I’ve lived in Dorchester on Wrentham St. for 10
1/2 years . Previously, I lived in Dorchester for 8 years on Wellesley
Park.
What is something you think most
people don't know about Dorchester?
I would say that people don’t understand how large and varied it is –
from the housing stock, to the people, to the restaurants and other amenities.
It is steeped in history – some of it painful - but it is a vibrant
place and I’m happy to live here.
What was the last thing you read that you couldn't wait to recommend to
others?
It would have to be 3
books – The Book Thief (Markus Zuzak), Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun
(both by Chimamanda Adichie)
What was the title of an early
work of yours (think childhood) and what was it about?
The muse didn’t strike me until high school – so there were lots of
love poems and political poems including Picnic State of Mind –an environmental
poem – “there’s no time for that picnic state of mind.”
I was a righteous sister!
Do you have any superstitions surrounding your writing practice? (i.e.
always listening to the same music, never talking to anyone about it until its
done etc...)
Nope. None at all. I have superstitions around getting
published but not around writing.
Josh Jones
How long have you lived in Dorchester?
Since July 2013.
What is something you think most people don't know about
Dorchester?
There's a great hiking trail (Blue hills
reserve) just a couple of minutes south of us.
What was the last thing you read that you couldn't wait
to recommend to others?
The Habit of Being, Flannery
O'connor's collected letters.
What was the title of an early work of yours (think
childhood) and what was it about?
I wrote a poem in really terrible quatrains when I was in
fifth grade about the kindergarteners at my school playing tag as though they
were wild animals on the Sahara. It ended with one of them being eaten I
think...
Do you have any superstitions surrounding your writing
practice? (i.e. always listening to the same music, never talking to anyone
about it until its done etc…)
I almost never write
things on paper because I am afraid I won't be able to read my own handwriting.
Though recently I have undertaken the process of transferring about a hundred
pages of poetry from my computer to a notebook by hand so I can get more familiar
with them and edit them that way.
Rayna Briceno
Rayna
Briceno is a writer and an educator. Her family migrated to Boston from
Trinidad. She works at a High School in the Boston Public School district as an
Assistant Headmaster. She has been writing since middle school and has recently
begun a blog called Who’s Got Morale. The central focus of Who's Got Morale is
to shed light on the experiences that young men and women of color encounter at
home, in school, and in their own neighborhoods. Who's Got Morale also
incorporates short stories and poems that give insight to the lives of the
adults who are raising young men and women of color.
1) How long have you
lived in Dorchester?
I was Born and raise
in Dorchester and lived most of my life in the Upham's Corner area.
3) What was the last thing you read that you couldn't wait to recommend to
others?
I last read
Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. The short stories
are filled with interesting characters, history, and life stories that allow
readers to read about he deep secrets and culture of Dominicans and people of
Dominican descent.
4) What was the title of an early work of yours (think childhood) and what was
it about?
The Crush Part 1, The Crush Part 2, The Crush Part 3. I was about 12 and I was
deeply in love. I had the biggest crush on the craziest guy I ever met. He was
silly and danced in the street so I wrote 3 different poems about how much of a
mushy crush I had on the crazy guy. Now that crazy guy is my husband and I
would never let him read those poems.
5) Do you have any
superstitions surrounding your writing practice? (i.e. always listening to the
same music, never talking to anyone about it until its done etc...)
I write early in the
morning or late at night. I play Erykah Badu or Mary J. Blige on the computer
to get in the write head space and then I begin doing research of communities
in Boston and reflecting on the incidents that are present in the news or
incidents that occurred in the schools or communities during the week and then
I begin writing.
Caleb Nelson
1) I've lived in Dorchester for 23 years---grew up here, spent a
few years away after graduating from high school. Now I'm an MA student
at UMass Boston, living with my parents again near Codman Square.
2) Not enough people know about Real Taco on Dot
Ave. or Only One Jamaican Restaurant on Norfolk Street (both take out,
both delicious). Also, more people should listen to Akrobatic and Ed
O.G. both Boston rappers. Akrobatic's from Dorchester.
3) I've been reading mostly comics lately. King
City's a fun one. As far as novels go, I'm reading American Pastoral by
Philip Roth right now, which is written from the perspective of an old
guy protagonist obsessed with an athlete from his high school he calls
the Swede whose daughter blew up a post office. But The last novel I
read through that I recommend to the novel loving public is The Brief
and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
4) Here's a poem I wrote when I was 14:
Mr. Beetle
Mr. Beetle is on a Journey
He doesn’t know quite why
He only knows where he goes
With a grand hope he doesn’t die
His fellow bugs would warn him
In fulsome words yet not deceit
Due to crows and children’s toes
It’s dangerous to cross concrete
He stepped out on the pavement
He’s tired of the place he’s been
This he knows with quaint repose
For what’s life without life within
I watch him as he wonders
Searching for the happy end
He arose above life’s throws
To a place he doesn’t blend
Mr. Beetle is now dying
I made vain the dreams he set
His struggle grows, as my blows
Make him dead without regret
This valiant little beetle
His stain and carcass at my feet
Full of woes’ the path he chose
And now it is complete
Join us this Friday to hear original poetry & prose from these exciting talents!
Friday, September 13th, 2013
Time: 7:30-9PM
Location:
Savin Hill Yoga Coop
11 Pearl St. Dorchester, MA 02125
