<div dir="ltr">Thank you for the invitation to join in on this discussion, Margaret!!<div>And thanks for kicking things off, Craig.</div><div><br></div><div>My poetry is inspired by the voices of Black female ancestors, Black girls and women that are known and unknown to me, and Black girls from the future. In my poetry, I've come to realize that I'm creating narrative maps of Black girls’ and women’s journeys towards safe and healthy landing places. </div><div>Some of my poetry teachers and mentors have encouraged me to dance more and play more in my writing and on the page (and stage). One of my comrades recently donned me the "Play Priestess"--I encourage selfcare and squadcare, naps, breaks, beach time, dancing, and joyfulness in life, in general, and also in my creative and "academic" writing.</div><div><br></div><div>One way that I've played is by merging my identities, knowledges, and practices as both a poet and a public health professor. For most of my life, I kept these "crafts" separate. When I started my doctoral program, I knew that I had to bring them together for my own sanity because I'm only one person afterall. Almost a decade ago, Margaret witnessed me attempting this playing in C.S. Giscombe's poetry class at Berkeley. Health-inspired poetry...poetry-inspired health research...Both/And. So you might find me teaching MFA students about the themes of chronic and infectious disease, social support, and healing in Sonia Sanchez's "Does Your House Have Lions?," or asking MPH students to write an "I Come From" poem for first-day-of-class introductions (and to not begin their poem with "I'm not a poet"). This playing always engages me with young people, folks of color, people who have filled countless journals but don't call themselves "writers," and folks who name writing as one of their coping mechanisms. <br>Special shout-out to my #weareallpoets squad in Jo'burg who showed me how to play with our words all the way in the Motherland: <a href="https://weareallpoets2015.wordpress.com/">https://weareallpoets2015.wordpress.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div>Take care,</div><div>LeConte</div><div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><b style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">LeConté J. Dill, DrPH, MPH<br></b><b style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px">Director of Public Health Practice</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><b style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">Clinical Associate Professor,</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><b style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>College of Global Public Health</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>New York University</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>665 Broadway, 11th Floor</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>New York, NY 10012<br></b><b></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>Email: <a href="mailto:ljd9@nyu.edu" target="_blank">ljd9@nyu.edu</a></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(33,33,33)"><b>Phone: (212) 992-6087</b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#212121" face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.6667px"><b><a href="https://publichealth.nyu.edu/faculty/leconte-dill" target="_blank">https://publichealth.nyu.edu/faculty/leconte-dill</a> </b></span></font><br></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 12:09 AM Craig Perez <<a href="mailto:csperez@hawaii.edu">csperez@hawaii.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Thanks so much, Margaret! <div><br></div><div>Yes, playing with the space of the page is an important part of my poetry. Iʻve written before about articulating an "oceanic poetics" in which I see words as islands, sentences as archipelagoes, and the space as oceanic with rhythmic currents and unseen depths of meaning. I write more about this here: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.academia.edu_30082881_-5FOn-5FWriting-5Ffrom-5Fthe-5FNew-5FOceania-5FThe-5FOttawa-5FPoetry-5FNewsletter-5F2016-5F&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=syO_oPYgWZHgiupvSQ9OchcSozLh83MYX7OUcz41xC0&e=" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/30082881/_On_Writing_from_the_New_Oceania_The_Ottawa_Poetry_Newsletter_2016_</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>I also think about the page as a kind of mapping. In the Pacific, as elsewhere, there's a long history of colonial mappings that reduce our islands & ocean to territorialized spaces. So in my work I try to play (subvert, re-imagine, de-territorialize) colonial maps. </div><div><br></div><div>Yes, I also work as an editor & publisher. I have co-edited four anthologies of Pacific islander literature and I co-founded Ala Press, the only press in the US dedicated to Pacific literature (we have published around 10 books thus far). It's nice to think of this labor as creating a space (anthology or collection) for other voices to gather and inter-play. For those interested, here is the press: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.alapress.org&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=1kpdtti3ri_b5KQVYQGXZIK2anBTnmxJ2mdCZesVhJU&e=" target="_blank">www.alapress.org</a> and here is one anthology that I co-edited that just came out this year: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Effigies-2DAllison-2DAdelle-2DHedge-2DCoke_dp_1784631833_&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=31-FHHdUKdLFKyxvl2av9zwTDZFQldh63p7r_73A_yg&e=" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Effigies-Allison-Adelle-Hedge-Coke/dp/1784631833/</a>. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Craig</div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 6:12 AM Margaret Rhee <<a href="mailto:mrheeloy@gmail.com" target="_blank">mrheeloy@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">Thank you Craig for your message, and for participating. Such a honor to engage with your work and continue the thread on poetry, activism, and decolonial play. I've always been moved by your collaborative work across mediums such as poem-videos and visual art, and your work on the page in your collections too. I've inserted an excerpt from your first collection from unincorporated territory [hatcha] that to me, exemplifies the play on the page, that is all at once decolonial and experimental in terms of the visual. </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">It's incredible to think of land, the ocean, and the poem in this way. It certainly reminds me of Maria's play with poetry and of Jerry's work on environments too. I wonder if you can speak more to your work in the visual and when thinking about oceans, land, environments, and poetics? </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">I've also been moved in your collaborations as a publisher of Pacific and POC poetry in your practice. I wonder if you can speak more to this work of fostering Pacific poetry, and social justice movements through poetry readings and publishing as an activist practice? Always moved by your interventions, and excited to hear from others for this week. </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">warmly, </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">Margaret </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">--- </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small">"The Page Transformed" Interview with Craig Santos Perez: </div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lanternreview.com_blog_2010_03_12_the-2Dpage-2Dtransformed-2Da-2Dconversation-2Dwith-2Dcraig-2Dsantos-2Dperez_&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=02UIJauJAxTRdfUM_k_wQZawkBOffqyAwW7U9U94trw&e=" target="_blank">http://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-page-transformed-a-conversation-with-craig-santos-perez/</a><br></div><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:small"><div><img src="cid:ii_k23gz9840" alt="image.png" width="507" height="507"><br></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Oct 22, 2019 at 12:36 PM Craig Perez <<a href="mailto:csperez@hawaii.edu" target="_blank">csperez@hawaii.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Hafa adai and Aloha! <div><br></div><div>Thanks, Margaret, for the invitation to join this exciting discussion. </div><div><br></div><div>My poetry focuses on my home island of Guahan (Guam), my current home of Hawaiʻi, and the larger Pacific and our diasporas. Thematically, I address issues of decolonization, demilitarization, environmental justice, food sovereignty, political self-determination, and migration. Four of my books have been published thus far, with my fifth forthcoming next year (you can see my books here at my website: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.craigsantosperez.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=3gU3S9tccCpTBj6pKAWLoMO85dKmfvWg2pOubavMNsk&e=" target="_blank">www.craigsantosperez.com</a>). When I think about "play" in my work, I think about my use of playful techniques/aesthetics, including collage, polyphony, satire, humor, gossip, the carnivalesque, and metanarratives. </div><div><br></div><div>I enjoy thinking of collaboration as a kind of inter-play. The two main collaborations I have done have been with Hawaiian artists/writers. One art installation called "defence" can be found here: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__craigsantosperez.com_defence_&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=U2vVLlez_DumNG_xXVtFUrPtmV0K4umN1fnHxBbmQwA&e=" target="_blank">http://craigsantosperez.com/defence/</a>. A poem-video, called "praise song for oceania" can be found here: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__craigsantosperez.com_praise-2Dsong-2Doceania_&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=SU17xJlzU25bs_N-Cz1ftgYvcHHNd5J4ICWmRbrdbWw&e=" target="_blank">http://craigsantosperez.com/praise-song-oceania/</a>. </div><div><div><br></div><div>Lastly, I have found that creating a space of creative play at activist events have been very fruitful. I have organized many poetry writing spaces and creative writing workshops at different kinds of protest marches, activist festivals, cultural events, and more for people to express themselves. I have also hosted poetry reading and open mics at activist events, teach-ins, etc. I believe making these kinds spaces are vital for social justice movements to keep things playful (engaging, fun, pleasurable, expressive, creative, etc). </div><div><br></div><div>I look forward to learning from everyone one. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Craig</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Dr. Craig Santos Perez</div><div dir="ltr">Interim Director of Creative Writing<br><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Associate Professor, English Department</span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Affiliate Faculty, Center for Pacific Islands Studies </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">& The Indigenous Politics Program</span></div><div>University of Hawai'i, Mānoa</div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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empyre forum<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Dr. Craig Santos Perez</div><div dir="ltr">Interim Director of Creative Writing<br><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Associate Professor, English Department</span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Affiliate Faculty, Center for Pacific Islands Studies </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">& The Indigenous Politics Program</span></div><div>University of Hawai'i, Mānoa</div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__craigsantosperez.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=7orC5lGIdGAnr6U_9qaZ1w&m=n3YxeShUWhYEzynfSGtjN4Ejwq5LcF3yuOaKzIt04Lk&s=PQNxp9KQfv-_Pd9URUCThHVrRcC3viMPV3iko9xuJbs&e=" target="_blank">http://craigsantosperez.com/</a></span><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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empyre forum<br>
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