A collaboration between the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, digital colorist Marina Amaral, and a team of academics, journalists and volunteers, “Faces of Auschwitz” honors the lives of Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoners by colorizing their registration photos and sharing their individual stories.

via Faces of Auschwitz — Discover

Read this article written with dignity and courage, love and sadness. I was deeply moved, for the writer and artist have shared the lives of those lost with dignity.

Never forget.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Lucky Thirteen? (Submissions) but about those boys trapped in the Thai cave…

 

windows    Lucky (I hope) thirteen active submissions of poetry out right now… wait, one is a short nonfiction piece entirely written in dialogue. We shall see! The “declined” or rejections outnumber thirteen–but I am enjoying finding new literary magazines and I am editing, revising, and writing poetry. EXCEPT I cannot write about those poor boys trapped in the caves in Thailand. I usually have no problem writing to a prompt, but these boys, these trapped boys…

I mean those boys are mainly in the dark…and they are BOYS. There is ONE adult with them. I followed the lives and stories of the 33 Chilean miners, big strong men, trained men…and I know how very rough they had after the rescue. The miners were down below much longer… but these are boys…and it could take months. Sigh…

If I were honest, I would say I can barely breathe thinking about those boys.

Here are links to some current articles:

Thailand Cave Rescue Options.

I can barely breathe when I think of all those who are trapped, scared, in the dark–literally or emotionally.

I need to open the window now, despite the stifling heat.

There is a poem there about the need to open windows even in the heat.  Even in the bitterly cold.  (Oh, I’ve had issues doing that.)

Not too long ago, my husband and I were in a resort with huge windows, but they did not open.  I wanted to stay somewhere else,  somewhere the windows opened.

But that’s another story or other stories.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Laura Lee

Spillwords.com, a Mini-Review

spill  **Update: I am having a poem, “Stopped,”published here July 19th.

Spillwords.com is a publisher of fiction, poetry, and original artwork, as well as a re-publisher of “literary greats” that are now in the public domain.  This publisher’s goal is to create a:

…home for all that live and breathe words, spilled or inspired, through literature of every genre, from writers and poets of every walk of life.

The team of editors will work, they state,  to ensure “…work is presented responsibly.”

The writers I saw published there come from all over the globe, and there is a special part of the site dedicated to publishing in Spanish.  The other writers, from all over the world, are published in English.

I am pretty sure the publisher is actually in Poland; I checked and the mail address in there, in Poland.

It’s great to find new (to me!) places to submit work, and to read poetry and fiction from all over.

Thanks for reading!

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

For the Cost of a Postage Stamp (Thanks to L.J. Bailey–Reblogging)

woman-typing-writing-windows         Writers! You can use your writing voice to help kids. Thanks to Laura Jean Bailey for the information. Please consider writing. I am right now.

Laura Jean Bailey's avatarLaura Jean Bailey

We can make a difference in the life of children separated from their parents at the border. We are not powerless. Heartland Alliance in Chicago is currently caring for 66 immigrant children.

Demonstrate caring and compassion by sending a brief letter with a positive message to a child at Heartland Alliance, 208 South LaSalle, Chicago, IL 60604. The letters do not need to be in Spanish.

Check out @heartlandhelps’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/heartlandhelps/status/1014157505486868480?s=09

20180630_112433.jpg Protest sign at Families Belong Together rally in Chicago on June 30, 2018. Photo by L.J. Bailey.

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Posted on by Laura Lee

Abbreviations and Acronyms for English Learners

writing to characters    Thanks to Thoughtco.Com again!  Here is a link to a helpful articles explaining abbreviations and acronyms for English Learners:

Abbreviations and Acronyms for ELL

The articles also gives advice on when to use abbreviations and acronyms and when not to, considering audience and intent.  For example, the article states:

For more uncommon acronyms, use the entire name followed by the acronym in parentheses the first time you use the acronym in written communications. For example: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is responsible for loaning money to nations. As the world experiences more economic difficulties, the role of the IMF is often called into question. 

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Posted on by Laura Lee

Update on Submission: The Value & Power & Fun of Poetry–Submitted to Willowdown Books

dream courage harmony inspire rocks images Update: the work I submitted here is short-listed; the editors will determine the overall themes of the works they are interested in and then let us short-listed know if we will be published.  I was not familiar that as a writer I would ever be told this, so this is interesting.

