change it she said

my mother used to tell me
there was an energy that destroyed
and an energy that created
these energies exist
in all of us
she said

later i learned of yin and yang
of the masculine principle
            and the feminine principle

later i learned
of single mothers prostitution pornography no childcare violence against women rape weapon of war fgm female feticide bride burnings dowry deaths beauty industries body shame
shame

later i learned
of heads of state presidents prime ministers CEOs heads of corporations oil billionaires bankers profits money makers progress industry conquests occupations empire invasions
domination

later i learned
of earth
     mother earth
and nature
     mother nature

there is a crisis
we have a crisis
we are in a crisis
                  it is now

there are some who see

nature
        mother nature is
     wailing
spinning
          wildly
       out of balance

earth
      mother earth is
dying

destructive energy run amok
creative energy on its knees
sexuality
          the life force
                       tethered
                  the captive unicorn

everyone knows creation
requires a mother
                 and a father
a masculine principle
        and a feminine principle
a destructive energy
                    for new life to grow
and a creative energy
                    the womb, the cocoon
a feminine energy to birth
                                        nurture
                                  sustain
a masculine energy to curb
                                         weed
                                   prune . . .

still

almost every religion
    in the world
             hails

THE FATHER OF CREATION

the greatest story ever told
our myths
of creation
shaping psyche
creating reality

erasing feminine
worshiping masculine

the mother
            is dying
bleeding oil
her children crying
                     starving

the feminine principle
    life
        creativity
             arts
                sexuality
                    spirituality
            crumbling
wildly
    spinning
out of balance
               bleeding
in the jaws of her captor

my mother told me
when i was young
there is a creative energy
and a destructive energy
these energies exist in all of us
she said

they are
out of balance
      in our minds
            our bodies
                 our stories
                      our psyches
                            our planet

change it
she said

first
in your mind
         your body
              your story
                    your psyche

tell everyone
she said

there is a crisis
we have a crisis
we are in a crisis
                   it is now

Fangirl Crush

I love Sheila Chandra. Her story is inspiring, her voice is magic, and she has this total earth-mother-goddess vibe. She has no classical training in music and, as a child, she practiced singing so that her voice would be ready when the opportunity came. This is from the bio on her website:

"Born in South London to a South Indian immigrant family, Sheila Chandra discovered her voice at the age of twelve and whilst at Theatre Arts school. From this moment her chosen path was to be a singer. Lacking any real contacts or access to the music business, she nevertheless honed her vocal skills as a labour of love, spending up to two hours a night throwing her voice into the tall, draughty and uncarpeted stairwell of the family home: 'I didn’t know how to manufacture an opportunity, but I was determined that when a chance came my way I would be ready.'"

Don't you just love that? She is an artist's artist - constantly scrapping everything and starting from scratch, transforming herself and her art, and stitching new styles together as she goes along. *Very* inspiring.

I just came across this early video of her beatboxing, in the ancient, Indian style . . . 

The Fabulous Olugbemisola, Part One

Today, I am thrilled to feature part 1 of an interview I did with the wonderful Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO. I read SUPERZERO and just fell in fast, tumbling love with each of the characters. It is a book full of heart and insight, written with warmth and compassion. And Ms. Olugbemisola is a fierce, quietly powerful force to be reckoned with. Here is part one of what she has to say about writing, her process, the '08 election, SUPERZERO, family, and spirituality...

NM: What was the "nugget" that you started with for this novel?

ORP: I started this novel as part of an application for a workshop with Paula Danziger. It was the night before the thing was due, and I needed to come up with three pages, fast. The image of a ten-year-old Reggie in bed, with the covers pulled up over his head, because he was afraid that a bug was going to crawl into his mouth, was the very first image that I had for this story. Whenever I say that, I realize that it sounds nothing like that book it became! But the character was there.

NM: Wow, what a powerful image! And that initial feeling is exactly what I got from the opening chapters. You captured those anxieties so well.

There are parts of the novel where I feel, intuitively, you would have gone a bit more radical. I think I recognized those parts because I have them in my own novel - areas where I would absolutely have gone in with my feminist, anti-racist self and run amuk, but had to rein myself in, either because of feedback from trusted sources, or because I knew I was pushing it. Am I right in this hunch? If so, could you point to parts where this might've happened?

