Arts Calling Podcast: Recent Episodes
cruzfolio.com
Arts Calling is a podcast to celebrate creatives across disciplines and cultural backgrounds, but also a case for the arts as the gateway to empathy, healthy lives, and strong communities.
Writer Jaime Alejandro catches up with friends and artists in the written, visual, and performing arts to hear their origin story, how to overcome real-world hardships, and why it is essential to remain true to an artistic calling. We hope you join us in this celebration of the creative pursuit! Check out cruzfolio.com for more creativity podcasts and original content!
Weekly Shoutout: Listen to SPACEWALKERS FFEEATCOPO this instant!
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling poet MJ Gomez!
About our guest: MJ Gomez is the author of Love Letters from a Burning Planet (Variant Literature, 2023). His poems are featured in Surging Tide, the Dawn Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, the Selkie, and others. You can find him on Twitter @bluejayverses
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, MJ! All the best!
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LOVE LETTERS FROM A BURNING PLANET, now available from Variant Lit!
https://variantlit.com/product/love-letters/
PRAISE FOR LOVE LETTERS FROM A BURNING PLANET:
In his scintillating debut, MJ Gomez weighs love against grief, grief against god, and asks: which governs what? Replete with sensuous pauses and lush imagery, Love Letters _unravels pointedly and fearlessly, the way you would at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday, wine-drunk and unable to shake the rumor of a world you once built for someone.—Letitia Jiju, poet and editor for _Psaltery & Lyre
From its initial holy invocation of the poet’s name through the course of its burning and urgent trajectory, Love Letters from a Burning Planet sees MJ Gomez detail the intricate inner workings of a “palace of flame” in what can only be described as a triumphant debut. Poignant and deliberate at every turn, Gomez circles the body in an act of poetic ceremony, executed with heart-rending care. At its core, Love Letters reminds us: “[the] truth is we are all immortal except for our bodies.”—NAT RAUM, author of the abyss is staring back
MJ Gomez’s love letters from a burning planet crackles with language that sings and singes. “What should become of Man?” Gomez asks, and through self-portraits and studies, love letters and invocations, deftly answers: “a man is a song.” This is a radiant collection of poems that orbits devotion in all its pleasures and pains. Here are poems that bend light to make music. Here is a voice unafraid to speak in a world aflame.—Sarah Ghazal Ali, author of Theophanies
Electric, grand, and merciful. With blunt precision, Love Letters from a Burning Planet by MJ Gomez interrogates our human devotions to each other, and to the world. His debut reckons with the expanse of passion, of intimacy, and of love: “Magic doesn’t need to be real. / This body is enough, I swear.” Every poem brings new landscapes of memory to contend with these facts, overflowing with the worldly case of our own dissatisfactions and hopeless desires. Every poem traverses faith: religious, interpersonal, and individual. Gomez writes a universe beautiful and so, so human. “I send to you a flame / like a bullet / repenting.”—Daniel Liu, author of COMRADE
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).
HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: Friend of the show Alvaro Saar Rios on The Scene Podcast, give it a listen!
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling author Effy Redman! (www.effyredman.com)
About our guest: Effy Redman's writing investigates the intersection of disability and identity. She has work published in The New York Times, Vice, Ravishly, Chronogram, Berkeley Poetry Review, and Iron Horse Literary Review, among other places. She holds an MFA in Memoir from CUNY: Hunter College, where she received an Honorable Mention for the Helen Gray Cone Fellowship, and a BA in Literature/Drama from Bennington College, where she was an Ellen Knowles Harcourt Scholar and a Bennington Scholar. effyredman.com.
Twitter: @effyredmanFacebook: Effy RedmanInstagram: @effyredman38
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Effy! All the best!
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SAVING FACE, now available from Vine Leaves Press!
https://www.vineleavespress.com/saving-face-by-effy-redman.html
ABOUT SAVING FACE:What's in a smile? Or the absent smile? Saving Face is Effy Redman's thought-provoking answer.Born with a rare condition of facial paralysis called Moebius Syndrome, Redman's grit and eye for beauty help her survive childhood bullying and adolescent doldrums. Her physical transformation at age thirteen via plastic surgery eviscerates her concept of image, just in time for her and her family to immigrate from hardscrabble Manchester, England to America's disorientingly scenic upstate New York. Not until diagnosis in young adulthood with bipolar disorder does Redman come out of the closet as a lesbian, finally claiming her most inherent identity. Saving Face is a searing personal tribute to anybody who has ever felt like an outsider. This memoir honors the grace of a face that stands out in a crowd, defying societal beauty norms. Disability meets transcendence, suffering becomes hope, and the individual expands into community. The inability to smile, in Redman’s book, lights a window onto the human capacity for redemption.
★★★★★ “This author goes where no other might dare.” Catherine Filloux, award-winning playwright
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).
HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: Cruznotes is back! One email a month to bring you everything happening across the cruzfolio network, join Jaime's newsletter here: cruzfolio.com/cruznotes.
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling author Paul Cody! (paulcodywriter.com)
About our guest: Paul Cody was born in Newton, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School and from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, magna cum laude, With Distinction in English, and Senior Honors in Creative Writing. He worked at the Perkins School for the Blind for three years, and earned an M.F.A. from Cornell University, where he was twice co-winner of the Arthur Lynn Prize in Fiction. He has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Saltonstall Foundation, and was awarded a Stegner Fellowship by Stanford University (declined). He has worked as a housepainter, teacher, editor and journalist, was associate editor and staff writer at Cornell Magazine, where he twice won CASE awards for articles; and has taught at Cornell, Ithaca College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the Colgate Writing Seminars, and in Auburn Prison. His published novels include The Stolen Child (Baskerville, 1995), Eyes Like Mine (Baskerville, 1996), So Far Gone (Picador USA, 1998), Shooting the Heart (Viking, 2004), Love Is Both Wave and Particle (Roaring Brook, 2017), Sphyxia (Fomite, 2020) as well as a memoir, The Last Next Time (Irving Place Editions, 2013). His work has appeared in various periodicals, including Harper’s, Epoch, The Quarterly, Story, the Boston Globe Magazine, and Cornell Magazine, and he has appeared on Voice of America as a Critic’s Choice. He lives with his wife in Ithaca, New York.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Paul! All the best!
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WALK THE DARK available May 27th from Regal House Publishing!
https://regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/walk-the-dark
ABOUT WALK THE DARK: Oliver Curtin grows up in a nocturnal world with a mother who is a sex worker and drug addict, and whose love is real yet increasingly unreliable. His narration alternates between that troubled childhood and the present of the novel, where he is serving the last months of a thirty-years-to-life sentence in a maximum-security prison in upstate New York for a crime he committed at age seventeen. His hope for redemption is closely allied with his memories, seen with growing clarity and courage. If he can remember, then life in the larger world might be possible for him.
Praise for Walk the Dark
"Paul Cody’s Walk the Dark is creepily beautiful, full of stillness and darkness. Cody takes us into places we don’t know and shows us strange states of mind that feel absolutely true. It’s both soothing and terrifying being in Oliver’s mind, because he sees such beauty but also feels forever separated from it. For decades now I’ve seen Paul Cody’s work as the ultimate cross between horror and literary fiction, taking us deeper into the weird American night than anyone in either camp. Walk the Dark is a continuation of that same world we know from Cody’s The Stolen Child and So Far Gone, both of which are great, terrifying novels." - Stewart O’Nan, author of Last Night at the Lobster, Emily, Alone; and Wish You Were Here
"Walk the Dark is harrowing and vivid, taut as a wire. Paul Cody intertwines terror and hope; he knows how to hook his readers from the start -- and on every page. Keep the lights burning when you open this spell-binding book." - Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).
HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: Cruznotes is back! One email a month to bring you everything happening across the cruzfolio network, join Jaime's newsletter here: cruzfolio.com/cruznotes.
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling author David Winner! (david-winner.com)
About our guest: David Winner is the author of three novels, Enemy Combatant, Tyler’s Last and The Cannibal of Guadalajara, winner of the 2009 Gival Press Novel Award and nominated for the National Book Award. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, Fiction, The Iowa Review, The Millions, The Kenyon Review and other publications in the U.S. and the U.K. He is the fiction editor of The American (www.theamericanmag. com), a monthly magazine based in Rome, a senior editor at Statorec magazine and a regular contributor to The Brooklyn Rail. Most recently, he is the co-editor of Writing the Virus: Work from Statorec magazine. Learn more at david-winner.com
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, David! All the best!
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MASTER LOVERS is now available from Outpost 19!
https://bookshop.org/p/books/master-lovers-david-winner/20232214?ean=9781944853884
ABOUT MASTER LOVERS: While clearing out his great aunt's midtown apartment after her death, author David Winner discovered artifacts of her storied existence: notes from opera stars, love letters and artifacts from the Middle East of the 1930’s. His Aunt Dorle Soria had been a co-founder of Angel Records and a prominent figure in the mid-century classical music world. But the more he learned about her world, the more complicated her story became, a twisted puzzle full of love and fascism, a record of a young woman grappling with her attraction to lovers with hair-raising political ties. A powerful work of family discovery, rooted in a bygone Midtown Manhattan and involving artists and politicians from around the world.
BOOKLIFE *STARRED REVIEW!*"An engrossing story about the life and times of a singular woman who lived life to the fullest... A fascinating 'fictional memoir' memoir of a trailblazing great aunt and her mysteries."
KIRKUS RAVES! "A fascinating blend of the personal and the historical, and a provocative comment on the ways in which both resist interpretive finality."
Full reviews and advance praise from Ann Beattie, Clifford Thompson and Sean O'Driscoll.
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).
HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout:Cruznotes is back! One email a month to bring you everything happening across the cruzfolio network, join Jaime's secret newsletter here: cruzfolio.com/cruznotes.
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling author Lee Upton! (www.leeupton.com)
About our guest: Lee Upton’s comic novel Tabitha, Get Up is forthcoming in May 2024. Another novel, a literary mystery, will be out in May 2025. Her books include her seventh collection of poetry, The Day Every Day Is (Saturnalia Books 2023), two short story collections, a novella, four books of literary criticism, and an essay collection. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and Southern Review, as well as three editions of Best American Poetry. She is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the National Poetry Series Award, Poetry Society of America awards, the Miami University Novella Prize, the Open Book Award, the Saturnalia Book Prize, and other honors. www.leeupton.com
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Lee! All the best!
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TABITHA, GET UP is forthcoming May 22nd, 2024 from Sagging Meniscus Press, is now available for pre-order: https://bookshop.org/p/books/tabitha-get-up-lee-upton/21257767
ABOUT TABITHA, GET UP: Tabitha is a lonely fifty-year-old biographer who, in order to restore her self-respect and pay her rent, attempts to write two biographies simultaneously: one about an actor so famous his face is on the side of buses, and the other about a popular writer of children’s books recently outed as an author of erotic fiction. Is Tabitha ready to deal with interviewing an actor so handsome and charismatic she thinks he should be bottled and sprayed on belligerent people as a form of crowd control? Can she form a genuine friendship with a cult novelist who pressures her to compromise her values? While facing these and other challenges, Tabitha is bedeviled by memories of her long-ago divorce and the terrible wedding when, accidentally bumped on a balcony, she shot off into the shrubbery. Is it true, she wonders, that there’s probably a dead body beneath the floating rot of any marriage? When surrounded by pretentious beautiful people does it help to imagine their intestines are full of worms? Are champagne bubbles the devil’s air pockets? Is it ever too late to change your life—from the bottom up?
NOTICES:“For starters, Lee Upton’s novel Tabitha, Get Up is funny—really, really funny. On top of that, narrator Tabitha’s clumsy, desperate, charming search for human connection—not to mention a paying gig—is also a serious look at whether it’s possible to bluff and hustle a life together. You’re going to love this book.”—David Ebenbach, author of The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy
“Tabitha, Get Up is another remarkable book by the irrepressible Lee Upton, a novel that might remind you of the work of some of our finest living comic novelists—Elizabeth McCracken, Jincy Willett, Elizabeth McKenzie—but in the end is a book only Upton herself could have written. Its protagonist, Tabitha, is a glorious piece of work: a biographer with a feverish mind and a long list of antagonists and an indomitable spirit and an unforgettable voice and major money problems. I wouldn’t want anyone to live her life, but I very much want everyone to read her book. It’s Lee Upton’s best, funniest, and most ingenious work of fiction yet. Which is to say, it’s the best, funniest, most ingenious work of fiction you’ll read this year, and most other years, too.” —Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe? and I, Grape
“There is no form of the novel. The novel has no form. The novel takes no form. The novel takes forms. It is a voracious form, the novel. Tabitha, Get Up, Lee Upton’s comely new novel, presents as a series of exquisite “Notes,” and thus a “Notebook,” a book of Notes, to self, to random others, to you who finds them. A compendium of memorandums makes up the meat of the matter, a tender texture to the text, marginalia that has been turned outside in, has migrated edgily into the heart of the heart. Formally the form is perfectly organic to this novel new novel, parts being greater than the sum of the whole, this map more detailed than the thing it represents, this round-up of resuscitation, reconstitution, and reply. Riding herd, Upton wrangles a novel that writes itself and rights itself. —Michael Martone, author of Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana
“Tabitha lives! In Tabitha, Get Up, Lee Upton has created an ebullient, witty, slightly nutty, and totally lovable character whose distinctive voice will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. Smart, funny, crazy in the best sense, and a total joy!” —Iris Smyles, author of Droll TalesArts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).
HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN. MUCH LOVE,j
Weekly Shoutout: cruzfolio.com/now!
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling writer and editor C.M. Crockford! (www.cmcrockford.net)
About our guest: C.M. Crockford is the author of the full-length collection Birdsongs (Alien Buddha Press, 2024) as well as two chapbooks, Mark The Place (Thirty West Publishing, 2020) and Adore (Iron Lung Press, 2018). His essays, poetry, and fiction have been featured in The Cleveland Review of Books, Abducted Cow Magazine, CineSPEAK Journal, Vastarien, Serotonin Poetry, and Vast Chasm Magazine among many others. He also co-hosted The Barn: A Podcast About The Shield alongside Mason Maguire. Otherwise, Crockford reads crime fiction, collects punk badges and stim toys, and lives in Philadelphia with his cat Wally.
Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/cm_crockford/
https://twitter.com/cm_crockford
BIRDSONGS, now available from Alien Buddha Press: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CV5X9RCB/
ABOUT BIRDSONGS:"Birdsongs: Poems 2020-2023" by C.M. Crockford is a mesmerizing collection that transcends the boundaries of language to immerse readers in a kaleidoscope of emotions. Crockford's evocative verses paint vibrant landscapes where desire, resilience, and nostalgia take flight like free-spirited birds. From the raw intensity of "Animal" to the reflective echoes of "Winter's Visit," this book invites you on a poetic journey through the intricate melodies of life. With each poem, Crockford unveils a world where nature, love, and societal reflections blend seamlessly, creating a symphony of words that resonate long after the final verse. "Birdsongs" is an enchanting testament to the power of poetry, capturing the essence of existence with a grace that is both timeless and profoundly relevant.
In Birdsongs, C.M. Crockford gives us poems that take flight—but expect turbulence. This collection soars through sweaty basements, punk bars, and the harsh realities of contemporary life. With accessible language and animalistic passion, readers will find that these poems “hum hungry energy” and trill with biting candor.
—Adam Gianforcaro, author of Every Living Day (Thirty West Publishing House, 2023)
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, C.M.! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: My Bad Poetry Podcast!
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Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Court Ludwick! (www.courtlud.com).
About our guest:Court Ludwick is the author of These Strange Bodies (ELJ Editions, 2024) and the founding editor-in-chief of Broken Antler Magazine. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, and can be found in Denver Quarterly, Stonecoast Review, Necessary Fiction, Oxford Magazine, Full House Literary, West Trade Review, and elsewhere. Court’s art has shown at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, and she has visual work forthcoming in Zaum Magazine, Bleating Thing Magazine, and body fluids. She is the recipient of a 2024 Sioux Falls Arts Council Artist Grant, and she has taught workshops on hybrid writing and experimental form, most recently for The Dakota Writing Project and Vermillion Literacy Project. Court has an MA from Texas Tech University and is a current PhD student at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches literature and composition. Find Court on socials @courtludwick. Find more of Court’s writing and art on www.courtlud.com.
Socials:https://www.instagram.com/courtludwick
https://twitter.com/courtludwick
https://www.brokenantlermag.com
THESE STRANGE BODIES, A memoir-in-fragments, is forthcoming from ELJ Editions in September 2024: https://elj-editions.com/these-strange-bodies
About THESE STRANGE BODIES:Court Ludwick’s These Strange Bodies is an intimate account of two tumultuous years and a clarifying dissection of how the female body exists in public and social spaces that are rooted in gendered and sexual violence. Composed of essays, prose poems, and the occasional experiment, this memoir-in-fragments navigates sexual assault, a mother’s arrest, a panic disorder diagnosis, a breakup, a stream of new lovers, a flirtation with stimulant drugs, and the ups and downs of trying to let it all go. As the collection grapples with memory’s fragmentary nature, past and present collide on the page. And as Ludwick charts the difficulty of filling in the gaps, threads blending cultural critique, human anatomy, poetry, and personal narrative expose the strange acts historically forced on bodies, the estrangement one can experience from their body, and the strangeness that is felt when trying to find a way through all this chaos, through all this strange.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Court! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: Maria C. Palmer Arts Calling Episode 109!
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling co-authors Maria C. Palmer & Ruthie Robbins!
About our guests:
Maria Costanzo Palmer is an author and grant writer. Growing up as the oldest child of an award-winning restaurateur, Maria unexpectedly became a daughter of the incarcerated. This experience ignited an interest in working for Get on the Bus, a nonprofit dedicated to uniting children with their incarcerated parents. A former host on L.A. Talk Radio, Maria was recently featured on Food and Beverage Magazine Live and has made a number of media appearances. You can find Maria on FB and IG @joecostanzoprimadonna and on Twitter @mariacpalmer. For more information, visit www.mariacpalmer.com.
Ruthie Robbins is an award-winning educator who worked for the Montour School District in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA, and for Johns Hopkins University Talent Development Secondary. Ruthie grew up in "The Rocks" but now teaches English Language Arts and music in Buffalo, New York. Best known as co-creator of a popular interdisciplinary unit for Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, Ruthie is currently working on other books and is preparing to launch The Writing Factory Online, a comprehensive writing program for middle schools.
On the Rocks, now available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C678ZVSV
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mariacpalmer
Maria and Ruthie: Thanks for this wonderful conversation! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent.
Much love,
j
Weekly Shoutout: Arcade Bookshop Podcast!
What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message!
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling author and coach Heather G. Marshall! (heathergmarshall.com)
About our Guest:Heather G. Marshall is an adoptee, author, speaker, teacher, coach, and traveler. Her short fiction has been published in a variety of journals, including Black Middens: New Writing Scotland, and Quarried, an anthology of the best of three decades of Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel. Her first novel, The Thorn Tree, released in 2014 (MP Publishing). Her TED talk, “Letting Go of Expectations,” centers around her adoption and reunion. Originally from Scotland, Heather is currently based in Massachusetts. heathergmarshall.com
WHEN THE OCEAN FLIES, now available from Vine Leaves Press!https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-the-ocean-flies-heather-g-marshall/20885419
About WHEN THE OCEAN FLIES:An email from a stranger tells Alison Earley that her natural father, whom she has known for only six years, has died suddenly. What begins as a short trip back to Scotland for a funeral soon becomes a journey that puts adoption, sexuality, and identity on a collision course as Alison finds herself caught between the life and family she has so carefully constructed on one continent and the family from which she was taken on another. Shunned by her father's family, reunited with her natural mother, and reconnected with a long-lost love, Alison finds herself trying to shepherd her youngest child towards college while questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. When her natural mother uncovers a series of letters written to Alison from the grandmother she never knew, resurrecting the stories of generations of women-stories long buried by patriarchal rule-Alison realizes that she must find the courage to face and reveal the secrets of her own past. At what cost, though? And who and what will be left in the aftermath?When the Ocean Flies explores the pain of separation and abuse, and the power of love to heal even over huge gaps in time and geographical distance.
Letting Go of Expectations, Heather's Ted Talk, now available here:https://heathergmarshall.com/books-and-writing/letting-go-of-expectations/
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Heather! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Arcade Bookshop Podcast!
What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message!
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling singer/songwriter Sam Chue! washingtonesrecords.com
About our Guest: Sam Chue, local outsider singer-songwriter plays a mix of his newest songs and a few tunes from the past. He has been playing original music in Bellingham and out of his car throughout the i-90 corridor since 2007 and he brings a refreshing spin to the folk genre.
