Our 3rd Spring cohort was a group of brilliant women bringing critical, marginalized histories to the forefront through their art. We were honored to welcome Akemi Johnson, Latria Graham and Elena Botkin-Levy to Mesa Refuge! Click the link in our bio to learn more about them and their work.
Akemi Johnson earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an AB in East Asian Studies from Brown University. A former Fulbright scholar to Japan, Akemi wrote Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa and has written for major publications and taught writing at multiple universities. At Mesa, she worked on a nonfiction book utilizing history, memoir, and reportage to subvert the conventional narrative about the U.S. government’s incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII by telling the story of Tule Lake concentration camp.
Latria Graham is a fifth generation South Carolina farmer whose work stands at the intersection of food, social justice, sports, and culture. She is an Assistant Professor in the English and World Languages Department at Augusta University. An award-winning environmental studies writer, Latria writes Garden & Gun's “This Land” column. At Mesa Refuge, Latria worked on Uneven Ground: A Memoir of a Family, a Land, and a Culture in Peril, an intimate account of her attempt to save her family farm. Latria is the Manzanita Fellow for Racial, Economic & Environmental Justice.
Elena Botkin-Levy has worked at the intersection of audio production, education and media-making for 20+ years. She focuses on amplifying queer voices and has worked with Women's Audio Mission, YR Media (formerly Youth Radio), outLoud Radio, and ZUMIX Radio. Elena started Gems Oral Histories to support individuals and communities in collecting and preserving stories. At Mesa Refuge, she produced examples of augmented reality and oral history integrated storytelling to inspire future Chapter 510 audio programming for students. Elena is the Judith Tannenbaum Teaching Artist Fellow.
#writerssupportingwriters #writingretreat
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2 days ago
Join Mesa Refuge Alum Zoë Schlanger in discussing her new book, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. Ed Yong, bestselling author of An Immense World, will join Zoë in conversation. The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. Zoë takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.
This is a free event co-presented with Point Reyes Books. Registration not required. Held in the Dance Palace Church Space. More info at mesarefuge.org/events/schlanger-light-eaters/.
Zoë Schlanger Ed Yong
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3 days ago