lifebypoetry

[lifebypoetry]

[lifebypoetry]

I'm back.

I stepped away from my Tumblr community last year... and I really missed it! Glad to be back and see all the new changes :)

[lifebypoetry]

Hey folks!

It has been a while! Well, we wanted to announce some big things coming your way!

WWC Askbox: Soft Re-Opening

Wednesday, Nov 1, 2023 to Thursday, Nov 30, 2023

In light of the recent attention WWC has received by the writeblr community, and the reception to our Guide to Academic Research—the mods have decided that we will temporarily reopen to your questions and test some important changes to the site! As you may have noticed, we've taken a much-needed break to catch up on our personal lives and restore our inspiration to answer the hundreds of Q&A that we receive. 

Once the submission window is up on Nov 30, we will evaluate how our new system is going, tinker some more, and reopen once again once the construction dust clears.

New Rules and FAQ! 

We are pleased to announce our new and improved Masterpost, which we hope will be a more centralized, more informative resource for those new and returning to WWC. 

Brand-new FAQs, with new answers and content for further reading

Code of Conduct and other etiquette rules

The Ask Tutorial—a guide to writing a good ask that we’ll answer!

Moving forward, all followers are required to go through the masterpost to submit a question so they are aware of the new rules, terms & conditions. 

Read the masterpost here and ask your question!

New Process

We're piloting out our own personal askbox via Google Forms. This will help us streamline the process and keep track of everyone’s questions.

We are also introducing the Deletion Log, a public, anonymous ledger that lets you know if your question (identified by a number code) has been deleted due to a rule violation, and what you can do to resubmit. Check out the Deletion Log here. 

Want to submit an ask? 

The below are topics of asks that we will get to right away, based on the mods who are currently active. 

Black 

Chinese

Colonialism

Iranian/Persian 

Japanese (INCLUDING: Anime fanfic questions! Only Mod Rina will be answering anime questions, and only if she feels that the ask would make for an educational post.)

Jewish

Mixed race

South Asian: Hindu, Indian, Punjabi, Sikh (please remember that when asking about South Asia you must indicate region & time period) 

Taiwanese 

Writing/Publishing industry 

Coming Soon: Writingwithcolor.org

We've made tremendous progress on writingwithcolor.org and are almost ready to show off the more permanent residence of WritingWithColor! However, it'll take a lot of time to fully transfer posts and links. To get the new look and all its benefits to you faster, we plan for a soft launch of the content. This will include back and forth linking between WritingWithColor.org and our home on Tumblr. We'll try to keep things seamless and your viewing experience on Tumblr shouldn't be too interrupted. Launch date is coming soon!

New Mod Applications

We still have some applications from our last call of mods and folks to respond to. So if you haven’t heard back, sorry for the delay, but no worries—we will get back to you as we start shaking the dust off our bones and getting back into Q&A. Once we are ready to invite more mods again, we'll continue our outreach.

A Special Thanks To You All

We want to thank you for your continued support, whether it’s been viewership, spreading the word about us, or sending us a tip that supports our domain and future projects for you all. The whole team really appreciates it. We will keep bringing you our best advice and guides on all things good writing with inclusivity. 

Be well and keep writing!

~WWC

[lifebypoetry]

Register Here ~ All Are Welcome!

During the Harvest Dinner, we will honor community leaders who live the values of ICPJ and work toward our collective vision. Please join us to honor Alex Thomas, Fed Up Ministries, Anna Lemler, Ann Arbor for Public Power, and the Graduate Employees’ Organization.

Together – with a clear vision toward racial and economic justice, working across generations, on a variety of issues, with multi-dimensional approaches – we are a strong collective voice for the just transformation that our communities and planet urgently need

#lifebypoetry #event

[lifebypoetry]

Going ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴀᴛ ғɪᴠᴇ 📢This Sunday, February 5 at 5 pm, there will be a Memphis Mama's Sunset Candlelight Vigil for Tyre Nichols and Rowvaughn Wells In solidarity, I will go ʟɪᴠᴇ at 5 pm to offer space to anyone who wants to be in community for a few minutes. ♡ Note. Seeing that it is Trayvon Martin's birthday, we will have a moment to remember Trayvon and his mother Sybrina Fulton. "All mothers were summoned when he called for his Mama." #tyrenichols #justicebloggers #dearmama #policebrutality #lynching #memphis #tennessee2michigan #itsmybirthday (at Planet Earth) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoKv_LOuW2d/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#tyrenichols #justicebloggers #dearmama #policebrutality #lynching #memphis #tennessee2michigan #itsmybirthday

