Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body) (forthcoming, Madhouse Press, 2019), and is the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault. They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is the founder of Yes Poetry and the senior managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Them, Brooklyn Magazine, BUST, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente / FB: joannacvalente
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USA Today
The Utah Vote: Why It Matters That Mormons Went For Trump
Political commentator/comedian Bill Maher may have been right when he announced, about a month or so before the election, on his show Real Time with Bill Maher, that the Republican Party can no longer consider itself the "Socially Conservative Party." Republican candidate and, now, President-elect Donald Trump has been caught on tape agreeing with Howard Stern that his own daughter Ivanka is a "Piece of ass," has been quoted saying that pregnancy is an "inconvenience" and, finally, was recorded in 2005 bragging about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because, as he put it, "When you’re a star they let you do it." It strikes me as a contradiction that, despite all the evidence excluding Trump from the socially conservative category, 88 percent of evangelical voters, notorious value voters, backed him as their nominee.
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Interview with Sweta Srivastava Vikram
In 2013, Indian poet Sweta Srivastava Vikram published a collection of poems titled No Ocean Here. Published by Modern History Press, No Ocean Here documents the stories of oppressed women living in different parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Following an itinerary made up of narrative poems, the reader travels to countries including Singapore, Bangladesh, and Cameroon, coming face-to-face with patriarchal tyranny. Vikram takes her readers on an emotional and geographical journey. She writes,
I walk humbly through cultures,
documenting stories
for women without a voice.
-"No Ocean Here"