As I find new (to me) literary journals, I am delighted to find the absolute joy of language and belief in the power of poetry to be prevalent.  The journals I am finding are truly labors of love, and the publishers and editors are publishing poetry because they love poetry, love language, and believe poetry is important.  What a pleasant change of pace from the local, national, and world news, which is portraying a country and world in hate-filled crisis after crisis!

For example, I just had to submit some poems to Willowdown Books out of the UK: Willowdown Books.

Willowdown is sponsoring “The Poetic Bond VIII,” a bound poetic journal in autumn; submissions are due by the end of the day tomorrow here: The Poetic Bond.

So what creates a “poetic” bond?  The publisher wants to create this bond by publishing poetry that is deeply connected with humanity, nature, and the universe.

You tell me, poets, if this isn’t the heart of poetry?  Deep connections.  Humanity. Nature. The universe.

Yes sirree.  Sure is for me.

Plus the play and delight of language.

Have a look at the “poetic bond” and Willowdown Books.

Oh! For submitting, we got to pick a book out, sort of a thank you for submitting.  This also shows support for the poets already published, so that’s a great idea.

Thanks for reading!

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Submitted a Poem about BAD Summer Jobs–GeekyPress.co

motel                   Submitted a new, raw poem here:http://thegeekypress.com/

to their BAD SUMMER JOBS open call for poetry, fiction, and short plays.  I’ve sure had bad summer jobs!

 

This one had dogs, blood, and me running away from that motel job as fast as my 14-year old self could.  I don’t normally swear, but this poem called for it to be true to life.

If I were honest, this writing would be even more raw and awful, for it was an unsafe difficult job–but paid $4 an hour! A fortune we thought back then. I literally ran out of the motel, terrified.  Had I been older, I might have been amused, but I was working when (illegally) very young there.

I’m old enough to remember when most places didn’t care to check on your age. They really didn’t.  If some “official” wanted to see birth certificates, I’d just quit and go back in a week or so.

Did that at a fast food place, but that’s another story too. WHAT I LEARNED THERE! That I was not cut out for manual labor.  That work was very hard for very little money. That you needed to be strong to work in many fields.  That I would need an education to become something other than one who was burning self all day on fryers or fighting off men in motels…

Now back to the issue:

The call for submissions to the BAD SUMMER JOBS ends at end of day tomorrow, so if you are interested, check it out and get writing! They are accepting poetry, fiction, and plays about this theme.

Oh–a positive aspect about this publication? It splits all profits from sales of their print publications and e-books.

Thanks for reading.

Posted on by Laura Lee

“Ink and Voices,” a Mini-Review

cropped-be-creative-creative-creativity-256514     Perhaps my skepticism about poetry being ALIVE was too skeptical?  I am finding many fine literary magazines and communities, online and in paper, if I just take the time to look about a bit.  What’s different for me, however, is how many of the publications are online only or mainly online.  For an oldster like me who loves to learn and use technology, that’s fine.  I am just happy that literacy in all its forms appears to be thriving.

One publication I just found is Ink & Voices, which can be found here: Ink & Voices.

Ink and Voices acknowledges that the internet is full of places to share writing and art, but states they are different in that:

   Ink & Voices is an online publication and community for artists and writers. We are all about original and unapologetic voices, and providing a space for you to express your originality and humanness. We love pieces that are honest, raw and original.

This publication has three main sections, one for Mind, one for Body, and one for Soul.  Yes, they are brave enough to use those terms in this sometimes snide and toocooltoshowemotions society.   I found mainly fiction and artwork there, but liked what I saw and liked what I read.  Perhaps I just couldn’t find the poetry, but I did look. Nevertheless, Ink and Voices is accepting submissions or writing and art and has a separate category for poetry, all through Submittable.com.   The positive aspects here are that your work is read or viewed “blind,” and judged on its merit rather than your bio or name, or lack of a name in publishing.

I didn’t see a May or June issue, but they are still accepting submissions on a no deadline basis through Submittable.com, meaning they are paying to keep submission coming in.

I am going to investigate this new site more and consider submitting some poetry.  I know I’ll be viewing the artwork there.

If you create “honest, raw, and original” artwork, including written work, why not give Ink and Voices a view?  I personally like to support new literary ventures as well as the more-established ones.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee