ARTS & CULTURE
The Pacific Sentinel is a studentrun magazine that seeks to uplift the diverse cast of voices here at Portland State.
We offer a space for writers and artists of all skill levels to hone their craft, gain professional experience, and express themselves. We are inspired by publications such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. We advocate for the underrepresented and the marginalized.
We are always looking for new students to join our contributor team as we can’t do it without your help. If you’re interested in working with us, visit our website at pacsentinel. com or contact our Executive Editor at editor@pacsentinel.com.
Guzide Erturk
FEATURED THIS ISSUE
kristopher andrade is an artist / graphic designer from Hillsboro Oregon. He’s currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Minor in Graphic Design. In his free time he likes to read comics or create stories.
will boechler is an author from Fargo, North Dakota. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing and watching the rain fall by his window.
guzide ertuk guzeldere was born and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey. She is a storyteller, who currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and is studying Creative Writing at Portland State University.
janeth hernandez was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Portland, OR, to pursue her MA in Book Publishing at Portland State University. She loves spending her days reading books, watching movies, and finding new restaurants to enjoy with friends while exploring Portland.
courtney jeffs is from Coos Bay Oregon and moved to Portland to finish her bachelor’s degree in business advertising and marketing at Portland State University. She enjoys illustrating, story writing, and design.
grace lnu is from Jakarta, Indonesia currently finishing her last year at PSU as a psychology major. During her free time, you will find her taking a walk, reading her favorite webtoons, and spending time with her special ones.
yomari lobo is a creative originally from Las Vegas, NV and now lives in Portland, OR studying book publishing at Portland State University. You can find her staring out her window waiting for the rain and inspiration to strike for her future best seller.
robert northman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in social science from Portland State University in 2022. He is currently a Portland State graduate student working towards his PhD in Sociology. His interests include researching and writing of urban history, street gangs, and the anti-society
executive editor eva sheehan | associate editor will boechler arts & culture editor yomari lobo | opinions editor rebecca phillips production editor courtney jeffs | M ulti M edia editor janeth hernandez
becky phillips is originally from Rochester, NY but has lived in Portland, OR for seven years. She studies nonfiction creative writing and is currently pursuing a career in music journalism.
lilli rudine is an author from Portland, Oregon, published in literary anthologies for her poetry and prose fiction. Blossoming in her editorial work, artistic inspiration, and literary profession, she’s pursuing a degree in creative fiction writing while she finishes her first novel.
eva sheehan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to Portland to study book publishing. She loves poetry and exploring new coffee shops around the city.
emily zito was born and raised in San Diego, California. She moved to Portland two years ago to attend PSU to pursue English and Film Studies. Her interests include music journalism, film criticism, and arts/ culture. When she’s not writing or reading she’s teaching dance or DJing for KPSU.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Readers,
For this month’s issue, we wanted to highlight the homes we have made and sustained and the mothers who raised us. The themes that circulated our heads this month were “sustainability,” “spring cleaning,” “motherhood,” and “homes.” Homes are more than just walls that shelter us–much like an outdoor space, they require short-term and long-term care so we can use them as our places of sanctuary. Homes mold to those who inhabit them–they reflect who we are. Motherhood is where our idea of home begins–for all of us, our very first homes were our mothers. For some of us, our mothers may be a symbol of home. Sustainability and “spring cleaning” are what keep our home true to who we are. Sometimes, a painting we bought two years ago doesn’t reflect our artistic style anymore. Sometimes, it’s clearing the clutter and the dishes so our space feels more calming.
Many of the articles this month help show the many ways in which homes can materialize and how we can nurture the tangible and intangible items that create our homes.
For our Arts & Culture section, Will Boechler starts us off with a “Lady Bird” film review, diving into the complex mother-daughter relationship portrayed on screen. Guzide Erturk interviews Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and Rana San who held a Video Poetry Festival. She expresses the enhanced experience when blending visuals and poetry.
Lilli Rudine writes about her observations while attending the 2024 Verselandia! event.
Lastly, I will write a book review and do a closer reading of Ocean Vuong’s latest poetry collection, “Time Is a Mother.”
For our Opinion section, Emily Zito shares tips and tricks on “spring clean” our minds.
Robert Northman details commentary on the recent “recriminalization” of drug possession. Northman shares his personal experience with drug possession and injustice.
This month, we hope you can tend to your homes and minds, celebrate the mothers in your life, and sustain your surroundings to find peace.
As always, thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in June.
Eva Sheehan
LADY BIRD
A Love Letter to Mothers Everywhere
BY WILL BOECHLER
“Don’t you think they’re the same thing? Love… and attention?” Sarah Joan says, smiling at Lady Bird. Lady Bird feels her heart sink a little, but then… airy. Something in her shifts. She doesn’t know it yet but… Sarah Joan is right.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FILM GRAB
“Lady Bird” (2017) is a film written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Starring Saoirse Ronan (Little Women) and Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”), “Lady Bird” tells the story of Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Ronan), a high school senior that’s on the precipice of the next chapter of her life. Her mother, Marion (Metcalf), clashes with her during this time, yet holds her very close. As Lady Bird prepares for her future, she begins to realize that her mother’s lessons may have some truth to them after all.
