Taking Stock, and Building a Snowball into the New Year

a lot of writing is about to happen

For the last long while, I have spent time working on building some momentum into the new year during the holidays. My hope always is that I build some kind of snowball that will roll through the new year with a fury. This year is no different.

While working on submissions late Christmas evening 2018, I found this exit document I had to create as a facet of my completion process for my MFA at Regis University last summer. I am tasked as an alum from my MFA program with speaking at the next cohorts' residency about post-MFA life. Over the last six months, I have been steamrolled with activity and accomplishments that I haven't been able to take time to account for until now. And finding this document from my MFA also allows me to take stock of what I have accomplished,and take note of what I would like to do and/or revise.

It's funny how quickly things happen and how quickly things change. Hopefully I will have more information for you soon, and in more frequent fashion than I have in the long last while. In any case I thought I'd post this document here to start. I plan to run through it with some updates as artifacts of note become available. I also plan to over the next month or so to go through each bit of this blog post and give updates on where I am now.

Ok, without further ado, here is my exit document to my MFA at Regis University for those who may be interested. Subsequent posts will further describe anything that at this point is fuzzy.

Beyond the MFA: a list of short-term and long-term writing goals

• What are your short-term (next year or two) and long-term (next decade or so) goals for your writing career?

* Short Term: My short term goal is simply to start sending out as much work as I can. I want to put myself on a regular submissions schedule, which doesn’t have to be anything more than a nice slow consistent two submissions a month. I say this because I will be working on other projects, working full time, and also creating new work.

* Long Term: I am trying to figure out if I need to look for an agent at this point. I also would like to find one agent who is willing to grow with me as I write in various genres, some of which are experimental, some of which might not be heavy hitters as far as sales. I also wonder if there is a special someone out there who can work with me via my other creative outlets as well, such as creating web/print projects, working in music, news, etc? I hope that it’s possible not to need someone different for each different thing.

I may teach. I am toying with the idea but I am not sure how serious I am. Something I think I would definitely enjoy is creating workshops and classes that can help me to travel either to conferences, or as a free agent. It seems that this is something that can be done.

Here is another long term goal: I want to publish Identity Polyptychs / A Glossary of Unfinished Terms as two books soon at one of my top publishers. I wonder if I should enter them into a contest. If the timing is not right for any of the contests, I plan on sending work out piece by piece. I also think that “How to Honor Your Mother and Your Father” can be a chapbook on its own. I will finish this poem in the short term and send it out to publishers/ contests.

• Do you plan to seek representation for, or publication of, your thesis manuscript? If so, what’s your plan for doing so?

I do indeed intend to seek publication, no matter what happens in terms of representation. My thesis work is a little experimental, and probably not something any of the Big 5 or even mid-list publishers will want to represent (but who knows, sky’s the limit said my Lyft driver today). Also, after hearing Eric Baus speak about his process of publishing, I have decided to try to publish as much of my manuscript as I can in journals and such, and then seek a publisher either via contests (as with Graywolf) or other forms of submissions. I plan on asking my mentors and other folks in the program for assistance on this.

• What is your next writing project? And once that next project is completed, what are your long-term writing projects?

• Sweet Fictions (poems): I have a good deal of poems for this collection already and intend to add more. I intend also to create a list of songs to sing with a good deal of these poems when they are performed. This is something that has worked well in the past with performances.

• I would like to create some additional sections to Identity Polyptychs as follow: “The Trouble in My Speech”, wherein I address broken analogies on the basis of their problematic origins, such as in the section when I compare racism to a cancer that needs to be cut out, which can be understood as ableist speech. I would also really like to try to get to the reconciliation I have been striving for. It may be that this is for another book, another time, when I am ready, if that ever happens (I mean...surely, yes? It’ll happen!)
  
• I want to write a collaborative book with my mother about her stories. I’ve been planting the seed, and have written a poem and gleaned another from talking with her, one of which is in Identity Polyptychs, the other of which was published a long time ago at Pirene’s Fountain (“Mermaid, 1969”).
  
• I need to write more short fiction so that there is enough to be compiled into a book, or two, or more. I think I also need to take more craft lessons/ courses in fiction so that I can gain more skills and knowledge towards this aim.
  
• I want to turn my critical essay into an academic book, and need to write a book proposal. I also need to find a publisher after the book proposal has been composed.

• What are your deadlines? How will you hold yourself accountable to them?
  

