“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.” -Adrienne Rich

We live in an age of distraction. Far fewer hours are now devoted to sitting quietly with something to read or to writing anything of particular substance to those we love who are far away. Communication is increasingly relegated to online formats such as social media where brevity is absolutely required and words drown in a sea of constant noise. There is much to be said for slowing down time with a heavy novel in your lap or taking the time to pen a letter to someone who has been on your mind.

Rob Neilson is presently at work on a series of bronze castings based on images of people that are in some way important to him or to the larger context of our society but with a personal context for him. Neilson works in wax to create molds and then hands off these molds to a former student who works at a foundry and is able to cast them in bronze for him. Most of the pieces are busts, some are torsos. Subjects include Nixon, Chairman Mao, JFK, Putin and Neilson’s own great-great grandfather – a speculative piece based on what intervening generations look like. To hear more about what Rob Neilson is up to at the moment and his past work including Fruits of Labor (pictured above), listen to the complete interview.

Steven Sanchez is a poet living in Fresno, California. At the moment he is working on his next book of poems. His previous volume, Phantom Tongue, examined internalized racism and internalized homophobia and their impact on bodies of color. His new work attempts to unpack how our privilege harms others whether we mean it to or not and how we are all complicit in systemic oppression. Please take the time to listen to Steven Sanchez’s complete interview to learn more about his work about these topics as well as his personal history.