As Lady Bird traverses her last year of high school and her rocky relationship with her mother, she goes through friendship drama with her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein, “Booksmart”), dates two boys—the friendly, goofy Danny (Lucas Hedges, “Boy Erased”), and the aloof and jerkish Kyle (Timothée Chalamet)— and struggles to figure out where she’ll go for college after she graduates. But she knows for sure that it’s not going to be in Sacramento; “No way. Sorry, but… Yes. No way”, she says at one point during the film.
I’ve seen “Lady Bird” multiple times throughout my life, and Gerwig’s portrayal of Sacramento is something that continues to deeply resonate with me. The sense of place is something that can only come from a writer and visionary who’s lived the very life that Lady Bird has. It’s a kind of writing that deeply resonates with my own upbringing from the midwest. There are several shots throughout the film that almost make you think that Gerwig may have filmed those herself, as a love letter to the city she called home.
“Lady Bird” was written over the course of many years, but was finished in 2015. In an interview, Gerwig described the early drafts of the film being 350 pages. She also described the process as wanting to write about home and the question of “What does home mean, and the way that it’s difficult to see it clearly when you’re there, and it’s not until you’re gone that you look back and understand what it was”. This quote is one of Gerwig’s that I enjoy the most. She, like I, had come from some place, and being away from there gave me a different perspective to my place there, a perspective I couldn’t gain while being there.
“Lady Bird” is one among many other films of the newly growing autofiction genre. Autofiction started out as a literary genre, short for autobiographical fiction. In it, the writer combines elements of their actual life with fictional information, characters, places, and events. Though, what is fiction and what is truth is not always clear. “Lady Bird” is one of the many films that have been released in the 2010s and now 2020s that involve
the writers and directors of these films representing either central characters or the protagonist in the film, although some aspects are altered for cinematic purposes.
To me, this carves out a new genre: Cinematic autofiction. Other examples of these films include Celine Song’s “Past Lives”, Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama”, and Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun”, all contemporary examples, but go as far back as Andrei Tarkovsky’s mesmerizing “Mirror” from 1976, and even further. All of these films have deep ties to the writer or director of each of them, each telling a tale of their lives where they have intertwined cinematic fiction with their memories, allowing themselves to have closure on parts of their lives they otherwise may not have been able to. With “Lady Bird”, Gerwig makes peace with her growing up in Sacramento and her relationship with her mother.
Another striking element of the film that I find myself revisiting again and again is the screen chemistry between Metcalf and Ronan. The generational differences between Marion and Lady Bird make for such insightful look into the zeitgeist of mothers and daughters in the early 2000’s, and the way their on screen chemistry demonstrates this is a demonstration of Gerwig’s superb storytelling skills, both on the screen, and through her writing.
Motherhood surrounds “Lady Bird”. Marion’s complex relationship with her daughter stems from her past being raised by an abusive, alcoholic mother herself and it’s evident that Marion is trying to not repeat her mother’s mistakes, but at times she simply fails. The way she treats Lady Bird could be viewed as emotionally abusive at times—a particular scene later in the film with a painful silent treatment instantly comes to mind—yet also the way she dexterously handles Lady Bird at times, moments where she truly deeply wants to be the right mother for her… It’s watching her sewing Lady Bird’s prom dress in the quiet suburban kitchen in the dead of night, or knowing that everything Marion is doing is so that Lady Bird can traverse the world as the best version of herself. There’s so much about moving and journeying that comes with motherhood, and that translates into the film. A journey from home requires attention to detail and awareness of the new world around you. It also requires a certain kind of love. But motherhood is also a new world full of new awareness, and new love, new attention. And as Sarah Joan said, those two things may not be so different, love and attention.
“Lady Bird” is available on VOD or streaming.
Confessions (and opinions) of a Former Enemy-Combatant (and POW) in the
“War on Drugs”
BY ROBERT NORTHMAN
On April 1, 2024, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed into law a bill re-criminalizing drug possession, making it a misdemeanor to possess small amounts of drugs like cocaine, meth, and fentanyl. The news made me think– Why is the government still fighting a ‘War on Drugs’? What do politicians really hope to achieve?
We need drug control, not people control. Why are we still fighting this ‘War on Drugs’? Perhaps the government could nationalize the drug industry and become the sole possessor, manufacturer, and distributor of all drugs. Seems the “war” would be won overnight.
People have a right to ingest what they want into their bodies; ultimately, they will if it’s what they want to do. However, if the government took control of all drug distribution, drugs could be provided and even administered if needed. Drug use could be conducted efficiently, with oversight by appropriate, qualified staff, including medical professionals, such as seen in countries like Portugal.
The provisioning of drugs under the strict supervision, care, and control of the government would cut out all competing black marketeers that are outside of the control of the government. This monopoly would also
decrease the cost of drugs since the cost of smuggling them is largely what makes them cost so much. Lowering the cost of drugs would essentially lessen an addicted person’s necessitation of committing a crime to support an expensive habit.
“The fact is, as things are right now and as they have been for decades, mostly anyone can buy mostly any kind of drug, mostly anywhere—anyway.”
