Enter your email Address

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

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 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

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        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

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 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 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

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 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

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 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

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        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

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 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 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

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 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

Variations on a Theme: On Making Mixes for Lovers

May 29, 2019

BLACKCACKLE: Letter to Meadowview Apartments Concerning the Recent ‘Poo-Prints’ Fine

October 28, 2018

Literacy Narrative: Estradiolian Aria

April 9, 2020

What Does it Mean to Search? Whiteness, Cisness, and the Canon: A (Transgenre) Literacy Narrative

April 12, 2018
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Lei Yu wow so beautifully written!

    Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio ·  January 18, 2021

  • Lisa S Thank you so much for your kind words and your feedback. I can only hope my story is able to help someone who needs it.

    WOVEN: This isn’t love ·  January 8, 2021

  • Ann Guy Thank you, Josh. And glad you didn’t get tetanus at band camp on that misguided day.

    A Way Back Home ·  December 24, 2020

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • WOVEN
  • Variations on a Theme
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • COVID-19
  • 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
  • Fog or a Cloud
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Cooking Origin Stories
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2019
  • The Talking Cure
  • Stars to Stories
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Food and Covid-19
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2014-2020 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top