Arts Calling

Weekly Shoutout: Cruznotes is back! One email a month to bring you everything happening across the cruzfolio network, join Jaime's secret newsletter here: cruzfolio.com/cruznotes. -- Hi there, Today I am so excited to be arts calling author Lee Upton! (www.leeupton.com) About our guest: Lee Upton’s comic novel Tabitha, Get Up is forthcoming in May 2024. Another novel, a literary mystery, will be out in May 2025. Her books include her seventh collection of poetry, The Day Every Day Is (Saturnalia Books 2023), two short story collections, a novella, four books of literary criticism, and an essay collection. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and Southern Review, as well as three editions of Best American Poetry. She is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the National Poetry Series Award, Poetry Society of America awards, the Miami University Novella Prize, the Open Book Award, the Saturnalia Book Prize, and other honors. www.leeupton.com Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Lee! All the best! -- TABITHA, GET UP is forthcoming May 22nd, 2024 from Sagging Meniscus Press, is now available for pre-order: https://bookshop.org/p/books/tabitha-get-up-lee-upton/21257767 ABOUT TABITHA, GET UP: Tabitha is a lonely fifty-year-old biographer who, in order to restore her self-respect and pay her rent, attempts to write two biographies simultaneously: one about an actor so famous his face is on the side of buses, and the other about a popular writer of children’s books recently outed as an author of erotic fiction. Is Tabitha ready to deal with interviewing an actor so handsome and charismatic she thinks he should be bottled and sprayed on belligerent people as a form of crowd control? Can she form a genuine friendship with a cult novelist who pressures her to compromise her values? While facing these and other challenges, Tabitha is bedeviled by memories of her long-ago divorce and the terrible wedding when, accidentally bumped on a balcony, she shot off into the shrubbery. Is it true, she wonders, that there’s probably a dead body beneath the floating rot of any marriage? When surrounded by pretentious beautiful people does it help to imagine their intestines are full of worms? Are champagne bubbles the devil’s air pockets? Is it ever too late to change your life—from the bottom up? NOTICES: “For starters, Lee Upton’s novel Tabitha, Get Up is funny—really, really funny. On top of that, narrator Tabitha’s clumsy, desperate, charming search for human connection—not to mention a paying gig—is also a serious look at whether it’s possible to bluff and hustle a life together. You’re going to love this book.” —David Ebenbach, author of The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy “Tabitha, Get Up is another remarkable book by the irrepressible Lee Upton, a novel that might remind you of the work of some of our finest living comic novelists—Elizabeth McCracken, Jincy Willett, Elizabeth McKenzie—but in the end is a book only Upton herself could have written. Its protagonist, Tabitha, is a glorious piece of work: a biographer with a feverish mind and a long list of antagonists and an indomitable spirit and an unforgettable voice and major money problems. I wouldn’t want anyone to live her life, but I very much want everyone to read her book. It’s Lee Upton’s best, funniest, and most ingenious work of fiction yet. Which is to say, it’s the best, funniest, most ingenious work of fiction you’ll read this year, and most other years, too.” —Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe? and I, Grape “There is no form of the novel. The novel has no form. The novel takes no form. The novel takes forms. It is a voracious form, the novel. Tabitha, Get Up, Lee Upton’s comely new novel, presents as a series of exquisite “Notes,” and thus a “Notebook,” a book of Notes, to self, to random others, to you who finds them. A compendium of memorandums makes up the meat of the matter, a tender texture to the text, marginalia that has been turned outside in, has migrated edgily into the heart of the heart. Formally the form is perfectly organic to this novel new novel, parts being greater than the sum of the whole, this map more detailed than the thing it represents, this round-up of resuscitation, reconstitution, and reply. Riding herd, Upton wrangles a novel that writes itself and rights itself. —Michael Martone, author of Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana “Tabitha lives! In Tabitha, Get Up, Lee Upton has created an ebullient, witty, slightly nutty, and totally lovable character whose distinctive voice will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. Smart, funny, crazy in the best sense, and a total joy!” —Iris Smyles, author of Droll Tales Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN. MUCH LOVE, j