 

ORP: I think that there were definitely times when I *wanted* to make certain points, and I did hold back because I had to make sure that this book was Reggie's story. I think that especially with a first-person narrative, it can be easy to make the character's voice your own. And I tried that sometimes in the beginning -- Reggie used to also have an older, disaffected brother named Marcus, who spoke in speeches and was usually saying the things that I thought. (Marcus's struggle with racism, my cynicism during the election) I also struggled as an author with thinking too much about how *I* would be perceived by this book. I worried that it wasn't weighty enough, and that it would be dismissed as lightweight, etc. etc. blah blah blah. But then I really had to come to terms with how ridiculous I was being -- either I wanted to tell *Reggie's* story, and be as honest as I could be about it, and connect with those young readers who are/know/could be Reggie and his friends, or I wanted to make it all about me. Instead of writing fully as an adult looking back on childhood days, I had to access who I was at 13 (not who I'd wish I'd been, or thought that I was then), who my friends were, who the 13 year-olds that I know and see are now...Of course, I am writing with the benefit of experience and hindsight and perspective, but I had to make sure that I worked to get out of the way and ask myself at every point if something was *really* part of the story, something that was true to the characters, or was it just something that *I* wanted to say, to wedge in somehow because I thought it would make me look a certain way, or because I was trying to create an opportunity to put me on the page. Humbling work. The most gratifying response recently has been from my sister, who's just reading the book in its entirety now, and said "This doesn't sound like you at all!"

 

NM: What a fantastic answer. I so relate to the "not weighty enough" worries and wanting to inject my current sensibilities into my character's thoughts and actions. It's such a fine balance! 

 

What made you write this novel in a young male voice? And how was that experience? Would you do it again?

 

ORP: I really just started with that character, at that moment; I didn't plan it. I would not have expected to write a book with a male MC, and definitely never planned to. Once I started, though, that was it. It didn't seem right to just change him to a girl, which a couple of people suggested. Now that I've thought about it a little, I don't know that I'd do it again. I suppose it depends on the characters that come to me. But I'm definitely a little self-conscious about it now.
 

NM: Well, Reggie certainly rang true for many folks, including me, so I'm glad he stayed a he :). 

 

I love books that explore spirituality. Tell me a bit about your decision to incorporate themes of spirituality and religion into 8TH GRADE SUPERZERO. Were you worried about it at all?

ORP: I did worry that it would be rejected because of that, and I did submit to my editor, Cheryl Klein, because I thought that, from her blog posts, that she wouldn't dismiss it out of hand for that reason.  And I worried that Christians would think that I should have made Reggie a Christian, or something like that. But it was not a part of the story that I ever considered taking out. It was a part of Reggie's life and person. And it was a part of the lives of so many young people that I'd taught or worked with over the years, in a variety of ways.  They had such great questions, interesting ideas, and always introduced fabulous discussions while we talked about books, daily life, TV, etc. that related to faith and spirituality; it was clear to me that these themes were important parts of their lives in myriad ways. I wanted to 'give back' in a way, to the young people who trusted me enough to share their thoughts on spirituality and faith, because we were able to have those discussions lovingly, and respectfully, even though we each often held different beliefs.

 

NM: I hear you. I've had so many wonderful conversations with young people about religion and spirituality. They are definitely asking the questions and searching for answers - particularly in a post 9/11 world where religion seems to have taken such a front seat in media and political forums.

Thanks, Olugbemisola! 

 

Readers -- stay tuned for part 2 of this interview! And pick up your copy of EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO now. Seriously.

Spring Equinox/New Year

An old and dear friend sent an email around announcing the United Nations' recognition of the spring equinox holiday celebrated by Parsi Zoroastrians around the world as the beginning of the new year. March 21st is spring equinox for all, but for 300 million worldwide it is also the beginning of a new year.

Here are a few links with more information:

UN General Assembly Recognizes 21 March as International Day of Nowruz UN Officially Recognizes March 21 as International Nowruz Day UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Urges Harmony on First International Day of NowruzMy new year is yours: I had no idea others celebrated Navroze by Kayhan Irani (2004)

Brave Dissenting Voices

This past weekend, at a poetry workshop for mentors and mentees of Girls Write Now, I was introduced to HBO's Brave New Voices series. As one of the mentors in the series says, the series proves that not all young people consume mass media culture without questioning it, challenging it, and raising their voices against it. Many (if not most) young people--young adults--are out there actively dissenting--actively and *critically* engaging in the world around them. Railing and shouting in the face of corporate and media giants that muzzle true creativity; the forces of imperialism and colonialism; and oppression and injustice of all kinds.

