Sunday I woke up, took a shower, packed my camera in my backpack and jumped on my long board (outside of course). Last time I long boarded indoors didn’t turn out so well. I ate breakfast at La Social. It was 9:00 AM.
On the way back home, I followed two Ibis eating bugs Continue reading “Sunday is for the birds (and giant lizards)”
2017 marks the third iteration of the Reading Queer Literary Festival, which I co-founded in 2014. This year, Reading Queer partnered with the Miami Book Fair, The Olympia Theater and O Cinema Wynwood to create a series of queer-centric cultural programming for South Florida.
I’m incredibly excited that Chen Chen (Long listed for the 2017 National Book Award – Poetry), t’ai freedom Continue reading “Reading Queer Literary Festival 2017”
Residents of Belle Meade suffered minor damage when Hurricane Irma ripped through the Miami neighborhood. Those who live along the south shore of South Little River weren’t as fortunate. Three days later, flood waters remain. No electric, no internet and 90+ temperatures make the situation feel hellish, but the community and its residents will recover.
Residents of other communities haven’t been so fortunate. Follow Nadege Green’s and Wilson Sayre’s extraordinary pre/post Hurricane Irma reporting at WLRN.org. Local journalist at its best.
Preparing for Hurricane Irma is a queer drama. A mixture of irrational fear and ironic humor permeates every thought. Can the dogs swim? Should I keep the ladder accessible in case we need to escape rising water and commandeer the roof? Is there enough cat litter? Water? Food?
As I prepare, many South Floridians can’t afford the gas and/or food they may need to survive and/or evacuate. Many residents don’t have the resources to spend hours in line for commodities they may need to keep them alive. The father of a friend relies on oxygen to keep him alive. He was fortunate enough to receive battery powered oxygen tanks just in case the power is cut for an extended period of time. Many will not be so fortunate.
I made a pot of coffee. I have room in the garage for just one car. The other car I’ll use to evacuate before Irma hits. I’ll load it up with my hurricane supplies and head for higher ground while others brace for the storm with the barest essentials many of us take for granted.
Miami New Times interviews Neil de la Flor about Reading Queer: Poetry In A Time of Chaos, a new anthology he co-editedwith Maureen Seaton.
Excerpt: “As Miami’s cultural landscape boomed in the past decade — with the influx of major art fairs, new museums, and local galleries opening in up-and-coming neighborhoods — the city’s queer culture was in flux. Reading Queer, a Knight Foundation-sponsored cultural organization, is looking to change that fact by highlighting voices from a community that remains fractured between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Recently, the group announced a publication deal for a paperback anthology of poetry from local bards and internationally recognized queer writers.”
“’I think it’s the first Miami-based anthology of queer voices,” says founder Neil de la Flor, who has also contributed to New Times. ‘Poetry has had a resurgence because of the political climate and the need to huddle together and connect. Queer writers have an ever greater need to reach each other through every means,’ he says, including social media and poetry.'”
“Thanks to Reading Queer, Miami’s LGBTQ community has had a forum that gives voice to underrepresented stories. It’s badly needed in a city whose queer culture was split in two after the gentrification of South Beach.”
Read the full article here.
I’m happy to announce the forthcoming anthology Reading Queer: Poetry In A Time of Chaos, (Anhinga Press, 2018), which brings together fifty LGBTQ poets in the spirit and solidarity of poetry at its finest and fiercest.
Pre-order now @ http://www.anhingapress.org/poetry/reading-queer-poetry-in-a-time-of-chaos.
Edited by Neil de la Flor and Maureen Seaton, Reading Queer: Poetry in a Time of Chaos is vulnerable, sexy, heartbreaking, revolutionary. It’s poetry that pushes against and beyond boundaries in both form and content.
Featuring: Thalo Kersey, Aaron Smith, Bryan Borland, Caridad Moro-Fronlier, Cathleen Chambless, Celeste Gainey, cin salach, Collin Kelley, Eduardo C. Corral, Elizabeth Bradfield, Ellen Bass, Farah Milagros Yamini, Gem Blackthorn, Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, Gregg Shapiro, Holly Iglesias, James Allen Hall, Jan Becker, Jason Schneiderman, Jen Benka, Jim Elledge, JV Portela, Joseph O. Legaspi, JP Howard, Julie Marie Wade, Julie R. Enzer, Justin Torres, Kevin Simmonds, L. Lamar Wilson, Lori Anderson, Megan Volpert, Meredith Camel, Phillip B. Williams, Qwo-Li Driskill, Ruben Quesada, sam sax, Samiya Bashir, Samuel Ace, Seth Pennington, Shane Allison, Stacey Waite, Stephanie Lane Sutton, Stephen S. Mills, Tara Burke, Ching-In Chen, Nicholas Wong, tc tolbert and Valerie Wetlaufer.
To receive notice of publication, subscribe here.
Ensure that queer voices are never silenced. Donate today and support the launch of Reading Queer: Poetry in a Time of Chaos. The Knight Foundation will match every dollar that you donate today (up to $70,000). Example: Donate $50 and the Knight Foundation wil match your $50 giving Reading Queer a total donation of $100.
Double your impact today. Donate now: readingqueer.org/donate.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org/.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, “Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their barns with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. … It turned the mixture red in color.”
A barren tree en route through Yosemite National Park.
An elf with his Pokemon contemplating life at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park.
Petrified wood on Sentinel Dome @ 8,124 feet. Yosemite National Park.
A lizard with blue dots on Sentinel Dome @ 8,124 feet. Yosemite National Park.
A hiker on Sentinel Dome @ 8,124 feet. Yosemite National Park.
A butterfly on Sentinel Dome @ 8,124 feet. Yosemite National Park.
Snowmelt on Sentinel Dome @ 8,124 feet. Yosemite National Park.
Bride Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park.
Emerald Bay. Lake Tahoe, CA.
Lake Tahoe, CA.
Shipwreck with Lady Bug. Lake Tahoe, CA.
*All photographs copyright Neil de la Flor, 2017.
“The Mean State of Virtue” | 60″ x 40″ or 30″ x 20″ (c-print) |Backstory: an evening driving through rain in Little Haiti that ended with a line lifted from Aristotle’s Politics.
A break from preparing tax returns lead to “Exodus”, a new image from a new photographic series called TxT. Thanks to Bessy Grisell Morales & Andre Martinez for letting me translate their wedding imagery into language, which kind of looks like the conga line that never took place during the reception.
I wrote about visionary gallerist Bernice Steinbaum for the Miami New Times. Here’s an excerpt:
“Above the entrance to the gallery space hangs a neon sign that reads “Know BS,” a slogan Steinbaum has used in the past that cheekily references her initials. But in this space, the command takes on a solemn meaning: To “know BS” here is to understand culture. Inside Steinbaum’s home, the past, present, and future are transformed into a seamless tapestry composed of countless threads and seams. Steinbaum slips us inside that rarified world, allowing us to see ourselves, our hands, and those of our ancestors, weaving the threads that bind us all together.”
Read the entire article here.
Neil de la Flor 