Weekly Shoutout: cruzfolio.com/now! -- Hi there, Today I am so excited to be arts calling writer and editor C.M. Crockford! (www.cmcrockford.net) About our guest: C.M. Crockford is the author of the full-length collection Birdsongs (Alien Buddha Press, 2024) as well as two chapbooks, Mark The Place (Thirty West Publishing, 2020) and Adore (Iron Lung Press, 2018). His essays, poetry, and fiction have been featured in The Cleveland Review of Books, Abducted Cow Magazine, CineSPEAK Journal, Vastarien, Serotonin Poetry, and Vast Chasm Magazine among many others. He also co-hosted The Barn: A Podcast About The Shield alongside Mason Maguire. Otherwise, Crockford reads crime fiction, collects punk badges and stim toys, and lives in Philadelphia with his cat Wally. Socials: https://www.instagram.com/cm_crockford/ https://twitter.com/cm_crockford BIRDSONGS, now available from Alien Buddha Press: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CV5X9RCB/ ABOUT BIRDSONGS: "Birdsongs: Poems 2020-2023" by C.M. Crockford is a mesmerizing collection that transcends the boundaries of language to immerse readers in a kaleidoscope of emotions. Crockford's evocative verses paint vibrant landscapes where desire, resilience, and nostalgia take flight like free-spirited birds. From the raw intensity of "Animal" to the reflective echoes of "Winter's Visit," this book invites you on a poetic journey through the intricate melodies of life. With each poem, Crockford unveils a world where nature, love, and societal reflections blend seamlessly, creating a symphony of words that resonate long after the final verse. "Birdsongs" is an enchanting testament to the power of poetry, capturing the essence of existence with a grace that is both timeless and profoundly relevant. In Birdsongs, C.M. Crockford gives us poems that take flight—but expect turbulence. This collection soars through sweaty basements, punk bars, and the harsh realities of contemporary life. With accessible language and animalistic passion, readers will find that these poems “hum hungry energy” and trill with biting candor. —Adam Gianforcaro, author of Every Living Day (Thirty West Publishing House, 2023) Thanks for this wonderful conversation, C.M.! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j

Weekly Shoutout: My Bad Poetry Podcast! -- Hi there, Today I am so excited to be arts calling Court Ludwick! (www.courtlud.com). About our guest: Court Ludwick is the author of These Strange Bodies (ELJ Editions, 2024) and the founding editor-in-chief of Broken Antler Magazine. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, and can be found in Denver Quarterly, Stonecoast Review, Necessary Fiction, Oxford Magazine, Full House Literary, West Trade Review, and elsewhere. Court’s art has shown at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, and she has visual work forthcoming in Zaum Magazine, Bleating Thing Magazine, and body fluids. She is the recipient of a 2024 Sioux Falls Arts Council Artist Grant, and she has taught workshops on hybrid writing and experimental form, most recently for The Dakota Writing Project and Vermillion Literacy Project. Court has an MA from Texas Tech University and is a current PhD student at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches literature and composition. Find Court on socials @courtludwick. Find more of Court’s writing and art on www.courtlud.com. Socials: https://www.instagram.com/courtludwick https://twitter.com/courtludwick https://www.brokenantlermag.com THESE STRANGE BODIES, A memoir-in-fragments, is forthcoming from ELJ Editions in September 2024: https://elj-editions.com/these-strange-bodies About THESE STRANGE BODIES: Court Ludwick’s These Strange Bodies is an intimate account of two tumultuous years and a clarifying dissection of how the female body exists in public and social spaces that are rooted in gendered and sexual violence. Composed of essays, prose poems, and the occasional experiment, this memoir-in-fragments navigates sexual assault, a mother’s arrest, a panic disorder diagnosis, a breakup, a stream of new lovers, a flirtation with stimulant drugs, and the ups and downs of trying to let it all go. As the collection grapples with memory’s fragmentary nature, past and present collide on the page. And as Ludwick charts the difficulty of filling in the gaps, threads blending cultural critique, human anatomy, poetry, and personal narrative expose the strange acts historically forced on bodies, the estrangement one can experience from their body, and the strangeness that is felt when trying to find a way through all this chaos, through all this strange. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Court! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j