I would like to send out at least two submissions a month for a while. I have only ever done this for three or so months at a time. What this includes: contests, guest blogs, podcasts, news articles, book reviews, and anything else that has a date attached to it. When I think of deadlines, I think I get a little nervous. However, when I think of them in terms of submissions, it’s really not that big a task and becomes totally a little more feasible in my mind. I can either send things I have already created or “write towards the assignment.”

• How do you plan to reconfigure and maintain your writing practice (absent the pressure of MFA due dates and deadlines) in the face of the demands of your job or everyday life? What would you like your writing life to look like and how will you make that happen? (And whom can you ask for help in order to manifest this vision?)

Reconfigure/ recalibrate: A big part of reconfiguring and maintaining a writing practice, for me, means changing the mindset of working my writing/ creative life around my massage therapy work, and instead scheduling my creative life as if it’s just as much (if not more than) a priority as that bread and butter work. Part of this also means figuring out how I work best, like if I need three days off to take a day to do nothing, and then the next two days to write, stem, edit, research, etc., I need to make that a priority in my life and stick to it, just as I would any other job or self care necessity.

I think that it will be really beneficial to round up a group of folks in which we can coax one another to stay on task. I belong to a writing group, but this other group would probably be flexible and provide the support for anyone who wants it, possibly by setting up a sort of forum where people can connect for the purposes of having immediate community, access to writerly goings on, and possibly a reminder circle of some sort that helps people keep on top of submissions and generating new work.

• How do you plan on cultivating a writing community?

My writing group helps a bit with this because even if we are all so busy, living different kinds of lives and doing a lot of our own creative things in our communities, we are constantly encouraging one another and lighting fires under each others’ bums.

Literary Citizen also works towards this aim, actively reaching out to the kinds of folks in the writing world I want to work with and listen to and promote, etc. I am being held accountable to this project, because now there are other folks involved with it as well. My guilty conscious won’t let me walk away from it. Not until it’s at a point where I can pass it on to hopefully some super solid and like minded folks. That’s going to take some doing, some effort, some time.

I plan to be better at attending as many readings and events as I can. For me, this means also in the art, music, and performance worlds. There may be more literary/music/art events on my end, as well, both performed and curated. My general modus operandi is to be as inclusive as I can, including folks who have fallen off wayside, who have wonderful work they are sitting on or stuff that’s in their closets, etc. I want to coax them to let their work see the world, and also possibly either publish them or promote them in such a way that publishers interests are piqued.

I also want to find those things that are aiding in Literary Citizenship by helping other writers who may have become discouraged to become empowered in their work and inspired. One example of this is that this week, I learned about a side project Rachel Weaver is doing via Colorado Writing School, where folks can sign up to a matching service to try to find a fit for a writing group. This was something that I was trying to figure out for Literary Citizen, but since it’s a thing that already exists, I would love to send folks to her submission for the service and promote that.

All in all, I want to be as helpful as I can while maintaining personal boundaries so that I can also accomplish my own work because accomplishing my own work has become hella important.

It is also very important for me to do all of this with an open heart.

• And how can we help?

I just want to say that I feel so inspired already by the inspiration and belief in my ability and the coaching/help I have already received from so many folks in the program. I owe so many thank yous (!).

I’ve already received confirmation that Literary Citizen can work out an internship situation with Regis, either for credit for the undergraduates or pay when we are able to do that for the MFA candidates. This will be a great help because already, we are foreseeing a lot of work that will require delegation. Further, this is a way for us to continue in both of our mutual missions of connecting with community.

The feeling of connection is something that has become very important to me as well, and the Mile-High MFA really embodies this idea of community support and participation. I hope that in some way the work I am doing is a mirror, and also amplifies that cause.

• How and when do you plan on enacting your Writing in the World Action Plan or otherwise contributing your writing talents to your community?
  

I’ve already begun work on my Writing in the World Action Plan, and have already taken assignments in the community for book reviews, readings (curated and performed). Literary Citizen is also part of this work.

• An updated curriculum vitae (including “MFA in your genre(s), Regis University”).

*see attached.

• A thesis manuscript query letter/cover letter (that you can use when querying agents, editors, and/or publishers about your book manuscript).

*see below.

• Any lessons about writing you’ve learned that you’d like to share with us.

“Write Shit” ~Heidi Pitlor.

• What Kind of Job?

While a good deal of my writing life is spent at home, I would like it to in some way help me travel to other places, plane and hotel fares paid + meals and a stipend. :P Perhaps this is some magic I could work through Literary Citizen, and if nothing else, perhaps I could be a free agent!

