Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Echoes of Infertility and Stifled Grief

      April 20, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Lost and Found

      April 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Elegy for a Tree

      April 12, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Coursing

      April 9, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: Little Bird

      April 1, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

      March 23, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Finding My Voice

      March 9, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Individuation

      February 27, 2021

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Fragment One

      April 14, 2021

      Fiction

      The Birds: To Fly Among the Birds

      April 9, 2021

      Fiction

      The Birds: Another Red Ribbon – a nonbinary tale of absented love

      April 5, 2021

      Fiction

      Survivor’s Club

      March 24, 2021

      Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Fiction by Matt Goldberg

      March 24, 2021

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      an Orphic escape-hatch from the Hades of Literalization — Review of John Olson’s Dada Budapest

      April 19, 2021

      Review

      Claiming Space in Muriel Leung’s “Imagine Us, The Swarm”

      April 15, 2021

      Review

      Review: Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

      April 12, 2021

      Review

      Review: Some Animal by Ely Shipley

      April 8, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      F*%K IF I KNOW//BOOKS

      April 13, 2021

      Small Press

      Tolsun Books

      March 16, 2021

      Small Press

      Inside the Castle

      March 9, 2021

      Small Press

      OOMPH! Press

      February 24, 2021

      Small Press

      Dynamo Verlag

      February 17, 2021

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        HOW VIDEO GAMES MADE ME BIOPHILIC

        February 12, 2021

        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        HOW VIDEO GAMES MADE ME BIOPHILIC

        February 12, 2021

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Echoes of Infertility and Stifled Grief

      April 20, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Lost and Found

      April 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Elegy for a Tree

      April 12, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Coursing

      April 9, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: Little Bird

      April 1, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

      March 23, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Finding My Voice

      March 9, 2021

      Introspection

      Variations on a Theme: Individuation

      February 27, 2021

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Fragment One

      April 14, 2021

      Fiction

      The Birds: To Fly Among the Birds

      April 9, 2021

      Fiction

      The Birds: Another Red Ribbon – a nonbinary tale of absented love

      April 5, 2021

      Fiction

      Survivor’s Club

      March 24, 2021

      Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Fiction by Matt Goldberg

      March 24, 2021

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      an Orphic escape-hatch from the Hades of Literalization — Review of John Olson’s Dada Budapest

      April 19, 2021

      Review

      Claiming Space in Muriel Leung’s “Imagine Us, The Swarm”

      April 15, 2021

      Review

      Review: Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

      April 12, 2021

      Review

      Review: Some Animal by Ely Shipley

      April 8, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      F*%K IF I KNOW//BOOKS

      April 13, 2021

      Small Press

      Tolsun Books

      March 16, 2021

      Small Press

      Inside the Castle

      March 9, 2021

      Small Press

      OOMPH! Press

      February 24, 2021

      Small Press

      Dynamo Verlag

      February 17, 2021

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        HOW VIDEO GAMES MADE ME BIOPHILIC

        February 12, 2021

        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        HOW VIDEO GAMES MADE ME BIOPHILIC

        February 12, 2021

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
Creative Nonfiction / Essay

On February 11, 2017, the 25th Anniversary of the Release of Nelson Mandela

written by Emily Stern February 12, 2017

There’s something about this time, about this moment
Some kind of nostalgia
Something about the inception,
the insides,
the playground rituals
becoming the unbreakable calcification
a skeleton of lived belief
In conflict as a catalyst for change.

As many of you may agree, childhood prepared me for an acceptance of chaos.
We have learned how to stretch a dollar; we have learned how to build communities out of nothing; we have learned to deal with disappointment—over, and over, and over;
We have celebrated triumphs
as mortar
of the bridge to liberation;
we have recognized exquisite restitution
from a sunset, or the realization
that (I) you have somehow made it through another day.

Those of us who have been fighting with our hearts
Who live(s) this believe in social justice(?);
Who find(s) a way, always, to stay committed to each other and to our own personal journeys;
to learning, growing, and expanding as human beings, (and recognize)
are also
only animal(s) living on this land (?)—
(an opportunity for which,
I wish)
I
We
(Paused)

In awe.
In prayer.
In service to.
Each day.

Maybe it could be that point in every single day when you (I) start daydreaming about brownies and black coffee
You know, around 2:00/2:30,
(You) I continued to or
decided
to hold every inch of
this
precious
land
in prayer and love.

I care that there is something out of my control that insists
And longs
to connect to something beautiful.
I am grateful that there is something out of my Control
that insists
and longs to connect to something beautiful.