[lifebypoetry]

"Somehow we've come to equate success with not needing anyone. Many of us are willing to extend a helping hand but we're very reluctant to reach out for help when we need it ourselves. It's as if we 've divided the world into "those who offer help" and "those who need help. " The truth is that we are both. ~Brene Brown Reposted from @wordables #success #trustorysuccess #people #community (at Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnNtUZTtYZI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#success #trustorysuccess #people #community

[lifebypoetry]

Currently in a Huddle with me and myself. (at Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmgvsECOD72dQIjFizSJckzQqIO18pfW9kXtB40/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lifebypoetry]

This fella came across my FB newsfeed. When I hear Eartha Kitt sing Santa Baby, THIS is who I'm envisioning. #ZaddyClaus https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmd_sQcumIUbdVGsr3M1XWVLOs5JqaAPdINX_A0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#zaddyclaus

[lifebypoetry]

Overcoming Mid-NaNoWriMo Stagnation

So, the 15th of November is approaching like a runaway train and you realize you've hit a block. For days you've been staring at the last sentence of your work in progress, wondering how you got here, what went wrong - where did your ideas and passion go? Don't worry, mid-NaNo fatigue is a phenomenon I'm familiar with, even if you won't find it mentioned in the average psychological journal. Of course, writer's block is a well-recognized problem and it's my humble opinion that the dead end most of us reach mid-NaNoWriMo is a supercharged version of that issue.

A heady mix of fatigue, stress, day-to-day life and the presence of a ticking clock combines with the fear of failure that most of us harbour when it comes to our dreams and aspirations is a creativity killer. I can't promise you a silver bullet, but when I run into a roadblock these steps usually get the creative juices flowing again!

Rest

Yes, yes, I know you're going to say that you're on a timer (you are) and that letting more time pass will stress you (understandable), but understand this; you aren't productive right now. The difference between sitting staring at a blank page, writing nothing and sitting on the couch watching a TV show with ice cream or taking a spa day and writing nothing is found solely in benefits to your state of mind.

You cannot pour from an empty bottle.

Rest can be productive when it allows you return to your best self. So take a few hours or a day to actually rest; watch TV shows that remind you of your project, play games, or read. Better yet, get out of the house - play the tourist in your home town. It might bring some ideas to the fore, but even if it doesn't you'll be able to come back to your computer tomorrow with a refreshed set of eyes and a little breathing space.

Look at Writing Prompts

Sometimes the problem is really a lack of ideas, and that's fine. When I find myself well and truly stumped, I often turn to writing prompts. Whether this leads to a few pieces of flash fiction, or I find a way to connect them to the project that's kicking my ass the process is helpful.

Why?

Because writer's block often leads to the fear that the ideas are gone forever, especially if it's prolonged. Being able to write anything at all takes some of that fear away and lets my mind ease back into what it's good at; making up little stories for fun. Read More

[lifebypoetry]

Healing with Poetry and Journaling

Join me next Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Ann Arbor District Library for a workshop and learn about various journaling techniques, how to mine journals for patterns, poems, and stories, and how to review poems for connection (as opposed to scholarly review), and engage in a couple of guided reflections.

All participants are allowed to bring a notebook or journal and something to write with. Materials will also be provided. 

For more information about this event visit https://aadl.org/node/609223

#healing #journaling #poetry #Ann Arbor #blackpoets #event

[lifebypoetry]

100 years ago: Young Langston Hughes publishes his first poem in 1921

Excerpt from his first published poem

"“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921): Written when he was 17 years old on a train to Mexico City to see his father, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” was Hughes’ first poem which received critical acclaim after it was published in the June 1921 issue of the NAACP magazine The Crisis." -From biography.com:

#poetry #black poets #writing

[lifebypoetry]

Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta are smiling and cheerful during their interview at Harlem Hospital on September 30, 1958, as King recovers from a near-fatal stabbing ten days earlier at a book signing in Harlem.

Photo: Al Pucci for the NY Daily News

[lifebypoetry]

Happy International Literacy Day!!