Naegle Fowleri (IG @naeglefowleri) is the bassist and sometimes singer of the virtual band, howling brave. Listen to the episode to learn more about this mystery.
Washingtones Records is a Bellingham, Washington-based independent record label that goes the extra mile to empower artists that deserve a bigger audience. Sam Chue and Tim Mechling started Washingtones out of necessity. After a few releases of their own, they discovered a serious and surprising lack of music reviews, features, representation and media for independent artists. We’re dedicated to bringing physical and digital media to the northwest of the northwest. Independent music deserves your undivided attention. We always fight for the underdog.
Instagram: @washingtonesrecords | Facebook: @washingtonesrecords | YouTube: @WashingtonesRecords | TikTok @washingtonesrecords
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Sam! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: 2024 Jaime Updates!
What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message!
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling author Tyler C. Gore! https://tylergore.com
About our Guest: Tyler C. Gore is the author of My Life of Crime: Essays and Other Entertainments, shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize. My Life of Crime was also a First Horizon Award Finalist, and appeared in the Independent Book Review’s list of “Impressive Indie Books of 2022.” Tyler has been cited five times as a Notable Essayist by The Best American Essays annual anthology and is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship for Creative Writing. For many years, he served as art director of Literal Latte, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Exacting Clam and StatORec. His essays, stories, and reviews have appeared in many of the fine, high-quality journals preferred by discerning readers like you. He lives, as he dreams, in Brooklyn.
Twitter: @TylerCGore | Insta: @tylermustwashhands
MY LIFE OF CRIME: ESSAYS AND OTHER ENTERTAINMENTS, now available from Sagging Meniscus Press! https://www.saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/my_life_of_crime/
About MY LIFE OF CRIME:An awkward visit to a nude beach. A bike-pedaling angel careening through rush-hour traffic. The mystery of a sandwich found in a bathroom stall. A lyric, rainy-day ramble through the East Village. With the personal essays (and three other entertainments) in this debut collection, Tyler C. Gore reveals the artistic secrets of his life of crime: a charming wit, compassionate observation, perfection of style, and, over all, a winsomely colorful light tinged with just enough despair. Whether stewing over a subway encounter with a deranged businessman, confessing his sordid past as a prankster, or recounting his family’s history of hoarding, Gore is by turns melancholy, profound and hilarious. The collection culminates with the novella-length essay “Appendix,” a twisted, sprawling account of routine surgery that grapples with evolution, mortality, strangely attractive doctors, simulated universes, and an anorexic cat. My Life of Crime conjures up from the flotsam of an individual life something uncannily majestic: an insomniac contemplation of life in our eternal, twenty-four-hour New York City, infused throughout with its grit, humanity, unexpected romance, and the poignant intimacy of all the lives joined together within it.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Tyler! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast!
Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message!
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling author Hilary Zaid! hilaryzaid.com
About our Guest: Hilary Zaid has been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference, a James D. Houston Fellow at the Community of Writers and two-time attendee of Tin House Writers' Workshop. Her work has appeared in Mother Jones, Ecotone, Day One, The Southwest Review, and The Utne Reader and elsewhere. Long-listed for the 2018 Northern California Independent Booksellers' Award for Fiction, her novel Paper is White is a 2018 Foreword Indies silver medalist and the winner of the 2018 Independent Publishers' Book Awards (IPPY) in LGBT+ Fiction. Her novel Forget I Told You This (Zero Street Fiction), is the inaugural winner of the Barbara DiBernard Award. Hilary holds an AB in English from Harvard and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
Hilary has mentored aspiring writers through AWP's Writer-to-Writer Mentor program, the Golden Crown Literary Society and as a volunteer mentor and mentor-coordinator of the College Essay Mentors in the Oakland Unified School District, an equity program offering high school seniors from under-served communities.
Twitter: @hilaryzaid | Insta: @hilary_zaid/
FORGET I TOLD YOU THIS, now available from Zero Street Fiction!https://www.hilaryzaid.com/forget-i-told-you-this.html
About Forget I Told You This: Amy Black, a queer single mother and an aspiring artist in love with calligraphy, dreams of a coveted artist’s residency at the world’s largest social media company, Q. One ink-black October night, when the power is out in the hills of Oakland, California, a stranger asks Amy to transcribe a love letter for him. When the stranger suddenly disappears, Amy’s search for the letter’s recipient leads her straight to Q and the most beautiful illuminated manuscript she has ever seen, the Codex Argentus, hidden away in Q’s Library of Books That Don’t Exist—and to a group of data privacy vigilantes who want her to burn Q to the ground. Amy’s curiosity becomes her salvation, as she’s drawn closer and closer to the secret societies and crackpot philosophers that haunt the city’s abandoned warehouses and defunct train depots. All of it leads to an opportunity of a lifetime: an artist’s residency deep in the holographic halls of Q headquarters. It’s a dream come true—so long as she follows Q’s rules.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Hilary! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast!
Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Kate Brandt! https://katebrandt.net
About our Guest: Kate Brandt is a graduate of the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in literary anthologies, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Literary Mama, Ginosko, and Redivider, among other publications. Hope for the Worst, her first novel, is informed by her experiences with Tibetan Buddhism, magic, self-delusion, desire, despair, and healing, as well as her travels through Europe, Africa, and Asia. Kate is also a teacher and teacher trainer in adult literacy in New York City. In this role, she is privileged to work with a community of smart, dedicated educators in service to adult students who, despite difficult circumstances, continue to pursue an education in the hope of improving their lives.
Twitter: @kbrandtwriter | Insta: @kbrandtwriter
HOPE FOR THE WORST, now available from Vine Leaves Press!https://www.vineleavespress.com/hope-for-the-worst-by-kate-brandt.html
About Hope for the Worst: At twenty-seven, Ellie Adkins doesn’t have all that much going for her–a dead-end job at a New York City nonprofit; a boyfriend who has left her; distant and divorced parents. But it is the suffering caused by Calvin, her Buddhist teacher, that she can’t get past. A year ago, Calvin seduced her, and his Buddhist teachings became her world. Now, he has dropped her, and Ellie struggles to reconcile his teachings—the idea that nothing has inherent reality; that the way to salvation is through abandonment of the self–with the intense pain in her heart. Ellie’s devotion to Calvin will lead her to undertake an expedition to Tibet on his behalf; there, injured and in danger on a solo trek, she will have to choose between devotion and her own life.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Kate! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast!
Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Wendy Bashant!
About our Guest:Wendy Bashant taught and served as a dean and professor of English for thirty years at schools as diverse as UC-San Diego, Coe College, New College of Florida, Eastman School of Music, and California Western School of Law. Her writing includes scholarly articles, book chapters, poetry, and travel articles. She was a finalist for both the Peter Taylor Prize for Literature and the Gival Press Novel Award. Her memoir, The Same Bright Moon, was a 2023 New York Book Festival winner.
A graduate of Middlebury College (BA) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D.), she currently lives in San Diego with her husband and two cats. She teaches adult literacy through the public library system and volunteers at the San Diego Zoo. She also plays the harp and tries to practice her Mandarin with as much regularity and discipline as she can muster.
Insta: @wbashant1Twitter: @BashantWendy
THE SAME BRIGHT MOON, now available! https://www.amazon.com/Same-Bright-Moon-Teaching-Generation/dp/B0CDNM82VZ
About THE SAME BRIGHT MOON: In 2019, Wendy Bashant, a burned-out college dean, quits her job to teach two hundred students in the ancient, walled city of Xi’an, China. The year turns extraordinary when tensions between China and the U.S. escalate: first tit-for-tat tariffs; then a worldwide pandemic; finally lockdowns, closed consulates, and expelled journalists. All the while, accusations are lobbed back and forth like flaming arrows launched over the Pacific. Against this background of aggression, Wendy tries to teach a class in American culture. Instead, her students describe the realities of growing up in an emerging global power. Through their experiences and compelling perspectives, the students debate various issues, such as environmentalism, gender, healthcare and political conflict. The Same Bright Moon is a collaborative memoir highlighting the stories of these students through their assignments, discussions and poetry at the height of Covid-19. Their vibrant voices will challenge, inspire, and bring hope for the future.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Wendy! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Hey Playwright!
Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling photographer Kamal X!! (www.iamkamalx.com)
About Kamal, in his own words:I am Kamal X, a professional photographer who has been documenting my travels throughout the world since 2015. Photography found me at a time in my life when I felt confused and voiceless. I wasn’t sure of where I was internally and what direction I wanted my life to go. I welcomed my challenges and I found myself drawn to creating images that evoke emotions rooted in the many universal elements of the human experience. My goal is to tell stories from all walks of life and give a raw voice to the world we live in, through compassion and honesty.
BLACK ASTRONAUT, now available for purchase here:https://www.amazon.com/Black-Astronaut-Kamal-X/dp/1908211938/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/iamkamalx
About BLACK ASTRONAUT: THE STARS BELONG TO THE PEOPLEJoin award-winning photographer Kamal X on his epic search for beauty through a divided America.Black Astronaut is an extraordinary collection of powerful images that tell the stories of the everyday people behind the sensationalized headlines, a nuanced representation of the new Black America. Living, loving and fighting for a better world in difficult times. Open your heart to this electrifying collection of images, as Kamal X uses his camera to explore America after George Floyd, Covid-19, and Trump by finding beauty, humanity, and hope in the rage of a people under fire. Black Astronaut serves as a raw opportunity to re-evaluate one’s own intersection with the ongoing shifts in society that bring renewed threats to communities against a background framed by the unequal impact of economic volatility. This book is about looking at the recent past to try to find a direction for the near future.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Kamal! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Switchyard Podcast!
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling poet Richard Jeffrey Newman for a second appearance on the podcast!! (richardjnewman.com)
About:Richard Jeffrey Newman is the author of Words for What Those Men Have Done (Guernica Editions 2017) and The Silence of Men (CavanKerry Press 2006), as well as the translation, The Teller of Tales: Stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahameh (Junction Press 2011). He curates the First Tuesdays reading series and is Professor of English at Nassau Community College.
His latest poetry collection, T'shuvah, is now available from Fernwood Press!https://www.fernwoodpress.com/2023/09/07/tshuvah/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/richardjnewmanMicroblog: https://richnewman.micro.blog/
Thanks for returning a second time, Richard, such a pleasure to catch up! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: The First Draft Club: A podcast from Mary Adkins!
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling poet John Yamrus!
About:
In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, John Yamrus has published 35 books (29 volumes of poetry, 2 novels, 3 volumes of non-fiction and a children’s book). He has also had nearly 3,000 poems published in magazines and anthologies around the world. A number of his books and poems are taught in college and university courses. He is widely considered to be a master of minimalism and the neo-noir in modern poetry. His latest books are TWENTY FOUR POEMS and SELECTED POEMS: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT. A volume of his SELECTED POEMS was recently published in Albania and TWENTY FOUR POEMS is due out in translation later this year.
24 Poems, now available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRCC2LTW
Thanks for this delightful conversation, John! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly Shoutout: Liars and Leeches - A Supernatural Horror Audio Drama!
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling musician and existential creative BV Wolfgang of The Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO!
About:Welcome to The Spacewalkers Foundation for Extraterrestrial Exploration and the Circumvention of Planned Obsolescence. Founded by BV Wolfgang and an ever-growing staff of dreamers, inventors, scientists, and artists, the Foundation aims to infinitely extend consciousness through art, philosophy, technology, and an impressive amount of Hologram Dogs™
Listen to the latest tracks here: linktr.ee/thespacewalkers
Read the Spacewalkers Substack! https://spacewalkers.substack.com
Follow on Instagram: @thespacewalkers
Thanks for this delightful conversation, BV! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling novelist and poet Anne Leigh Parrish!
About our guest:
Anne Leigh is the author of twelve books with her latest poetry collection, If The Sky Won’t Have Me, published in April 2023 by Unsolicited Press. Her next novel, A Summer Morning, arrives in October 2023, also from Unsolicited Press. She lives in Olympia, Washington.
A SUMMER MORNING, now available for from Unsolicited Press! https://www.anneleighparrish.com/a-summer-morning/
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Anne! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
We're trying something different today: Today I'm thrilled to bring you an Arts Calling Q&A!Friend of the show Shahab Zargari stops by to help me process the first 100 episodes of the podcast and some lessons along the way. Hope you enjoy!!
About our Guest:Shahab Zargari is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker and administrative faculty member of the UNLV College of Fine Arts. After years of creating original short-form streaming content, Shahab made his directorial debut with the Philip K. Dick adaptation, THE CRYSTAL CRYPT (2013), an official selection at the San Diego Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival. He continued to hone his craft, creating original films, music videos, and a multitude of commissioned works. Shahab’s short films MY NAME IS ART (2018) and OH, THE GUILT (2021) garnered a dozen awards from a variety of prestigious festivals, including official selection to Amazon’s inaugural All Voices Film Festival, a digital festival celebrating underrepresented communities. Currently, the Docu-Dance short ‘The UNLV Shoah Project‘ is making rounds in the film festival circuit. You can view all of his creative output on his Vimeo and Youtube accounts.
THE CRYSTAL CRYPT 10 year anniversary art book is now available here!
https://www.blurb.com/b/11639745-the-crystal-crypt-film-art-book
Thanks for making this happen, Shahab! All the best!
Mentioned in the episode: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredtowrite
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). Like the show? Tell your creative friends, leave a review, or send me an email here. Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
artscalling.com
Weekly shoutout: My Bad Poetry Podcast!
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling musician Jim Clayton! (jimclaytonjazz.com)
About our guest: DownBeat Magazine called Jim Clayton’s music “warm, happy, and soulful.” He calls it a blend of bebop and New Orleans, the city he considers a second home. His repertoire is a mix of jazz standards, reimagined pop classics, and his own memorable writing.Jim’s last two albums, Lenny Jumps In (2016) and Songs My Daughter Knows (2014) landed on the jazz radio charts in both Canada and the USA. He won three national awards with recording act The Clayton/Scott Group, and his music has been heard internationally on radio, in film, and on television (including Dateline NBC, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and MTV).Jim spent a decade as a music director with acclaimed theatre company The Second City, entertaining audiences around the globe, from ex-pats in Asia to our troops in Bosnia. He began streaming nightly performances at the start of the pandemic; after over 750 online shows, Jim garnered 30,000 new online followers.
LOOK OUT, A NEW ALBUM OUT OCTOBER 3RD: https://jimclaytonjazz.com
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Jim! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly shoutout: A Word? Hosted by Kellie Scott-Reed, from Roi Fainéant Press!
*Some episodes of arts calling may feature strong language or discuss difficult subjects.
Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message!
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Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Anna Dickson James!(whiskeytit.com/authors/anna-dickson-james)
About our guest: Anna Dickson James earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte, NC and teaches English at Garrett College in Deep Creek, Maryland. Her work has appeared in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, she was a two-time finalist for the West Virginia Fiction Prize, and has won numerous awards from WV Writers, Inc. Writing these stories helped her understand a time in her life when she gave up much of her personal power, and the compilation of this collection was an avenue for helping her to reclaim it.
Twitter: @annabanana57
BOYS BUY ME DRINKS TO MAKE ME FALL DOWN, now available from Whiskey Tit!https://whiskeytit.com/product/boys-buy-me-drinks-to-watch-me-fall-down/
Boys Buy Me Drinks to Watch Me Fall Down is the quietly opened vein that every literate woman is hiding with a strategically positioned clutch or behind sleeves not quite right for the weather. These are not your everyday stories of resilience — while the heart may be laid bare, the women here don’t have time to hit the fainting couch with their trauma. No. The women here are too sharp for that. And too busy. They’re busy carrying worlds on their shoulders; they’re busy with sex (and equally busy when the sex is great and when it’s not); they’re busy being messy and complicated and generally busy with the business of existence, with making sure you don’t see that vein. As for author Anna Dickson James? She’s busy exploring the many delicate and thoroughly original ways to let you see it anyway.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Anna! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Weekly shoutout: switchyardtulsa.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling poet Elizabeth M. Castillo! (elizabethmcastillo.net)
About our guest: Elizabeth M Castillo is a multilingual poet, writer, teacher and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Paris with her family and two cats, where she writes a variety of different things, in a variety of different languages, and under a variety of pen names. Elizabeth is committed to promoting the indie arts, especially from women creators, and has a particular soft spot for women of colour who are also neurodivergent, much like herself. She’s found writing and creativity to be central to her own well-being and mental health, and is always keen to accompany other artists on their journey to developing their own authentic creative practice. In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race & ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, loss and grief, and a touch of magical realism. Her writing has been featured in publications and anthologies in the UK, US, Australia, Mexico and the Middle East. Her bilingual, debut collection “Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras” is for sale on Amazon, and her debut chapbook "Not Quite an Ocean" is on available now from Nine Pens Press. You can connect with her on Twitter @EMCWritesPoetry and IG as EMCWritesPoetry, or on her website.
NOT QUITE AN OCEAN, now available from Nine Pens Press! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1739151747
'Not Quite an Ocean' by Elizabeth M. Castillo is a paean to the feminine, to motherhood and to the natural world. At once these poems are both unabashed in their celebration of womanhood, and are searing in their unflinching confrontation with darker undercurrents that threaten to break and destroy. The poems in 'Not Quite an Ocean' are beacons, are rallying calls, and are ultimately a roars of strength, pride and hope that cannot be silenced or subdued: To be woman is to be everything All things bound together and, if you can manage it that little bit more.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Elizabeth! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling wonderful writer Catherine (Cathy) Shields!(www.cathyshieldswriter.com)
About our guest: Catherine (Cathy) Shields writes about parenting, disabilities, and self-discovery. She is a retired educator with an M.S. Ed in Exceptional Education. Her experience includes networking and dealing with children and families of persons with disabilities. Cathy and her husband reside in Miami, Florida, where they raised three grown daughters. They kayak, ride bikes, hike in the Everglades, and visit the two grandchildren who live nearby.
THE SHAPE OF NORMAL, coming from VINE LEAVES PRESS November 2023! https://www.vineleavespress.com/the-shape-of-normal-by-catherine-shields.html
The Shape of Normal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability and Embracing a Different Kind of Perfect opens with a scene in my twenty-eight-year-old daughter’s empty bedroom. Jessica, my grown-up child, graduated from Sesame Street to YouTube, collecting teen magazines, playing her music at ear-splitting volumes, and singing the lyrics to all the top-ten songs. I reminisce about the years spent struggling with unresolved feelings, my ableism, and my fear of how the world perceived Jessica. She is the hero of this story. “My daughter was never broken. I was. And I was never on a hero’s journey to save her I was the one who needed saving.”
Thanks for this remarkable conversation, Cathy! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling the phenomenal fiction writer Terena Elizabeth Bell! (terenabell.com)
About our guest: Terena Elizabeth Bell is a fiction writer. Her debut short story collection, Tell Me What You See (Whiskey Tit), publishes Holiday 2022. Short fiction, poetry, and journalism work have published in more than 100 publications internationally, including The Atlantic, Playboy, MysteryTribune, Santa Monica Review, _and _Saturday Evening Post. Short fiction has won grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a 2021 NYFA City Artists Corps winner, a 2018 Arlene Eisenberg Award winner, a 2018 Azbee Award of Excellence winner, and Centre College’s 2014 Distinguished Young Alumna of the Year. Lead editor of the Writing Through the Classics series of books on fiction craft, she has taught creative writing independently and through the New York Society Library, Woodlawn Children’s Home, and Bowling Green State University. Originally from Sinking Fork, Kentucky, she lives in New York City. Follow Terena on Twitter! @terenabell
TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE, now available from Whiskey Tit! https://whiskeytit.com/product/tell-me-what-you-see/
Tell Me What You See is a collection of ten experimental short stories about coronavirus quarantines, climate change, the January 6th invasion on the US Capitol, and other events from 2020-2021. Written in both word and image, pieces from the collection have been called “inventive and topical and fresh, emotional, chaotic, and important” by The McNeese Review and “timely, relevant, and interesting” by The Missouri Review. Title story “Tell Me What You See” is a 2021 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) City Artist Corps winner.
Thanks for this remarkable conversation, Terena! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling the brilliant author, yogi, and writing teacher Jennifer Lang! (israelwriterstudio.com/about)
About our guest: Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jennifer Lang lives in Tel Aviv, where she runs Israel Writers Studio. Her essays have appeared in Baltimore Review, Crab Orchard Review, Under the Sun, Ascent, and elsewhere. A Pushcart Prize, Best of Net, and Best American Essays nominee, she holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and serves as Assistant Editor for Brevity. Often findable on her yoga mat with her legs up her living room wall: practicing since 1995, teaching since 2003. Places We Left Behind _was a finalist in _Chestnut Review’s chapbook prose competition.