I
You
You and I
In some way, will have to find a way.
I
You
Will have to find a way
some way
to be together.
I want you to find your way to be together.
I want you
to find your way
to be together with me

I can be me
and you would be you;

Our differences are strengths. I believe in that.
I believe in that as much as I believe in you.
And that is as much is I believe in everything.

I’m guessing the real claim to fame for us humans
is yet to come.
Maybe we’ll finally get our celebrity star in the concrete as
Brittany-Spears-purse-dogs.
Highly sought after,
bred-in-small batches—
Pets—
Indebted to the aliens who save our asses
before we all go out in some kind of nuclear bomb blast
fueled by a bullshit patriarchy-packed projection tantrum
(thought they’d bought their ticket to heaven—it’s just this one indiscretion)
retreat for the 1%.
We self-important humans will relish all of the fawning and fancy collars.

I’m a mammal.
I like to eat and have sex and cannot deny
my fascination
with dabbling in the primitive ecstasy of rage.

Yes,
We can build things
We can build the world we want
We can live
and I believe that
I know
it’s possible—

Not easy
Not always fun
I don’t think it will it all fit into any kind of ideology
Happiness will not always be important
I don’t think that it will always benefit capitalism
I don’t think that (I) we
always want to change or,
you know,
be malleable.
Many and each of us will be brought to our fucking knees
In sadness
In terror
In discomfort
In disbelief—
And the stakes will have not been higher.
Growing up sucks.
There’s just no way out but through.
There’s nothing wrong with some hard work.
There’s nothing wrong with everyone having the same
opportunities and rights as one another. There is more than we think that there is—
and I don’t mean natural resources.
I don’t mean build another fucking pipeline.
No,
I mean that we could come together in a manner in which we are all intact.
Our histories
Our languages
Our hearts not feeling the need to be anything or anyone other
than who we are
Our real ancestries, our real rapes, our real triumphs, our real rights,
intact.
We can do this.
I think we are doing this.
This is currently happening
Right
Now.

When I snap my fingers, when you wake up, you are going to be right here.

At the count of three I’ll snap my fingers, you and I are going to be here and we are going to figure out exactly how to be here together. I’m so excited I get to be here with you right now.

At the count of three I’ll snap my fingers and you and I are going to be here together. Next line

1.
2.
3.

(Snap)

Wake up.

On February 11, 2017, the 25th Anniversary of the Release of Nelson Mandela was last modified: February 14th, 2017 by Emily Stern
0 comment
3
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
Emily Stern

Emily Stern has been teaching, consulting, writing, and performing since the early 1990's. She consults locally and nationally for academic, diversity and equity, and Title IX programming, curriculum, and professional development, as well as implementation and facilitation of original educational tools, including the El Corozón Deck, a bilingual educational tool designed to inspire critical thinking about social justice, community, and identity. Emily is the author of When Doves Cry, a memoir about her childhood and her mother’s death in 1993 from complications of HIV/AIDS, represented by Jet Literary. She currently oversees the Santa Fe Community College’s Center for Diversity and Integrated Learning, and is Liberal Arts faculty. Emily has an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction with a critical emphasis on women and AIDS in literature from Goddard College, and a B.A. from the Evergreen State College. In addition to her memoir, she and author Liz Latty are co-editing an anthology, entitled Visceral Cartographies. More here: www.emilystern.com.

previous post
Political Protest Draws a Star: it’s 1981
next post
Notes on World Building: Famblae

You may also like

The Taking of Souvenir Material: The Virgin River

February 6, 2017

A San Francisco Story

June 28, 2019

Wild Bill

August 3, 2017

Emotional Engulfment

November 27, 2018
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • parri Loved the article. Beautifully captured..stay strong. Something must await for you at the end of this path..

    How Bodybuilding Ruined My Life ·  April 2, 2021

  • Waterlily Heartbreaking, real, and often so vivid. Parents, family, the pain and the damage we carry for them and from them. There is a black void where bits and pieces of our soul take leave to as we watch our...

    Descansos ·  April 2, 2021

  • Neo G I hsve to check this out! Is that doom on the cover!!

    Dskillz Harris & Chile_madd – The Next Episode ·  March 28, 2021

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • WOVEN
  • Variations on a Theme
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • COVID-19
  • Literacy Narrative
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • The Waters
  • Session Report series
  • Birdwolf
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • Fog or a Cloud
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Cooking Origin Stories
  • Food and Covid-19
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2019
  • The Talking Cure
  • Stars to Stories
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2014-2021 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top