of systematic racism. Waheed writes about the energy necessary to bloom in a toxic environment, and appreciates her own power.

These themes represent only a few of the many issues Waheed writes about in “salt.” Although the poems are mostly short and the book has fewer than 200 pages, I took my time in reading each page to absorb every deliberate word; I still haven’t fully processed each poem. I will continue decolonizing as I re-read her book and recite her gentle words to myself each day.

“salt.” is available for purchase on Amazon, but thankfully, many of her readers have photographed pages of her book or posted quotes on the Internet. Googling her name yields many search results which display her poetry, if you’re interested in reading more.

Nayyirah Waheed has active profiles on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and her own website. She shares pieces of her work and showcases other artists who decolonize our minds.

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is discussed in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Read Nayyirah Waheed appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I been working on my summer bod: it the same as my regular body, but this time more popsackles in it.

— birdsrightsactivist (@ProBirdRights) June 15, 2015

(Yes I’ve shown this tweet before but I love it and it is #relatable)

If you’re anything like me, I finish with my last final of the semester and I’m stuck looking into the impending wave of free time, wide-eyed and blank-faced like “NOW WHAT.” After the crunch of the past semester spending every most of my waking moments doing school related things, I completely forget how to free time. AND IT’S A LITTLE SCARY TO BE HONEST. So to take the pressure off of you, I’ve made a pretty expansive, though not entirely exhaustive, list of all the wonderful things you can do in your free time instead of school-related things.

1. OUTSIDE STUFF

The flowers are blossoming, the birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing (hopefully, save the honeybees y’all), and it is all yours for enjoying. Even better is that it is freeeeeeee. Find a local trail site and go hiking! Go swimming! Plant a garden! Even if you’re just chilling outside enjoying the sunshine, soak it all in and recharge from the hectic months when you couldn’t. Just don’t forget your sunscreen. I’m serious: love yo skin, protect yo skin.

2. RECLAIM YOUR HOBBIES

Remember when you were sitting in class daydreaming about everything you wish you could be doing instead of sitting there? DO IT. Whether it is baking, painting, running, Netflixing or working on Mustang kit cars to build, use your new-found free time to do what you love.

3. TAKE UP NEW HOBBIES

With all this time on your hands you don’t even have to limit yourself with the hobbies you already know you enjoy. If you’ve always wanted to try skateboarding, learn how to shred some pipe (be careful though!), or maybe taking up learning an instrument. Challenge yourself…to have fun! (I am actually morphing into an overly-peppy camp counselor. Maybe that should be my new-found hobby this summer.)

4. READ

This may seem obvious to some people, but I think sometimes with the world of Netflix we forget just how freaking great it is to read an actual book. You can go at your own pace, you don’t have to search around for the remote if you need to pause momentarily, and you can literally pick your own adventure. I’m going to sound real nerdy here, but I feel like reading a book is so much better than simply watching something because it actually transports you into whatever world is at your fingertips by engaging your mind. Plus, you know what they say – having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbXz3MXx2DU

5. ROADTRIPS

If you have the means and extra spending cash try taking a road trip. Or if you don’t, find a friend who does. It doesn’t have to be some extravagant cross-country mission, though that would be totally awesome if you could. Go to a concert, go shopping, go to visit a national or state park. You can have car fitted with a window shade during summer to reflect sunlight and create more shade in the interior of your car making road trips more comfortable for everyone involved. Even if it’s just a 15 mile drive out of town to somewhere you’ve never been before, crank up the car radio, roll down the windows and explore. If you’re shopping for a used car, Autozin is the ultimate used car marketplace, offering a diverse selection of affordable and reliable vehicles. Find your dream car today!

6. PARTY TIME YEAHHHH

Somehow my columns always lead to alcohol…somehow. (Though I’m pretty sure this is the first one I’ve written since actually becoming legal, shhh.) As I’ve always put as a disclaimer: you DO NOT need alcohol to have fun, and honestly I really don’t drink at all while classes are in session because I’m tragically too busy. However, summer time creates so many wonderful drinking opportunities it would be a shame not to take advantage of them. (That is if you want to.) There’s day drinking, patio drinking, sitting around a pool drinking, drinking at bars, drinking on a boat, and my personal favorite: drinking around a fire and listening to music. And as always, no matter what drinking you choose to partake in, be smart, be safe, and DO NOT drink and drive. Please.

So that pretty much rounds out the list I have at the moment. Hopefully that helps get the ideas flowing and gets you hyped for the all the free time you can now burn up. You’re welcome.

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