Aloha, time for Tuesday books! Totem: America by Debra Kang Dean, author of five collections of poetry, reminds us how poetry opens us to feelings that are often too complicated to express and gives us the words we need to heal and live. Born in Hawai’i and of Korean and Okinawan ancestry, Dean is a serious practitioner of taiji, a master of lyricism, and writes of grief, connection, color and story. She guides the reader with narrative and sharp descriptions that oblige the reader to reframe the ordinary. 

She lets us in. What sensory moments linger with us when faced with the fading of people and memory? I thought a lot about how the very sharp fragments are often how we make meaning and the choice becomes this: which moments do we move closer to in order to make our lives cohesive?

We go to poetry to ask: what should I note? WHY? As with all writing that moves one to a space of deep contemplation, Dean obliges us to ask this question (as I’d be inclined to casually say): HEY, YEAH, SO WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Apples, Elvis, sky and words. Grief. And the HAN comes through—this is the Korean word that has no direct translation—of resilience and pathos, memory and loss—a binding to a feeling rooted in sorrow.

Kang writes poems we read once. And then decide, (in my case) a day later, to read again!

I also appreciate the references of place and experience. Poetry is both universal and specific, and for me personally, having grown up in Iowa, but having come to HI for family, there are certain cultural aspects that resonate. This is also very teachable poetry, and so teachers out there–I would pick up Totem: America or Dean’s other work. Dean writes her truth, and we nod in agreement;)

From ‘An Open Eye’: “I know that Death, like God,/wears many faces,/ but the heart, indiscriminate,/ only hammers out its/one note.”

Debra Kang Dean will be visiting Women’s Creative Writing Workshop on Wednesday 10/21! So excited to have her zoom in!

~teaching women the power of narrative~

Women’s Creative Writing Workshop begins 10/24

Register here.

Aloha, time for Tuesday books! The Birth of Korean Cool (How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture) by EunyHong is a funny exuberant read and will inform people about the basic hows and whys of Korean culture and the machinations of global K-pop culture. I believe that this book is highly relevantgiven the anti-Asian sentiment due to COVID, the Black/Asian dynamic in the US, and the truth of polyculturalism. K-pop embodies an idea of polyculturalism and how the point of exchange is crucial.

I’m not a big K-pop fan because I’m rather ambivalent about a lot of pop culture, yet STILL I found this a fascinating read. Nation building through pop culture. I confess: I have a HUGE BTS blanket. A gift from Dad who informed me and The Kid that BTS was Korean World Famous Important Group Everyone Like. It’s thick and soft. I live in Hawaii.

How are we connected? What are some key facts about Korea that might be relevant about this nation on the global stage? We see Korean culture at PLAY. This book reveals insights applicable on a smaller scale to arts administrators. It’s also a lesson about humor: control the narrative with humor and you can say whatever you want to say. Whip-smart accessible writing. I was disturbed. I laughed. Always a good combo.

~teaching women the power of narrative~

Women’s Creative Writing Workshop begins 10/24

Register today.