Often overlooked, but not forgotten

Kwanzaa, an annual December holiday tradition spanning several days (December 26 – January 1,) has always encompassed a celebration of family, community, and culture.  It is a secular festivity that is inclusive for all cultures even though its roots are grounded in African-American nuances associated with Africa, as the Motherland.  Founded by educator, scholar and community activist, Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966, Kwanzaa has seven principles that are recognized by lighting a candle on the day associated with a specific principle.  Since these ideals have been pertinent to my life and the structural foundation for aaduna, I share with you: 

Umoja                         Unity

Kujichagulia               Self-Expression

Ujima                          Collective Work and Responsibility

Ujamaa                       Cooperative Economics

Nia                               Purpose

Kuumba                      Creativity

Imani                           Faith

Self-imagined and hand-made gifts (the preference) are exchanged between family members and friends on the last day of Kwanzaa at a social gathering marked by home-cooked food and diverse libations.

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From our perspective, it is fitting to bring our introductions of forthcoming aaduna contributors to closure on Kwanzaa’s first day.  On this first day of recognizing the spirit of Unity, as well as the other principles, we proudly present 

Patricia Roth Schwartz (photo provided)

Patricia Roth Schwartz a poet, writer and earth angel who has dedicated a significant portion of her life to enriching the spirit, intellect, and hidden creativity of incarcerated individuals at the Auburn Correctional Prison (a maximum security facility.) Ms. Schwartz will grace our pages with her poem, “Outside Auburn Prison.”  Here is the opening stanza:  
 


January's sky hovers, quilted pale
with storm-laden cloud lit by floodlights
that drown the moon; the charcoal pencil
of night sketches in outline
a bi-centenarian maple older and taller
than this fortress it rises beside: January's sky hovers, quilted pale
with storm-laden cloud lit by floodlights
that drown the moon; the charcoal pencil
of night sketches in outline
a bi-centenarian maple older and taller
than this fortress it rises beside:

 

William C. Blome brings two pieces to aaduna’s Vol.6 No.3 issue. There is a gracefulness in the manner in which he weaves and connects words to entice us to read more. Here are excerpts from his fiction, “A Soft Radiant Smile” followed by a snippet from “Views:”

            But at the exact point he was drawing his hand away, she spat a curse all over him, and he immediately had to drop the now-boiling-hot sapphires. Rather than physically attack the foreign girl (which Andrew and I thought was about to happen), the old dude ignored the pain of his too-slow-cooling hand and stooped down even further, looking all around for the jewels in the mud.

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            I could also see a woman in a red dress shaking her arm (or her finger) at a man in black. Both folks were standing near the property’s front door, and both looked disputatious and confrontational by the stolid way in which they stood and faced one another. Oh, I might be subconsciously transferring some of what I’d heard about the Beakers to what I was now witnessing—I have to admit that—because for all I really know, the red lady and the black gentleman might not even be Beakers. And because all of this is the result of just my observation, it can’t, of course, be corroborated by any other lifter.

 

Rich Tijerina (photo provided)

Rich Tijerina’s work in the forthcoming issue of aaduna may be his first publication. An iconoclastic individual, his work is compelling and intriguing. Here is an excerpt from his “Virtues of Narcissism:”

Amerith

Our trophy German Shephard

Went rabid over a thicket

At the foothills of the Wasatch Mtns

So much so

On the way back

I decided to inspect the spot

What I first thought were sticks too numerous to be bones

Were bones so numerous that one would think they were sticks

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aaduna’s Vol.6 No. 3 is waiting to come at you!

Get ready, HERE WE COME!!!!!!!

bill

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aaduna - a timeless exploration into words and images - is a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.  Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.

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