Weekly Shoutout: Maria C. Palmer Arts Calling Episode 109! Hi there, Today I am so excited to be arts calling co-authors Maria C. Palmer & Ruthie Robbins! About our guests: Maria Costanzo Palmer is an author and grant writer. Growing up as the oldest child of an award-winning restaurateur, Maria unexpectedly became a daughter of the incarcerated. This experience ignited an interest in working for Get on the Bus, a nonprofit dedicated to uniting children with their incarcerated parents. A former host on L.A. Talk Radio, Maria was recently featured on Food and Beverage Magazine Live and has made a number of media appearances. You can find Maria on FB and IG @joecostanzoprimadonna and on Twitter @mariacpalmer. For more information, visit www.mariacpalmer.com. Ruthie Robbins is an award-winning educator who worked for the Montour School District in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA, and for Johns Hopkins University Talent Development Secondary. Ruthie grew up in "The Rocks" but now teaches English Language Arts and music in Buffalo, New York. Best known as co-creator of a popular interdisciplinary unit for Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, Ruthie is currently working on other books and is preparing to launch The Writing Factory Online, a comprehensive writing program for middle schools. On the Rocks, now available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C678ZVSV Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mariacpalmer Maria and Ruthie: Thanks for this wonderful conversation! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j

Weekly Shoutout: Arcade Bookshop Podcast! What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message! Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling author and coach Heather G. Marshall! (heathergmarshall.com) About our Guest: Heather G. Marshall is an adoptee, author, speaker, teacher, coach, and traveler. Her short fiction has been published in a variety of journals, including Black Middens: New Writing Scotland, and Quarried, an anthology of the best of three decades of Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel. Her first novel, The Thorn Tree, released in 2014 (MP Publishing). Her TED talk, “Letting Go of Expectations,” centers around her adoption and reunion. Originally from Scotland, Heather is currently based in Massachusetts. heathergmarshall.com WHEN THE OCEAN FLIES, now available from Vine Leaves Press! https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-the-ocean-flies-heather-g-marshall/20885419 About WHEN THE OCEAN FLIES: An email from a stranger tells Alison Earley that her natural father, whom she has known for only six years, has died suddenly. What begins as a short trip back to Scotland for a funeral soon becomes a journey that puts adoption, sexuality, and identity on a collision course as Alison finds herself caught between the life and family she has so carefully constructed on one continent and the family from which she was taken on another. Shunned by her father's family, reunited with her natural mother, and reconnected with a long-lost love, Alison finds herself trying to shepherd her youngest child towards college while questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. When her natural mother uncovers a series of letters written to Alison from the grandmother she never knew, resurrecting the stories of generations of women-stories long buried by patriarchal rule-Alison realizes that she must find the courage to face and reveal the secrets of her own past. At what cost, though? And who and what will be left in the aftermath? When the Ocean Flies explores the pain of separation and abuse, and the power of love to heal even over huge gaps in time and geographical distance. Letting Go of Expectations, Heather's Ted Talk, now available here: https://heathergmarshall.com/books-and-writing/letting-go-of-expectations/ Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Heather! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Arcade Bookshop Podcast! What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message! Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling singer/songwriter Sam Chue! washingtonesrecords.com About our Guest: Sam Chue, local outsider singer-songwriter plays a mix of his newest songs and a few tunes from the past. He has been playing original music in Bellingham and out of his car throughout the i-90 corridor since 2007 and he brings a refreshing spin to the folk genre. Naegle Fowleri (IG @naeglefowleri) is the bassist and sometimes singer of the virtual band, howling brave. Listen to the episode to learn more about this mystery. Washingtones Records is a Bellingham, Washington-based independent record label that goes the extra mile to empower artists that deserve a bigger audience. Sam Chue and Tim Mechling started Washingtones out of necessity. After a few releases of their own, they discovered a serious and surprising lack of music reviews, features, representation and media for independent artists. We’re dedicated to bringing physical and digital media to the northwest of the northwest. Independent music deserves your undivided attention. We always fight for the underdog. Instagram: @washingtonesrecords | Facebook: @washingtonesrecords | YouTube: @WashingtonesRecords | TikTok @washingtonesrecords Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Sam! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: 2024 Jaime Updates! What did you think of the episode? Send Jaime a message! Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling author Tyler C. Gore! https://tylergore.com About our Guest: Tyler C. Gore is the author of My Life of Crime: Essays and Other Entertainments, shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize. My Life of Crime was also a First Horizon Award Finalist, and appeared in the Independent Book Review’s list of “Impressive Indie Books of 2022.” Tyler has been cited five times as a Notable Essayist by The Best American Essays annual anthology and is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship for Creative Writing. For many years, he served as art director of Literal Latte, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Exacting Clam and StatORec. His essays, stories, and reviews have appeared in many of the fine, high-quality journals preferred by discerning readers like you. He lives, as he dreams, in Brooklyn. Twitter: @TylerCGore | Insta: @tylermustwashhands MY LIFE OF CRIME: ESSAYS AND OTHER ENTERTAINMENTS, now available from Sagging Meniscus Press! https://www.saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/my_life_of_crime/ About MY LIFE OF CRIME: An awkward visit to a nude beach. A bike-pedaling angel careening through rush-hour traffic. The mystery of a sandwich found in a bathroom stall. A lyric, rainy-day ramble through the East Village. With the personal essays (and three other entertainments) in this debut collection, Tyler C. Gore reveals the artistic secrets of his life of crime: a charming wit, compassionate observation, perfection of style, and, over all, a winsomely colorful light tinged with just enough despair. Whether stewing over a subway encounter with a deranged businessman, confessing his sordid past as a prankster, or recounting his family’s history of hoarding, Gore is by turns melancholy, profound and hilarious. The collection culminates with the novella-length essay “Appendix,” a twisted, sprawling account of routine surgery that grapples with evolution, mortality, strangely attractive doctors, simulated universes, and an anorexic cat. My Life of Crime conjures up from the flotsam of an individual life something uncannily majestic: an insomniac contemplation of life in our eternal, twenty-four-hour New York City, infused throughout with its grit, humanity, unexpected romance, and the poignant intimacy of all the lives joined together within it. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Tyler! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast! Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message! Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling author Hilary Zaid! hilaryzaid.com About our Guest: Hilary Zaid has been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference, a James D. Houston Fellow at the Community of Writers and two-time attendee of Tin House Writers' Workshop. Her work has appeared in Mother Jones, Ecotone, Day One, The Southwest Review, and The Utne Reader and elsewhere. Long-listed for the 2018 Northern California Independent Booksellers' Award for Fiction, her novel Paper is White is a 2018 Foreword Indies silver medalist and the winner of the 2018 Independent Publishers' Book Awards (IPPY) in LGBT+ Fiction. Her novel Forget I Told You This (Zero Street Fiction), is the inaugural winner of the Barbara DiBernard Award. Hilary holds an AB in English from Harvard and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Hilary has mentored aspiring writers through AWP's Writer-to-Writer Mentor program, the Golden Crown Literary Society and as a volunteer mentor and mentor-coordinator of the College Essay Mentors in the Oakland Unified School District, an equity program offering high school seniors from under-served communities. Twitter: @hilaryzaid | Insta: @hilary_zaid/ FORGET I TOLD YOU THIS, now available from Zero Street Fiction! https://www.hilaryzaid.com/forget-i-told-you-this.html About Forget I Told You This: Amy Black, a queer single mother and an aspiring artist in love with calligraphy, dreams of a coveted artist’s residency at the world’s