Figuring out what kind of writing job I should do is something I have been struggling with for a very long while, or maybe I should say experimenting with. Writing related jobs seem super challenging. Freelancing is catch-as-can. I’ve had gigs and then they disappear, or even have been interviewed only to end up feeling like maybe the person who interviewed me was researching information. But. . . it seems that most if not all of us do quite a bit of piecemealing our worklife together, and maybe that’s part of what makes it interesting.

I AM in the process of trying to figure out how to make Literary Citizen into a business. This feels much more fun than some offers that are already starting to come in for applying for adjunct professorship. I also understand that adjuncting is a stepping stone. I have not ruled it out.

• Presses I am thinking about (willing to take more suggestions!)

Graywolf Press

Tinhouse

Ahsahta Press

Noemi Press

Yes Yes Books

Field Office

Tarpaulin Sky

Subito Press

Uttered Chaos Press (Laura Lehew)

WTAW Press

Les Figues

Pirene’s Fountain

• To Do List (not listed on our Graduate Portfolio list but I want to put them here anyway so I can remind myself that they are on my to do soon list):
  

• Make a list of people who will help sustain writing/ submission schedule.
  
• I am thinking of organizing a group of folks who can be a sort of telephone tree for one another. We can just lightly check in and remind each other what we’re about, etc.
  
• Make a list of folks who will promote work, come to readings, etc.
  
• Make a Local List
• Make a National List
• Make an International List
  
• Make a list of people you would really like to have in your literary circle and connect with them.
• YES!
  

Dear Matthew Dickman and Camille Dungy,

I have attached a copy of my manuscript Identity Polyptychs/ A Glossary of Unfinished Terms, as a submission to Tinhouse Press.

This hybrid work explores identity through the process of moving towards reconciliation in regards to familial strife and estrangement. It also questions race from a place of in-betweenness and unknowing, carrying forward via performative action by acquiring the language and understanding needed to define and reclaim selfhood.

I have recently completed an MFA in poetry and fiction from the Mile-High MFA at Regis University. I have published work at Pirene’s Fountain, The Colorado Independent, Denver Crossroads and elsewhere. I have three reviews coming soon from Full Stop|Reviews. Interviews. Marginalia, and I am currently establishing a web and print project called Literary Citizen: Writers Shaping Culture which will feature writers, editors, publications, venues and more who are working towards positive change on many fronts.

I feel that you make beautiful books, and I would be ecstatic if my work was published by your press. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Best,

Tameca L Coleman

U.S. Marines position tanks and military equipment in classified caves in Norway

The U.S. Marines are strategically placing tanks and military equipment inside classified Norwegian caves in efforts to support any possibility of crisis at the NATO-Russian border.

Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images

The preplacement of tanks, artillery and logistics equipment comes during renewed tensions between NATO and Russia. In a statement delivered on Friday, Col. William Bentley, operations officer for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade said: "Any gear that is forward-deployed both reduces cost and speeds up our ability to support operations in crisis, so we're able to fall in on gear that is ready-to-go and respond to whatever that crisis may be."

CNN reports Feb. 18 that the NATO-Russian border was heavily militarized during the Cold War. Continuing those efforts, Russian president Vladimir Putinis flexing his military muscle, creating three new divisions in the western border alone, and making five nuclear missile regimens ready for battle within the year.

The U.S. began stocking the climate controlled caves in 1981 during the Cold War. The stock was primarily meant to help NATO defend against the Soviet Union. When the Cold War ended, the U.S. reevaluated whether it was necessary to maintain those facilities, but the Norwegian government took on the costs of maintaining them in the 1990s.

There is enough equipment in these caves to support 15,000 Marines. And the equipment has not been sitting their latent. The equipment was reportedly used to aid in operations in Iraq.

Because of renewed tensions at the NATO-Russian border, the caves are again a strategic asset. "Now that we have a very new security context with Russia, it now makes sense to rethink what is needed," Heather Conley, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Europe Program told CNN.

More than 16,000 troops are training this month along with NATO allies and partners, using equipment from the classified caves. The development of military capabilities “in a challenging environment” is the goal. The exercise is called “Cold Response 16” and will ensure confidence that NATO and its participating allies will be able to defend the border.

More military equipment is on the way, with six F-15s due to arrive in Finland in time for the spring exercises. The exercises will occur about 100 miles away from the Russian border.