Instagram @jenlangwrites | Facebook: @israelwriterstudio
Places We Left Behind, now available from Vine Leaves Press! https://www.vineleavespress.com/places-we-left-behind-by-jennifer-lang.html
About Places We Left Behind: When American-born Jennifer falls in love with French-born Philippe during the First Intifada in Israel, she understands their relationship isn't perfect. Both 23, both Jewish, they lead very different lives: she's a secular tourist, he's an observant immigrant. Despite their opposing outlooks on two fundamental issues—country and religion—they are determined to make it work. For the next 20 years, they root and uproot their growing family, each longing for a singular place to call home. In Places We Left Behind, Jennifer puts her marriage under a microscope, examining commitment and compromise, faith and family while moving between prose and poetry, playing with language and form, daring the reader to read ~~between the lines~~.
Thanks for this delightful conversation, Jennifer! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling the incredibly inspiring and multi-talented author and musician Carlos Baker! (ckbakerband.com)
About our guest: Having spent his entire life saturated both in music and writing, Carlos Baker's band C.K. Baker Bands has released their sophomore album, Find Your Way. Carlos’s gift as a songwriter comes alive as an alternative rock sound, a compelling combination of styles from classic rock, rhythm and blues, folk, and soul. By melding hook-filled melody within unexpected chord changes, his lyrics and vocal delivery showcase his ability and willingness to be completely honest in baring his emotional soul to the listener. Carlos is also the author of Songs for Ivy, a love story of hope and resilience. Inspired by his personal tragedies of childhood cancer and having his leg amputated above the knee at the age of 14, this fictional novel is a touching and enlightening perspective on the complexity of the human soul and experience.
About Songs for Ivy: On her 16th birthday, Ivy is shocked to receive a personal journal written by her late brother Jake who died when she was an infant. In it, she slowly learns of a young man’s ultimate acceptance of the life he is dealt—just a short time on earth and an opportunity to experience true unconditional love for his mother and those around him. Through it all, Ivy discovers Jake’s strength as he composes songs and poetry for his beloved sister so she can get to know him—a hero who faces his feelings and accepts his heartbreaking destiny with grace. Jake, indeed, lived a full life, opening his heart to the possibility of transcending death to be Born A New Man. Yet amid the tribulations and the suffering, the story offers tender accounts of the development of young love, true friendship, fears of abandonment, questions of faith and religion, anxiety, grief, guilt, self-blame, betrayal and hopelessness. In the end, Songs for Ivy is a touching and enlightening perspective on topics such as childhood and terminal cancer, alcoholism, drug addiction, work addiction, morbid obesity, family dysfunction, end-of-life issues, love and complex family relations all rolled together to reveal the complexity of the human soul.
Purchase Songs for Ivy today! https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Ivy-Carlos-K-Baker/dp/195252153X
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Carlos! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling the exceptional novelist Bill Blume! {https://www.billblume.net}
About our guest: Bill Blume's love for the written word started back in high school with an addiction to comic books that was later hijacked by novels such as Frankenstein and Dragonflight. The first book in his young adult, vampire hunter series, Gidion's Hunt, was published back in 2013. His short stories have appeared in many anthologies and were published in 2015 by Diversion Books in his collection The Deadlands and Other Stories. Just like the father figure in his "Gidion Keep" novels, Bill has worked as a 911 dispatcher for more than two decades. He also spent eight years working as a board member for James River Writers.
About West of Apocalypse: Ayleen Torr was destined for greatness among the Knights of the Way until thirteen traitors destroyed it all and murdered her parents. Having survived by a trick of the Fates, Ayleen hunts the darkest corners of the cosmos for the secret to killing her immortal enemies. The Thirteen know she’s coming for them and place an army in her path to stop her. Armed with a crystal sword bound to her soul, Ayleen will learn just how far she's willing to compromise herself for revenge and that even in a galaxy where all is lost, there's still plenty left to lose.
Purchase West of Apocalypse today! https://www.billblume.net/books/west-of-apocalypse
Follow Bill on Instagram @billblume!
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Bill! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling audio creative extraordinaire and composer Marisa Ewing! (marisaewing.com)
A few words from our guest: My name is Marisa Ewing and I am a DC-based audio engineer, sound designer, composer, and musician. I have experience as a recording and mixing engineer for music, film, and video games. My work has also allowed me to make and record sound effects (Foley)—something I love—and I often incorporate sound effects into my music. Additionally, I’ve written for many different genres—from orchestral scores to ambient soundscapes to 8-bit music. With my wide array of experience, I’ve been able to adapt to a variety of situations and engineer audio for many different clients. My foundation in audio engineering comes from my two BAs—one in audio production and the other in music with a specialization in film and game sound. I have also had the opportunity to work as a studio assistant, live sound engineer at concert venues and churches, and serve as a community outreach coordinator for Women in Audio.
I am also the founder and owner of Hemlock Creek Productions, a boutique post production audio studio based in Washington, DC. Hemlock Creek Productions specializes in dialogue editing, mixing, mastering, and sound design.
Listen to Liars and Leeches, an original drama from Hemlock Creek Productions!!
Follow Marisa on Twitter!
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Marisa! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro ( cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling playwright, screenwriter, and novelist David Scott Hay!
About our Guest: DSH is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. As a novelist, he is a 2x Kirkus Prize nominee. He currently lives with his wife and son and dog and chickens and a dozen typewriters in a valley between the ocean, the mountains, and the desert. [NSFW] is his second novel. Davidscotthay.com for more whatnot.
https://linktr.ee/Ravenetc | Insta: @david.scott.hay.official
[NSFW] now available from Whiskey Tit! https://whiskeytit.com/product/nsfw/
About [NSFW]: Set in the world of social media moderators, @Sa>ag3 and @Jun1p3r must survive their first 90 days to qualify for health benefits and a life-changing mystery bonus. As they flag a nonstop torrent of the most heinous [NSFW] videos, their coping mechanisms expand to include office sex, drugs, and a jellyfish. But when copium is no longer an option, @Sa>ag3 & @Jun1p3r turn to a more bizarre form of therapy: intimacy. Meanwhile a stream of ominous warning videos keeps popping up… COMING SOON… hinting at an event that will alter the American landscape. The clock starts now.
Thanks for this amazing conversation, DSH! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling playwright and writing coach Sarah Congress!
About our Guest: Sarah Congress is a Playwright/TV writer. Most recently, her comedy Overdose received 2nd place for BEST SHORT in the 2023 Downtown Urban Arts Festival at Playwright's Horizon. Her play Dracula...in Denver! will be receiving its fifth production this September at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts for the In Death's Company Short Play Festival. In 2021-2022 Congress served as a PlayGround-LA Writers Pool member. She teaches 1x1 intuitive writing - learn more by visiting her instagram: @misscongresss
https://www.nycplaywrights.org/2023/05/playwrighttv-writer-offering-1x1.html
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Sarah! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling author and writing coach Mary Adkins! (www.thebookincubator.com)
About our Guest: Mary Adkins is a writing coach and founder of The Book Incubator, a 12-month program to write, revise, and pitch your novel or memoir. She is author of the novels When You Read This (Indie Next Pick, “Best Book of 2019” by Good Housekeeping and Real Simple), Privilege (Today.com “Best Summer Read,” New York Post “Best Book of the Week”), and Palm Beach (recently named one of the New York Post’s “Best Books of 2021”). Her books have been published in 13 countries, and her essays and reporting have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and more.
A graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University, she helps aspiring authors finish their books with joy and clarity. You can apply for The Book Incubator by going to apply.maryadkinswriter.com.
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Mary! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Jan Stinchcomb! (janstinchcomb.com)
About our Guest: Jan Stinchcomb is the author of Verushka (JournalStone, 2023), The Kelping (Unnerving), The Blood Trail (Red Bird Chapbooks) and Find the Girl (Main Street Rag). Her stories have appeared in Bourbon Penn, SmokeLong Quarterly and Menacing Hedge, among other places. A Pushcart nominee, she is featured in Best Microfiction 2020 and The Best Small Fictions 2018 & 2021. She lives in Southern California with her family and is an associate fiction editor for Atticus Review. Find her at janstinchcomb.com or on Twitter @janstinchcomb.
Verushka, now available from JournalStone: https://journalstone.com/bookstore/verushka/
About the novel: Someone is stalking Devon Woodward. They've been there all along, since before she was born, going back to her grandmother's time. Waiting for her. Watching. And the people who should be able to help, her own parents, are making everything worse. Devon is right to be afraid. Verushka, both victim and villain, is a half-human witch from the other side of the world. She will do anything to get what she needs from the Woodward family, but she may have finally met her match in young Devon. Will family conflict sabotage Devon's efforts to escape and put her in even greater danger? In this multi-perspective novel that is part fairy tale and part horror story, a young girl fights to uncover the truth and save her own life.
Thanks this amazing conversation, Jan! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Bronwyn Harris! (bronwynharris.com)
About our Guest: Bronwyn Harris began her teaching career in East Oakland in January 2000, teaching first-graders who had already gone through one teacher and six substitutes during that school year. In the first five minutes of teaching, one student threw a book at her head and she realized she had no set curriculum with which to teach them. In addition, she was a “roving teacher,” meaning that she moved classrooms every three weeks.
Teaching at this school did not get easier as she transitioned into teaching third grade, but the students were incredible: creative, thoughtful, loving, angry, at-risk, misunderstood, valuable, and overlooked. After eight principals in less than eight years, Harris had to face the fact that she couldn’t keep working in such an environment and left the school district, but has stayed in touch with many of her students.
During her time teaching, Harris would tell many of her middle-class white friends about what was going on at her school, and found that many of them didn’t believe her, which is how the title of the book came to be. This also strengthened her resolve to write down the true stories so that people would know this side of life in the Bay Area.
Website: http://bronwynharris.com/ Twitter: @BronwynAnn
Literally Unbelievable: Stories from an East Oakland Classroom, now available here: https://www.amazon.com/Literally-Unbelievable-Stories-Oakland-Classroom/dp/1535582553
Letters From the Inside: Hope in the Journey Beyond Classroom and Cell, now available here: http://bronwynharris.com/letters-from-the-inside/buy/
Thanks for your work and for answering the call, Bronwyn! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Maria C. Palmer! (mariacpalmer.com)
About our Guest: Maria Costanzo Palmer is a writer and Page Turner Award Finalist for her co-authored book On the Rocks (Koehler Books 8/8/23). She is also a regular co-moderator for the Food Is Religion Club _on _Clubhouse. She was a former host on_ L.A. Talk Radio_. Maria was recently featured on Food and Beverage Magazine Live, a nationally syndicated podcast. Her writing has been published in OC87 Recovery Diaries, and she has made a number of media appearances. You can find Maria on FB and IG @joecostanzoprimadonna and on Twitter @mariacpalmer.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mariacpalmer
On the Rocks, now available for presale! https://shop.heinzhistorycenter.org/products/on-the-rocks-the-primadonna-story
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Maria! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Rosemary Richings! (www.rosemaryrichings.com)
About our Guest: Rosemary Richings is a writer, editor, and public speaker specialising in disability and neurodiversity-related subject matter and the author of Stumbling Through Space and Time: Living Life With Dyspraxia. Rosemary's writing has been featured in Travel + Leisure, Broken Pencil Magazine, Happiful Magazine, and a long list of other print and digital publications. She has also done writing and editing work for organizations such as E-bay, Lexxic, Uptimize, Lokafy, and Yellowpages Canada. Past public speaking engagements include Reach PLC and Delinian's disability education program. Rosemary is on the board of trustees of Dyspraxic Me, a charity for dyspraxic young adults.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/rosemary_richings
Stumbling Through Space and Time: Living Life With Dyspraxia, now available!
Twitter: @rosiemay_r
Thanks for this wonderful conversation Rosemary! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Martha Engber! (www.marthaengber.com)
About our Guest:
Martha Engber is the author of WINTER LIGHT, the 2021 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction. Her other books include THE WIND THIEF, a literary novel, and GROWING GREAT CHARACTERS FROM THE GROUND UP. Her memoir, BLISS ROAD, will be published by Vine Leaves Press June 6, 2023. A freelance editor and workshop facilitator, she's had a play produced in Hollywood and fiction, poetry and essays published in Watchword, the Berkeley Fiction Review, Iconoclast and other literary magazines. She received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri — Columbia before working as a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other national publications. She lives in California with her husband, where she bikes, hikes and surfs when not writing, trying new recipes and reading. She appreciates a wide variety of books and has a penchant for poetry; memoirs of all styles; literary and historical novels; and enlightening nonfiction, and neurological research in particular.
Bliss Road now available to order from Vine Leaves Press!https://www.vineleavespress.com/bliss-road-by-martha-engber.html
Twitter: @marthaengberInsta: @marthaengber
Thanks for this wonderful conversation Martha! All the best!
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Suzan Palumbo! (suzanpalumbo.wordpress.com)
About our Guest:
Suzan Palumbo is a Nebula finalist, active member of the HWA, Co Administrator of the Ignyte Awards and a member of the Hugo nominated FIYAHCON team. She is also a former Associate Editor of “Shimmer” magazine. Her debut dark fantasy/horror short story collection “Skin Thief: Stories” will be published by Neon Hemlock in Fall 2023. Her novella “Countess” will be published by ECW Press in spring 2024. Her writing has been published or is forth coming in Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy, The Deadlands, The Dark Magazine, PseudoPod, Fireside Fiction Quarterly, PodCastle, Anathema: Spec Fic from the Margins and other venues. She is officially represented by Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency and tweets at @sillysyntax. When she isn’t writing, she can be found sketching, listening to new wave or wandering her local misty forests.
Skin Thief, Suzan's collection: now available for PRE-ORDER from Neon Hemlock! https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/skin-thief-suzan-palumbo
Suzan on Twitter: @sillysyntax
Special thanks to Dave at Neon Hemlock for making this conversation possible!
Thanks for this wonderful conversation Suzan! All the best!
“Write what you love, and don't be afraid to transform.”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Dr. Sarah Etlinger for round two! (sarahetlinger.com)
About our Guest:
Sarah A. Etlinger holds a BA in English from Skidmore College, an MA in English from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition (English) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Scholarly interests include new media studies, first-year composition, feminist literature, the Beatles, and popular culture. Currently, she is Associate professor of Composition and Literature at Rock Valley College where she teaches courses in composition, film, and literature.
A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of two books: Never One for Promises (Kelsay Books, 2018) and Little Human Things (Clare Songbirds, 2020). Other poems can be found in a variety of literary magazines, including The Amethyst Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, Mookychick, _ _The Penwood Review, The Magnolia Review,Brine (where she was September 2018’s featured Poet of the Month) and many others. Interests include cooking, baking, traveling, spending time with her family, and music.
Check out Dr. Sarah's latest collection, The Weather Gods, now available from Fernwood Press!https://www.fernwoodpress.com/2023/01/13/the-weather-gods/
Her previous poetry collection, Little Human Things is now available here!
Dr. Sarah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drsaephd
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Dr. Sarah! All the best!
“We need beauty in our lives.”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am overjoyed to be arts calling Exodus Oktavia Brownlow! (https://www.exodusoktaviabrownlow.com)
About our Guest: Exodus Oktavia Brownlow is a writer, editor and creator currently residing in the enchanting pine tree forest of Blackhawk, Ms. She is a budding beekeeper, a rising seamstress who has perfected the French Seam by hand, and the future author of two book collections—a debut fiction chapbook called "Look at All the Little Hurts of These Newly-Broken Lives and The Bittersweet, Sweet and Bitter Loves" set to publish with Ethel Zine and Press in the Spring of 2023. As well as a debut book collection of essays called "I'm Afraid That I Know Too Much About Myself Now, To Go Back to Who I Knew Before, And Oh Lord, Who Will I Be After I've Known All That I Can" set to publish with ELJ Editions in the summer of 2023. Exodus's favorite color is green.
Check out Exodus' debut collection at ELJ Editions!: https://elj-editions.com/im-afraid-that-i-know-too-much/
Follow Exodus:
On Twitter @CoCo4AfroPuffs
On Instagram: @coocoo4afropuffs
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Exodus! All the best!
“Take your time. There's no need to resent the creative process.”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am psyched to be arts calling Matthew McGuirk! (http://linktr.ee/McGuirkMatthew)
About our Guest:Matt McGuirk teaches and lives with his wife and two daughters in Vermont. He was a BOTN 2021 nominee, is now a regular contributor at Fevers of the Mind and has poems and stories published in over 75 literary magazines with over 100 accepted pieces. His debut collection, "Daydreams, Obsessions, Realities" with Alien Buddha Press and most recent collection with Anxiety Press, "Oil Stains Like Rorschachs" are available on Amazon, linked at the end of the bio and also on his website.
Daydreams, Obsessions, Realities: https://www.amazon.com/Daydreams-Obsessions-Realities-hybrid-collection/dp/B09M5KY8HH
Oil Stains Like Rorschachs:https://www.amazon.com/Stains-Like-Rorschachs-Matthew-McGuirk/dp/B0BKMS59Y8
Follow him on Twitter: @McguirkMatthewInstagram: @mcguirk_matthew
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Matthew! All the best!
“Success is making a connection through writing.”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am ecstatic to be arts calling Chloe N. Clark! (https://www.chloenclark.com)
About our Guest:Chloe N. Clark has never met an Oreo she wouldn’t try. She writes poetry and fiction, and some essays about food, mostly, but also does critical scholarship in the history of horror, gender and science fiction, monstrosity and othering, and inclusive practices in pedagogy. She is the founding co-editor-in-chief of online literary journal, Cotton Xenomorph.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PintsNCupcakes
Patterns of Orbit, available now from Baobab Press!https://baobabpress.com/books/patterns-of-orbit-stories/
Patterns of Orbit, available at Barnes & Noble!https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/patterns-of-orbit-chloe-n-clark/1141739527
Collective Gravities, Chloe's previous collection, available here:https://www.wordwest.co/online-store/collective-gravities-p162059545
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Chloe! All the best!
“Write Long. Edit Short.”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am ecstatic to be arts calling playwright/librettist/activist Catherine Filloux! (www.catherinefilloux.com)
For the past three decades, award-winning artist, playwright, and librettist Catherine Filloux has been traveling to conflict areas creating art that addresses human rights and U.S. complicity. As a French and American artist, Catherine brings a unique perspective to her work, which has been called, “compelling drama…a call to action…about the place where horror and grief meet,” by The New York Times.
“Where Elephants Weep” the only Cambodian-U.S. rock opera will air on Broadway on Demand from April 14 to 23, 2023, in time for the Cambodian New Year:
https://www.broadwayondemand.com/rentals/f4e4b5d8-ede0-4035-b6e6-884c0fca3473
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catherinefillouxwriter/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CFillouxWriter/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFillouxWriter
About Where Elephants Weep:
Sam, a refugee from the Khmer Rouge genocide, leaves America and returns to his homeland, Cambodia. Committed to finding his roots in his native culture, he unexpectedly falls in love with Bopha, a Cambodian pop-star, and the lovers’ lives are changed forever. The music fuses traditional Cambodian music with Western rock and rap. The opera is sung in English and Khmer, with surtitles in both languages.
(Music by Him Sophy; Libretto by Catherine Filloux) recently premiered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for 7 sold-out performances and became a popular and critical hit. One of the live performances was shot for exclusive national broadcast by the largest Cambodian television station, CTN, and was aired on December 25, 2008 reaching nearly 2 million viewers nation-wide.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Catherine! All the best!
“As an artist, I will rise up and make change”Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Episode 100, woohoo!!! Today I am honored to be arts calling Alvaro Saar Rios and Mabelle Reynoso!
Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been performed in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. He has received playwriting commissions from various organizations, including Kennedy Center, Chicago Children’s Theatre, First Stage, Houston Grand Opera, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Purple Rose Theatre Company, Houston Community College, Zoological Society of Milwaukee and Omaha’s Rose Theater. His award-winning play Luchadora! is published by Dramatic Publishing Inc. Other plays include On The Wings of a Mariposa, Unmuted, Bienvenidos a Milwaukee/Welcome to Milwaukee, and Carmela Full of Wishes. Alvaro holds an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen from Northwestern University. He is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and Playwright-InResidence at Milwaukee's First Stage. Alvaro is a proud veteran of the US Army and an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. https://www.alvarosaarrios.com Twitter & Instagram: @realCrazyMex
Sign up for Alvaro's newsletter, El Chisme here: http://eepurl.com/hKLScn
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Mabelle Reynoso (she/her/ella) is a multidisciplinary storyteller who has devoted her artistic career to building connections in communities through storytelling. Mabelle is a two-time winner of the California Young Playwrights contest ("Santa Does a Mitzvah"; "Dreaming Pancho Villa"). Since 2004, Mabelle has been a teaching artist for the nonprofit arts education organization Playwrights Project. Her own art is largely informed by her work with underserved and marginalized populations, including Spanish-speaking immigrants, expectant teens, foster youth, and justice-involved youth and adults. Mabelle’s recent playwriting commissions include Olympia Family Theatre (The Secret Garden, 2022), TuYo Theatre (Mercado de Miedo, 2022), and San Diego Symphony (Noel Noel 2022). She is a recipient of the 2021 ReImagine: New Plays in TYA grant for her play, "¡Lotería: Game On!" sponsored by Write Now, The Kennedy Center, and the Children’s Theatre Fund of America. Her play “The Scariest Movie”, co-authored with her 11-year-old son, was published by Dramatic Publishing Inc. in the anthology “I Have a Story” (2021). Her play "The Sunset Tour" was the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) 2022 Playwrights for Change winner and will be published in the forthcoming Best Plays of 2023 by Smith & Krauss. In addition, Mabelle is a member of TuYo Theatre where she leads Pa' Letras, a workshop for emerging Latinx playwrights. She has been a guest lecturer at San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and Southwestern College, and has presented at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the National Latinx Writers Gathering, and the William Inge Theatre Festival. Mabelle also co-hosts the podcast Hey Playwright. She has a BFA from New York University, an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Education for Social Justice at the University of San Diego. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, TYA/USA, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Mabelle was proudly born in Tijuana, Mexico.
Stop what you're doing and go listen to Hey Playwright! Mabelle's incredible podcast with Tori Rice! https://heyplaywright.com/
"Theatre is for all of us.""Theatre is going back to its roots, smaller, portable, effective."Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Uzo Chijioke!(https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/uzochijioke)
Uzo Chijioke is a Nigerian American author / screenwriter with a background in pharmacy. Having done what he was "supposed to do" as the first son to immigrant parents, he's lived a life centered around duty and structure, even spending over a decade in the US Army. As such, Uzo's stories typically center protagonists burdened by the weight of culture and their journeys of self-discovery.
Twitter: twitter.com/UzoTheCreatorInstagram: instagram.com/uzothecreator
Check out A Tale of Renown, Uzo's latest graphic novel! https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-tale-of-renown/id6445388270
"Success leaves clues."Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Audra Kerr Brown! (audrakerrbrown.wordpress.com)
Audra Kerr Brown lives with her husband and two children at the end of a dirt road in Iowa. Herwork has appeared in the Best Small Fictions (2018, 2021 editions) and Wigleaf’s Top 50 Very Short Fiction List. Former managing editor of New Flash Fiction Review, she is now the founding creator and archivist of the (sometimes) YouTube channel, The Flashtronauts! which “explores the ever-expanding universe of Flash Fiction.” Her flash chapbook, hush hush hush, is available at Harbor Editions.
hush hush hush now available!https://www.smallharborpublishing.com/chapbooks/hush-hush-hush
Audra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/audrakerrbrown
"Keep at it. Keep turning your wheels. That is success."Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Tommy Dean! (https://tommydeanwriter.com)
About our Guest:Tommy Dean is the author of two flash fiction chapbooks Special Like the People on TV (Redbird Chapbooks, 2014) and Covenants (ELJ Editions, 2021), and a full flash collection, Hollows (Alternating Current Press, 2022). He lives in Indiana, where he currently is the Editor at Fractured Lit and _Uncharted _Magazine. A recipient of the 2019 Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction, his writing can be found in Best Microfiction 2019, 2020, 2023, Best Small Fiction 2019 and 2022, Monkeybicycle, Moon City Press, and numerous other litmags. His interviews have been previously published in New Flash Fiction Review, The Rumpus, CRAFT Literary, and The Town Crier (The Puritan). He has taught writing workshops for the Gotham Writers Workshop, the Barrelhouse Conversations and Connections conference, and The Writers Workshop.
Hollows, now available from Alternating Current Press! https://altcurrent.square.site/product/hollows-flash-stories-by-tommy-dean/43?cp=
Flash Fiction Perspectives, Tommy's newsletter on Substack! https://tommydean.substack.com
Follow Tommy on Twitter! https://twitter.com/TommyDeanWriterTommy on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/tommydeantommydean/
"No writing is wasted."Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm so overjoyed to be arts calling Laurie Marshall! (www.SeeLaurieWrite.com)
About our Guest:Laurie Marshall is an award-winning writer and artist in Northwest Arkansas. Her debut flash fiction collection is coming in April 2023 from ELJ Editions. Her words and art have been published in print and digital literary journals and included in anthologies including Snow Crow from AdHoc Fiction, Mid/South Anthology _from Belle Point Press and _Best Small Fictions 2022. Current projects include a memoir and novella, both written in flash stories, a prose collaboration with her late grandmother’s poetry and preparing for a five-day bike ride from Pittsburgh to DC. One of these is way more intimidating than the others. www.SeeLaurieWrite.com
Proof of Life, now available for pre-order from ELJ Editions! https://elj-editions.com/proof-of-life
Laurie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seelauriewriteLaurie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurieMMarshallCheck out Laurie's Collage Work at Collage & Coffee on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/collage_and_coffee
Shout out to Más Libritos Bookstore in Springdale, Arkansas: a Latina-owned pop up indie bookstore! https://www.instagram.com/maslibritosbookstore
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm so overjoyed to be arts calling Shannon McLeod! (shannon-mcleod.com)
About our Guest:Shannon McLeod is the author of the novella Whimsy (Long Day Press, 2021) and the essay chapbook Pathetic (University of Indianapolis Etchings Press). Her writing has appeared in Tin House Online, Wigleaf, Hobart, Joyland Magazine, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Prairie Schooner, among other publications. Her stories have been nominated for Best Small Fictions, Best of the Net, and featured in Wigleaf Top 50. She teaches high school English in Virginia.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OcqueocSAM
Nature Trail Stories, now available from Thirty West Publishing! https://www.thirtywestph.com/shop/naturetrailstories
Learn more about Shannon's previous works here: http://www.shannon-mcleod.com/books
Check out Shannon's interview on Otherppl with Brad Listi, great chat!
Thank you so much for this chat, Shannon! All the best and happy writing!
'You can't fight the kind of writer that you are." - Shannon McLeod
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm so overjoyed to be arts calling Jen Soong! (jensoong.com)
About our Guest:The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Jen Soong grew up in New Jersey and now resides in Northern California. An alum of Tin House and VONA, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Audacity, GAY MAG, Jellyfish Review, Witness and Waxwing. She earned her MFA in creative writing from UC Davis. Her memoir-in-progress is a reckoning of myth, migration and memory.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenmuze
Jen's writing at Seventh Wave: https://theseventhwave.co/jen-soong/
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Jen! All the best and happy writing!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm so excited to be arts calling Steven D. Schroeder!!
About our Guest:Steven D. Schroeder’s third book of poetry is Wikipedia Apocalyptica (swallow::tale press, 2022). His second book, The Royal Nonesuch (Spark Wheel Press), won the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University. He edits the literary magazine $ (Poetry Is Currency). His poetry is available from New England Review, Crazyhorse, Michigan Quarterly Review, Pleiades, The Cincinnati Review, Copper Nickel, The Journal, Diagram, The Rumpus, and Verse Daily, and has also been featured in city parks, public transportation, and business waiting rooms. Long a resident of Colorado, he now lives in St. Louis, where he works as a Creative Content Manager for a financial marketing agency.
Steven's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SchroederPoet
Wikipedia Apocalyptica, now available from swallow :: tale press!https://www.swallowtale.icu/bookstore/p/wikipedia-apocalyptica-digital-pdf
Stop by and read the latest $: An anti-capitalist and inclusive online literary magazine. Always open for poems! https://poetrycurrency.com/
Thank you so much for this wonderful conversation, Steven! All the best!!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm thrilled to be arts calling Audrey Cefaly and Carolyn Messina!
About our Guests:Audrey Cefaly (https://www.audreycefaly.com) is an alumna of the Playwrights' Arena cohort at Arena Stage, a recipient of the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers Conference, and a Dramatist Guild Foundation Traveling Master. She is published by Concord Theatricals, Smith & Kraus, and Applause Books. Cefaly's plays have been produced by Cincinnati Playhouse, Florida Studio, Florida Rep, City Theatre, Penobscot Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Merrimack Rep, Signature Theatre, Barter Theatre, Vermont Stage, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, 16th Street Theater, Capital Stage, About Face, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Circle Theatre, Theatre Three, Aurora Theatre, Quotidian Theatre Company and University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her play Alabaster received an 11-city Rolling World Premiere, the largest in National New Play Network history. Twitter: https://twitter.com/alcefaly
Carolyn Messina is an AEA actor and dramaturg. For more information, please visit: https://www.carolyn-messina.com
Thank you both so much for this incredible conversation! All the best!!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I'm thrilled to be arts calling Patrick Lugo! (plugoarts.com)
About our Guest:Patrick Lugo is a freelance illustrator, comics artist and writer is also Senior Designer of KungFuMagazine.com & Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine. His self-published graphic novel A TIGER’s TALE was funded on kickstarter overnight. The 2021 anthology Speculative Fiction for Dreamers included a comic which Publisher’s Weekly called “A Knock Out.” I illustrated the chapter book LUCY VELOZ: HIGH-FLYING PRINCESS in 2020. Subscribe to his Newsletter for exclusive webcomics, behind-the-scene and other musings. Plus you can buy merchandise ranging from cellphone cases to shower curtains on PLUGOarts.RedBubble.com.
You can find Patrick on Twitter: @PLUGO or Instagram: @PLUGOarts
Thank you both so much for taking the time to chat, Patrick! All the best!!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling Shahab Zargari (bio.site/shahab) and Mo Milan (linktr.ee/momilan) to discuss Shahab's album, AI, and the collaborative process!
New Oddities now available here: https://gcrecords.bandcamp.com/album/new-oddities
About the New Oddities Album:Shahab Zargari has been sampling and remixing music since the start of his band Kill the Scientist in 1989 when he was still pretty young. The album New Oddities, technically his debut solo album as all past releases were done with band names and monikers, builds upon his years of experience with digital and analog technology. Utilizing artificial intelligence-created music stems, this album looks to the future of the world and humanity and music production, but it also simultaneously looks to the past by utilizing human touches, poems from the 1800s, punk song lyrics from the 80s, 90s choirs newscast samples, and even sonification sounds from the Black Hole in the Perseus galaxy cluster (sounds are from billions of years ago)! The song styles vary from electronic to R&B to digital pop and punk rock, but the futuristic world-building makes it all fit together somehow. “The album uses artificial intelligence as a backing band or studio band. They came in. I tell them what I want, they “jam” and we go back and forth until the foundation of a song materializes,” says Shahab of New Oddities, “we use those on the spot jams as the bare-bones start of a song and then regular old humans put layers upon layers of vocals, samples, instrumentation on top to create a sci-fi trip through the cosmos. Think KLF’s Chill Out, but in outer space instead of the American Southwest.
About our Guests:Shahab Zargari is an award-winning filmmaker, music lover, author and entrepreneur.Mo Milan is a synthpop artist, composes, and producer from Las Vegas, NV/Dallas, TX.
Thank you both so much for taking the time to discuss New Oddities! All the best!!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling John Becker! (jouskaproductions.com)
About our Guest:John Becker has juggled life in film, theatre, and music with teaching the arts to children and adults.
He has won three Individual Artist's Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council. He was asked to write a play for the One-Minute Play Festival at Round House Theatre. His musical, Everything I Do, was read at the Kennedy Center, chosen for a workshop at Artist'sBloc, and performed at the Atlas in DC to excellent reviews. He was commissioned by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in NY to co-write and co-direct the book trailer for Susan Coll's The Stager. His play Summit Meeting was performed at the Kennedy Center for a festival, where it was awarded 1st place by audience vote.
John has had plays performed four years in a row at the Source Theatre in DC and had a play performed Off-Broadway at the Emerging Artists Theatre in New York. He has also had plays performed at the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, the Writer's Center, Company 13, the Run of the Mill Theatre (for which they won a Greater Baltimore Theatre Award), the Human Rights Arts Festival for Amnesty International, and many others.
Enjoy some of John's recent projects on YouTube!
The Playwright Zone1st episode. Two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian, are trapped in an elevator in America.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd5I1dSroOw&t=8s&ab_channel=JouskaProductions
2nd episode: A woman struggling with mental health issues has a blind date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM70EUWZc3I&t=10s&ab_channel=JouskaProductions
The Panic RoomI ask two controversial questions of one left wing person and one right wing, then let them react to each other's responses while still remaining civil.1st episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln_tRItxzWM&t=249s&ab_channel=JouskaProductions
Eugene Cheese Gets It WrongActress Tia Shearer Bassett and her mischievous leopard gecko, Eugene Cheese, explore fun themes, while letting kids know that it's okay to be wrong sometimes.1st episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mFFMcEKiTA&t=9s&ab_channel=JouskaProductions
2nd episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtNfypvuiFg&t=7s&ab_channel=JouskaProductions
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk playwriting, John! All the best and happy writing!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am delighted to be arts calling Anuradha Bhowmik! (www.anuradhabhowmik.com)
About our Guest: Anuradha Bhowmik is a Bangladeshi-American poet and writer from South Jersey. She is the 2021 winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for her first collection Brown Girl Chromatography (Pitt Poetry Series, 2022). Bhowmik is a Kundiman Fellow and a 2018 AWP Intro Journals Project Winner in Poetry. She earned her MFA from Virginia Tech. Her poetry and prose have appeared in POETRY, The Sun, Quarterly West, Nashville Review, Indiana Review, The Offing, Bayou Magazine, Crab Orchard Review, Zone 3, The Normal School, Copper Nickel, Salt Hill, and elsewhere.
Brown Girl Chromatography, now available:
from University of Pittsburgh Press!https://upittpress.org/books/9780822966920/
from Amazon!https://www.amazon.com/Brown-Girl-Chromatography-Poems-Poetry/dp/0822966921
My sincere thanks to Anuradha for taking the time to have this powerful conversation.
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so thrilled to be arts calling Samantha Silva! (samanthasilvawriter.com)
About our Guest:Samantha Silva is an author and screenwriter based in Idaho. Over her career, she’s sold film projects to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema. Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft is her second novel. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in One Story and LitHub. A short film, The Big Burn, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Sun Valley Film Festival in 2018. She is currently working on a commission from Seattle Repertory Theater to adapt her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, for the stage, and was a 2020 Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow.
Silva graduated from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, where she studied in Bologna, Italy and Washington, D.C. She’s lived in London three times, briefly in Rome, is an avid Italophile, and a forever Dickens devotee.
Love & Fury, now available for pre-order, find your favorite book retailer here: https://www.samanthasilvawriter.com/
Mr. Dickens and His Carol, available now!https://www.samanthasilvawriter.com/mr-dickens-and-his-carol
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samanthaswriter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthasilvawriter/
Thank you so much for this amazing conversation, Samantha! All the best and happy writing!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am so lucky to be arts calling Donna Spruijt-Metz! (donnasmetz.com)
About our guest, in her own words:
I am a poet, translator, and Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. My first career was as a professional flutist.
- My first full length, General Release from the Beginning of the World, was officially born on January 1. 2023! Order it here from Free Verse Editions! And thank you Camille Dungy and Orion Magazine for choosing my book as one of 14 recommended poetry books for the winter!
- My chapbook, Slippery Surfaces, published by Finishing Line Press is available to order from FLP or on Amazon.
- Flower Conroy and I were recently MacDowell Fellows, and have a collaborative chapbook, And Haunt the World, with Ghost City Press. Download it for free here!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share so many beautiful moments of your life and craft, Donna! All the best and happy writing!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am overjoyed to be arts calling Jim Clayton!
About our Guest, Jim Clayton (https://jimclaytonjazz.com):
DownBeat Magazine called Jim Clayton’s music “warm and happy… tender and soulful.” He calls it a blend of bebop and New Orleans, the city he considers a second home. His repertoire is a mix of jazz standards, reimagined pop classics, and his own memorable writing.
Jim’s last two albums, Lenny Jumps In (2016) and Songs My Daughter Knows (2014) landed on the jazz radio charts in both Canada and the USA. He won three national awards with recording act The Clayton/Scott Group, and his music has been heard internationally on radio, in film, and on television (including Dateline NBC, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and MTV).
Jim spent a decade as a music director with acclaimed theatre company The Second City, entertaining audiences around the globe, from ex-pats in Asia to our troops in Bosnia. He began streaming nightly performances at the start of the pandemic; after over 500 online shows, Jim’s garnered 30,000 new online followers.
Global News:https://globalnews.ca/video/8917787/jazz-artist-gains-recognition-internationally-during-covid-through-virtual-performances/
CBC Radio:https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-82-here-and-now-toronto/clip/15885960-have-the-piano-bar
Toronto Star:https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2021/09/14/toronto-jazz-musician-jim-clayton-turned-a-personal-facebook-following-of-250-into-an-international-audience-of-more-than-30000-during-the-pandemic.html
Thanks so much for taking the time to share some incredible stories, Jim!All the best and thanks for the music!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Trigger warning: The novel we discussed contains themes of crimes against minors.
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Hi there,
Today I am honored to be arts calling Zephaniah Sole!
About our Guest:Zephaniah Sole is a Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Author Fellow as well as an alum of VONA and Tin House. His fiction has appeared in Epiphany, Gargoyle Magazine, Collateral Journal and Vestal Review, among other publications. A graduate of New York University, he's been a filmmaker, a public school teacher, and is an FBI agent. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest.
About the Novel:A Crime In the Land of 7,000 Islands is a powerhouse crime thriller fused with folk tales and the influence of anime. This psychological literary fiction tells the tale of Ikigai Johnson, a Special Agent working out of the FBI's Portland, Oregon field office, who pledges to bring justice to children abused by a monstrous American in the Philippines. Amidst an expertly accurate police procedural, Ikigai recounts her tale to her eleven-year-old daughter through fantastical allegory. Her story exposes the damage that arises from exploitation, inequality, and generational trauma. Exploring the nuances of criminal justice, it enacts the battle between our courage and our submission to fear. It is an important call to act against evil.
https://blackspringpressgroup.com/products/a-crime-in-the-land-of-7-000-islands
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZephaniahSole
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me, Zephaniah! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am ecstatic to be arts calling Laury Leite!
Laury Leite is a writer. He has published articles, essays, interviews and chronicles in various literary magazines. His short stories have appeared in several anthologies. In 2017, he published En la soledad de un cielo muerto (Ediciones Carena; La Pereza Ediciones, his first novel, which was translated into English under the title Night Has Fallen Here (Lazy Publisher, 2019). The Italian version will be out in 2023 (Musicaos Editore). La gran demencia, his second novel, written with support from the Toronto Arts Council, came out in Spain in the fall of 2020 (Huso Editorial). In January 2019, he was a writer-in-residence at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. He is currently writing El tiempo, el lugar y nosotros, his third novel, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and also from the Toronto Arts Council. He lives in Toronto, Canada. https://www.lauryleite.com/
Special thanks to Luciana at Laberinto Press for making this happen!!
Night has Fallen Here, now available! https://www.amazon.com/Night-Fallen-Here-Lazy-Press/dp/1727657314
Check out Beyond the Gallery, an anthology from Laberinto Press featuring Laury! https://laberintopress.com/beyond-the-gallery
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauryLeite
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laury.leite/
Thank you for sharing your story with me, Laury, what a pleasure! All the best and happy writing!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love,
j
https://artscalling.com/welcome/
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling Bri Stokes!
About our guest:Bri Stokes is a writer, poet, editor, curator and producer based in Los Angeles. Bri is also the managing editor of an independently owned + operated Black + queer magazine called Skew. Bri's goal through her work is to help amplify the voices and perspectives of women, Black folks and queer folks.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bristokeswritesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bri_stokes_writes/
Thank you for your time, Bri! All the best and happy writing!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am honored to be arts calling memoirist Camille U. Adams!