largest social media company, Q. One ink-black October night, when the power is out in the hills of Oakland, California, a stranger asks Amy to transcribe a love letter for him. When the stranger suddenly disappears, Amy’s search for the letter’s recipient leads her straight to Q and the most beautiful illuminated manuscript she has ever seen, the Codex Argentus, hidden away in Q’s Library of Books That Don’t Exist—and to a group of data privacy vigilantes who want her to burn Q to the ground. Amy’s curiosity becomes her salvation, as she’s drawn closer and closer to the secret societies and crackpot philosophers that haunt the city’s abandoned warehouses and defunct train depots. All of it leads to an opportunity of a lifetime: an artist’s residency deep in the holographic halls of Q headquarters. It’s a dream come true—so long as she follows Q’s rules. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Hilary! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast! Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Kate Brandt! https://katebrandt.net About our Guest: Kate Brandt is a graduate of the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in literary anthologies, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Literary Mama, Ginosko, and Redivider, among other publications. Hope for the Worst, her first novel, is informed by her experiences with Tibetan Buddhism, magic, self-delusion, desire, despair, and healing, as well as her travels through Europe, Africa, and Asia. Kate is also a teacher and teacher trainer in adult literacy in New York City. In this role, she is privileged to work with a community of smart, dedicated educators in service to adult students who, despite difficult circumstances, continue to pursue an education in the hope of improving their lives. Twitter: @kbrandtwriter | Insta: @kbrandtwriter HOPE FOR THE WORST, now available from Vine Leaves Press! https://www.vineleavespress.com/hope-for-the-worst-by-kate-brandt.html About Hope for the Worst: At twenty-seven, Ellie Adkins doesn’t have all that much going for her–a dead-end job at a New York City nonprofit; a boyfriend who has left her; distant and divorced parents. But it is the suffering caused by Calvin, her Buddhist teacher, that she can’t get past. A year ago, Calvin seduced her, and his Buddhist teachings became her world. Now, he has dropped her, and Ellie struggles to reconcile his teachings—the idea that nothing has inherent reality; that the way to salvation is through abandonment of the self–with the intense pain in her heart. Ellie’s devotion to Calvin will lead her to undertake an expedition to Tibet on his behalf; there, injured and in danger on a solo trek, she will have to choose between devotion and her own life. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Kate! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Nighthawks Podcast! Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Wendy Bashant! About our Guest: Wendy Bashant taught and served as a dean and professor of English for thirty years at schools as diverse as UC-San Diego, Coe College, New College of Florida, Eastman School of Music, and California Western School of Law. Her writing includes scholarly articles, book chapters, poetry, and travel articles. She was a finalist for both the Peter Taylor Prize for Literature and the Gival Press Novel Award. Her memoir, The Same Bright Moon, was a 2023 New York Book Festival winner. A graduate of Middlebury College (BA) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D.), she currently lives in San Diego with her husband and two cats. She teaches adult literacy through the public library system and volunteers at the San Diego Zoo. She also plays the harp and tries to practice her Mandarin with as much regularity and discipline as she can muster. Insta: @wbashant1 Twitter: @BashantWendy THE SAME BRIGHT MOON, now available! https://www.amazon.com/Same-Bright-Moon-Teaching-Generation/dp/B0CDNM82VZ About THE SAME BRIGHT MOON: In 2019, Wendy Bashant, a burned-out college dean, quits her job to teach two hundred students in the ancient, walled city of Xi’an, China. The year turns extraordinary when tensions between China and the U.S. escalate: first tit-for-tat tariffs; then a worldwide pandemic; finally lockdowns, closed consulates, and expelled journalists. All the while, accusations are lobbed back and forth like flaming arrows launched over the Pacific. Against this background of aggression, Wendy tries to teach a class in American culture. Instead, her students describe the realities of growing up in an emerging global power. Through their experiences and compelling perspectives, the students debate various issues, such as environmentalism, gender, healthcare and political conflict. The Same Bright Moon is a collaborative memoir highlighting the stories of these students through their assignments, discussions and poetry at the height of Covid-19. Their vibrant voices will challenge, inspire, and bring hope for the future. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Wendy! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Hey Playwright! Like the podcast? Thoughts/concerns? Jaime would love to hear from you, send him a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling photographer Kamal X!! (www.iamkamalx.com) About Kamal, in his own words: I am Kamal X, a professional photographer who has been documenting my travels throughout the world since 2015. Photography found me at a time in my life when I felt confused and voiceless. I wasn’t sure of where I was internally and what direction I wanted my life to go. I welcomed my challenges and I found myself drawn to creating images that evoke emotions rooted in the many universal elements of the human experience. My goal is to tell stories from all walks of life and give a raw voice to the world we live in, through compassion and honesty. BLACK ASTRONAUT, now available for purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Astronaut-Kamal-X/dp/1908211938/ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/iamkamalx About BLACK ASTRONAUT: THE STARS BELONG TO THE PEOPLE Join award-winning photographer Kamal X on his epic search for beauty through a divided America. Black Astronaut is an extraordinary collection of powerful images that tell the stories of the everyday people behind the sensationalized headlines, a nuanced representation of the new Black America. Living, loving and fighting for a better world in difficult times. Open your heart to this electrifying collection of images, as Kamal X uses his camera to explore America after George Floyd, Covid-19, and Trump by finding beauty, humanity, and hope in the rage of a people under fire. Black Astronaut serves as a raw opportunity to re-evaluate one’s own intersection with the ongoing shifts in society that bring renewed threats to communities against a background framed by the unequal impact of economic volatility. This book is about looking at the recent past to try to find a direction for the near future. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Kamal! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Switchyard Podcast! Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling poet Richard Jeffrey Newman for a second appearance on the podcast!! (richardjnewman.com) About: Richard Jeffrey Newman is the author of Words for What Those Men Have Done (Guernica Editions 2017) and The Silence of Men (CavanKerry Press 2006), as well as the translation, The Teller of Tales: Stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahameh (Junction Press 2011). He curates the First Tuesdays reading series and is Professor of English at Nassau Community College. His latest poetry collection, T'shuvah, is now available from Fernwood Press! https://www.fernwoodpress.com/2023/09/07/tshuvah/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/richardjnewman Microblog: https://richnewman.micro.blog/ Thanks for returning a second time, Richard, such a pleasure to catch up! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: The First Draft Club: A podcast from Mary Adkins! Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling poet John Yamrus! About: In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, John Yamrus has published 35 books (29 volumes of poetry, 2 novels, 3 volumes of non-fiction and a children’s book). He has also had nearly 3,000 poems published in magazines and anthologies around the world. A number of his books and poems are taught in college and university courses. He is widely considered to be a master of minimalism and the neo-noir in modern poetry. His latest books are TWENTY FOUR POEMS and SELECTED POEMS: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT. A volume of his SELECTED POEMS was recently published in Albania and TWENTY FOUR POEMS is due out in translation later this year. 24 Poems, now available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRCC2LTW Thanks for this delightful conversation, John! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly Shoutout: Liars and Leeches - A Supernatural Horror Audio Drama! Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling musician and existential creative BV Wolfgang of The Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO! About: Welcome to The Spacewalkers Foundation for Extraterrestrial Exploration and the Circumvention of Planned Obsolescence. Founded by BV Wolfgang and an ever-growing staff of dreamers, inventors, scientists, and artists, the Foundation aims to infinitely extend consciousness through art, philosophy, technology, and an impressive amount of Hologram Dogs™ Listen to the latest tracks here: linktr.ee/thespacewalkers Read the Spacewalkers Substack! https://spacewalkers.