As Us is a literary space for women of the world. http://asusjournal.org/
Letter from the Editors
Dear Readers:
We are excited to bring to you our inaugural issue of As/Us:A
Literary Space for Women of the World. The seed for As/Us was planted in
Boulder, Co while three Indigenous women writers were discussing
writing, the challenges of publishing, and the lack of diversity within
the literary world. We came up with the idea of starting our own
journal, specifically for Indigenous women. We became excited about the
possibility of publishing established writers, like Joy Harjo who are
taught in classrooms alongside emerging writers, some of whom have
published, but have not yet received much recognition. By bringing
writers in different stages of their careers together we were interested
in the conversations that would arise between subject matter, craft and
aesthetics. We envisioned a space where readers could find fiction,
poetry, spoken word, and art in dialogue with scholarly works, along
with interviews from some of our contributors. We hope to continue the
journal for many years to come and want to seek out more international
voices and youth features as well.
While Casandra and Tanaya were curating this issue their vision for
As/Us expanded to include writers from other underrepresented
communities. Just as we were able to see the intersections between the
themes and subject matter of all of our contributors’ voices and
experiences it is our hope that our readers will contemplate those
connections as well. Tanaya and Casandra purposely selected pieces with
diverse styles and intentions. In our first issue we have twenty-two
contributors, two interviews, and two (forthcoming) reviews. Our
Indigenous contributors represent different tribal nations within the
U.S. and Canada. We also feature Latina, African-American, and
Asian-American writers. Tanaya, Casandra, and Christine believe that
showing a pipeline of possibilities for underrepresented writers is not
only needed for our own communities, but for the larger society as
well.
With so many stories, words, and visions represented, it felt natural
to begin the journal with a creative work that resembled a prayer.
Osborn writes “this is how all stories begin,”
in her poem about emergence and the importance of story. In the pieces
to follow women write about different subjects such as about finding the
beauty in your surroundings. Johnson’s spokenword piece “
Dawn,”
expresses this sentiment well, “show me something unbeautiful,’ she
says, / ‘and I will show you the veil over your eyes and take it away. /
And you will see hozho all around you, inside of you.”
Just as the landscape is integral to “Dawn,” we have included other
pieces that are firmly grounded in specific geographies. In Kao’s
creative non-fiction essay
“Roots and Leaves” personal
history is interlinked with culture and place. She writes, “I am
unearthing a foreign culture with my own language, digging up characters
that lived through the characters they wrote.” A similar sense of
familial history occurs in
“Winter Garden”
where we are presented with a complex sense of family, one that is
struggling with loss, but also thriving by cultivating the family they
have by preparing to bring in a new life. In these two pieces we see how
landscapes express the changes of not only seasons, but also
relationships.
“Movie Time,” an
excerpt from Mantz memoir, subtly renders tension as if watching a
film, with moments in scene slowing unfolding to reveal family
dysfunction. Unlike Mantz,
Givhan’s
short story directly tackles relationships by focusing on the unhealthy
aspects of romantic partnership and the complexity of desire. This type
of addictive love is also seen in the poem, “
Women the Usual Way,” which explores abuse through observation.
We were interested in our contributors’ use of observation as a tool
to expound upon stereotypes and roles women are sometimes forced into.
Broyles’ “
Summer Camp 1978”
contrasts the innocence of first gaining awareness of the body to the
harsh reality where women’s bodies can also be threatened.
Wurth’s poems
continue with these themes of the female body as it is understood in
relation to the male body, “I came to understand what those hands wanted
of me.” Ideas between body and identity intersect. This connection was
demonstrated well in “
A Day At The Races,”
a poem told in seven voices, which utilizes hair as a motif to discuss
race, self-perception, and outsider perceptions among other topics from
different vantage points. Just as Lythcott-Haims shows the pressure
placed on women in terms of expectations and appearances, Simpson
addresses a consciousness about how white people perceive Indigenous
people.
Simpson’s poem
incorporates speech acts such as “wear a skirt that covers your knees
and spice nylon stockings,” using directives to tell the speaker how to
act.
Because the the female body is often politicized these works take on political connotation. In
Long Soldier’s poem we see the body, its strength, power, the ability to harm, but also lament and question all of its capabilities. In “
Doll Making”
the body is rendered political as we are shown children in the
Philippines laboring in industrial schools. Andrews writes about the
harsh conditions of child labor, “Our first initiation our fingers bled /
red rosebud drops. Sucking thumbs.” Other voices write about political
subjects, identity, and history. A powerful example is “
Sons of Carlisle.”
In it Atsitty examines the aftermath of boarding schools, “new marks:
Abraham, Albert, Edward, George, / Joseph, Isaac. And these are they who
were / once taught to look, to pray with eyes / open. Boys – shed
our childhood names…” Ancestral connection is passed along through
story, giving the speaker a specific sense of identity. In
“The Tipping Point” Najmi writes, “my stories are served to me on small plates / my stories are only half of yours.”
Artists and writers have responsibilities to address historical issues, but also contemporary issues, which we see in
Belleau’s poetry
written in response the Idle No More movement and First Nations rights.
Others pieces tackle ongoing subjects like poverty facing Indigenous
peoples. In
“walmart,” northSun writes, “she smiles at me and / says ‘ welcome to walmart’ / minimum wage is / better than nothing.”
All of these stories share common threads, demonstrating not only
what it means to be a woman, but also human in this world. The voices
weave together the individual and collective experience, serving their
words to us on plates to feed each other.
Enjoy!
Casandra and Tanaya
About Us
We seek to publish both emerging and established women writers. It is our hope that
As/Us will
be a convergence of international voices that speak to both diverse and
shared experiences. We are open to works that span a variety of topics –
work that challenges conventions and aesthetics either on a narrative
or formal level, work with purpose, vision, and something at stake. Send
us work that you think deserves a space in the world!
As/Us is published twice a year online with a yearly “Best Of” print issue.
Please visit
AS US at
http://asusjournal.org/
