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| Dear Friends, I’m reminded after some time visiting my family in Rhode Island about what it’s like to live near water. Listening to the waves, Dar Williams’ “The Ocean” comes back to me. Here are some of her lyrics. I lived in New England for eleven years (plus in utero; my parents were living in Watertown, MA when they found out they were expecting me) and most of the time I don’t miss New England, but I feel impacted by the culture and that experience. Here are some of Williams’ lyrics: When I went to your town on the wide open shore, Oh I must confess, I was drawn, I was drawn to the ocean, I thought it spoke to me, it said, “Look at us, We’re not churches, not schools, not skating ponds, swimming pools… But the ocean can’t come to this town, this town is a song about you. You don’t know how lucky you are, you don’t know how much I adore you, You are the welcoming back from the ocean. I spent time by the ocean and thought about my home in Western New York. I wrote about that and the water below (#2 and #8). It felt good to do some low-stakes and fun writing. 10 Things I Wanted to Share Today: 1. I suspended my Zoom/book sabbatical to take part in one panel for this literary festival (1455). It’s free to attend. Link to register here. Panel Name: Visceral Self: The Art of Embodied Writing. Friday, July 16, 4:00-5:00 PM. Panelists: Gina Frangello, Jeannine Ouellette, Sejal Shah, Megan Stielstra. 2. Is Western New York in the Midwest? Read my intro and Stephen J. West’s WNY essay, “Transitive, NY” here in Essay Daily’s Midwessay series (midwestern essay). 3. “Research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Is Being Stifled” my friend Amy Yee’s article about the importance of more funding to support more data about Asian Americans. 4. John Freeman’s essay “Touchless” in The Sun brought me right back to being nineteen, living with roommates, and a loneliness in the summer in a new job and new-to-me city. 5. Abbey and I worked on updating my website: here’s the updated “writing” page with images and links to some of my favorite essays. Shout-out to my website designer Mira T. Lee (a native of Buffalo), who implemented these changes and designed my site. 6. From the archives: “Feel Your Way” Craft Capsule: an essay about how studying dance influenced me as a writer and the way in which I ordered and shaped my book. 7. Another craft essay: Anjali Enjeti on writing while living with chronic pain 8. Missing the Boat: my “midwessay” New England, Rochester, & the Fast Ferry 9. Asian American Painter Suzanne Onodera’s exhibit is up this month in Ithaca. Suzanne and I were residents at Millay Arts and I’ve been a fan of her work ever since. 10. Literary event: Deesha Philyaw’s Zoom panel at 1455 Festival about growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, and how The South and Southern Blackness shaped her storytelling (register in advance). This letter was sent out on July 15, 2021. Thanks for reading my newsletter. If you enjoyed it, you can help keep it going by forwarding it to someone who might like it, hiring me to speak, or buying my book for yourself or for a friend. Or, buy another independent-press book from an independent bookstore. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can read previous issues and subscribe here. Warmly, Sejal |