Who would buy green leafy substances in mini zip-lock baggies bearing no labels from shady-looking weed dealers standing in dark alleys if there were well-lit and guarded weed dispensaries open legally with strict state oversight and enforcement, selling lab-tested cannabis products and being taxed heavily? If the government applied the same approach to other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines, perhaps we could mitigate drug-related crime. I don’t believe that everyone will use drugs simply because they can. I’ve been around most kinds of drugs for most of my life and have only chosen to smoke weed. The fact is, as things are right now and as they have been for decades, mostly anyone can buy mostly any kind of drug, mostly anywhere—anyway.
Perhaps I’m seeing the problem from a different perspective since I used to sell drugs. For me I had been selling crack since the age of twelve, but it wasn’t until the age of 18 when I was first charged with selling the highly potent and addictive drug—crack
cocaine—the same drug used and sold by my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors and others in the family and community I was raised in, at the time and place I’m from. Back then, we called it ‘the crack epidemic’.
It wasn’t alleged that someone handed me any money, nor was it alleged that I had actually sold drugs to anyone. But because the amount of drugs was allegedly more than what the State considered a “user’s amount” of drugs, there was enough in that fact alone to charge me with “delivering” drugs rather than simply possessing them. As Draconian as it may seem in the age of Oregon’s Measure 110, which, when passed in 2020, legalized small amounts, including the amount I was alleged to have possessed, these were the laws that were on the books at the time.
I feel like it’s a cliché to deny the drugs were mine, but the truth is, I wasn’t even selling drugs at that point in my life, and I have no idea how there could have been drugs in my coat pocket unless they were placed there by someone else—someone like the officer himself. However, the time has been served, and the debt has been paid in full so there’s really no point in arguing it. It is also true that at the time of my arrest, I was working full-time and attending college. However, because it was a cop’s word against my own and because the amount of drugs in question was a “substantial quantity”—which was only 10 grams under Oregon law at that time—and because also at that time Oregon was one of only two states that required a mere 10 of 12 jurors to convict a defendant at trial, I opted to take a plea of ‘no contest’ in a plea bargain agreement for a lesser sentence.
For those who may not know what ‘no-contest’ means—it means that I refused to say I did it (because I didn’t) but that I agreed that I could not prove otherwise. I didn’t believe there was any hope in proving my innocence, so this seemed like the wisest option. The penalty was a maximum of ten years, but after the judge accepted my plea of ‘no contest’, I was sentenced to a term of 20 months in prison for a first-time, non-violent felony drug offense and subjected to a three-year term of post-prison supervision to follow the sentence of imprisonment.
I sold crack from the age of 12, and it is as sad as it is true how normal it was for people in my environment to go to prison for drugs. It was normal to see family members and hear of others in the community getting caught by the police and usually, after lengthy court proceedings, being sent to prison, then getting out, and going right back. Both my biological father and stepfather had been locked up several times. For me,
it seemed inevitable that I’d eventually face similar consequences.
During my childhood, my parents both sold and used crack. Other members of my family also sold and/ or used crack—mostly in the wide open with no care or concern of the impression it may have made on others—and this was back when it was felonious! The community I grew up in witnessed the same, and most of my friends had parents and/or other close family members who either used or sold crack. It was a normal occurrence in my environment.
“Who is to believe that if I weren’t around to sell drugs, there wouldn’t be someone else to buy drugs from?”
By mid-adolescence, I was selling crack in open-air drug markets all over Portland. I’d post up on corners, curbs, strips, alleys, parks, and other public spaces, where I’d catch the customers driving by just as openly in search of what I was just as openly selling. I’d also post up in bars with drugs and rake in cash from the bar to the restroom. I’ve set up shop in apartments and houses where I’d also cook cocaine into crack, and sometimes, depending on the size and layout of the dope spot, I’d rent out adjoining rooms for addicts to smoke their crack as long as they bought it from me. I did all of this before the age of eighteen, and so by the time I finally got arrested, charged, and convicted of selling drugs, I must have deserved it, right? When facing “justice” for being a “drug dealer,” I feel I was viewed as somehow worse than the many parents who were smoking crack and leaving an entire generation of children to be raised by the streets or the State—as my own parents did. Who is to believe that if I weren’t around to sell drugs, there wouldn’t be someone else to buy drugs from?
When I arrived in prison, I knew and recognized hundreds of other prisoners. I recognized and reconnected with people my age, younger and older, family, neighbors, associates, and people who were from the same place I was from that I’d only heard of, and who’d been locked up all of my life.
“The measure mandated the establishment of a statewide drug addiction treatment and recovery program, funded through a portion of the state’s cannabis tax revenue and savings from reduced law enforcement and incarceration costs.”
Oregon’s Ballot Measure 110, officially known as the “Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act,” was passed by Oregon voters in November 2020 after a summer-long siege of the criminal justice complex in downtown Portland. It represented a significant shift in the state’s approach to drug policy by decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of certain drugs and redirecting funds from law enforcement to addiction treatment and harm reduction services.
Not only did Measure 110 decriminalize the possession of small amounts of certain drugs, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), and oxycodone, but also, during its short lifespan, this decriminalization included possession of these drugs for personal use a civil violation, akin to a traffic ticket, rather than a criminal offense. The measure reduced the penalty for possession to a $100 fine, which could be waived if the individual agreed to undergo a health assessment. One of the most significant aspects of Measure 110 was its redirection of funding from the criminal justice system to drug addiction treatment and recovery
services. The measure mandated the establishment of a statewide drug addiction treatment and recovery program, funded through a portion of the state’s cannabis tax revenue and savings from reduced law enforcement and incarceration costs.
