Tag Sundress Publications

news + new Debate erasures

José Angel Araguz 1 Comment

I wrote in my journal last night: Made it to August, no thanks to July. It’s been tough. If this is you and your situation as well, please know you’re not alone.

This week, I’m sharing some quick news as well as two new additions and an update to the Debate series of erasures I’ve been doing. Enjoy!

First up, I’m excited to share a review of my lyric memoir, Ruin & Want (Sundress Publications). Poet and translator Dana Delibovi was kind enough to spend time with the book and share some insights through her review “Exposing the Wounds” published by Cable Street.

One moment that stood out to me from the review:

An intriguing aspect of Araguz’s memoir is the set of connections forged between youthful and adult experience. Much of the book’s lyricism—its truly poetic quality—comes from the way it braids these phases of life. The adolescent’s high school affair sours or frustrates the adult’s search for love and identity. The adult hates looking back “because I cannot make it all cohere…cannot reconcile anyone’s intentions…cannot move forward without acknowledging the shame…” Growing up, moving away, getting an education all occur in the presence of pain that seems even more intense in the light of new experiences. As Araguz climbs upward toward noble things, the weight of what he carries is even harder to bear.

This passage stood out to me as the dynamic pointed out here–that of braiding different phases of life and sitting with what comes from the juxtaposition–feels like a key into the project. This idea also stands as a metaphor for life right now. Figuring things out. Making do with what you have.

Thank you to Delibovi for this review! Check out the review here and check out Dana Delibovi’s site for more info on their work.

I’m also excited to share about a local event next week featuring friend and poet Amelia Díaz Ettinger. She’ll be the featured reader at the Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge. Here are the deets:

WHAT: Boston Poetry Slam @ The Cantab Lounge hosts Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHEN: Wednesday, August 7th: workshop at 6:30PM; open mic at 8PM; feature at 10PM (all times EST)
WHO: Amelia Díaz Ettinger
WHERE: 738 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge [directions]

I wrote about Amelia Díaz Ettinger and her work previously here on the Influence.

Finally, here are the latest additions in the Debate series (for more info on the series, check out the original post). A few updates to the project:

  • First, I’d like to recognize that the presidential election (and the whole world it feels like) has changed since the first debate.
  • That said, both sides continue to place emphasis on the border in their campaign speeches and talk.
  • For that reason, I plan on continuing with the project and eventually have a series that includes the 38 times the word “border” was said during the debate.
  • Essentially: despite the change in circumstances, the theme of the project holds.
  • Also: I have decided to do only one erasure per screenshot where formerly I was hoping to do two from each. This change is mainly practical, but also feels right due to the changes mentioned above.

All that said: Please enjoy the latest additions to the Debate series below!

Debate Series: parts 4 & 5

An erasure that reads: we hang in a situation across the border that’s going to continue with more border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.
An erasure that reads: Trump? what he knows Look, border border border.

Abrazos,

= José =

reading afterthoughts & intro

José Angel Araguz 1 Comment
A photograph of a stack of copies of Ruin & Want at Porter Square Bookstore.
Ruin & Want out in the wild (of Porter Square Bookstore).

Just a quick post to share some thoughts and pics after last night’s reading. I had a great time sharing the stage with Jason Prokowiew, Maxine West, Leticia Priebe Rocha, and Thuy Phan. Thank you to everyone at Tell-All Boston and Porter Square Bookstore who made last night’s reading possible! Special thanks to everyone who attended in person and virtually!

Below as well is the introduction that I wrote for the event. In this intro, I spend some time musing on the theme of last night’s reading, “Life on the Margins” as well as setting up some context before reading from Ruin & Want.

Consider it like DVD extras (‘member those, haha). Enjoy!

I’d like to now say a few words about tonight’s theme of “Life on the Margins” as well as set up the excerpts from my memoir I’ll be reading.

A photograph of last night's readers.
Reader pic! From left: me, Leticia, Jason, Thuy, Maxine, and Ethan Gilsdorf (emcee). Photo credit: Jason Prokowiew.

When I discuss marginalization with my students, I often hold up the clipboard I have in my hand while lecturing. I hold it up and point to the margins on the page, how the mainstream is what’s centered, is what and who’s allowed space in the world. I tell them that the margins are what is not centered, and thus are forced to a space that is literally uncomfortable to write in.

Seriously: If you’ve ever had to make use of a page’s margins, then you’re familiar with the squeezing in of as many words as you can because you must, your hand cramped around a fleeting expression, an expression that takes you away from the center, an expression that cannot happen there, an expression that can only happen in this other space. And this other space is shrinking. Each year there are less and less safe spaces to write and be a writer in.

Now, the fragmentary journey that is my memoir, Ruin & Want, is a challenge but one I hope people will take on. Which is to say: if I could have written this in a straight line, I would have, but please know care and heart went into this just like anything else I create.

A photo of a black cat sitting before a laptop on whose screen a writer reads.
Semilla, my cat, watching me read via livestream. Photo credit: Ani Araguz.

Some content notices and context: I would like to make note that the subjects of sexual content, sexual assault, and eating disorders are brought up in what I’m reading.

Back to the word fragmentary: what does it mean for us tonight? Tonight, it means y’all just need to sit back and cruise with me. Know that the core of the memoir centers on what it was like to be a high school student from Matamoros MX preyed upon by their high school English teacher in Corpus Christi, TX. Know that there will be references to works by James Joyce but don’t worry, you won’t be quizzed on them. Know that, toward the end of the excerpt, I engage with the e.e. cummings poem “May I feel said he.” Know we’ll be dipping in and out of memory and different times in my life as well as speaking across moments with a sense of urgency, intimacy, and human pulse. This is the kind of prose I dreamt of for this manuscript.

I remember describing the project early on as a book where each page creaked like loose floorboards late at night when you’re simultaneously hoping to not be heard while also hearing everything around you acutely.

Come walk with me.

Abrazos,

= José =