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @thespacewalkers Thanks for this delightful conversation, BV! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling novelist and poet Anne Leigh Parrish! About our guest: Anne Leigh is the author of twelve books with her latest poetry collection, If The Sky Won’t Have Me, published in April 2023 by Unsolicited Press. Her next novel, A Summer Morning, arrives in October 2023, also from Unsolicited Press. She lives in Olympia, Washington. A SUMMER MORNING, now available for from Unsolicited Press! https://www.anneleighparrish.com/a-summer-morning/ Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Anne! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Hi there, We're trying something different today: Today I'm thrilled to bring you an Arts Calling Q&A! Friend of the show Shahab Zargari stops by to help me process the first 100 episodes of the podcast and some lessons along the way. Hope you enjoy!! About our Guest: Shahab Zargari is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker and administrative faculty member of the UNLV College of Fine Arts. After years of creating original short-form streaming content, Shahab made his directorial debut with the Philip K. Dick adaptation, THE CRYSTAL CRYPT (2013), an official selection at the San Diego Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival. He continued to hone his craft, creating original films, music videos, and a multitude of commissioned works. Shahab’s short films MY NAME IS ART (2018) and OH, THE GUILT (2021) garnered a dozen awards from a variety of prestigious festivals, including official selection to Amazon’s inaugural All Voices Film Festival, a digital festival celebrating underrepresented communities. Currently, the Docu-Dance short ‘The UNLV Shoah Project‘ is making rounds in the film festival circuit. You can view all of his creative output on his Vimeo and Youtube accounts. THE CRYSTAL CRYPT 10 year anniversary art book is now available here! https://www.blurb.com/b/11639745-the-crystal-crypt-film-art-book Thanks for making this happen, Shahab! All the best! Mentioned in the episode: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredtowrite -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). Like the show? Tell your creative friends, leave a review, or send me an email here. Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j artscalling.com

Weekly shoutout: My Bad Poetry Podcast! Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling musician Jim Clayton! (jimclaytonjazz.com) About our guest: DownBeat Magazine called Jim Clayton’s music “warm, happy, and soulful.” He calls it a blend of bebop and New Orleans, the city he considers a second home. His repertoire is a mix of jazz standards, reimagined pop classics, and his own memorable writing. Jim’s last two albums, Lenny Jumps In (2016) and Songs My Daughter Knows (2014) landed on the jazz radio charts in both Canada and the USA. He won three national awards with recording act The Clayton/Scott Group, and his music has been heard internationally on radio, in film, and on television (including Dateline NBC, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and MTV). Jim spent a decade as a music director with acclaimed theatre company The Second City, entertaining audiences around the globe, from ex-pats in Asia to our troops in Bosnia. He began streaming nightly performances at the start of the pandemic; after over 750 online shows, Jim garnered 30,000 new online followers. LOOK OUT, A NEW ALBUM OUT OCTOBER 3RD: https://jimclaytonjazz.com Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Jim! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly shoutout: A Word? Hosted by Kellie Scott-Reed, from Roi Fainéant Press! *Some episodes of arts calling may feature strong language or discuss difficult subjects. Comments and suggestions welcome: Send Jaime a message! -- Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling writer and educator Anna Dickson James! (whiskeytit.com/authors/anna-dickson-james) About our guest: Anna Dickson James earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte, NC and teaches English at Garrett College in Deep Creek, Maryland. Her work has appeared in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, she was a two-time finalist for the West Virginia Fiction Prize, and has won numerous awards from WV Writers, Inc. Writing these stories helped her understand a time in her life when she gave up much of her personal power, and the compilation of this collection was an avenue for helping her to reclaim it. Twitter: @annabanana57 