Hello and thank you so much for agreeing to this interview!
Hi! Yes! So happy to do this!
How are things so far, and what have you been doing?
Things are going as well as can be expected in the midst of a global pandemic! While distance learning presented some unique challenges and I am really sad to be missing a summer at home with my family and friends, I also was able to have a renewed focus on my wellness, and am grateful to have some extra time with my friends in Korea before moving to Hanoi. As I write this interview, I am on the East Coast of Korea with Dr. Nelle and his wife and baby for a beach getaway!
Fantastic! Are there any books you've been reading recently?
I spent June doing a deep dive into literature written by Black authors as a way of celebrating and honoring Black culture and educating myself as a white person on how to be a better anti-racist. It felt like a timely occasion in the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement to maintain the momentum toward social change.
I completely agree. Out of those books you've read, do you think there are any that might connect to our theme, ‘Hidden Forces’, that you’d like to recommend?
Two of the novels I read have great connections to Hidden Forces: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (which I am almost done with!) and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. While they are uniquely different stories and takes on the theme, both are enslavement narratives with elements of magical realism and science fiction. The Water Dancer explores The Underground Railroad but reimagines it with a supernatural twist. Kindred examines enslavement from a modern perspective when a Black woman living in the 1970s is inexplicably drawn across time and space to save the life of a young man again and again in the early 1800s.
Wow, that sounds interesting!
Yes! On the non-fiction end, I am reading How To Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi; White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo; The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; and Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. Navigating life in the United States as a white woman, there are so many hidden forces at work in our systems, societies, and selves that oppress BIPOC individuals. The more aware I can become of the systemic racism that is the third rail of US culture, the more equipped I can be to dismantle it and utilize my privilege to uplift others.
I've been reading White Fragility as well! It's a timely book- very enlightening. I'm so glad you've been able to read so much over such a busy period. Alright, well thank you again for your time!
I am honored to be your first interview and I am excited to read the magazine!