Voices

From DIGITIZE (by Yaslynn Makein) – “I’m okay,” she says as she pieces together a soft smile.

I’ve heard my mother say things were okay for years, but I knew it was never true. Staying in motels and shelters, my mother disappearing for days without a word, holding our breath when my (now former) stepfather walked through the door. These weren’t things to be okay with, but to my mother they were. At least, that’s what I thought.

From DIGITIZE (by Jehan Hashi) – During a period of heightened racial uprisings in the segregated 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. asserted in one of his most revered writings, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In other words, the struggle for freedom is communal.

From DIGITIZE (by Ánh Lê Võ) – It is only through the lives our ancestors led that our existence is possible… While preparing this collection of short stories, I interviewed my relatives and elders who host and prepare đám giỗ, to document the lives of those we celebrate. Through this process, I couldn’t help but notice how the lives of our ancestors, who we hold to such high importance, are slowly being forgotten as time and generations pass. To honor my ancestors, I wrote their stories, memorializing them to withstand the passage of time.

From DIGITIZE (by Angelina Ajok Miyar) – Why is the question that hangs barren and unanswered inside the arms of widowed mothers losing hold of their novel child soldiers. It hangs heavy like the burden of burning flesh and images of a life lost on a tree. Where is our promised peaceful paradise? 

From DIGITIZE (by Sooreeti Kaayoo) – What’s factual is: the desperation can’t omit the beauty blooming alongside it. The life I carry is a part of hers too.

From DIGITIZE (by Kariel K’iteix’ Galbraith) – Herring eggs — small, crisp, and soft yellow — are the lifeblood of Southeast Alaska.