Measure 110 aimed to expand access to addiction treatment and recovery services for individuals struggling with substance abuse, requiring the establishment of addiction recovery centers across the state, providing services such as peer support, counseling, and access to naloxone (a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses).
By decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs, Measure 110 sought to reduce the burden on the criminal justice system and alleviate some of the negative consequences associated with drug convictions, such as incarceration and criminal records. The measure reflected a shift towards a public healthoriented approach to drug policy, focusing on harm reduction, treatment, and support rather than punitive measures. Proponents argued that this approach would be more effective in addressing substance abuse and addiction while also reducing the social and economic costs associated with the criminalization of drug possession.
“It’ll require a national full-scale mobilization of resources to effectuate and realize the total nationalization of the illicit drug market into one that is legal but under strict control.”
With the issue of re-criminalization rising to the topic of the hour, it just seems like we’re going around in circles and perhaps even worsening the many problems associated with the overall greater issue of a ‘War on Drugs’—such as the people’s confidence in the government’s promises one way or another—or back the other way, as this is a “re”-criminalization.
If the government wants to “win” this so-called “war,” it’ll require a national full-scale mobilization of resources to effectuate and realize the total nationalization of the illicit drug market into one that is legal but under strict control. Oregon can’t win this one alone.
My conclusive opinion as a former enemy-combatant with more losses than gains in this so-called “War on Drugs” is that the government could always try legalization, and if it doesn’t work, they can just recriminalize drugs again, as Oregon leaders have shown, and proven they’re able and willing to do. What do we have to lose when it’s as clear as it is that we cannot win a War on Drugs by trying to control people?
“What do we have to lose when it’s as clear as it is that we cannot win a War on Drugs by trying to control people?”
Spring Cleaning
Reset Edition: Ins and Outs
BY EMILY ZITO
Instead of New Year’s Ins and Outs—the new habits we invite in, and the old ones we say goodbye to—we deserve to have our resets throughout the year, whenever they may be needed or desired. What a better time to make shifts than springtime? The physical change of nature—shifting from gloom to bloom—inspires our own sense of change with our habits, mentalities, and passions. Of course, it’s comforting to keep consistency, but refreshing our days to look more ideal for ourselves is a vital practice in sustaining our mental and physical health. I encourage you to create your own reset—whether it be a tangible list, or just taking the time to reflect.
My list acts as both something to work toward and on, but also as motivation to keep pursuing my long-term goals. Not everything is a new addition—never-before included—into my routine, but rather a reminder to prioritize aspects that I had been missing.
Here are some things I am currently fixated on and am inviting to stay ‘In’ my routine:
1. Walks (aka ‘Hot Girl Walks’).
The warmer weather brings back my hot girl walks. For those confused, “hot girl walk” is simply a TikTok trend word for daily strolls. These walks not only allow us to move our bodies, but also give us an opportunity to put on an outfit we feel good in and to get outside! For me, going on walks allows my mind to silence, while also holding space and time for my mind to wander with no judgment or pressures. Walking with mindfulness emphasizes walks as a mind, body, and soul meditation.
2. Outside Time // Fresh Air.
I have been melting over the abundance of tulips blooming. It’s only my second year living in Portland, and I honestly do not remember them being as prevalent in past Springs. It’s been a delight discovering a new element of nature that I previously overlooked.
My new infatuation with tulips has even inspired me to get a tulip tattoo. In addition to admiring the flowers of Spring, it is officially picnic season. Granted, depending on the weather we receive each day, picnics may not be the most ideal; however, we have been getting enough sunny days to get excited for leisure at the park. Whether it’s alone with a book, listening to music with headphones in, accompanied by your lover, or surrounded by your friends, every park session should be taken in with full gratitude. Also!! How excited are we all for the later sunset time?!
3. Chill Nights In.
As much as the warm weather makes me want to stay out late and soak up the energy of outside, I have been purposely dedicating time for chill nights in. We may feel the pressure (put on us by a capitalistic, mustalways-be-doing-something society) to constantly be out and about, but staying in is just as valid and valuable. Take the time for yourself, or gather people you love to be around and make a meaningful night in.
4. Crazy Nights Out.
No longer fighting the freezing cold when we go out at night. Standing in line for a bar/club or sitting at outdoor seating is no longer met with unbearable cold weather. Also, seeing as though the sun doesn’t set until 8pm—and will only get later—we have the freedom to start our nights at a later time with the hopes of the sun still being out. I am specifically looking forward to continuously attending soccer games—supporting both the Timbers and Thorns at Providence park. Not only do the games themself offer an entertaining time, but the aftermath is also pretty exciting as the crowd mobs out into the North West streets finding their next adventure for the night.
5. Playing Card Games // Playing Pool // Playing Shuffleboard.
Time to embrace our playful side! Gathering with friends to do any of the activities listed above has been a consistent heart-warmer. You get to show your competitive side and tease each other in ways that only a good game can do for you. I’ve lived by a bar with free pool and shuffleboard for a while now, but it’s only until recent months where it has become the go-to spot to gather and hangout.