About our guest:Camille U. Adams is a memoirist from Trinidad and Tobago. She earned her MFA from CUNY and is a current Ph.D. Candidate who holds a McKnight Doctoral Fellowship at her program. Camille is an alum of Tin House Summer Workshop and Kenyon Writer’s Workshop. Camille has received a fellowship from Roots Wounds Word and scholarships from Community of Writers, Kweli Literary Festival, Grubstreet, and VONA. Her writing has been long-listed in the Graywolf Creative Nonfiction Prize 2022, selected as a finalist for The 2021 Orison Anthology Award in Nonfiction, and is featured/forthcoming in Passages North, Citron Review, XRAY Literary Magazine, Variant Literature, The Forge Literary Magazine, Wasafiri, etc. She’s a memoir reader at Split Lip Magazine and is at work on an upcoming memoir. Camille also wants a cute, fat, little puppy.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/camille_u_adams
Thank you for your time and insights, Camille! All the best and happy writing!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Heads up: A few swears in this one.
Hi there,
Today I am psyched to be arts calling poet, musician, and my dear friend Dominique Gordon!
We are talking about the collaborative process behind his band DOMO JUJU and have a quick conversation about his latest album, SANE. Now available wherever you listen to music: https://songwhip.com/domojuju/sane
Follow the band on Insta:https://www.instagram.com/domo.juju/
Thanks for taking with me today, Dom! All the best, my friend!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am delighted to be arts calling actress and writer Julia Duffy!
About our guest:Julia Duffy is the creator and star of the audio drama podcast Things Unsaid, which is about to have its season finale!
Things unsaid, now available wherever you listen to podcasts!
https://pod.link/1458184577
Thanks for taking with me today, Julia!All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am delighted to be arts calling writer and filmmaker Tara Stillions Whitehead!
About our guest:A native Southern Californian, alumna of University of Southern California’s historic School of Cinematic Arts, and graduate of San Diego State University’s MFA writing program, Tara Stillions Whitehead (https://tarastillionswhitehead.net) is a filmmaker and writer teaching in Central Pennsylvania.
After working as a DGA assistant director and then as assistant to the executive producers of two number one prime time television shows, Tara left Hollywood to pursue projects that subvert celebrity worship and the dangerous narratives promoted by mainstream American media.
Tara’s writing has been published in or is forthcoming from various award-winning journals, magazines, and anthologies, including cream city review, The Rupture, Fairy Tale Review, Gone Lawn, PRISM international, Chicago Review, Pithead Chapel, Jellyfish Review, and Hobart. She is Assistant Professor of Film, Video, and Digital Media Production at Messiah University, where she is also faculty for the renowned Young Writers Workshop, and has given public lectures on monsters, media, and film.
Tara’s essay, “The Mother Must Die and Other Lies Fairy Tales Told Me,” published in Fairy Tale Review, was designated as a notable essay in the Best American Essays 2022 anthology, edited by Alexander Chee. Her stories were included in Wigleaf’s Top 50 in both 2021 and 2022, and she has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small fictions, the Pushcart Prize, and the AWP Intro Journals Award.
Tara is the author of three books: the hybrid chapbook, Blood Histories (Galileo Press), and two full-length story collections–The Year of the Monster, which will be released by Unsolicited Press in September 2022, and They More Than Burned, from ELJ Editions in August 2023.
Check out Tara’s latest publications!The Year of the Monster (Unsolicited Press 2022) https://www.unsolicitedpress.com/store/p384/theyearofthemonster.html
Blood Histories (Galileo Press 2021) https://freegalileo.com/product/blood-histories-by-tara-stillions-whitehead/
They More Than Burned (ELJ Editions 2023) https://elj-editions.com/they-more-than-burned/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrsWhitehouse74
Thanks for taking the time to catch up on the podcast, Tara! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am overjoyed to be arts calling Lynne Jensen Lampe!
About our guest:Lynne Jensen Lampe (lynnejensenlampe.com) writes poetry about family, mental illness, and societal expectations. Following and breaking rules. Stigma. Soon after Lynne was born, her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and (what was then called) manic-depression and sent from the air base in Newfoundland to a hospital in Florida, the first of many such separations.
Lynne’s poems appear in Yemassee, Anti-Heroin Chic, The American Journal of Poetry, Rock & Sling, Small Orange, LIT Magazine, and elsewhere. Her debut collection, Talk Smack to a Hurricane (Ice Floe Press, 2022), explores mother-daughter relationships and mental illness. She is a Best of the Net nominee, and her poem “Stirring the Ashes” was a finalist for the 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize.
When not writing, Lynne edits academic books, research journals, and YA novels. She lives in mid-Missouri with her musician husband, two dogs, and a friendly number of dust bunnies.
Talk Smack to a Hurricane, now available here! https://icefloepress.net/talk-smack-to-a-hurricane-lynne-jensen-lampe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LJensenLampe
Thanks for taking the time to catch up on the podcast, Lynne! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am so happy to be arts calling Monica Macansantos!
About our guest:Monica Macansantos (monicamacansantos.com) is a former James A. Michener Fellow for Fiction and Poetry at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her MFA in Writing. She also holds a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the Victoria University of Wellington, International Institute of Modern Letters. Her debut collection of stories about Filipinos at home and in the diaspora, Love and Other Rituals, is out from the University of Melbourne's Grattan Street Press.
Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Colorado Review, The Hopkins Review, Bennington Review, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and Katherine Mansfield and Children (Edinburgh University Press), among other places. Her work has been recognized as Notable in the Best American Essays 2022 _and the _Best American Essays 2016, and has received finalist and honorable mention citations from the _Glimmer Train _Fiction Open. Her work has also been translated into Czech (_Kuřata v hadí kleci: _Prague, Argo Press, 2020) and Spanish (_Arbolarium, Antologia Poetica de los Cinco Continentes: _Bogota, Colegio Bilingüe José Max León, 2019).
She has received fellowships and scholarships from the Michener Center for Writers, Hedgebrook, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the I-Park Foundation, Storyknife Writers Retreat, Moriumius (Japan), the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and the International Institute of Modern Letters.
Her completed manuscripts also include a collection of essays entitled Returning to My Father's Kitchen about grief, home, and belonging, and a novel entitled People We Trust about three young people who come of age in Marcos-era Philippines. She is currently working on a second novel, entitled Marian and Anja, about two childhood friends navigating the in-betweenness of their cultural identities in '90s Philippines and 2010s Austin, as well as a second story collection about Filipinos at home, in the US, and in New Zealand. She has lived in Delaware, Texas, the Philippines, and New Zealand, and loves tango, cooking, swimming, and birds. She also loves writing about her late father, the poet Francis C. Macansantos, from whom she inherited her love of writing, laughter, and life.
Love & Other RItuals, now available here: https://www.monicamacansantos.comand here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/love-and-other-rituals-selected-stories-monica-macansantos/18834429
Twitter: https://twitter.com/missmacansantos
Thanks for taking the time to chat on the show, Monica! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am to be arts calling Joseph Fasano!
About our guest:Joseph Fasano is the author of the novels The Swallows of Lunetto (Maudlin House, 2022) and The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing (Platypus Press, 2020), which was named one of the "20 Best Small Press Books of 2020." His books of poetry include The Crossing (2018), Vincent (2015), Inheritance (2014), and Fugue for Other Hands (2013). His honors include the Cider Press Review Book Award, the Rattle Poetry Prize, and a nomination for the Poets' Prize, "awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year."
Fasano's writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, Measure, Tin House, The Adroit Journal, Verse Daily, PEN Poetry Series, American Literary Review, American Poetry Journal, and the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, among other publications. He is a Lecturer at Manhattanville College and a Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia University, and he serves on the Editorial Board of Alice James Books. He is also the founder of the Poem for You Series, and his latest project is a "living poem" for his son that he is live-tweeting on Twitter at @stars_poem. http://josephfasano.net
The Swallows of Lunetto, now available!https://shop.maudlinhouse.net/#the-swallows-of-lunetto
Don't forget to stop by Joseph's Substack to continue developing a deeper understanding of poetry! https://josephfasano.substack.com
Thanks for taking the time to join me on the show, Joseph! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am so thankful to be calling Margarita Saona! And stay tuned for part II coming next year!
About our Guest:
Margarita Saona teaches Latin American literature and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was born in Peru and studied linguistics and literature at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru. She received a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from Columbia University in New York.
She is interested in issues of memory, cognition, empathy, and representation in literature and the arts. She has published books on literary and cultural criticism such as Novelas familiares: Figuraciones de la nación en la novela latinoamericana contemporánea (Rosario, 2004) and Memory Matters in Transitional Perú (London, 2014), and Despadre: Masculinidades, travestismos y ficciones de la ley en la literatura peruana. Her short fiction collections are Comehoras (Lima, 2008), Objeto perdido (Lima, 2012), and La ciudad en que no estás (Lima, 2020). She also has a book of poems, Corazón de hojalata/Tin Heart (Chicago, 2017) and an unpublished collection of poems entitled Precaria materia.
She is currently working two books, a short essay entittled De monstruos y cyborgs and Corazón en trance, a memoir about her experience of heart transplantation.
Website: https://margaritasaonacom.wordpress.com/about-me
The Ghost of You, now available for pre-order here:https://laberintopress.com/the-ghost-of-you
IG: https://instagram.com/margaritasaonaTwitter: https://twitter.com/MargaritaSaona
Be sure to check in next year for a closer look at Margarita's collection, The Ghost of You, episode coming in March! Thanks for joining me on the show, Margarita! Muchisimas gracias!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am si happy to be arts calling Rhonda Parker!
About our Guest:
Rhonda Parker is a storyteller who slings a variety of words and ideas from her desk in Appalachia. Evernote and Google Docs are her constant companions and eternal scribes. Overthinking is both her superpower and her curse.
Rhonda writes speculative fiction in various formats, on her Story Blog, Twitter, and in published books. She posts writing and gaming videos to her YouTube channel, as well as full cast audio productions including narrations, audio roleplays, audio dramas, and audiobooks.
When she’s not crafting a story, or putting together a project, Rhonda can be found gaming, reading, or trying to make her friends laugh.
All of my books, the audio series, my social media, etc. are listed on my Linktree page:
https://www.linktr.ee/WordsByParker
And be sure to check out her work on YouTube!
Endgame: A Zombie Novelette
Audiobook (free on YouTube) - https://youtu.be/4IMvoJWXQgsLinks for Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo – https://www.wordsbyparker.com/books
Renegade’s Shadow (Audio Roleplay)Playlist on YouTube - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6RAz579zz8pRo9V0qh9MigvLF64Xf2az
Thanks for joining me on the show, Rhonda! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Melissa Jordan!
About our guest: Melissa E. Jordan lives in northwestern Connecticut, and was raised primarily in Ledyard, CT. Her recent poetry collection, Red Low Fog/Transcript (Animal Heart Press, 2022) is a hybrid poetry/fiction collection in the form of a documentary transcript. Each interview subject speaks in their own specific category of poetry.
Her previous collection, Bain-Marie (Big Wonderful Press) was published in 2015. Jordan’s poems have appeared in The Cossack Review, The Dillydoun Review, Open: Journal of Art & Letters, Word Riot, Otis Nebula, Terrain, Off the Coast, Rat’s Ass Review, and elsewhere.
Jordan, who has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance journalist and as a communications specialist for an anti-hunger agency, is currently working on a graphic verse novel/alternative history project with her husband, the writer/illustrator Michael A.Reilly. Together, they are the exceedingly proud parents of an adult daughter and son, and are cooking up plans to travel by campervan and/or boat, starting next year.
Purchase Red Low Fog / Transcript here: https://animalheartpress.net/red-low-fog-transcript-by-melissa-e-jordan/
Thanks so much for stopping by, Melissa! Congrats on this wonderful book!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
'Don't let your own ideas intimidate you.' -Melissa Jordan
Hi there,
Today I'm excited to be arts calling CJ Peterson!
About our guest: CJ Peterson has been a lifelong storyteller who grew up obsessed with movies. Since an early age, he knew he wanted to tell similar stories of his own that made him feel that magic a special story gave him. His debut novel IN THE SIGHT OF SOUND is out now. -- He lives in the Ozark Mountains with his wife & golden retriever and spends his spare time enjoying his record collection, hiking, computer gaming, and of course, discovering exciting new movies.
Check out CJ's novel, IN THE SIGHT OF SOUND, out now!
https://inthesightofsound.com/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJYM5C48
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling Jesus M. Garibay!
About our guest:
Jesus is an actor, dancer, and director based in Mexico City. Links below!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JesusMGaribay FB: https://www.facebook.com/jesus.muga TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jesusmgaribay
Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast, Jesus! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling Steffy Sandoval!
About our guest: I'm a recent Florida International University alumni with a BFA Theatre Performance degree. Upon graduation, I was fortunate to book some Miami regional work which gave me the confidence and momentum to move to NYC. I have performed Off-Broadway with The Actor's Project NYC in their Season 41 industry showcases at the magnificent Daveport Theatre. Along with gracing an Off-Broadway stage, I have just launched with my talented friend (and now partner) Patrick John Boyle our very own Theatre and Film Production Co. Our new SAG short "The Ex" has completed filming and is entering the editing stage.
Check out Steffy's initiative for Minority Actors and Performers who want to be considered for desired roles without letting their limiting beliefs get in the way: Minority Actors + Breaking the Mold! https://www.facebook.com/groups/actorsandbreakingthemold/
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Steffy!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hello,
Today I am honored to be arts calling Irma Herrera!
About our guest: Irma Herrera is a writer, solo performer, and social justice activista. A civil rights lawyer for 30+ years, she shares anecdotes of her time fighting for disadvantaged communities, the process behind her one-woman show, 'Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?' an hour-long show that is a mashup of personal narrative, lessons in American history, and stories about respecting people’s names, even when they don’t sound like “real” American names.
Stop by Irma's website for Irma's statement and show details: https://www.irmaherrera.com/about
An incredible and inspiring conversation, thanks for coming on the show, Irma!
All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am elated to be arts calling Leslie Absher!
About our Guest: Leslie Absher is a journalist and essayist. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Independent, Salon, Huffington Post, Ms., Greek Reporter, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Her father joined the CIA before she was born. When she was a baby, her family moved to Athens, Greece. Just in time for a coup. She spent years trying to learn what her Cold War father’s role was in that event. Her memoir Spy Daughter, Queer Girl is about growing up with a spy and the cost of keeping secrets.
She received a master’s in education from Harvard, taught G.E.D. to high school dropouts, and currently teaches writing and study skills to middle school and high school students. She lives in Oakland with her comic book writer/lawyer wife.
www.leslieabsher.com Twitter: @LeslieAbsher
Spy Daughter, Queer Girl: In Search of Truth and Acceptance in a Family of Secrets Available here: https://www.latahbooks.com/blank-1/spy-daughter-queer-girl
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today it's a pleasure to be arts calling Ken Poyner!
About our guest: Ken's four collections of brief fictions and four collections of speculative poetry can be found at most online booksellers. He spent 33 years in information system management, is married to a world record holding female power lifter, and has a family of several cats and betta fish. Individual works have appeared in "Café Irreal", "Analog", "Danse Macabre", "The Cincinnati Review", and several hundred other places.
For more information, please visit: www.kpoyner.com and www.barkingmoosepress.com
Thanks for taking the time, Ken! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: please consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, or are starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference, so check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am ecstatic to be arts calling Dr. Rachael Hanel!
About our guest: Rachael Hanel is associate professor of creative nonfiction and journalism at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her book We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter, also from the University of Minnesota Press, was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. Her essays have been published in print and online in the anthology Love and Profanity: A Collection of True, Tortured, Wild, Hilarious, Concise, and Intense Tales of Teenage Life; Slag Glass City; Midwestern Gothic; WLA: War, Literature, and the Arts; The Bellingham Review; and New Delta Review.
Not the Camilla We Knew: One Woman’s Path from Small-town America to the Symbionese Liberation Army https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/not-the-camilla-we-knew
We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter https://www.powells.com/book/well-be-the-last-ones-to-let-you-down-memoir-of-a-gravediggers-daughter-9780816683468
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rachael18 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachael_hanel/
Thanks for this lovely conversation Rachael! Such a pleasure!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi there,
Thursdays are for arts calling! And today I am psyched to be arts calling Shahab Zargari!
About our guest: Shahab Zargari is an award-winning filmmaker, music lover, author and entrepreneur. He graduated in 2000 from the University of California at Irvine with a bachelor of arts degree in Sociology with a minor in Education.
After years of creating original YouTube and Vimeo content, Shahab jumped into serious filmmaking with his year-long science fiction film project, THE CRYSTAL CRYPT (2013), starring husband and wife acting team Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt. He proceeded to work on honing his craft through short films, music videos, and commissioned work. After the success of his film, MY NAME IS ART (2018), in the film festival circuit and inclusion in Amazon Prime’s first film festival he began work on what would be his most recent film. This film, entitled OH, THE GUILT (2021) (a nod to a Nirvana song of the same name), is now making its way through the film festival circuit.
Currently he creates all of the video output for the UNLV Performing Arts Center, UNLV School of Music, UNLV School of Architecture, UNLV Departments of Film, Dance, Theatre, Art, on top of any freelance directing or editing gig he can get his hands on.
You can view all of his creative output on his Vimeo and Youtube accounts.
Here's a link to the Shoah Survivors Project mentioned in the episode: https://sites.google.com/view/shoah-survivors-project-unlv/
Thanks for taking the time to join me on the podcast, Shahab!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
TW: This episode is a discussion about a work that addresses sexual violence.
Hi friends,
Today I'm so excited to be arts calling Raegen Pietrucha, welcome back!
About our guest: Raegen Pietrucha is a professional and creative writer, editor, consultant, and educator with two degrees in English and more than 20 years of combined experience. Her chapbook, An Animal I Can’t Name, won the 2015 Two of Cups Press competition; her debut poetry collection, Head of a Gorgon, is now available via Vegetarian Alcoholic Press; and she has a memoir in progress. She received her MFA from Bowling Green State University, where she was an assistant editor for Mid-American Review. Her creative work has been published in Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, and other journals.
About Head of a Gorgon: Head of a Gorgon is a narrative in poems that reimagines the myth of Medusa, transporting this ancient tale of sexual violence into contemporary times and examining it through a survivor-centric, feminist lens. Via persona poems that enable readers to hear this story primarily and directly from a protagonist often sidelined or silenced in other tellings, this devastating collection brings the visceral physical and psychological experiences and effects of sexual trauma out of the shadows and into the spotlight, revealing a path along which survivors might reimagine themselves within the societal structures that work against them.
Head of a Gorgon now available here: http://vegetarianalcoholicpress.com/titles/raegen-pietrucha-head-of-a-gorgon
Raegen's website: https://raegenmp.wordpress.com.
@freeradicalrp on Twitter
@raegenmp on Instagram
Thanks so much for your time, Raegen! Great to talk to you again!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out the new website artscalling.com for the latest episodes!
Go make a dent: much love,
j
Hi friends!
Today, I am so excited to be arts calling Samantha Terrell!
About our guest: Samantha Terrell is an internationally published American poet and author whose work has received five-star reviews. In 2021, she received First Honorable Mention in the "Anita McAndrews Poets for Human Rights Awards" organized by Poets Without Borders. Her most recent book, Things Worth Repeating?, features an invented form - the poetic trinitas. Terrell and her family reside in upstate New York.
Poetry Sale on Samantha's website until 9/4!!! http://www.samanthaterrell.com/books.html
Cosmic Tragicomedy is now available for (eBook) pre-order, to be released alongside its paperback on Friday, Sept. 16th!
Simplicity, and Other Things We Overcomplicate, now available! https://books2read.com/SimplicityAndOtherThingsWeOvercomplicate
Vision, and Other Things We Hide From, now available from Potter's Grove Press! https://pottersgrovepress.com/product/vision-and-other-things-we-hide-from
Keeping Afloat, now available from JC Studio Press! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keeping-Afloat-Samantha-Terrell/dp/1739908880
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Rodd Whelpley!
About our Guest: Rodd Whelpley seeks poetry in the everyday world. He manages an electric efficiency program for 32 cities across Illinois and lives near Springfield with his wife, son, and the memories of good Golden Retrievers he has known.
His poems have appeared in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, 2River View, Star 82 Review, Right Hand Pointing, Shot Glass Journal, Spillway, The Naugatuck River Review, Eunoia Review, Antiphon, The Chagrin River Review and other journals.
The Last Bridge is Home, now available for sale! https://kelsaybooks.com/products/the-last-bridge-is-home
Check out Rodd's collection Whoever Said Love, now available from ELJ Editions! https://elj-editions.com/whoever-said-love/
Thanks for coming on the show, Rodd!!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Thanks for stopping by, today I am ecstatic to be arts calling Madeleine Corley!
About our guest:
Madeleine Corley has multiple interests with her main affinity simply being words. From elaborate acrostics to black-out found poems, she adores fitting concepts into tight spaces to create a puzzle.