“Since 1967, International Literacy Day (ILD) celebrations have taken place annually around the world to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights, and to advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society.”- UNESCO

#LiteracyDay #international literacy day #lifebypoetry #books #learning

[lifebypoetry]

Remembering 9/11 with Poetry

Hear poetry and thoughts read by local writers in memory of the lives lost and forever changed on September 11, 2001, especially the seemingly forgotten black lives.

Poet and Journalist Leslie McGraw will be joined by local poets Desirae Simmons, Karis Barnett, and Detroit Author, Zig Zag Claybourne to hold a space for healing and connection at Booksweet Bookstore on Saturday, September 10th, 2022 at 2 pm.

McGraw released her second edition of Emergencies of the Heart on September 2, 2022. Every generation of Americans has at least one moment where young adults are faced with the worst and best of humanity on a larger scale. McGraw captures the feelings in those moments in her debut poetry collection, Emergencies of the Heart.

On the eve of the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, McGraw and friends offer a commemorative pause with poetry and prose readings to remember the nearly 3000 lives lost, with a special focus on the 267 Black Americans who lost their lives as part of the attacks. Refreshments and fellowship will begin at 2 pm, followed by a guided reflection at 2:15, in honor of the 215 Black Americans who lost their lives at the Twin Towers. This offering is a loving community remediation of the racialized erasure so often found in dominant national memorial narratives.

Each of the writers brings a different perspective. McGraw is a multi-genre writer and social media activist who deals with many issues around blackness, family, voting, loss, and healing. Simmons, of Ypsilanti, is a member of the local writing group, "Untold Stories of Liberation and Love” and co-director of Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ) and offers an intersectional justice lens to her writing. Claybourne has dedicated his career to ensuring black people are included in the Science Fiction and Futures narratives. Barnett, a poet and Chemistry Graduate Student at the University of Michigan was only two at the time of the attacks but was surprised at how many American “norms” like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are in place due to the attacks on September 11, 2001.

For more information on this event visit shopbooksweet.com/september-11-poetry-event/ or email [email protected].

#poetry #Booksweet Bookstore #poets #Patriot Day #life by poetry

[lifebypoetry]

Remembering 9-11 21 Years Later

Poet and journalist Leslie McGraw will release the second edition of her debut poetry collection, “Emergencies of the Heart”  on Friday, September 2, 2022. 

Every generation of Americans has at least one moment where young adults are faced with the worst and best of humanity on a national scale. McGraw captures the feelings in those moments in Emergencies of the Heart.

"In Emergencies of the Heart, poet Leslie McGraw transforms her grief, anger, and confusion over the 9/11 attacks into some measure of comfort, clarity, and grace, through poems that insist on the indomitability of the human spirit. A generosity of heart pervades these poems that urge us to connect—whether it be to the beloved, to family, or to the larger human community. Because ultimately, as McGraw’s poems attest, the only true response to the emergencies of the heart is love. A heartfelt, courageous debut." –Angela Narciso Torres, RHINO Poetry senior editor and author of What Happens is Neither and Blood Orange.

This special 21st-anniversary memorial edition includes some updates and new poems, as well as a timely foreword dedicated to the 267 Black Americans who were killed during the attacks at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The collection is available for pre-order now at www.blackmusepublishing.com

#new book #poet #author #poetry #Ann Arbor #Michigan #Michigan poet #writer #emergencies of the heart

[lifebypoetry]

RE:CLAIM is here

What is RE: CLAIM??

RE:CLAIM {Rooted Exhibition: Community~Love~Abundance~Intergenerational~Multiplicity} project is a collective of artists, advocates, and movement builders who seek to honor the complexity and diversity of the community impact of the criminal legal system as it affects youth, adults, and families. 

ICPJ {Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice} is hosting a community conversation called "What If We Were All Free" on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 5:30-8 pm. Leslie McGraw will be sharing some poetry during the event and helping with the planning. 

Visit bit.ly/reclaimwashtenaw for updates and RSVP at www.icjp.org

#poetry #lifebypoetry #community #washtenaw county #poet #event

[lifebypoetry]

Midterm Election

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." -James Baldwin

Midterm elections in the United States are the general elections that are held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term of office, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

With many things at stake--voting rights, reproductive rights, minimum wage, etc.-- it's time to make sure our voices are heard. 

Visit https://www.vote411.org/ to learn more on how to fight back this midterm and future elections

#michigan #elections #voting #reproductive rights #politics #poetry #poet #activist