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Summer Grief

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Recipes and Why Vegan? By Leave a Comment

My summer memories include June bugsfirefliescicadasbutterfliesbats—all in abundance. I remember visiting the beachfinding sand dollars, picking them up, taking them home.By my teen years, I learned they were alive!I urged others to please — please — help them back into the water. Now, it’s been years since these memories and since I’ve seen one.Where have all the sand dollars gone?On the endangered species list. The summer I turned 18, the radio played ... Read more ...

Bear Ways: A Commitment Statement in Poem Form

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Earlier in June, after months of intense revision, I finally updated my commitment statement. It was a long time coming, as I returned to southern Appalachia and newly to Asheville—Cherokee Land in Western North Carolina (WNC)—back in 2024, ten weeks before Hurricane Helene hit. My writing has been coming slower since the move partly because of recovery and healing from the storm. Partly because of the time involved in putting down roots, building community, and ... Read more ...

Weathering Storms with Words and Images: From the Holler to the Sea (An Anthology)

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By 1 Comment

Having just weathered a winter storm—and knowing that we all are weathering storms within the cruel conditions of ICE and ice, of empire and climate crises—I want to share a local publication from the fall, from the one-year anniversary of Helene, a storm that shapes my understanding of storms to come. From the Holler to the Sea I am grateful to Rednecks Rising and Dandelion Scribes and editors Cheyanne Leonardo and Chelsea White-Hoglen for assembling the ... Read more ...

Meaningful Writing Doesn’t Always Make Its Way into Writing Portfolios

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I recently created a new writing portfolio, which I am excited to share! Because my SelectedWorks page was sunsetted this summer, I needed a new way to share publications. The portfolio highlights some, while linking to a fuller list (what I’d share as part of an academic CV). I start with academic publications and then share pieces from public and community writing. And I include a final section of meaningful writing that doesn’t always (or even often) make its way ... Read more ...

Recommitting and Reconnecting With Your Writing

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The month of May always feels like a time for recommitting and reconnecting: recommitting and reconnecting to creative work, to writing projects (especially those set aside), and to ourselves and the people we write with and for. There's an invitation to start again, as spring is in full bloom and the promise of summer awaits. It's not that the everyday efforts end, but there's the potential of more levity with longer days stretching ahead. There's the potential for ... Read more ...

Reflections on Helene: Sharing a Poem “In Gratitude” from Dandelion Scribes

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I am so grateful to have a poem included in the collection “From the Holler to the Sea: Hurricane Helene Survivors Speak Out”—a collaboration of the Appalachian poetry space Dandelion Scribes and local organizing collective Rednecks Rising.  Through reading the collection, I am really appreciating the opportunity to reflect on experiences with and changed lives from Hurricane Helene. The framing around “solidarity amidst ongoing global polycrisis” serves as another ... Read more ...

Writing Retreats Are for All Sorts of Writing

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Writing retreats are for writers creating across genres, at any stage, and for various audiences, including ourselves. But so often, even when we spend our lives working with words, we bracket what counts as “writing,” and we find it hard to claim the role of “writer.” This blog post combines reflections from two of us, Beth and Phoenix, about the experience of one-day, online writing retreats. Together, we want to affirm that, truly: writing is expansive, and writing ... Read more ...

Inspiration for Writers to Stretch W-I-D-E-R

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The cover of my current journal features a bright, colorful tree surrounded by vibrant earth and sky. It gets me thinking about how wide our writing can reach, much like the sparks that seem to be flying off the tree and reaching underground, too. It reminds me that we need deep root systems and many shades of experience (not a singular existence). It inspires me to stretch w-i-d-e-r ... literally to scrawl in large letters and to run off the page. I am grateful for ... Read more ...

“Is This Burnout?” New Article Asking and Answering the Question

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“Is this burnout or…? So many of us are asking this question and wondering if what we’re feeling is burnout. Is it burnout or exhaustion? Burnout or anxiety? Burnout or worker exploitation? Burnout or unreasonable expectations? Burnout or toxic workspace? Burnout or I’m 100% in caregiver mode? Burnout or over-capacity? Burnout or the world is on fire? Burnout or a breaking point? Burnout or …?”  This is the opening inquiry of a collaborative article that Candace ... Read more ...

Q&A with Candace Epps-Robertson: On Seasons of Life, Writing, and Career

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This interview introduces Candace Epps-Robertson, Ph.D., a collaborator with Heart-Head-Hands, facilitator of writing groups, and co-creator of the new offering, “Pathways Through Burnout: A Cohort Experience.”  Candace is a writer, researcher, and educator with deep commitments to justice and more than twenty years of experience in literacy education. She is also Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she ... Read more ...