Madeleine received her Bachelors Degree in Public Health from The Ohio State University in 2017, where she additionally acquired a minor in Leadership Studies. Her years at university brought about a love for travel through studying abroad, for literacy through a Penpal program she expanded, and for events and programming through her involvement in BuckeyeThon fundraising and morale.
After university, she spent time in Dublin, Ireland, where she expanded her poetry and literary experience through performance and small event planning. She was a regular at the New Romantics Poetry night and an organizer for a local Meetup group where she focused on prompt writing and facilitating relationships between writers.
She began her tenure as the Poetry Editor for Barren Magazine in December 2018 and has been in the role since.
Sign up for The Newsledder! A newsletter about writing, memes, and much more, by Madeleine, Lannie Stabile, Todd Dillard, and Jared Beloff!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Madelinksi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wrotemadeleine
Thanks so much for this amazing conversation, Maddie!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Welcome to the show! Today I am arts calling Dr. Sarah Etlinger!
Sarah A. Etlinger holds a BA in English from Skidmore College, an MA in English from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition (English) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Scholarly interests include new media studies, first-year composition, feminist literature, the Beatles, and popular culture. Currently, she is Associate professor of Composition and Literature at Rock Valley College where she teaches courses in composition, film, and literature.
A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of two books: Never One for Promises (Kelsay Books, 2018) and Little Human Things (Clare Songbirds, 2020). Other poems can be found in a variety of literary magazines, including The Amethyst Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, Mookychick, _ _The Penwood Review, The Magnolia Review,Brine (where she was September 2018’s featured Poet of the Month) and many others.
Interests include cooking, baking, traveling, spending time with her family, and music.
Her latest poetry collection, Little Human Things is now available!
'Never One for Promises,' a poetry collection, now available!
Dr. Sarah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drsaephd
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Dr. Sarah!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
What a great episode we have for you: Today I am arts calling Allison Adair!
About our Guest: Allison Adair’s first collection, The Clearing, was selected by Henri Cole as winner of Milkweed’s Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. Her poems appear in American Poetry Review, Arts & Letters, Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review Online, and ZYZZYVA; and her work has been honored with the Pushcart Prize, the Florida Review Editors’ Award, the Orlando Prize, a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, and first place in the Fineline Competition from Mid-American Review. Originally from central Pennsylvania, Allison teaches at Boston College and Grub Street.
Allison on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fascicles
Order The Clearing on Bookshop.
Order The Clearing on Amazon.
Stop by Allison's website for recent publications! https://www.allisonadair.com/publications
Thanks for coming on the show, Allison!!
*Note: Some edits have been made to the episode due to connection issues.
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hi there,
Today I am overjoyed to be arts calling Estela González!
About our guest: Estela González holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in Latin American literature. As a binational and bilingual writer, she tells stories in English and Spanish about race, class, gender, and environmental justice. Growing up in Mexico, Estela regularly visited her family in Mazatlán, where decades-long intensive development has led to the demise of beaches and sea turtle colonies. Her research and support of fishermen protecting sea turtles in the Sea of Cortés deepen her reflections on environmental justice, race relations, and sexuality. Her work is featured in the Barcelona Review, the Cobalt Review, Connotation Press, Cronopio, Flash Frontier, Flyway Magazine, Kudzu House, Label Me Latina, La Colmena, Luvina, the Fem, and the Revista Mexicana de Literatura Contemporánea, as well as in outstanding collections such as Best of Solstice Literary Magazine, Feminine Rising (Cynren Press, 2019), and Under the Volcano. Arribada was a 2019 finalist for Feminist Press's Louise Meriwether Award.
Arribada, now on sale here: https://bookshop.org/a/84546/9781947976313
Estela on Twitter: https://twitter.com/5estelagonzalez
Thank you so much for this inspiring conversation, Estela!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hello!
Here we go, today I am so excited to be arts calling Thomas Bazar!
About: Thomas Bazar (pronounced Bay-zar), is a novelist and playwright. Two of his plays were staged with the performance collective, A Band of Actors. He longs to reconnect with his Persian roots and loves Persian food and its great history. Besides that, he loves the wonderful cities of Lisbon and Paris, his dogs, and anything to do with the natural world.
His novel, An Expectation of Plenty, is now now available!
https://www.amazon.com/Expectation-Plenty-Thomas-Bazar/dp/1648261086/
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781648261084
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-expectation-of-plenty-thomas-bazar/1136832279?ean=9781648261084
Thanks for this amazing conversation, Thomas!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Welcome to CRUZFEST: Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Denise Cruz-Castino!
About our guest: Denise Cruz-Castino graduated from UCLA, had a successful advertising writing career, and has turned that into a screenwriting career. Her first feature produced 5 Weddings premiered at Cannes in 2018, opened in 52 countries worldwide, co-stars Bo Derek and Candy Clark and was produced by Uniglobe Entertainment. She’s currently working on a feature comedy with Josephson Entertainment and has Miranda Bailey attached as director. She recently had several children’s horror animation shorts produced by DreamworksTV Youtube channel for their Spine Chilling Stories. She has sold a live-action short to Disney, had a horror short produced by Raving Eejit Entertainment, and her short, Things Look Grim, was produced by Sasha Golberg. She and her writing partner Johnny Harrington have several other projects they’re pitching like their WW2 drama and several sitcoms. Her blog that helps newbie screenwriters, screenwriterwriting.blogspot, was named Website of the Week by Script Magazine. Her scripts have placed in Final Draft Big Break, Fade-In Screenwriting and Nicholl Fellowship contests.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cruzwriter
For more information, please visit: denisecruzcastino.com
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Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hi there,
Today I am so honored to be arts calling Daniel A. Olivas!
About: Daniel A. Olivas is the author of ten books and editor of two anthologies. His latest books are How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022), The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories (University of Arizona Press, 2017), and Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017).
Widely anthologized, Daniel has also written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Guardian, La Bloga, BOMB, High Country News, Huffington Post, Alta Journal, Los Angeles Times, El Paso Times, The Rumpus, and the Jewish Journal.
Daniel is also a playwright. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, and his plays may be read at New Play Exchange. Daniel's first full-length play, Waiting for Godínez, was selected for the Playwrights' Arena Summer Reading Series (2020), and The Road Theatre's 12th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival (2021), and was a Semi-Finalist for the 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award (American Blues Theater). Daniel was selected for Circle X Theatre's inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group where he adapted his novel, The Book of Want, for the stage, culminating in a streamed reading (2021). Daniel's play, Waiting, had its world premiere with Playwrights' Arena on July 24, 2021.
Daniel, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, grew up near downtown Los Angeles. He now makes his home in Southern California with his wife, and they have an adult son. Daniel received his degree in English literature from Stanford University and law degree from UCLA. By day, he is an attorney.
Visit https://www.danielolivas.com/ for more information.
Read Daniel's plays at the New Play Exchange! https://newplayexchange.org/users/35649/daniel-olivas
Thanks for this incredible conversation, Daniel!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Abby Tozer!
Abby Tozer is an actor, screenwriter, and producer. She and her creative team are currently embarking on the post-production of the short film, Positive. Coming soon!
Stop by a virtual Q&A for the film on July 12th 4pm PST via Google Meets! LINK HERE
Visit https://www.positiveshortfilm.com for more information.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Abby!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Gauri Awasthi!
About: Gauri Awasthi is an Indian poet and an MFA graduate from McNeese State University. She has won awards and scholarships from the Sundress Academy For The Arts, Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, Bread Loaf Writers' Workshop, and Kundiman. Her writing has been published in The Rumpus, Quarterly West, Buzzfeed, Notre Dame Review, and others.
Gauri's Twitter: https://twitter.com/awasthi_gauri
Gauri's latest course is now available here: 4-Week Online Poetry Workshop: Decolonizing Poetry
Thank you so much for your time, Gauri!
*Note: This episode was recorded the week of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some of our conversation centers around this topic.
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Hi there,
Today I am so happy to be arts calling Kátia Bandeira de Mello-Gerlach!
About: Kátia Bandeira de Mello-Gerlach is a Brazilian fiction writer residing in New York City. Her first two books of short stories were published by Projeto Dulcinéia Catadora, an art collective, part of the Latin American cartonera movement. Disquiet International participant in June, 2016 with grant by the Luso American Foundation, FLAD. 2017 Fellow at the New York Foundation for the Arts Program. Kátia contributes to literary journals in Brazil, Portugal, USA and France including La Cause Littéraire, Curious Fiction, Words without Borders, pnetliteratura.pt e Jornal Rascunho (www.rascunho.com.br). “Colisões Bestiais Particula(res)” (“Collisions in Particles, a Bestiary”) was published by Editora Confraria do Vento in January 2015 and as “Colisiones Bestiales” in Spanish by Diaz Grey Editores @ McNally and Jackson, Soho, New York in March, 2016. A new book, Jogos (Ben)ditos e Folias (Mal)ditas (“Blessed Games, Cursed Follies”) was officially launched by Editora Confraria do Vento at the international literary fair of Poços de Caldas, Flipoços in May 2017. Kátia is a frequent guest writer at the West Point Academy and Columbia University.
Visit her website for more information: https://katiabandeirademello.com
Thank you for this lovely conversation, Kátia!
--
Re: the latest attack on abortion rights, please consider visiting https://www.podvoices.help for resources during this difficult time.
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Thrilled to be arts calling aureleo sans today!
aureleo sans is a flamingo. she is also a Colombian-American, non-binary, queer poet and writer with a disability. she grew up in various forms of homelessness in Miami, Barranquilla, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, and Phoenix before settling down in San Antonio, where she currently lives. her family limboed far below the poverty line until she escaped to chase the American Dream Unfulfilled.
she is a 2022 Tin House Scholar, Periplus fellow, a Macondista, a VONA alumnus, and a creative nonfiction associate editor at jmww. she was named the second-place winner of Fractured Lit's 2021 Micro Fiction Contest, a longlister for the 2021 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize, and a semi-finalist for the 2021 American Short Fiction Halifax Ranch Prize. she is a 2022 Pushcart Prize nominee and a 2022 Best Microfiction nominee.
aureleo is presently working on two projects:
- THE GLORIOUS POOR, a collection of short stories set in a housing project community confronting the specters of gentrification, the pandemic and a possible apocalypse.
- FLAMINGO, a memoir investigating legacy or rather, what is left behind after the shrapnel of intergenerational poverty and a life spent poor, queer, and different.
Twitter https://twitter.com/aureleos
Visit https://www.aureleos.com/readme for her latest published works.
Thanks for inspiring us, aureleo!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I'm so excited to be arts calling Leticia Urieta!
Leticia Urieta is Tejana writer from Austin, TX. Leticia is a graduate of Agnes Scott College with a BA in English/Creative Writing and holds an MFA in Fiction writing from Texas State University. She works a teaching artist in the Austin community with a focus on the pedagogy of equity in creative writing. She is the Regional Program Manager for Austin Bat Cave and is the director of Barrio Writers in Austin, a free college level youth writers workshop founded by author and activist Sarah Rafael Garcia in Santa Ana, CA.
Her creative work appears in PANK, Chicon Street Poets, Lumina and many others. Her fiction explores the intersections of Latinx identity with the folklore, traditional stories and the supernatural or speculative. Her mixed genre collection of poetry and prose, Las Criaturas, is forthcoming from FlowerSong Press.
Leticia loves living in Austin with her husband and two dogs who are terrible work distractions. Despite all, she is fueled by sushi and breaks to watch pug videos on Instagram.
Las Criaturas now available here: https://www.flowersongpress.com/store-j9lRp/p/lascriaturas
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Adrienne Crezo!
Adrienne Crezo is an editor, Pushcart-nominated writer, and Tin House scholar (2022) of Comanche descent. She lives in Ohio and on Twitter @adriennecrezo. You can find her work in Complete Sentence, HAD, Moist Poetry Journal, The Indianapolis Review, and elsewhere now and forthcoming.
Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Adrienne!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling Andrea Deeken!
About Andrea: Andrea Deeken was born in rural Missouri. Her writing has appeared in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Beyond Queer Words, The Blue Mountain Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Valley Voices, and elsewhere. Her awards include an Honorable Mention in the 2019 Spoon River Poetry Review Editors’ Prize Contest and second place in the 2020 Blue Mountain Review LGBTQ Chapbook Contest, among others. Her debut chapbook, Mother Kingdom, won the 2021 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition and was a finalist in the Poetry: Chapbook Category of the 2022 International Book Awards. A former book editor, she has worked for the Multnomah County Library for fifteen years. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her wife and daughter.
You can order a copy of Mother Kingdom through the Slapering Hol Press online bookstore. Use the code FREESHIP for free US shipping!
Visit Andrea's website: andreadeeken.com. Twitter @drelo and Instagram @andrea.deeken.
Thanks for this inspiring conversation, Andrea!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am so happy to be arts calling Monica Cross!
About Monica: Monica Cross studied English at New College of Florida (2006-2010), before going on to Mary Baldwin College (now Mary Baldwin University) where she earned her Master of Letters (2012) and M.F.A. (2013) in the Shakespeare and Performance graduate program. She was a part of the first year of the MFA company model, and a founding member of Roving Shakespare. She studied with Make Trouble in 2017, and has done choreography intensives with Intimacy Directors International and Neutral Chaos.
She has been the Playhouse Manager at the American Shakespeare Center, the Production Manager at Starlite Players, the Text Coach at the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival, and a Costume Designer for The Urbanite. From 2014-2019, she was the Production Manager and Technical Director of the Black Box Theater at New College of Florida, where she also taught courses in theatrical design. She has also taught at the University of South Florida St. Peterburg and Ringling College of Art and Design.
Most recently, she has turned her attention towards playwriting. Her short plays have been produced in across the United States and online. Her one-act, Cyrano on the Moon, was produced at both the Tampa Fringe Festival and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. And her first full-length play, Wonder of Our Stage, was the winner of The Players New Play Festival in 2018 and produced as part of the Players Summer Sizzlers Series in 2019. Her newest full-length play, The Aria of Julie d'Aubigny, the cross-dressing, sword-fighting, opera singer, wherein she seduces men and women alike, wins numerous duels, must be twice pardoned by the King, and eventually finds true love., was a semifinalist for both the O'Neill New Play Conference and the American Shakespeare Center's Shakespeare's New Contemporaries.
She was also the recipient of the 2019 John Ringling Towers Individual Artist Award for Performing Arts, and a Fellow at the Hermitage Artist Retreat 2019
Thanks for coming on the show, Monica!
https://monicaatcross.wixsite.com/
https://twitter.com/theroaringgirl
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Let's get the show on the road! Today I am so excited to be arts calling Peter Clarke!
About Peter: Peter Clarke is the author of the comic novels Politicians Are Superheroes (Pski's Porch Publishing, 2018) and The Singularity Survival Guide (Logos Literature, 2019). His short fiction has appeared in over 50 literary journals and his nonfiction has appeared in publications including Areo Magazine, The Humanist, The American Spectator, and Free Inquiry Magazine.
He's the founding editor of Jokes Literary Review. Native to Port Angeles, Washington, he currently lives in Sacramento.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeyPeterClarke
For more information, visit: https://www.petermclarke.com/
Thank you so much for this wonderful conversation, Peter!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Thrilled to be arts calling Taccara the Creator!
About: Taccara Martin is the epitome of the term "multi-hyphenate." As a marketer, content creator, podcast editor/producer, and author, she has fallen in love with stories and their ability to connect people to each other. She wanted to create content that educated and inspired women through their healing journey, using her life and story as a template, along with the books written with her husband, Kenyon Martin. With a childhood upbringing in theatre and acting, she has endeavored to add script-writer and voice actress to her list of growing skills, as the writer and lead voice actress of Unmasked.
About the Unmasked Podcast: Unmasked is an entertaining, scripted podcast where listeners will journey with Kenya as she tries to make sense of her career, love life, and her failures—through the lens of her therapist. Check it out here: https://unmasked.digital/
Visit Ask the Martins Relationship Coaching: https://askthemartins.com/
Taccara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theunmaskedshow
Thanks so much for this wonderful conversation, Taccara! All the best!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Welcome! Today I am arts calling Kevin Carey!
About Kevin: Kevin Carey is the Coordinator of Creative Writing at Salem State University. He has published five books – a chapbook of fiction, The Beach People from Red Bird Chapbooks (2014) and three books of poetry from Cavankerry Press, The One Fifteen to Penn Station (2012), Jesus Was a Homeboy (2016) and Set in Stone (2020) and a new crime novel Murder in the Marsh from Darkstroke Books.
His one-act plays have been staged at The New Works Festival in Newburyport, MA and The New Hampshire Theater Project and his co-written screenplay Peter’s Song (with Ed Boyle) won Best Screenplay at the 2009 New Hampshire Film Festival and Best Drama at the Woods Hole Film Festival. Kevin’s full-length play, The Stand or Sal is Dead, premiered at the Actor’s Studio in Newburyport, MA in June of 2018. Kevin is also a documentary filmmaker. His latest co-produced film (with Mark Hillringhouse and music by RG Evans) Unburying Malcolm Miller premiered at the Mass Poetry Festival in 2017.
His short fiction can be found in several literary journals, including his short story “Home for the Holidays” which appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of The Apple Valley Review and was included in the Best of the Net Anthology and selected as one of the story South Million Writers top ten online stories of 2011. The Apple Valley Review, Kevin was also a 7th-grade basketball coach for nineteen seasons before stepping down a couple of years ago. (Photo by Mark Hillringhouse).
Visit Kevin's website, https://kevincareywriter.com, for updates and more projects!
Purchase Kevin's novel, Murder in the Marsh, now on Amazon!
Stop by Molecule, a Tiny Lit Mag!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Thanks for stopping by! Today I am so thrilled to be arts calling Kellie Scott-Reed!
About Kellie: Assistant editor in chief of Roi Fainéant Press: An enthusiast who can’t be bothered with the negative things to say. The tail to many comets, the starfish savior, the harbinger of partially good news. Brushes with fame but not famous. A songwriter, a poet, a short-story-at-work-when-I-should-be-doing-my-job-writer; I seek to live as many” truths” as one skin suit can without tearing at the seams. Justice is my hobby.
She writes songs for the band Fivehead that can be found on iTunes or Spotify. You can find her work all round, scattered about. She is a very happy person, and therefore loves dark things.
Stop by Roi Fainéant Press! https://www.roifaineantpress.com/
Visit YouTube for Kellie's interview series, "A Word?"
Check out Kellie's latest short story at Synchronized Chaos, Bulletproof Glass Smeared with Grease.
Kellie on Twitter @kelliescottreed
Thanks for this inspiring conversation, Kellie!
-- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Let's get this thing started! Today I am arts calling Elaina Battista-Parsons!
About: Elaina Battista-Parsons is a writer across genres. She also works as a reading coach for students with disabilities. Elaina loves ice cream, antiques, pop culture, and snow. Elaina’s poems and essays have been published by Backlash Press, Burnt Pine Magazine, Vine Leaves Press, and Read Furiously. She also has an upcoming YA novel with Inked in Gray Press.
Elaina's website: https://elainawrites.com/
Italian Bones in the Snow: A Memoir in Shorts, out now! https://www.vineleavespress.com/italian-bones-in-the-snow-by-elaina-battista-parsons.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BraveIrene77 Insta: https://www.instagram.com/e.battista77/
Thanks so much for stopping by, Elaina! Let's talk antiques next time!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there and welcome!
Today I'm delighted to be arts calling J. Simon Harris!
About J:
J. Simon Harris lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife Ashley, their son Luke, and their dogs Hallie and Lucy. In addition to literature and poetry, he loves science (and works as a scientist), videogames, movies, the outdoors, and most of all spending time with his family. He has translated poetry into English from Italian, Spanish, Ancient Greek, Old English, and Provencal. His translation of Dante's Inferno in terza rima is now available on the Amazon Store. He is currently working on a translation of Dante's Vita Nuova, and a translation of Homer's Iliad in hexameter verse (and of course, he's eager to start work on Purgatory). Much of his work, including translations and original poetry, is showcased on his blog (www.jsimonharris.com)
Purchase the new translation of Dante's Inferno here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X2686G5/
Lemnos, a novel, now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M07II5P
Purchase the Pablo Neruda translation by J! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0848P6BN9
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am delighted to bring you this conversation: Today I am arts calling Richard Jeffrey Newman!
About Richard: Poet. Literary co-translator. Essayist. Proud community college professor. Survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Curator, First Tuesdays reading series.
