The Diversity of Exuberance: Celebrating Graciousness, Spirituality, Unbound Creativity

 

When aaduna was born, it was within the nuances of creating a diverse, multi-cultural online literary and visual arts journal that would not position itself to favor “court” with any one particular societal demographic but stay true to providing access to creatives of color and folks who have been traditionally denied appropriate avenues to present work to a public readership. We achieve that with each issue. We are proud of the compilation of work in any given year that serves as a manifestation of our ongoing mission.  

And we have always found it intriguing that even within a societal group, there is a rich diversity of thought, thematic inclinations, and particular viewpoints. However, within this concept of diversity and pluralism, there are humanistic themes and an awareness that threads and permeates  the richness of aaduna’s colorful creative mosaic. 

Dr. Sarah Wyman is a college professor of English at a State University of New York college. 

Ms. Janet Mason is a lay minister and teacher.

 

Dr. Wyman is steeped in the phrasing of poetry and that genre’s ability to tell stories. Ms. Mason is a creative writer who delves into tales and stories we refer to as “mystical lyricism of fantasy.” Both have graced past aaduna issues, and Dr. Sarah is a contributing editor.    

Notably, each individual exudes a life-story that is endearing and exemplary though different.  

Here is a very brief excerpt from Sarah’s poem, “Fossil” that will have a visual artwork by Janet Kozachek. 

 One more man hunted down, petrified 

at the cobbled end of a milky, creek-lined street 

and it seems we’ve all been set in stone.   

 

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Janet’s story, “Surveillance” opens with these words: 

It is hard to find the strength to put one foot in front of the other and keep on marching through life. A good friend of mine calls it “soldiering on”— as in “we have to keep soldiering on” when someone dies. Life inevitably involves suffering and suffering is hard. It is to be endured. 

I imagined that keeping an open secret (such as the photographer Berenice and her partner, the writer, Elizabeth did by pretending they were not living together) must have been hard. 

 ***

Dr. Sarah Wyman and bill berry, jr. ~The photo was taken on September 2, 2020 during an impromptu visit to New Paltz, NY. 

The aaduna spring issue will be launching soon!  

aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - 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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