Check out the below clips of teens letting the fire rage through them; crackling, regenerating, and transforming . . . as it creates hope, and breathes new life.

Here's 15-year-old Alexis, of Team New York City, y'all:



And Aysha, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania:



And Jamaica, "A self-described 'mixed mutt' in ethnic background, Jamaica says, 'I'm Hawaiian, Chinese, German, Portuguese, English, Irish and French. I am almost a quarter Hawaiian and definitely identify mostly as a Hawaiian.'":



Watching these young people rage and express makes my heart swell with pride. It gives me the push I need to keep writing work that speaks to their experience, and reflects their realities. As we head toward Thanksgiving weekend, these videos remind me that Love is the motivating spark behind all true and great creative expression.

On Women, the "Other," Sci-Fi, and Spirituality

Speaking of Octavia Butler . . .

I was thrilled to be asked to guest post on Alma Alexander's blog. I decided, in honor of her genre of writing, to do a post on something I've been wanting to explore for some time--my passion for certain types of fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi writing. And here is the post I came up with (cross-posting from her site):

Octavia Butler once said “Every story I read practically had, as its main character, a white man who drank and smoked too much and who was about thirty. So I began writing, for my submission, about white men who drank and smoked too much and were about thirty. It’s not surprising that these were rejected.” If you want to see the video where she says this, it is here. In the same clip, Robert Silverberg says that Star Trek, with its portrayal of women characters and people of color, caused a giant leap in the readership of science fiction. In other words, people who normally were on the margins, saw a reflection of ourselves in the center.

I was first introduced to the works of women authors of science fiction in my early twenties. Octavia Butler, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Diane Duane were among the first I read. They were presented to me as “feminist science fiction authors” at the time and, at first, they hardly registered on my radar.

I’d been writing for pretty much my whole life, but until then, I had never really thought I could write a book. And when I finally ventured to read the first book—Marion Zimmer Bradley’s THE FREE RENUNCIATES trilogy, I was enthralled. I inhaled the rest of the titles and went out in search for more. Reading the works of these women showed me that the kinds of things that moved me—stories featuring strong women and people of color, living lives they created according to their own definitions—were valuable. Books about these characters were important, and people wanted to read them. It suddenly struck me that there was a huge market for these kinds of novels. And that these novels were more than just stories . . . they were doors.

I absolutely walked through a door the first time I read WILD SEED by Octavia Butler. I fell so utterly and hopelessly in love that I changed course one hundred and eighty degrees, and have never looked back. Part of the reason her book left such a deep imprint on me is that the themes in her books, and those of the women I’ve mentioned above (as well as Marge Piercy (WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME), and the relatively newer voice of Nalo Hopkinson), is that they not only portrayed the “other” as complex, fully realized characters, but also because they explore themes of rebellion, resistance, challenge to systemic oppression . . . and spirituality.

The use of magic (as discussed on this blog in previous posts), the age-old battle of life and creativity versus death and destruction, shape-shifting, time travel, eternal life, a journey of searching, visiting other worlds . . . all of these are allegories of transcendance, re-birth, the life-death-life cycle, that colossal battle within us all for inner balance, and faith. Where else do we most commonly see these themes, other than in religious texts?

The books I read by women authors of science fiction and fantasy incorporated a spirituality that included and exalted women, honored the ancestors, and implied a reverent relationship between the self, others, the earth, and the cosmos.

Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson explicitly use spiritual imagery and reference in their works. In WILD SEED, the protagonist Anyanwu/Emma clearly adheres to her old, African ways and beliefs, even as she enters and spends centuries in slave-era America. In KINDRED, the setting of the American antebellum South depicts a different kind of spirituality: one of holding on to humanity and dignity, believing in the unknown . . . and clutching faith close. Nalo Hopkinson also uses elements of her Caribbean upbringing in her novels—BROWN GIRL IN THE RING incorporates many Caribbean Voudun rituals and beliefs into its text, and THE NEW MOON’S ARMS seamlessly threads a Caribbean spirituality into its text.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, Marge Piercy, and Diane Duane focus on the most immediate site of devotion: the Self. Their stories all involve discovery of the Self—the age old journey of moving away from the Self, wandering lost and alone and in the (symbolic) woods, then seeing the light and making one’s way back to the Self: life, death, resurrection—all using stories told with masterfully written allegory.