As a poet and essayist, Richard Jeffrey Newman’s work is rooted in the impact of feminism on his life as a man. As a co-translator of classical Persian poetry, he writes about the impact of that canon on our contemporary lives. His own books of poetry are, most recently, Words for What Those Men Have Done, (Guernica Editions 2017) and For My Son, A Kind of Prayer (Ghostbird Press in 2016). CavanKerry Press published his first book, The Silence of Men, in 2006. His most recent book of translations is The Teller of Tales: Stories From Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Junction Press 2011). Newman is on the Board of Directors of Newtown Literary and curates the First Tuesdays reading series in Jackson Heights, NY. He is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College. After ten years of service to his union, he is once again focusing on his writing. His website is http://richardjnewman.com.
Thank you so much for talking with me, Richard!
(TW: Experiences of sexual abuse are briefly discussed in this episode).
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Let's get this podcasting this started! Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Eli Godfrey!
Eli is a writer and voice actor based in Los Angeles.
https://www.eligodfrey.com/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3229378/
Eli’s poetry collection, Imagine a World, now on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Imagine-World-Poems-about-dictators-ebook/dp/B09RZX9GZJ
Thanks for coming on the show!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month may have ended, but we have a handful more episodes with poets this May! Today I'm so excited to be arts calling Shaine Greenwood, our first ever repeat guest!
About Shaine:
Shaine Greenwood is a Seattle-based writer, artist, and weirdo. He writes poetry, sci-fi, and literary fiction with a focus on people and what makes them tick. You can find his work here:
youaremuted.com
Check out The Aether, now on Amazon!
Also, here's Shaine's poetry collection, Faces.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat Shaine, what a blast! Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month may have ended, but we have a handful more episodes with poets this May! Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Lynne Jensen Lampe!
About Lynne:
She inherited a wooden bowl, her grandpa’s pipe, and a bug saved since 1944 when her mother, only 10, had something stuck in her ear. Tethers to the past still waiting for their poem. But her dad’s Smith Corona typewriter? Her mother’s mental illness? Already on the page.
Lynne Jensen Lampe writes poetry about family, mental illness, and societal expectations. Following and breaking rules. Stigma. Soon after Lynne was born, her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and sent from the air base in Newfoundland to a hospital in Florida, the first of many such separations.
Lynne’s poems appear in Yemassee, Anti-Heroin Chic, The American Journal of Poetry, Rock & Sling, Small Orange, LIT Magazine, and elsewhere. Her chapbook about mother-daughter relationships and mental illness, Talk Smack to a Hurricane, is forthcoming from Ice Floe Press in 2022. She is a Best of the Net nominee, and her poem “Stirring the Ashes” was a finalist for the 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize.
When not writing, Lynne edits academic books, research journals, and YA novels. She lives in mid-Missouri with her musician husband and a friendly number of dust bunnies.
Visit her website for publications and the latest updates! https://lynnejensenlampe.com/
Thanks for coming on the show, Lynne!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month may have ended, but we have a handful more episodes with poets this May! Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Anindita Sengupta!
About: Anindita Sengupta is the author of Only the Forest Knows (Paperwall, forthcoming), Walk Like Monsters (Paperwall, 2016), and City of Water (Sahitya Akademi, 2010). Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in several anthologies and in journals such as Plume, 580 Split, per happened, Feral, One and Breakwater Review. She has received fellowships / awards from the Charles Wallace Trust India, the International Reporting Project, TFA India and Muse India. Her journalistic articles have appeared in The Guardian, UK, and many Indian publications. She was founder-editor of Ultraviolet.in, a webzine for young Indian feminists. With over two decades of experience in writing, journalism and communications management, she has worked for non-profits such as Gender at Work, Samuha India and Fida International.
She is from Mumbai, India, and currently lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Visit aninditasengupta.com for the latest publications!
Thanks for coming on the show, Anindita!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month continues! Today I am so happy to be arts calling Jennifer Schomburg Kanke!
About: Jennifer Schomburg Kanke is a writer and editor living in Tallahassee, Florida. She is the author of the chapbook of micropoems Fine, Considering (Rinky Dink Press, 2019) about her experiences undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer; the winner of the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s annual contest in 2013 for the under 10 line category; and has been nominated for both the Pushcart and the Best of the Net. Her work has appeared in Massachusetts Review, Salamander, New Ohio Review, Prairie Schooner, Pleiades, Nimrod, and other journals. She is also an active member in the Poetry Witch Community, helping publicize Annie Finch’s course offerings and serving as instructional support for a self-paced course in metrical poetry. She was previously Reviews Editor at Pleiades, Poetry Editor for the Southeast Review, an editor at Quarter After Eight and a reader for Emrys. She has a PhD from Florida State University and multiple degrees (MA, MEd, and BSEd) from Ohio University. Her current writing projects include a novel-in-verse about Appalachian Ohio from the 1930s to the early 2000s and a fictional memoir written by entraining to William Wordsworth’s “The Prelude.” Her writing often covers topics related to socioeconomic class, C-PTSD, Appalachia, and the environment. She blogs sporadically (typically about new NSA cookie recipes she’s developing) at https://lightmeridian.wordpress.com. If you’d like to contact her about her writing, you can find her on Twitter @JSK1975.
For Jennifer's latest publications, visit: http://www.jenniferschomburgkanke.com
Thanks for coming on the show, Jennifer!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza continues! Today I am arts calling Jared Beloff!
About: Jared Beloff earned degrees at Rutgers University (BA in English) Johns Hopkins University (MA in English Literature, specializing in the novel and Romantic/18th Century Literature).
Jared has been an adjunct professor at Queensborough Community College, an English teacher and a teacher mentor in NYC public schools for 15 years.
Jared is currently a peer reviewer for The Whale Road Review. His poetry can be found in Contrary Magazine, Barren Magazine, KGB Bar Lit, The Shore, Rise Up Review, Bending Genres and elsewhere. His work has been nominated for Best of the Net. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Queens, NY. www.jaredbeloff.com
Click to purchase Marvelous Verses today!!
For Jared's latest publications online, visit: https://www.jaredbeloff.com/publications
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Read_Instead
Thanks for coming on the show, Jared!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Hope you're having an excellent National Poetry Month! Today I am thrilled to be arts calling Beth Gordon!
About: Beth Gordon is a poet, mother and grandmother currently living in Asheville, NC.
Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net, Pushcart and the Orison Anthology. She is the author of two chapbooks: Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe (Animal Heart Press) and Particularly Dangerous Situation (Clare Songbird Publishing). She is Managing Editor of Feral, Assistant Editor of Animal Heart Press and Poetry Editor of Gone Lawn.
Stop by bethgordonpoetry.com for more information!
The Water Cycle, Beth's latest collection, is out now! Purchase here: https://variantlit.com/product/the-water-cycle/
Thanks for coming on the show, Beth!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza rolls on and on! Today I am so excited to be arts calling Lannie Stabile!
About:
Lannie Stabile (she/her), a queer Detroiter, is the winner of OutWrite’s 2020 Chapbook Competition in Poetry and a back-to-back semifinalist for the Button Poetry Chapbook Contest. Lannie was also named a 2020 Best of the Net finalist. Her debut poetry full-length, Good Morning to Everyone Except Men Who Name Their Dogs Zeus, was published in 2021 by Cephalopress. In 2022, look out for her fiction debut, Something Dead in Everything (ELJ Editions). Find her on Twitter @LannieStabile or @NotALitMag, where she throws random writing contests and open mics.
Lannie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LannieStabile
For updates and recent poetry, stop by here: https://lanniestabile.com/
Something Dead in Everything, her debut fiction collection, is available for pre-order through . It has queer ghosts, murderous hamsters, and hungry geese! @EmergeJournal https://elj-editions.com/book-store/
Thanks for coming on the show, Lannie! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Extravaganza continues! Today I'm excited to be arts calling Lauren Theresa!
About: Lauren Theresa is a divergent poet, herbalist, trauma therapist, and Hekatean witch living in NJ with her tiny family and menagerie of plants.
She moonlights as Poetry Editor with the awesome folks at Olney Magazine, and is the author of the forthcoming chapbook LOST THINGS (Bullshit Lit August '22). Lauren’s work has been featured in HAD, Maudlin House, Rejection Letters, Gutslut Press, Tiny Wren, Warning Lines, Daily Drunk Mag, that one awkward family gathering, and more.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImLaurenTheresa
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imlaurentheresa
Thanks for coming on the show, Lauren!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza is rolling along! Today I'm overjoyed to be arts calling Susan Nguyen!
About Susan: Susan Nguyen's debut poetry collection, Dear Diaspora, won the 2020 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry and was published by the University of Nebraska Press in Sept 2021. She has been the Senior Editor at _Hayden's Ferry Review _since the end of 2021.
Nguyen's poetry is often interested in the body: how geography, history, and trauma leave markers, both visible and invisible. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize and have appeared or are forthcoming in The Rumpus, Tin House, Diagram, and elsewhere. She is an alum of Tin House Winter & Summer Workshops and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her hobbies, beyond reading and writing, include photography, zinemaking, hiking, and otherwise being outdoors.
Nguyen received her BA in English from Virginia Tech and her MFA in poetry from Arizona State University where she was the poetry editor for Hayden's Ferry Review. She has taught creative writing at ASU and the National University of Singapore. She is the recipient of multiple fellowships from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, including one that enabled her to conduct an oral history project centered on the Vietnamese diaspora. She was named one of "three women poets to watch in 2018" by PBS NewsHour.
Visit Susan's website for more information: https://susanpoet.com/
Check out Susan's amazing readings and recent publications here: https://linktr.ee/sanguyen
Purchase DEAR DIASPORA today! poetry books from University of Nebraska Press are 50% off until April 29th! Use this code for your discount: 6PM22
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496227904/
Thanks for coming on the show, Susan!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month goes on and on! So thrilled to be arts calling Saúl Hernández today!
About Saúl:
Saúl Hernández is a queer writer from San Antonio, TX who was raised by undocumented parents. Saúl has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas at El Paso. He's the winner of the Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize 2021 chosen by Victoria Chang. He's a finalist for Palette Poetry 2020 Spotlight Award. Also, a finalist for the 2019 Submerging Writer Fellowship, Fear No Lit; semi-finalists for the 2018 Francine Ringold Award for New Writers_, Nimrod Literary Journal. His poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net. Saúl’s work is forthcoming/featured in _Frontier Poetry, Poet Lore, Foglifter Journal, Oyster River Pages, Cherry Tree, Atlanta Review, Quarterly West, PANK Magazine, Pidgeonholes, The Acentos Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Normal School, Rio Grande Review, and Adelaid Literary Magazine. He's participated in MACONDO and Tin House Workshops. He currently lives in San Antonio, TX.
https://www.saulhernandez.net/
https://www.instagram.com/el_saulhernandez/
https://twitter.com/el_saulhdez
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza continues woohoo! Today I'm so happy to be arts calling Jay Rafferty!
About Jay: Jay Rafferty was born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland on Bloomsday 1997. He studied at St Patrick’s Grammar School, the same secondary school the Irish poet Paul Muldoon attended.
He completed his undergraduate studies at Ulster University (with a brief stint at San Diego State University) during which time he presented a paper at the SDSU Research Symposium, featured on a student panel at the Willa Cather Conference, attended several John Hewitt International Summer School events and competed in the All-Ulster Poetry Slam finals. His undergraduate thesis was concerned with advocacy for the New Adult genre with a specific focus on the work of Bryan Lee O’Malley and the web-series Bee and Puppycat. In 2020 he completed his master’s degree studies, again at Ulster University, with a heavy concentration on creative writing studies.
Since graduation he has been published widely in several literary journals throughout the United States and the UK. His poetry was nominated for the Best of the Net awards in 2021 by Sage Cigarettes Magazine, which he would later go on to join as Social Media Manager, and more recently as Poetry Editor. In these positions he has spearheaded book reviews, artist interviews and pride month features for the magazine’s website. March 2022 saw the release of his debut chapbook, Holy Things.
He is an uncle, an eejit and a terrible pool player.
Jay's Website: https://jsprafferty.wixsite.com/jayraffertypoet-1
Purchase Holy Things, now available from Broken Spine website: thebrokenspine.co.uk/product/holy-things-jay-rafferty-pre-orders
Thank you for joining me on the show Jay! It was a pleasure!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza continues! Today I am arts calling David Rosenthal!
As a poet: David Rosenthal is the author of The Wild Geography of Misplaced Things (White Violet Press). His poems and translations have appeared in print and online in _Measure Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, Teachers & Writers Magazine, Raintown Review, Unsplendid, Birmingham Poetry Review, Modern Haiku, Umbrella, _and several other journals. He has been a Pushcart Prize Nominee, a Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award Finalist, and a Soul-Making Keats Sonnet Prize winner. davidrosenthal.weebly.com
As a Teacher: David Rosenthal has been a credentialed public schoolteacher and instructional coach for the past twenty years. He has served on multiple site and district committees and task forces, and has been a teacher leader in math, language arts, and social emotional learning. He has designed and delivered professional development in multiple content areas, and is an experienced coach of new and veteran teachers.
Purchase The Wild Geography of Misplaced Things: Rosenthal, David: 9780615817217: Amazon.com: Books
Check out more of David's work available online here: David Rosenthal Poems and Publications - David Rosenthal Poet and Teacher (weebly.com)
Thanks so much for coming on the show, David!
--
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza continues! Today I am so thrilled to be arts calling Alison Lubar!
About: Alison Lubar teaches high school English by day and yoga by night. They are a queer, nonbinary femme of color whose life work (aside from wordsmithing) has evolved into bringing mindfulness practices, and sometimes even poetry, to young people. Their debut chapbook, Philosophers Know Nothing About Love, is forthcoming with Thirty West Publishing in May 2022. Most recently, their work has been published by or is forthcoming with Moonstone Press, New York Quarterly, and Sinister Wisdom; you can find out more at http://alisonlubar.com/ or on Twitter @theoriginalison.
More on Linktree from Alison! https://linktr.ee/theoriginalison
Praise for Philosophers Know Nothing About Love: “Alison Lubar's Philosophers Know Nothing About Love _is instantly recognizable as a triumph of language and the imagination. Its dreaminess, melodic charm, and entrancing sensual imagery have the extraordinary effect of slowing or halting time itself. What then emerges from each poem are these glimpses into a higher reality, the uncanny "sublime" beyond all mortal comprehension, gorgeously rendered to the page. Enchanting, otherworldy, intimate, and enthralling, Lubar's debut is beyond what we call a stroke of brilliance; rather, it is a reflection of a doubtless talent, sure to sweep away their readers time and time again.” —Jonathan Koven, author of _Palm Lines _and _Below Torrential Hill
Philosophers Know Nothing About Love, now on pre-sale here! www.thirtywestph.com/shop/philosophersknownothingaboutlove
Thirty West Publishing: www.thirtywestph.com
Thanks so much for coming on the show Alison!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
National Poetry Month Extravaganza begins! Ecstatic to be arts calling Karla Linn Merrifield!
Karla Linn Merrifield has had 1000+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 15 books to her credit. Following her 2018 Psyche’s Scroll (Poetry Box Select) is the full-length book Athabaskan Fractal: Poems of the Far North from Cirque Press. Her newest poetry collection, My Body the Guitar, inspired by famous guitarists and their guitars was published in December 2021 by Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series (Rochester, NY). She is a frequent contributor to The Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.
Web site: https://karlalinnmerrifield.org;
Blog at https://karlalinnmerrifeld.wordpress.com;
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LinnMerrifiel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlalinnm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karlalinn.merrifield
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Poetry Month Extravaganza continues! I'm overjoyed to be arts calling Christopher Soriano-Palma!
About: Christopher Soriano-Palma is a writer and bookseller. Born and raised in Watsonville, CA., he earned his MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. He is a contributor to Reclamation Magazine and a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. He has briefly volunteered as a screenwriting instructor for the Digital NEST, a nonprofit located in Watsonville. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is at work on several projects.
Visit Christopher's Website/Blog here: christophersorianowrites.wordpress.com
Check out Chris's favorite works at Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/shop/chsoripalma
Chris on Medium: chsoripalma.medium.com
And don't forget to visit his Goodreads! Christopher Soriano-Palma (chsoripalma)
NHMC Scriptwriters Program that was mentioned: https://nhmc.org/writers/
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
My name is Jaime and I interview creatives from all walks of life. Today I am over the moon to be arts calling Christian J. Collier!
About Christian: “He’s got a compelling voice, and he can electrify an audience.” -Michael Edward Miller, Host of Around & About
Perhaps the best way to describe him is by what he doesn’t do. Christian is a modern renaissance man (poet, musician, educator, event host, etc.) who has been called a street beatnik, the spoken-word rockstar, and an artist to watch among other (mostly positive) things. Regardless of the medium though, Christian’s objective is the same: to genuinely impact and connect with each audience he’s in front of. It is this mission statement that has motivated him to keep pushing himself to delve deeper as an artist, performer, and person. Christian J. Collier is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teaching artist who resides in Chattanooga, TN. He is the author of the chapbook The Gleaming of the Blade from Bull City Press. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in North American Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, and elsewhere. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2020 ProForma Contest and the 2019-2020 Seven Hills Review Poetry Contest.
The Gleaming of the Blade now available through Bull City Press. Click to purchase!
Christian's Website: http://www.christianjcollier.com/
For more interviews and content from Christian, check out his linktree: https://linktr.ee/ChristianJCollier
Thank you so much for coming on the show, Christian!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I'm thrilled to be arts calling Joseph Lezza!
Joseph Lezza is a writer in New York, NY. Holding an MFA in creative writing from The University of Texas at El Paso, his work has been featured in, among others, The Hopper, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Still: The Journal, West Trade Review, and Santa Fe Writers Project. His debut memoir in essays, "I'm Never Fine," is due out February 2023 from Vine Leaves Press. When he’s not writing, he spends his time worrying about why he’s not writing. His website is http://josephlezza.com and you can find him on the socials.
Twitter: @lezzdoothis
Recent publications:
Death, the Moon & Dry-Rubbed Steak - Still: The Journal http://stilljournal.net/joseph-lezza-cnf2018.php…
Wading Toward Willamette - The Hopper (nominated for the 2020 Best of the Net Anthology) http://hoppermag.org/wading-toward-willamette…
The Space Between the Tenses - Stoneboat Literary Journal https://josephlezza.com/the-space-between-the-tenses.html…
Little Murders - Cleaning Up Glitter https://cleaningupglitter.com/little-murders
The Simple Guide to Redefinition in Oslo, Norway - Fearsome Critters (page 150) https://issuu.com/fearsomecritters/docs/fearsome_critters_issu
Joseph's first book, a collection of essays entitled I'm Never Fine, is due out February 2023 from Vine Leaves Press.
Thank you for stopping by, Joseph!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am excited to be arts calling writer/director Janet Swainston!
Janet's Pitch: Forged in a small town in Southern Ontario, Canada with the chance to learn and make films bleak and non-existent, my passion for writing focused like a laser on the stage, but by the time I was 16, after seeing a little film called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, my passion was engulfed by film.
I began to write scripts, terrible ones at first, learning as I grew. I was then required to make a living, as running away to Hollywood wasn’t practical for a small-town girl from Canada. I started work in office administration assisting, moved into retail, found community theater and eventually found my way back into film.
I bought a camera, made some short films, directed a feature for hire and began to plan my career in earnest. Then tragedy struck and I became disabled, awaiting an operation to restore my life, but that didn’t daunt me. I continued to learn and grow as a screenwriter, found Twitter and joined the screenwriting community.
As of today, I write features and series, host table reads for other writers under my company banner of Northern Unicorn Films Ltd., read other writers, and keep working towards that dream of being a working screenwriter.
Check out my original scripts here. The table reads: https://northernunicornfilmsltd.com/ My website: https://janetswainston.wixsite.com/my-site-1
Thanks for coming on the show Janet, it was such a pleasure!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am incredibly excited to be arts calling Joseph Fasano!
Joseph Fasano is a writer and educator. He studied mathematics and astrophysics at Harvard University before changing his course of study and earning a degree in philosophy, with a focus on philosophy of language after Wittgenstein. He did his graduate study in poetry at Columbia University, where he now teaches. Beyond his Professorships at Columbia University and Manhattanville College, Fasano is passionate about developing inclusive learning communities outside the walls of academic institutions. As an educator, his mission is to help each student synthesize diverse fields of study to develop a unique and informed voice, a depth of attention, and a capacity to break free of reductive mindsets.
Fasano is the author of the novel The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing (Platypus Press, 2020), which was named one of the "20 Best Small Press Books of 2020." His books of poetry are The Crossing (Cider Press Review, 2018), praised by Ilya Kaminsky for its "lush drive to live, even in the darkest moments"; Vincent (2015), which Rain Taxi Review hailed as a "major literary achievement"; Inheritance (2014), a James Laughlin Award nominee; and Fugue for Other Hands (2013), which won the Cider Press Review Book Award and was nominated for the Poets' Prize, "awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award."