6. Setting (stating) boundaries.
To feel our best, we must clearly vocalize what we need and want. If you’re lucky enough, you will have people in your life who will respect, understand, and value what your boundaries are. Communicating can be very difficult and vulnerable, but it’s something that is necessary for healthy and sustainable relationships (with others, and with yourself!)
Shifting our energy once more, these are my ‘Outs’:
1. Toxic people who do not deserve access to me/my energy.
Sometimes setting and stating boundaries is not the move to make, but rather making the personal decision to distance yourself. If something has been bothering you for a while, but you continue to just brush it off and dismiss it as “not that big of a deal”, but it’s still upsetting you—this is your reminder that it is ok, valid, and maybe finally time to no longer brush it off, but fully remove whatever it is that’s bothering you. This is freeing, liberating, and lifts a weight off of you. As much as we want to bring in new, exciting, and good energy, we should also understand that the old, frustrating, and not-so-good energy needs to go.
2.
Feeling Guilty // Putting Immense Amount of Pressure On Ourselves.
Breathe! Release! Be. Again, going back to pointing out that we live in a capitalistic society that makes us feel like we are never doing enough. We should allow ourselves to step back and reconsider the circumstances. Practicing patience toward our education, career, or personal journeys is a huge component to holding space for ourselves to feel freely. Let us be in cooperation with our instincts, rather than fight against them with a judgemental attitude.
Happy Spring cleaning folks. Move in intentional ways, and know it’s good to maintain and make-over your lifestyles. It’s not one or the other, it’s a balancing of both. Even my list here will shift within the timeframe of Spring—this is simply just a snapshot of what’s going on currently and things I have been enjoying and thinking about. Get grounded, then spring upward and forward.
Spring cleaning
ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTOPHER ANDRADE
POETIC SYNESTHESIA
Cadence Video Poetry Festival is Coming to Portland BY GUZIDE ERTURK
POETIC SYNESTHESIA
I’ve attended countless poetry and film festivals over the years, but this was my first experience at a video poetry festival. The moment I saw an announcement for the Cadence Video Poetry Festival on social media, I knew I couldn’t miss going to see it in Seattle; my curiosity was instantly piqued. Unlike traditional events where words and visuals often exist separately, this festival promises a fusion that captivates both the ear and the eye, blending the beauty of poetry with the dynamic flow of short films.
I attended the festival on Saturday, April 20th, and also spent the weekend immersed in their video poems online. The films varied greatly, some lasting just a few minutes, while the longest stretched to more than half an hour. The artworks were not only from the US but also from Canada, the UK, and more. This blend intrigued me as it provided a unique platform where filmmakers and poets not only could coexist, but collaborate to create something entirely new.
I was thrilled to get the chance to speak with the festival’s co-directors, Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and Rana San, who, for the past seven years, have been instrumental in shaping this avant-garde artistic experience. Their vision for integrating poetry and film not only challenges other conventional forms of storytelling, but also opens up many new possibilities for creative expression.
The festival was held in person from April 19th to the 21st at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. The online version will be available until April 28th. This year features four main themes that can be described as boundaries between dreams and reality, inner and outer sides of ourselves, “Disruptive Truths,” and “Memory, Lineage, and Rebirth.”
I’m excited to inform you that the festival’s next stop will be here in Portland at the end of this June! I would like to thank Rana and Chelsea for their time and insightful responses, showing the creative processes behind organizing this event and helping to push the boundaries of how art can be experienced.
Guzide: What inspired you to combine video and poetry, and how did this idea evolve into a festival?
“I aim to honor how a piece wants to be expressed, whether through text, visuals, or movement.”
Chelsea: My first foray into video poetry was unintentional. In a dream, I saw an image very clearly, it was a sheet full of unintelligible letters. Coming from a writing background, I was pulled to examine this experience of a text that existed in my head visually, but that I could not read. As a writer, I examined this in writing but the resulting poem felt incomplete without the image as integral to the understanding. In collaboration with visual artist Shaun Kardinal, I made my first video poem and quickly realized that I didn’t know where to share this work since it didn’t fit neatly within the literary world. Exploring opportunities for publication and screenings I discovered video poetry festivals taking place around the world and noticed that there were none in the Pacific Northwest, and very few in the US in general.
Rana: Chelsea and I were friends and had a great working relationship from our museum days together. At the time we decided to launch a video poetry festival in 2018, I had just begun working at Northwest Film Forum (NWFF), a cultural hub for artist-driven experiments and experiences. We took a chance, not knowing how much interest, if any, there would be from artists and audiences. Delighted by the momentum of the first year—from submissions we received, audiences who attended, and guest artists who traveled to the festival—we decided to keep going, incorporating Cadence into NWFF’s core annual programs. Seven years later, though I recently moved on from the NWFF, the festival comes to life every April during National Poetry Month.
Guzide: Rana and Chelsea, you are both deeply passionate about language and filmmaking. Which of these elements tends to have a stronger influence on your artistic expression?