Science Fiction and Fantasy will never die as a genre. It speaks to everyone because it is so often about the journey we are all on: discovery. It is universal in its specificity. It is a door. And it is one that more and more women, people of color, and other “others” are walking through because, as a result of women authors and women of color authors, it is now part of the great Possible.

The Great Spirit of the Life Force In Action

Yesterday, H and I visited a friend who'd just given birth by C-section to twin girls. The girls came two months early. I immediately thought our friend had them early because she had been under some stress -- they say stress can bring on early labor.

But she said, "No. It turns out that Gemma [one of the twins] was beginning to lose out on the amount of red blood cells she needed because the other twin was taking them all. So, Gemma started the process of getting out of the womb fast in order to save her own life."

The doctors gave our friend some of the strongest medication they could find to stop the contractions, but nothing would stop them. Gemma was bound and determined to live. And she was going to find her way out into this world, doctors and their strong medications be damned.

Go, Gemma and Sasha!! You are fighters and you are both meant to be here and thrive. And you have an amazing, loving Momma waiting to help you on your path.

The whole experience of seeing these two tiny (just over two pounds each), squirming little lives fight so hard to come into this world -- to do the work they are meant to do and have the experiences they're meant to have, was more inspiring than anything any adult could say to me.

Walking into a hospital is always humbling, anyway. It puts things into proper perspective for me. It is sacred space. It is where Life and Death happen. And this visit was especially heart-opening. I got to see the great spirit of the Life Force in action.

Thank you Gemma and Sasha.

Thoughts on Mumbai

Like most South Asians, I've been thinking a lot about the Mumbai blasts and I'd be a complete twit not to post some of my thoughts here.

In India, this attack has been called the "Indian 9/11." Through various listservs I'm on, I've had the chance to read about people's reactions and they vary greatly. Some are outraged, rightly so, and glad most of the perpetrators (all but one, I believe) were gunned down. Some are shocked and dismayed at the Indian government's slow (or lack of) response to the situation and the subsequent chaos that ensued on a political level.

All of this does, indeed, remind me of 9/11 here in the U.S. Bush's slow response to the crisis, then the "bomb everything to find weapons of mass destruction" brigade. The response of "kill them all" is a frightening one in what is supposed to be a civilized society. I understand the fury, the outrage, frustration, and pain behind this cry. But the actions we take after terror tactics is most important if we're to avoid further terror attacks. And no, I don't believe the answer is to "kill them all." Because, really, the terrorists who carry out the attacks are the foot soldiers, not the generals. The ones getting shot and killed during the terror attacks are not the ones giving out the orders or planning the attacks or carefully building ideologies. And so far, none of the masterminds behind these "terrorism" tactics have been caught and brought to justice.

Why would this be the case? After all the attacks over the years, why haven't any of the heads or leaders of these attacks been captured and brought to trial? I can't be the only one who's thinking this might be a good plan of action. And the terrorists -- are they really that much smarter than our elected officials and military leaders?

What's most remarkable are some of the comments I've read on South Asian listservs and blogs. The discussion invariably comes down to religion. Hindus throw out the fact that Hindus live in poverty in India, too, and Muslims don't really have it that bad, and "Look, Hindus aren't out there terrorizing innocent people!" Muslims condemn the attacks and throw out reminders that Islam is truly a religion about peace.

And we're back to square one.

Religion is supposed to help us connect with a larger life force. It is supposed to offer us guidelines and methods to live our lives fully and in harmony with those around us. Religion is supposed to teach us about ourselves and about Life.

What I am seeing is true spirituality being hijacked by a few who are crazed with power-mongering and greed. They are good planners, they are great manipulators. And they are empty and hungry, using other people's children to fulfill their missions. They are using a true desire in good folks -- the desire to connect with that larger life force and to receive guidance about themselves and Life -- to manipulate young, spiritually hungry people (mostly young men) into committing egregious acts.

And I'm not just talking about Muslim terrorists or Sikh terrorists or Irish terrorists. Terrorists come in all colors, backgrounds, and political affiliations because greed and power-hunger come in all colors, backgrounds, and political affiliations.

Long ago, there were huge, elaborate temples and churches built to honor the spirit. Many of these are still standing. They are some of the most stunning architecture and wondrous beauty created by humankind on this planet. Today, we do not build these structures to spirit. The temples constructed today are temples to consumerism. Is it any wonder that so many young men and women are desperate for something more real? Something that will nurture a spiritual emptiness created by a world that reveres materialism?