To an outsider, Key West looks like postcard paradise: crystal-white beaches, palm trees, sunshine, pastel-painted bed and breakfasts, and a thriving LGBTQ community.
“But writing helps untangle the different threads in the web of relationships: with my family of origin, with the language and literature, with a certain way of seeing the world.”
“For me, an aubade, as a form, gives permission to write tenderly and romantically about people and places that were not always perfect, but sometimes felt as though they were—things we have moved on from, but remember with love.”
“Bordered by brambles and scrub, fireflies hovered there every June, and no matter what life brought, walking through the meadow never failed to soothe me.”
Giving a reading can be incredibly daunting, especially if you’re not a fan of public speaking, which most people aren’t. But your work deserves to be heard, and you can give an amazing reading, even if you’ve never done one before.
“One of my goals as the Classroom Ambassador is to be a resource for new writers who are entering the world of fiction and publication. I want to be an advocate for their stories to be heard.”
“I was stuck on the image of a sunflower, stuck on the Spanish word for it, and questioning what it meant for me to constantly be looking at the good or the light in my life.”
“I am also influenced by the idea that worlds on screen, and in commercials in particular, seep into our consciousness and the very fabric of our thought processes.”
“It was only after I was able to look at this story as if it was about a fictional character that I think I made the connections and patterns that brought it to life.”
“For this poem, I was thinking about the apps, but I was also thinking about the game you play when you are dating, the one where you pretend to be disinterestedly interested.”
“I’m interested in cultural and aesthetic dimensions of human relationships with other animals, so naturally this “puffin problem” was a topic that spoke to me.”