Rana: As an inter-media artist working primarily between dance, film, writing, and occasionally visual art, I aim to honor how a piece wants to be expressed, whether through text, visuals, or movement. I always carry a notebook with me and keep a meticulous dream journal, so I have a lot of material to draw from. When I’m making new work, the language and visuals often form on parallel tracks. I’m currently developing an experimental documentary threading matrilineal stories of origin, immigration, and liberation for which I’m collecting visuals first (Super 8 film, 120mm photographs, eco-prints on paper); the accompanying script of braided stories and poetic interludes will be developed during a writing residency this summer and will in turn prompt capturing additional footage. Interplay is key, so each medium holds weight.
Chelsea: I am a writer first and foremost. I’ve kept a journal since I was six and have two degrees in creative writing. It is also how I earn a living. Whether a project starts with an image or starts with a word, and regardless of what the outcome looks like, writing is the medium through which I process a creative idea. For instance, my current work in progress is a dance piece with movement based on super 8 home movies of my mother before I was alive. Because I had access to a large studio space during a 2023 residency, this piece started with visuals and movement that required a decent bit of physical space. I then made sense of and gave form to the footage, drawings, and movement I was working with through Laban dance notation and a poem that is currently functioning as the choreography for the dance steps.
Guzide: Could you describe the process of selecting artists for the festival? Beyond poetry and digital art, what other art forms can attendees expect to see?
“Artists around the world are combining poetry with dance, documentary, and narrative film practices.”
Rana: For the 7th annual festival we formed a screening team comprised of former Cadence artistsin-residence who each viewed and rated a segment of the submissions in consideration. Through group discussions on the outstanding works, we formed four showcases around the emerging themes centering loosely around dreams, identity, resistance, and rebirth. We annually screen over 50 works in many languages, with a quarter of them made by artists in the Pacific Northwest.
Chelsea: Artists around the world are combining poetry with dance, documentary, and narrative film practices. This year included a strong representation of works that might more readily be considered short films but that take poets and poetry as their subject matter and prominently feature lyric verse as crucial to the narrative or dialogue. We tend to make room for work that other video poetry festivals might not—in the past we’ve shown adaptations of poems that took the shape of silent films where no text appears on screen. Beyond video poetry, we have a submission category called “Wild Card.” We’ve noticed over the years that many artists are working in video poetry without being aware of the genre or knowing the term, and we want to make sure that we still get to see those works and continue to spread an understanding of the many art forms video poetry can be a hybrid of.
Guzide: Are the videos presented at the festival adaptations of existing poems? Could you elaborate on the creative process behind crafting video poetry?
Rana: The poetic origins of the works presented at the festival vary widely. Some are made collaboratively by teams of poets and filmmakers, others are the result of video artists venturing into poetry or poets trying on filmmaking, while others still are adaptations or ekphrastic responses to pre-existing poems. Each piece is a unique blend of visuals, text, and sound so no two are alike, yet each showcase creates a dialogue between the works so that collectively they contribute to conversation on larger social concerns and interests.
Chelsea: Seven years of running this festival and speaking with scores of artists making video poetry, I can say with confidence that the creative process behind crafting video poetry is unique to each artist— the same way that no two painters are necessarily approaching the canvas the same way even if they both paint landscapes. You can even see a big difference between how Rana and I answered your question about our creative approaches.
Guzide: In your experience, what are the most striking commonalities between visual arts and poetry?
Chelsea: In the Cadence Video Poetry workshop this year we worked with a poem by Portland-based poet Dao Strom. “POEM OF POEM TITLES FOR “DAYS OF THE WEEK,” from Instrument published by Fonograf Editions, incorporates grammar and literary devices that provide visual meaning, for instance leaving blanks by using underlines, or hyphens to leave compound words open ended. In the workshop we talked about how writing is often overlooked as visual even though it is a graphic medium and without the shapes of the letters and the layout on the page, we would experience a poem only sonically. Because it is an aural tradition, writing also makes use of many musical devices. It is also a movement-based medium, in that writing has to travel through the body to be transferred onto the page. Like painting and music, poetry can have rhythm and tension. Like poetry, visual art can be formal or abstract. At the end of the day, artists across mediums are working with the same conceptual tool kits, but the shape their medium takes impacts the experience of meaning.
“We’ve shown a few AI generated works as part of Cadence in the past and they have been beautiful or intentionally bad to make a point— for now, AI is a new medium and we shape what it produces.”
Guzide: Do you believe we are losing our connection to words and language in the era of AI and so much visual art?
Rana: AI is a tremendous tool for creative expression, yet my analog heart worries for cultural producers and creatives with specialized skills. These individuals are heavily impacted by the incorporation of AI into the production of films, books, visual art, etc. As artists, activists, and culture-bearers, we collectively shape the world we want to live in through art and storytelling, yet our work has historically been undervalued and exploited. How will AI value the contributions of artists?
Chelsea: I think storytelling will never lose its grip on humanity. It’s something valued and shared across cultures around the world and the current AI “how-to” articles being pumped onto the internet aren’t replacing that. If anything, I think it makes room to see just how much of a difference that human touch has on the value of words and visual art. I think of AI as a new language to learn and a tool to be used. We’ve shown a few AI generated works as part of Cadence in the past and they have been beautiful or intentionally bad to make a point—for now, AI is a new medium and we shape what it produces. When the robot uprising comes, I may amend this statement.
Guzide: Finally, Rana and Chelsea, do you have any plans to bring the festival to Portland?
