Woman. Warrior. Writer. 02-07
Vol. 6 No. 2 02-07-25
Woman. Warrior. Writer. Rebecca Carroll
How did you come to author your life?
The idea of coming to author my life—understanding its origin and creating its future—had never occurred to me until I had my son in 2005. Most adoptees understand the intensity of growing a child inside your body who shares your DNA, and then born into the world sharing a resemblance to you, even if only in some small way. And, of course, every person who gives birth has their own epiphanic experience. I emphasize mine here because of its wondrous revelation, and the freedom it gave me to become the author of my life.
Rebecca Carroll is a writer, cultural critic, and host of the podcasts Come Through with Rebecca Carroll: 15 Essential Conversations about Race in a Pivotal Year for America and the award-winning Billie Was a Black Woman. Rebecca’s writing has been published widely, and her critically acclaimed memoir, Surviving the White Gaze, was called "gorgeous and powerful" by the New York Times Book Review. She is editor-at-large for The Meteor media collective.
IG: @rebeljunemarie
Bluesky: @rebel9.bsky.social
Public Speaking: Tuesday Agency
Celebrate Rebecca Carroll with the following:
Check out the rerelease of the reimagined and expanded 30th-anniversary edition of I Know What the Red Clay Looks Like: The Voice and Vision of Black Women Writers in NY!
February 11, 2025 at 7pm at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, NY, "On America: Celebrating the Lineage of Black Women Writers"
February 20, 2025 at 7:30pm at The Atrium at Lincoln Center, Voices of a People’s History Celebrates I Know What the Red Clay Looks Like, with Dael Orlandersmith, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Raquel Willis, Kimberly Drew, J. Wortham, Alyson Palmer, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and more.
UPDATES
Hooray for Jinny Huh’s (Intersectionality) Bloodlines: Adoption, Crime, and the Search for Belonging (Cambridge UPress). Click for a free read through 2/19.
Kate Murayama (WWW) has a new novel Alterations out in March (Running Wild Press).
The inaugural 2024 Panorama Literary Journal Prizes were awarded to Grace Loh Prasad (WWW) (1st place) Dreaming in Diaspora and Devi S. Laskar (WWW) (2nd place) Haibun Self-Portrait.
Sang Hea Kil (WWW) speaks on Sad Francisco about her writing ‘Islamophobia, Dirty Water Tactics, and Student Encampments for Gaza: Threats to Free Speech at San Jose State University’ in Radical Teacher.
Tamiko Nimura’s (WWW) memoir A Place For What We Lose will be out in 2026 on University of Washington Press.
Ahran Lee (AWCWW) offers Circling for BIPOC Homies an opportunity for relational mindfulness practice.
It’s time to write! Free 10-minute live guided writing sessions on Substack with with Darien Gee (WWW).
CLASSES
Intersectionality: Manuscript Workshop CLOSED
Accountability Writing Sessions (4 weeks) Wednesdays, 9-11AM (HST) A 4-week Zoom writing accountability session to hold you accountable. Finish your novel, short story, essay, divorce story, family project. Focused writing.
$50 per month
LA FIRE DONATION LINKS
California Fire Foundation directly supports those affected by wildfires and disasters throughout California including the L.A. County area.
L.A. County Wildfire Relief Fund is currently supporting relief and recovery efforts of those affected by the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst Fires.
Mutual Aid Directory: Donate to Black families displaced by the California wildfires.
Mutual Aid Directory: Donate to Latino families displaced by the California wildfires.
A submission from our community: Big Grandma’s Kitchen has been distributing hundreds of free burritos to the people of Altadena for the past couple of weeks. Chef Lima, the owner of the local business, lost everything in the Eaton fire. Chef Lima and Jose have been running operations on their own (sometimes with the help of volunteers) and continue to show up for the community rain or shine. Support the Lima family here. Support Big Grandma’s Kitchen here.
Jose (left) making pupusas with a volunteer at the Big Grandma’s Kitchen food truck.
Words & Wisdom
Our current political crisis has been decades in the making. There is a specific strategy being used to control the wider population—this is to confuse and overwhelm. You will need new strategies in order to gain clarity about how to move forward and make some decisions. Here’s what I suggest:
1) Take stock of where you are on all levels—physical and emotional safety, general financial, and psychological health. Get a solid read on it. Continue to move forward in the direction you need to.
2) The game is to dehumanize you. Don’t play it. We need to focus and be able to access our creativity for new ideas on how to rebuild and rehabilitate our society.
3) Reach out to others. Connect. Make community.
4) Let your imagination take over. Then detach. Make an in-depth dive to the very root of your being. This is the source of all bravery and courage and if you operate from this place, you will feel a lot better.
Know that this is a time that will test your resilience and sense of morality.
MERCH
Renee Simms in the WWW hoodie! :)
Student Insight
Take a News Break
by Keeana Villamar
As a first-generation soon-to-be college graduate, and the daughter of two immigrants, I developed a daily habit of reading at least one news article. Lately, the topics have been talks of World War III and death threats aimed at immigrants.
Breaking my daily reading habit saved my sanity. I now use the extra thirty minutes to call my family back home in Maui or stay a little longer at breakfast before classes. My mental and social health and willingness to attend classes drastically improved. I still read the news, but the world will keep spinning if I take a break for a day or two.
BREAK: How to Write Your Divorce Story
I recorded a segment with Tony Paniagua at AZPM.org NPR/PBS Tucson on divorce and women. Looking forward and stay tuned for announcement on when it will air!
BREAK: How to Write Your Divorce Story is a downloadable guide to help women write their divorce story for their personal/legal file.
Dr. Stephanie Han’s “BREAK: How to Write Your Divorce Story” is a groundbreaking, feminist resource that is not only invaluable to women contemplating, seeking, or negotiating a divorce, but any woman who wishes to contemplate, frame or reframe, question or rethink their role and value as part of a heteronormative marriage.
Writing your divorce story can change the emotional and financial outcome of your divorce. If you feel intimidated by writing, answer the questions, dictate into your phone, and transcribe. You have nothing to lose. My goal is 100 reviews! If the guide helps you, please leave a one line review!
A brief pause…
I’m finishing up my memoir ‘BREAK: a divorce story’, and so I’ll be taking a short pause with WWW with an intention to relaunch later in the year. Thank you for your support—please share this post, keep writing, and drop me a line writer@drstephaniehan.com
Aloha,
Stephanie