A winner of the RATTLE Poetry Prize, he serves on the Editorial Board of Alice James Books, and he is the Founder of the Poem for You Series, a digital space offering recitations of listeners' favorite poems by request. His writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, American Poets, Measure, Tin House, American Poetry Journal, The Adroit Journal, American Literary Review, Verse Daily, the PEN Poetry Series, the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, and other publications. It has been widely anthologized and translated into many languages, including Spanish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Chinese, Russian, and Ukrainian. He is also a songwriter, and his songs and performances can be found on his social media platforms.
http://josephfasano.net/
Main Twitter: @Joseph_Fasano_
A Poem for my Son Twitter: @stars_poem
Visit the Poem for You Community on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/poem_for_you_series
Thanks again for stopping by, Joseph: it was an absolute pleasure! All the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing the podcast and sharing it with those who love the arts, your support truly makes a difference! Check out cruzfolio.com for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am Arts Calling Paul Myles Zambrano!
About my guest: With a stylistic versatility ranging from hybrid soundscapes to Old Hollywood, Bernard Herrmann inspired scores, Paul Zambrano's versatility and range makes him constantly in demand to content creators of all kinds.
Since his departure from South Florida, Paul has composed the score to a number of indie films, including Binlowes' Locker (Dir. Andrew James Mitchell), The Only Way (Dir. Mike Coleman), Timmy's Playdate (Dir. Rudi Silva), Take Care of Emily (Dir. Nick Rapuano), which is currently experiencing a successful festival run, Life (Dir. Johanna Nystroem), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, and, of course Slipping into Darkness (Dir. Alex Ferrufino), which is currently on all HBO platforms. In 2018, Paul won Best Score for his work on The Only Way at the Los Angeles CineFest, and was nominated for Best Score at the Focus International Film Festival for his work on Slipping Into Darkness.
Paul also has released several soundtracks on major streaming platforms, as well as two solo albums. He is also writing for Gothic Storm Music, and Elephant Music, two major music publishers. Along with his writing partner, Ennio Tangocci, the duo are launching a music production house called Age of Symphony, aimed to provide music film TV, film, and advertisements. Currently, Paul is set to release his third independent studio album, titled Death is Beautiful, a concept album with a fictional backstory touching on the subjects of depression, love, anxiety, addiction, and, of course, death.
Stop by Paul's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulZambranoCreations/featured
Paul on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulzambrano360/
All of Paul's latest music can be found here: https://solo.to/paulzambrano360
Paul's Website: https://paulmyleszambrano.com/
Thanks for coming on the show, Paul! All the best on your creative endeavors!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi friends,
Today I am Arts Calling Norm Reynolds!
Norm Reynolds is a Toronto-based playwright and actor. He is adapting Anne Tyler's "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" for the stage. “An October Crisis” is slated for the Toronto Queer Theatre Festival. "Gay Positive" was short-listed for the Short & Sweet Festival (Sydney, Australia). "Two-Hander" played at the inaugural Newmarket National Ten Minute Play Festival. A hit at the first Summerworks Festival (CBC Radio, NOW Magazine), "Put Up Your Hand" was performed by the author in Toronto at the Red SandCastle Theatre. "The Good-bye Play" was staged at the Playwrights of Spring Festival and at TheatreStarts (Aurora, Ontario); it was originally workshopped at the Humber School for Writers with Edward Albee. Reynolds has published short fiction in the United States and Canada, and book reviews in the Canadian national press. He is a thirty year member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.
Norm's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/13LPH Check out Norm's work on the New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/47644/norm-reynolds The Playwrights Guild of Canada: https://playwrightsguild.ca/paupress/profile/norm-reynolds/view/
Tune in for Craft Bites this February 18th 1pm! https://playwrightsguild.ca/craft-bites-event-page/
Norm's Blog: https://adaylikealldays.wordpress.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NormReyn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nreyn21/
Thanks again for your time, Norm. Looking forward to continuing our conversation in the future!!
j
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Last one of the year!
Today I am thrilled to be arts calling my friend Máire Higgins!
Bio: Máire Higgins is a stage and film actor, accredited nationally and abroad. Recent credits include MACBETH (Telluride Theatre), THE WOLVES (BETC), and HOAX (Rum River). Máire holds a Masters of Philosophy in Theatre from Trinity College Dublin, and is based in Telluride, Colorado.
For more information, please visit: http://www.mairehiggins.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capt.miggles/
Thanks for taking the time to talk to me on the podcast!
And a happy new year to all!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi all,
I'm continuing this end of year sprint by Arts Calling my wonderfully talented friend A.J. Ross! So happy to catch up, have a few laughs, and learn how she is crafting the world of her web comic, Familiar Monsters!
A few words from the author:
My name is A.J. Ross, I am the author and illustrator of Familiar Monsters.
Familiar Monsters is about two childhood friends, torn apart by a werewolf attack. Garrick, an outgoing aspiring musician, is taken and turned by the werewolves. Jon, a pained, loyal friend, takes up with a monster hunter thinking his best friend is dead, becoming a deadly hunter himself. They are accidentally reunited years later when the werewolf Jon is hunting turns out to be his long lost friend. Now they must learn to live with each other, and who they have both become. Navigating through lies, abuse, hidden loves, curses, monsters, and daily life, Jon and Gare hold on the the only thing that they ever had. Each other.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familiarmonsters Instagram: @fullmoongarrick Website: www.familiar-monsters.com
Thanks for stopping by to share your insights and awesomeness, A.J.!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show, consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and other stuff too!
Make art. Much love,
j
If you’re a creative in the written, visual, or performing arts, and believe the arts make us and our communities better, I’d love to talk to you! Contact me here.
Hello all!
Happy to be back from the holiday break! Today I'm arts calling Shaine Greenwood!
Shaine Greenwood is a Seattle-based writer, artist, and weirdo. He writes poetry, sci-fi, and literary fiction with a focus on people and what makes them tick. You can find his work here:
youaremuted.com
Check out The Aether, now on Amazon!
Also, here's Shaine's poetry collection, Faces.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat Shaine, all the best in 2022!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hey there!
Today I am arts calling my new Twitter friend Dre Ellis of Prophecy Comics!
D'Andre Ellis is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist from East St.Louis, IL, with years of experience in musical performance & production, screenwriting, and Auteur filmmaking.
Stop by Kickstater to support his latest project, Heavy is the Hand. A comic book series about a black woman who plots revenge w/ a cosmic sledgehammer against a powerful group that destroyed her life.
For more information, visit: https://direct.me/prophecycomics
Thanks for talking with me, Dre! All the best on your creative endeavors!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am arts calling Oscar Moreno from InkFilms! A great conversation with an outstanding talent, who is writing and directing films on the US/Mexico border with an incredibly refreshing perspective. A pleasure talking with you, my friend. Te deseo lo mejor en todos tus proyectos!
OSCAR'S BIO: I'm an optioned bilingual Mexican writer and filmmaker from the U.S./Mexico border. My life here has taken me from witnessing the horrors of violence to the joy of seeing its survivors lead happy lives, and experiencing what it's like to be a musician and to soak up the moments of love and weirdness you can find here. My passion for storytelling has stemmed from filmmaking and impacted different aspects of my life. I’m mainly focused on writing and making the kinds of gritty and mesmerizing thrillers, horror movies and sci-fi that I’d stay up watching late at night as a teenager. But I also love powerful drama and believe all of these flavors can be combined and provide an exciting experience for audiences. These are the stories I love telling and seeing because they most closely resemble what I've experienced and witnessed living on the border, and this is what fuels me to bring unique, fresh perspectives to stories about this part of the world or about the kinds of people I've met here and can find anywhere. I feel they are necessary now more than ever.
My prose work has appeared in the New York Times, Somos en Escrito, Levadura, The Wire's Dream Magazine, The Seattle Star and the Rio Grande Review. I am working on different projects with various producers, including Julio Abad of Autumn Leave Films, and Simon Warne and Luc Bégin of Triality World. I've had my scripts optioned by the likes of Showdown Productions.
For Oscar's outstanding work for the page and screen, please visit: https://linktr.ee/inkfilmsinc. Be sure to stop by Oscar's Twitter as well! @InkFilmsInc89
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
This time around, I'm catching up with an amazing theatre artist: Today I'm arts calling L. Nicol Cabe!
ARTIST BIO: I am a new media theatre artist. I create shows inspired by our potential future, using speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy tropes. I write and perform scifi story-telling shows, direct new plays, and help playwrights develop their work. Since 2016, I have travelled the world to fringe festivals with my speculative fiction performances. I have won sold out show, critic’s choice, and producer’s choice awards at several festivals over the years. When I perform my futuristic writing, I do so under my production company, Giant Nerd Productions. I am also a dramaturg, director, and writer who focuses on brand new plays. I have worked on innovative shows produced by Annex Theatre, Copious Love Productions, Theater Schmeater, and Taproot Theatre in Seattle, Washington. Currently, I am developing a thesis on new media and pandemic theatre in a Master of Letters program at the University of Glasgow in Scotland (commencing 2021). I am an alumna of Director’s Lab West (Pasadena, 2014), and a summa cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina (Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts, theatre, 2006).
For updates and more information, visit: http://el-nicol.com.
Visit Nicol's Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/giantnerdprod
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today, I am overjoyed to catch up with a dear friend and outstanding theater artist and educator. I'm Arts Calling Billy Higgins!
About Billy: Currently serving as Artistic Producing Director at Ferndale Repertory Theatre, Billy Higgins (He/They) has worked as a director, producer, actor, devised theatre maker, and circus artist, creating live performance and providing arts leadership throughout the United States and abroad. He serves as a director and teacher on the Movement faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and is the creator of the Arts Justice work The Constitutional Arts Project. Additionally, Billy has worked in various capacities as a performer, director, and movement designer with The Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Turkmen State Circus in partnership with The United States State Department, The Dell’Arte Company, and The Samuel Beckett Center, among others. His work with the Tony Award Winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition as a member of the Artist Impact Team in partnership with Columbia Law School, and Rattestick Playwright’s Theater as a member of the creative team of The Pilot For Restorative Justice directly addressed issues of systemic racism and inequity through the lens of inclusive and accessible theatre. Whenever possible, Billy volunteers with Clowns Without Borders, and enjoys sailing and his dog, Norman. When not onstage or in the ring, Billy can most often be found sailing traditionally rigged tall ships and schooners, which he has served on as a professional mariner for over a decade. He received his M.F.A. from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, M.Ph. from Trinity College, Dublin, B.F.A. from The University of Wyoming, and additional professional certifications in Building Diversity from The University of Pennsylvania.
It was such a pleasure catching up and learning from you, my friend. We didn't cover everything this time around, but we must do this again sometime! Thanks again and all the best!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hello friends!
Today I am thrilled to be Arts Calling the very awesome playwright/compa José Casas! Thanks so much for joining us today with your wisdom, anecdotes, and good cheer! And a shoutout to Alvaro Saar Rios for making this happen! A part 2 episode with José and Alvaro will definitely be happening someday soon!
José Casas is a playwright, director, and Assistant Professor who heads the Playwriting Minor in the Department of Theatre & Drama at the University of Michigan. He has a B.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a M.A. in Thetre Arts from California State University, Los Angeles, a M.F.A. in Playwriting from Arizona State University, as well graudate work in the Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and TYA/USA. He is also a board member of The Children’s Theatre Foundation of America.
His plays, la ofrenda and somebody’s children were recipients of both the Bonderman National Playwriting for Youth Award and the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Play Award. His book, Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences was a recipient of an AATE Distinguished Book Award. His plays include aDoBe, the vine, 14, la ofrenda, Desvelado, a rose grows beyond the wall, jj’s place, a million whispers in the wind, somebody’s children, Pedro y El Lobo, and Flint. His work has been included in a number of anthologies such as The Bully Plays, Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre, and Theatre for Youth II: More Plays With Mature Themes. His published work includes la ofrenda, 14, somebody’s children, and Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences.
He is currently working on Every Great Dream: Visioning African American Theatre for Young Audiences (2022); to be published by Dramatic Publishing.
Check out the production of José's play, Flint. Available online for FREE!
Visit brownplaywright.com for more information.
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi friends,
Today I'm so excited to be arts calling Raegen Pietrucha!
Raegen Pietrucha is a professional and creative writer, editor, consultant, and educator with two degrees in English and more than 20 years of combined experience. Her chapbook, An Animal I Can’t Name, won the 2015 Two of Cups Press competition; her debut poetry collection, Head of a Gorgon, is forthcoming with Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in 2022; and she has a memoir in progress. She received her MFA from Bowling Green State University, where she was an assistant editor for Mid-American Review. Her creative work has been published in Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, and other journals.
Our conversation went so quickly! Yet I learned so much from Raegen that I hope you go check out her website asap: https://raegenmp.wordpress.com.
@freeradicalrp on Twitter @raegenmp on Instagram
Thanks so much for taking the time to connect and share your knowledge with us, Raegen!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: consider reviewing and sharing the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
Today I am arts calling one of my best friends and supremely talented collaborator: Dane Halvorson! We recollect the many lessons of learning our craft together. We also discuss the importance of the sandbox mentality when starting out, his time with Second City, and his creative journey as a performer and composer.
About Dane: Born and raised in Montana, Dane began practicing piano and studying music from a very young age. His career as a piano player took off in Chicago after graduating from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He toured all over the country as a Musical Director with The Second City and it included long term projects with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and various corporate events.
Dane is currently based out of Los Angeles and looks forward to working with you on your next project! Stop by danehalvorsonmusic.com for recent samples and more information!
*In order to maintain street cred, I must make a correction: The Schwarzenegger Epic Handshake Meme moment is from the most excellent film, Predator. I had a momentary lapse due to excitement.
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi friends,
Today I am so excited to be arts calling writer/creator/producer Madelyn Dorta! We had an incredibly inspiring conversation about audio narratives, and how Madelyn and her sibling collaborators are creating outstanding work on their own terms at Wrightwood Studios. Hope you join us!
A few words from the author:
At the age of six, I got superpowers. That’s what I thought at the time. I had the ability to pick up a #2 Ticonderoga pencil and create worlds. I could create great kingdoms, giant monsters, and badass heroines who saved the day. I had the power to create. This superpower has evolved many times through the course of my life and morphed into something different, the NEED to create. The annoying itch that can’t be scratched with anything other than storytelling, trust me...I’ve tried.
I created Meteor City in a desperate attempt to get a story out of my mind. A story that was consuming all of my waking thoughts and my dreams sometimes too. A story of afrolatina woman who tries desperately to understand and recognize the world and her community around her. Through this journey, I found my passion for audio storytelling and there is no turning back.
My creations: Meteor City Covencast: A Disaster’s Guide to Magic - co-created with Amber Bulinski Feminist Fairytales: Lina - Coming Soon
Follow Madelyn on Instagram! For more information, check out Wrightwood Studios!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi friends,
Today I'm arts calling my friend Daniel Damiano to discuss the many facets of his creativity! He is an actor/writer/inspiring human being and I'm thrilled to have him on the show. Let's learn from his insights today!
Daniel Damiano is an Award-winning Playwright, Screenwriter, Poet and Novelist based in Brooklyn, NY. His plays have been performed throughout many areas of the U.S., as well as London, England and Sydney & Melbourne, Australia. His acclaimed play DAY OF THE DOG premiered with St. Louis Actors' Studio in 2013 and subsequently transferred to 59E59 in NYC in 2014. It was a 2013 St. Louis Critics Choice Best Play Nominee, and was published by Broadway Play Publishing in 2018. Other more recent productions of his work include HARMONY PARK ("4 Stars" - Detroit Free Press, with Detroit Repertory Theatre), THE LEPERS (Ensemble Studio Theatre, NYC) and his acclaimed solo play AMERICAN TRANQUILITY (which has been lauded in both NYC and Washington DC). His new play THE WILD BOAR was a 2019 Finalist for both the Woodward/Newman Award and the Janet & Bruce Bunch Award. He was a 2013 Nominee for the Pushcart Poetry Prize and a Finalist for the 2012 Arts & Letters Prize for Drama. He recently completed his first novel, THE WOMAN IN THE SUN HAT, in addition to 104 DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC, a book of poetry. His poetry has been published in Crooked Teeth Literary Magazine, Newtown Literary Journal, New Voices Anthology, Cloudbank and HotMetal Press.
His poetry release, 104 Days of the Pandemic, now available on Amazon!
Also check out Daniel's novel, released this summer, The Woman in the Sun Hat!
Please visit www.danieldamiano.com for more information.
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show: review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there,
This is Jaime Alejandro and today I am arts calling playwright Alvaro Saar Rios to talk about his origin story, creative process, and so much more!!
Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been performed in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. He has received playwriting commissions from various organizations, including the Kennedy Center, Chicago Children’s Theatre, First Stage, Houston Grand Opera, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Purple Rose Theatre Company, Houston Community College, Zoological Society of Milwaukee and The Rose Theater. Rios' award-winning play Luchadora! is published by Dramatic Publishing. Other plays include On the Wings of a Mariposa, The History of Mexicans in 10 Minutes, The Day the Music Came Back and Carmela Full of Wishes. He holds an M.F.A. in writing for the stage and screen from Northwestern University. Rios is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and playwright-in-residence at Milwaukee’s First Stage. He is also a proud veteran of the U.S. Army and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Alvaro is currently adapting Matt de la Peña's bestseller Carmela Full of Wishes for the stage. It will premiere in Omaha, Nebraska in January 2022 and in Chicago in April 2022. Visit www.alvarosaarrios.com for more information. Follow him on Twitter @realCrazyMex!
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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. If you like the show, review and share the podcast, your support truly makes a difference! Check us out for more podcasts about the arts and original content!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hi there!
Today I am arts calling my friend Becca Diamond. We discuss what life is like for a working voice actor, a creative's work ethic, an origin story of Disney movies, and much more!
Becca Diamond is a voice actor living in Los Angeles. Becca has a BFA in theatre performance and can be heard on the Off-Broadway soundtrack Puffs: Or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. Since moving to LA she has been fortunate enough to work on all sorts of shows and projects some of which include: Animal Actors, a stage show working with live animals at Universal Studios Hollywood, two different podcasts on the Parcast Network and most recently she has done four shows on Club House. Other credits include VO for companies such as Netflix, WebMD, Plus Products, United Healthcare and most recently as Shirai in the anime TAMAYOMI: The Baseball Girls on Funimation!
Becca's sharing her voice work adventures on IG and TikTok! Instagram @shinebrightbeccadiamond/ TikTok @becca_vo
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. Check us out for more podcasts about creativity and other stuff too!
Make art. Much love,
j
Hey there!
Today I am Arts Calling an outstanding creative and one of my best friends: Ahren Buhmann. Ahren is a theatre maker, video designer, and musician based in Seattle. He is currently a Level 3 Deep Gnome Artificer.
Ahren and I discuss the challenges of becoming creatives in a small Wyoming town, Ahren's path into professional theatre, and why we every person and every community needs the arts in their life. Yes, we do talk about why rules in creativity are a lie. A few takeaways my friend gifted me:
- No matter your craft, it's about learning your toolset, and how those tools work, and implement in an efficient, yet experimental way.
- Also, if you can, go see a theatre production. Support your local theatres.
Find him on IG @b.human.design
Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro at cruzfolio.com. Check us out for more podcasts about creativity and other stuff too!
Make art. Much love,
j
Welcome to the first episode of Arts Calling!
We begin by starting at the very beginning. I asked Brenda Zamora (my actress sister) to help me even slightly unpack some of the things we experienced growing up that made us into the creatives we are today.
About Brenda: Brenda Zamora is a Mexican actress; she was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and raised in the United States in Wyoming. While attending Clark Elementary School, Brenda performed in her first theatrical play, followed by many more. Later on, she participated in the middle school choir at Davis Middle School, where she was fortunate to perform at the annual Wyoming State Choir Festival for three years. Brenda graduated from Evanston High School with Honors in Theatre and Performance Arts; she was a devout member of the Drama Society Club and became a member of The International Thespian Society. After moving to Los Angeles, Brenda has continued to study at the Groundlings Theatre, Castaway Studios, and The Complex Theatre. More information: https://brendazzamora.com/
If you make art to better your community or have been healed by art, I'd love to talk to you! Contact me at https://cruzfolio.com/
Hi there,
I’m trying something new. This is a trial run (episode 00) of what will become a limited series in the coming weeks. Today I have the pleasure of chatting with my pal Trevor Lutz of Funusual Suspects about life, the cosmos, and how he approaches his craft as a writer. I may be wrapping up the Writing Record in favor of this project. We shall see in the coming days. Much love, -j Check out our other podcasts here: https://cruzfolio.com/podcasts