YAY! THE ASIAN AMERICAN LIT REVIEW - Special Mixed Race Issue

When The Asian American Lit Review (AALR) asked if I’d contribute short stories to their Special Issue on Mixed-Race as part of their Mixed Race Initiative involving 100 universities worldwide including contributions by U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and Afro Cuban Filipino King of Latin Soul, Joe Bataan, I was like HELLS YES!

Besides that, I thought, I’m black and AALR is a stellar platform for Asian writers. And since the writers are of all different races, that must mean “Mixed Race.” But later I found out that “mixed race” is another term for “biracial" and the like. Like my children. Oh, I thought. A little less excited about a subject that I thought was a non-issue for me.

What surprised me was how it wasn’t. How the topic was fuel, and became the subjects of not one but my two stories printed on the back of cards in this gorgeous deck—a collaboration of writers and painters and other artists from all over the world. It’s centerpiece is a global conversation on race.

“It isn’t simply a reexamination of race or a survey of mixed voices, important as both are. It’s a provocateur, inspiring new conversations and cross-pollinations, pushing into new corners.”

And since I always go for “the dirty,” I can assure you that the above quote is true.

If honest discussions on race matter to you, (not the “permitted” and sanitized version that we see on social media) SUPPORT THIS EFFORT and BUY A COPY HERE.

  

Well done, AALR!

JOSEPH MATTSON MAY BE ONE OF THE BEST ESSAYISTS OF OUR TIME

"The wicked irony of alcoholism, of addiction, is that the cure is denial: Either we’re in denial of our patterns or we’re denying ourselves what we need." --Joseph Mattson


I heard Joseph read last night at the Bird Sanctuary at Griffith Park and he totally blew me away. I liked his books, especially the title story in his book "Eat Hell," but last night he read a piece that was tragic and close in time and it was brilliant. It's about his mother's murder. The sentencing phase of the murder trial hasn't even been completed yet the essay he delivers feels complete.


I don't know many writers who can write about trauma so brilliantly while they're still experiencing it, without the essay being super depressing or turning into a meditation. 


He writes about addiction often, Skid Row-type homelessness and topics that aren't easily relatable to most people but he makes it real though hard to watch sometimes. But this particular essay that he read last night went above and beyond. He could have dragged us through the emotional pain of the story and the essay would have still been good because he's a great writer and editor anyway, but instead he found a way to look at the murder more objectively and at the same time, with so much care. He was her son. Brilliant. I encourage you to read it HERE. Thank you Joseph!