R + C: Yes! Our satellite program in collaboration with Paruparo in Portland will be on the weekend of June 22nd to 23rd and will likely include live dance and poetry performances where we’ll have a chance to tour these wonderful works and expose more people to video poetry. More information will be available at https://bit.ly/cadence2024.
The festival was charming and mind-blowing. As a storyteller who primarily writes fiction, I enjoy transitioning between genres, and video poems were genuinely fantastic! I drove three hours to get to the festival, but when I watched the video poems, I knew it was worth the drive. If you have time, don’t miss the Portland festival. You won’t regret it.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
Verselandia!
And the Poetry throughout Portland
Uplifting the Voices of Young Writers
BY LILLI RUDINE
PHOTO BY COURTNEY JEFFS
National Poetry Month has come and gone, but Portland keeps the spirit of poetry alive as we continue into spring. Literary Arts once again brings us Verselandia! the youth poetry slam championship to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Youth poets from high schools all over Portland take their words to the grand stage. According to the Literary Arts’ Website, this year would mark the 12th annual return of this spectacular event and the work the Portland literary community puts into making it possible. Encouraging writers and poetry enthusiasts in this way is significant to honoring the work done to cultivate Portland’s relationship with writing communities.
These student poets bring their craft and perspectives to Portland’s Literary scene beginning at their high schools. As advocates like public school English teachers and librarians make this event possible by hosting poetry slams for their schools, they provide a significant recourse for students to engage in literary development and discover their voices. “If you have something to say, or feel like your voice is not heard, or if you have things to teach people and wisdom to get out, slam poetry is great,” states Verselandia! finalist. From these poetry slams, finalists will go on to champion their school in Verselandia!, attracting over a thousand audience members to hear these students and their poetic brilliance. Students who compete in Verselandia! gain opportunities to win awards, engage in the broader literary scene, and meet professional writers in the poetry community.
“Literary Arts is no stranger to providing incredible literary opportunities with its youth programs in high schools across Portland.”
A few professional poets known to work with Literary Arts to support this event include Jolly Wrapper, Jill Gaskill, Nae Nichelle, Anis Mojgani, Alex Dang, and Emilly Prado. All of these poets have encouraged student voices, cultivated spaces for poetic expression, and brought the Portland poetry community even more reason to celebrate poetry throughout the year. Working with school librarians and professional authors, such as the ones named above, Literary Arts is
no stranger to providing incredible literary opportunities with its youth programs in high schools across Portland. “The Youth Programs of Literary Arts inspire our city’s youth to find their stories and play an active role in the broader community. We provide opportunities for high school students to use their voice through creative writing, Q&As with authors, student readings, and spoken word performance,” states Literary Arts on their offered youth programs.
In addition to youth programs, Literary Arts provides literary workshops, classes with professional authors, readings, events, publication opportunities, fellowships and so much more to the Portland literary scene. This engagement with the Portland writing community emphasizes the spirit of National Poetry Month all year round.
Especially by bringing these resources to our youth, the Portland literary community continues to nurture young poets and authors who are finding a voice through writing. The beloved tradition of poetry slams in Portland deserves recognition for this reason. Without events like Verselandia! specific to uplifting young writers, we’d lose a beautiful piece of Portland’s literary culture.
As our year continues, we’d be wise to seek out poetry within the city of Portland that harbors it. Verselandia! is an extraordinary result of how the Portland literary community encourages future writers to discover themselves as writers and pursue their passions through poetry.
Poetry is a significant part of Portland culture with organizations like Literary Arts and other local venues hosting poetry events long after April is over. You can often find open-mic readings and other literaryrelated events at the Rose City Book Pub in North-East Portland. Powell’s Books is also always arranging author talks and all kinds of bookish events Downtown. Literary Arts even presents a variety of poetry-related events such as the monthly open mic readings, Slamlandia, their One-Page Wednesday readings for work-in-progress writing, and we can’t forget the annual Portland Book Festival coming in November.
While we have to wait another year before National Poetry Month returns, enjoy poetry found all over the city as we remember the literary expression and brave voices that Verselandia! brings to us every year. Portland’s poetic inspirations thrive long throughout the year, so find those book pub readings and embrace the words crafted by writers in our city. You’ll never forget the joy of literary greatness found in your local coffee shop.
Poetry as a Second Language
“Time Is a Mother” by Ocean Vuong Review
BY EVA SHEEHAN
Reading Ocean Vuong’s most recent poetry collection, “Time Is a Mother,” was the most beautiful way to break my heart. Vuong is a VietnameseAmerican poet and author best known for his titles “Night Sky with Exit Wounds” poetry collection and his debut novel “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.” “Time Is a Mother” is Vuong’s second poetry collection which was written following his mother’s death. In the novel “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”–which I find to be an older sister to “Time Is a Mother” –Vuong touches on the fact that his mother was illiterate and could not read his life’s work. In his poetry, he touches on navigating this literacy disconnect, his grief, and the generational trauma that he is left with even after she is gone. Vuong’s poetry is known to draw on his experience as a queer Vietnamese-American with an immigrant mother and absent father. His prose is usually set in his hometown, Hartford, Connecticut, when the Opioid Crisis was at its height in the US. However, Vuong’s poetry and prose not only shed light on his upbringing but they bring light to a dark past by finding beauty in the haunted words.