BOYS BUY ME DRINKS TO MAKE ME FALL DOWN, now available from Whiskey Tit! https://whiskeytit.com/product/boys-buy-me-drinks-to-watch-me-fall-down/ Boys Buy Me Drinks to Watch Me Fall Down is the quietly opened vein that every literate woman is hiding with a strategically positioned clutch or behind sleeves not quite right for the weather. These are not your everyday stories of resilience — while the heart may be laid bare, the women here don’t have time to hit the fainting couch with their trauma. No. The women here are too sharp for that. And too busy. They’re busy carrying worlds on their shoulders; they’re busy with sex (and equally busy when the sex is great and when it’s not); they’re busy being messy and complicated and generally busy with the business of existence, with making sure you don’t see that vein. As for author Anna Dickson James? She’s busy exploring the many delicate and thoroughly original ways to let you see it anyway. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Anna! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Weekly shoutout: switchyardtulsa.com Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling poet Elizabeth M. Castillo! (elizabethmcastillo.net) About our guest: Elizabeth M Castillo is a multilingual poet, writer, teacher and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Paris with her family and two cats, where she writes a variety of different things, in a variety of different languages, and under a variety of pen names. Elizabeth is committed to promoting the indie arts, especially from women creators, and has a particular soft spot for women of colour who are also neurodivergent, much like herself. She’s found writing and creativity to be central to her own well-being and mental health, and is always keen to accompany other artists on their journey to developing their own authentic creative practice. In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race & ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, loss and grief, and a touch of magical realism. Her writing has been featured in publications and anthologies in the UK, US, Australia, Mexico and the Middle East. Her bilingual, debut collection “Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras” is for sale on Amazon, and her debut chapbook "Not Quite an Ocean" is on available now from Nine Pens Press. You can connect with her on Twitter @EMCWritesPoetry and IG as EMCWritesPoetry, or on her website. NOT QUITE AN OCEAN, now available from Nine Pens Press! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1739151747 'Not Quite an Ocean' by Elizabeth M. Castillo is a paean to the feminine, to motherhood and to the natural world. At once these poems are both unabashed in their celebration of womanhood, and are searing in their unflinching confrontation with darker undercurrents that threaten to break and destroy. The poems in 'Not Quite an Ocean' are beacons, are rallying calls, and are ultimately a roars of strength, pride and hope that cannot be silenced or subdued: To be woman is to be everything All things bound together and, if you can manage it that little bit more. Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Elizabeth! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com

Hi there, Today I am excited to be arts calling wonderful writer Catherine (Cathy) Shields! (www.cathyshieldswriter.com) About our guest: Catherine (Cathy) Shields writes about parenting, disabilities, and self-discovery. She is a retired educator with an M.S. Ed in Exceptional Education. Her experience includes networking and dealing with children and families of persons with disabilities. Cathy and her husband reside in Miami, Florida, where they raised three grown daughters. They kayak, ride bikes, hike in the Everglades, and visit the two grandchildren who live nearby. THE SHAPE OF NORMAL, coming from VINE LEAVES PRESS November 2023! https://www.vineleavespress.com/the-shape-of-normal-by-catherine-shields.html The Shape of Normal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability and Embracing a Different Kind of Perfect opens with a scene in my twenty-eight-year-old daughter’s empty bedroom. Jessica, my grown-up child, graduated from Sesame Street to YouTube, collecting teen magazines, playing her music at ear-splitting volumes, and singing the lyrics to all the top-ten songs. I reminisce about the years spent struggling with unresolved feelings, my ableism, and my fear of how the world perceived Jessica. She is the hero of this story. “My daughter was never broken. I was. And I was never on a hero’s journey to save her I was the one who needed saving.” Thanks for this remarkable conversation, Cathy! All the best! -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent. Much love, j https://artscalling.com