The Department of Defense is spending $3.4 billion in efforts to prevent Russia’s pending violence against NATO and its allies in the European Reassurance Initiative. In the initiative, military equipment will be stationed in the Baltic Seas, Poland and Central Europe. "We have to look at Northern Europe, the Northern Atlantic, the Baltics and Eastern Europe as one theater of operations," states Conley. She further states that military exercises are becoming critical.

Russia’s Northern Fleet recently conducted military drills involving 38,000 troops. Their drills were unannounced.

* originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com

Animals have the ability to think and empathize with others

Recent studies and observations show that empathy, an ability that many think only humans capable, is a trait that other animals also exhibit.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

While in the past, such observations have been deemed controversial, more studies have been coming to the fore rendering humans’ former beliefs that animals are nothing more than “mindless automata” questionable. Researchers have been pairing science alongside philosophical queries concerning animal subjectivity and they are finding that their observations are not solely the product of anthropomorphizing projections.

For example, Dr. Larry Young, a researcher at Emory University witnessed what looks like consoling behavior in prairie voles, reports The Atlantic, Jan. 21. In an experiment where two voles were placed in separate cages, one received a small electric shock and then, when it was reunited with its mate, received ten minutes worth of licking and grooming that seemed to calm it down.

Researchers found that voles witnessing the distress of their cohorts take on the behavior exhibited by their stressed companions. For example, a vole not receiving the shock would continuously groom itself and freeze whenever it heard a tone that heralded an impending shock. Those same voles exhibited higher stress hormone levels when tested even though they had not been shocked. Then, when reunited with their companions, they would groom distressed animals.

Voles are not alone in their show of concern and feeling for one another. Elephants conduct funerary rituals over their dead cohorts, burying deceased elephants with leaves and grass and then holding week long vigils. The recognition of their loss does not end there. Elephants visit the bones of those who passed for many years after burying them.

Rats have been shown to exhibit empathy for their cohorts, freeing trapped rats before pursuing any personal rewards. Dolphins have been shown to not only exhibit love and empathy for their own kind, but for other animals and humans, as well. Many animals have exhibited metacognition and still others such as chickens, and cows have been shown to have emotions.

According to an article published in July by National Geographic, animals think and feel. They have consciousness. Environmental writer Carl Safina recently wrote about animal consciousness in his book Beyond Words: How Animals Think and Feel and explains why it’s important to acknowledge animal consciousness. He also explains how neurological science will most likely make humans’ former belief that animals are incapable of such abilities as love and empathy obsolete.

*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com

Five planets will align in rare celestial spectacle

Starting Jan. 20, five planets will line up single file in the predawn skies.

Five planets will align in a rare celestial show that hasn’t been seen in more than a decade. The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will line up single file in the predawn sky starting Jan. 20 and will be visible to the naked eye.

The line of planets can be seen around the world until Feb. 20. It is best viewed one to one-and-half-hours before sunrise, reports Accuweather Jan. 19.

If stargazers attempt to view the line of planets just before dawn, they may find that it has not completely risen. After dawn, the line of planets will begin to disappear as its visibility in Earth’s skies will be cancelled out by sunlight.

Venus will be the brightest planet in the sky and can assist viewers in finding the rest of the planets. Mercury, Venus and Saturn will be low over the southeastern horizon (in that order) while Mars and Jupiter will reach across the sky into the southwest. Jupiter, which ends the line, will be the second brightest visible planet. Mars may be hard to see low on the horizon, but its faint red color will differentiate it from surrounding stars.

Viewers will be able to differentiate the planets from stars because starlight twinkles and the light reflected from planets is more of a steady glow.

The last time five planets have glowed like this in a singular line was between Dec. 15, 2004 to Jan. 15, 2005.

Another celestial treat visible via telescope or binoculars in predawn skies is Comet Catalina. The two-tailed comet is passing by Venus. According to Space.com, the comet probably hails from the Oort cloud. The comet is on its way from circling the sun and will continue its journey into the outer Solar System. Comet Catalina was closest to the Earth on Jan. 17.

*originally published at the now defunct Examiner.com

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil Rights activist and minister Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was integral to the Civil Rights Movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. His work led to the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a document that put an end to legalized segregation and banned workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Dr. King’s activism was led by the nonviolent philosophies of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the leading voice inIndia’s independence movement which began in 1857 and ended in 1947. Both leaders taught that a strong body of individuals brought together in solidarity can create long-lasting change for the betterment of everyone.