In this poetry collection, Vuong writes of his late mother as a muse–someone who was a constant against the unruliness. Someone he longed for even while she was alive. As mentioned prior, Vuong’s mother was illiterate and could not read his work. This lack of relationship between words is apparent in Vuong’s poetry. It feels as though he is reaching out to a void and hoping his mother can grasp it if he shouts loud enough. In his poem “Dear Rose” he writes, but here no no Mom this is your name I say pointing to a Hồng I say which means rose I place your finger on a flower so familiar it feels synthetic red plastic petals dewed with glue I leave
In this stanza, you can feel the desperation in his words to get his mother closer to his language–closer to him. He uses touch instead of sight in order to bring her closer to the world of words. Vuong expresses the innate need to connect to one’s parent by utilizing poetry as a second language. Against the bittersweet grief, Vuong still adds brevity and light to his work. In his poem “Dear Sara” (one of
my favorites), Vuong writes to his seven-year-old cousin, who described words on a page as “ants crossing a desert”. He uses this silly comparison as a way to give words legs–to lead her back through the past. He leads her through the moments that embed him and her to the past, to their relatives, to the words. He writes:
they survived the blast by becoming shrapnel embedded in my brain
– which alludes to the generational trauma that came from war. Though he mentions this dark past, Vuong’s tone stays hopeful. He described these “ants” like cockroaches–standing the test of time–surviving disaster. He writes “you’re right little ant / queen with your shoes / the shade of dirty paper desert / your pink & blue pens / untouched after all”. Vuong sees Sara as a symbol of future potential–of what is yet to be written. She is a generational hope that seems to soothe his grief in the form of child innocence and potential. He also finds glee in the idea that these “ants” can never truly be gone. He writes:
this family of ants fossilized on the page
Vuong displays his grief for the end of a life which turns into hope for a new one.
Throughout this collection of poems, Vuong displays hope and grief in the form of endings and beginnings. I see this collection as drawings of the pain and beauty that comes from grief. Vuong always has had a beautiful way with words, but through grief, he has been able to discover more ways the body can feel through words. Through the grief for his own mother, he has found that time itself is a mother–she births beginnings, raises us through moments, and nurtures us in stillness. Vuong also shows how grief is not always dark and in fact, it can bring out more beauty than we realize. In a Times interview, Vuong shares, “not all my poems are mournful, but they’re haunted by the inevitability of death, and so the urgency and even the joys that come out of them are through the knowledge of our own end. On good days, that’s also how I live.”
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
arts & culture
They survived the blast by becoming shrapnel embedded in my brain.
WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING
Tasty Corner
If you’re looking for one of the best Chinese spots in Portland, Oregon, I highly recommend checking out Tasty Corner on SW Hall Street, across from the Ondine residence hall. Not only do they have the most authentically flavored orange chicken in town, but they also have various vegan and vegetarian options. I highly enjoy every trip I take there and always get fried rice with beef and vegetables.
The Tao of Tea
On SE Belmont Street, there’s a little tea house with one of the most relaxing vibes in Portland. With an extensive and authentic list of teas from all over the world to choose from, you can sit at one of the uniquely built tables and sip on a hot drink while listening to the trickling water fountain. If hot tea isn’t your jam, they also have a cold drink menu and a hefty selection of international food.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
While by no means new, Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Or Madoka for short) is an anime about a group of teenage girls who become magical girls. However, not everything is as it seems at first glance, and the further the show goes on, the more it’s revealed to be a complete subversion of what one would typically encounter in an anime like this. Madoka is fun, dramatic, and action-filled while also being a whimsical version of growing up and learning hard truths.
Photo by Courtney Jeffs
Illustration by Grace LNU
Illustration by Kristopher Andrade
Stardew Valley per new update
Eva’s Score: *****
Since Stardew Valley’s new update release, my partner and I have made it a nightly ritual to get cozy on the couch, dish out some snacks, and play Stardew Valley together. Something about the playful flute and banjo score that backdrops the game and the satisfaction of venturing down a pixelated mine sets my mind at ease and erases away all the worries I once had.
The Apothecary Diaries
TV Show Review
Yomari’s Score: *****
I can’t even tell you how many times I squealed and giggled while watching this outstanding anime. Maomao is a well developed female character that just wants to eat poisons and plants herbs and honestly same. The slow burn between Maomao and Jinshi, the frustratingly handsome man, leaves me wanting more, sitting outside the Emperor’s place wanting for it to fully burn.
Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim (2021)
Janeth’s Score:
As I delved into Six Crimson Cranes, I couldn’t help but be captivated by its spellbinding narrative. Lim did a masterful job weaving a tale that blends mythology, dragons, and romance. I found myself rooting for all the characters and getting lost in the world the author created. If you’re a fan of enchanting tales, family bonds, and some romance, this book is a must-read!
Illustration by Grace LNU
Illustration by Grace LNU
Photo courtesy of ConcernedApe
FIND CONNIE!
PHOTO
PHOTO BY COURTNEY JEFFS
PHOTO BY COURTNEY JEFFS
Tic-Tac-Toe
Grab a friend and 2 different colored things to write with. 1 2 3
First player leaves an “x” or an “o” in any space they desire.
Second player does the same but with the opposing shape. The person who gets three in a row is the winner.
Comic by Grace LNU