Gandhi led nonviolent protests which included week-long fasts and marches to protest everything from British occupation to caste separation. Similarly, Dr. King led boycotts, committees and campaigns to end social injustices, marches and other peaceful demonstrations and protests.

Though members of Congress proposed a legislated holiday for the fallen leader directly after Dr. King’s assassination, it wasn’t until 15 years after his death that the day became a national holiday. Many advocates were on board, including Stevie Wonder who wrote a song honoring Dr. King called “Happy Birthday.” According to Time Magazine, the song was meant to “make a case for the holiday,” and point out anyone who was opposed to the idea.

Finally, in 1983, despite then-president Ronald Reagan’s reluctance to pass the bill, he conceded. Dr. King’s birthday became a national holiday. This was an honor that up until that time had only been given to George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

To learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and words, check out Martin Luther King Jr. Online, The King Center, The King Institute, or any number of archival websites compiling Dr. King’s work.

*originally published at the now defunct Examiner.com

David Bowie never limited himself to any one art form

The world was rocked when news of David Bowie’s death hit Jan. 10. The British singer and multi-instrumentalist had a long career in music which ended with one last album, a carefully planned farewell to his fans called “Blackstar.”

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

While most fans know Bowie because of his musical career which spanned more than fifty years, some may be surprised to learn that he wasn’t just a musical artist. He was also a big art collector, a voracious reader, a visual artist and writer. He was a creative who supported many other facets of the arts just as much as he was influenced by them.

“Bowie was curious about everything in the world, whether it had to do with gender issues, jazz, movement—he understood the symbolic significance of any gesture or thought form. He was able to use it as food for his own art,” wrote avant garde pianist Matthew Shipp in an exclusive email exchange with Examiner.com. “Bowie was a great model for all artistsof any genre because he utilized the symbolic nature of everything. He was also fearless in his ability to explore the many aspects of his many selves.”

One of Bowie’s many talents included painting. He had started painting as a practice in 1976 to help distract him from depression and the stressors of the the music business. He returned full-fledged to music and picked up visual art again in the 1990s, reports the New York Times Jan. 14

During that time, Bowie joined the board of the British magazine Modern Painters and personally interviewed many contemporary artists of note including: Balthus, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel. During his stint with the magazine, he also created a lot of work of his own. He was prolific, creating hundreds of pieces of art using paint, chalk, charcoal and other mediums.

According to the Independent, Bowie even helped create a fictitious artist named Nat Tate, a man who was a supposed Abstract Expressionist who destroyed 99 percent of his work and killed himself by jumping off the Staten Island ferry. Tate’s story was told in a book written by William Boyd, a best-selling UK writer who was integral in the creation of the hoax. The book was published with a publishing venture that Bowie created called “21.”

David Bowie never stopped creating, not even during his seeming retirement from celebrity in 2004. He continued painting, designing, and exploring new expressions of art while intermittently contributing more music to his canon.

*originally published at the now defunct Examiner.com

First Black Female-owned comics shop on the East Coast opens in Philly

Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse is Philadelphia's first Black Female-owned comic book store. In fact, the comics and coffee shop is the first Black Female-owned comic book store on the East Coast, reports Fabulize Magazine Jan. 2.

Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse / Facebook

Amalgam Comics owner Arielle R. Johnson said that the idea was brewing for 12 years. “My favorite coffee shop was directly across the street from my comic book store of choice. So, each Friday, I would buy my books at Fat Jack's, go across the street to Crimson Moon, and read everything I bought,” she said. "When the coffee shop closed its doors, I was devastated. That's when the idea came to me."

Amalgam Comics aims to promote diversity and community with events, workshops, movie, TV screenings, book signings and BYOG (Bring Your Own Game) nights. In a recent interview, she noted that when she was developing the idea for Amalgam, she really yearned for a place where people could not only buy their comics, but sit and read them, and even have conversations with others about their love for the medium. “I thought that a space like that would be conducive to some fun conversations, and who doesn't love that?”

Along with today’s mainstay titles in comics, the store will showcase comics from indie and marginalized communities not often represented in the world of comics.

We think that comics are for everyone and anyone that loves comics-women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. We will actively look to stock titles that showcase people in these groups, right along with Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Thor.

Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse opened its doors on Dec. 14. The shop has received much community support. From the spaciousness of the shop to the knowledge and friendliness of the staff, reviewers only have good things to say.

*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com