Make Yourself with Words (Donald Intro) (06/20/2020)

Make Yourself with Words | The Weekly Atticus

A recap of the week's writing at Atticus Review. Submit to our Flash CNF Contest. Introduction by Donald Quist.

I’ve been thinking about the writer Gloria Anzaldúa and the alternative rock band Incubus. I’m trying to consider the ways the group’s 1999 album

relates to Anzaldúa's posthumous collection

. The titular track on the LP compliments Anzaldúa’s thoughts on the role of the creative process in constructing a person’s consciousness. In the first verse of “Make Yourself,” lead singer Brandon Boyd croons:

If I hadn't made meI would have been made somehowIf I hadn't assembled myselfI'd have fallen apart by nowIf I hadn't made meI'd be more inclined to bowPowers that would be have swallowed me upBut that's more than I can allow

With each line, Boyd’s voice raises tension and volume, rising to screams. Incubus suggests that if we don’t actively work towards building our own sense of self, our being will be dictated by systems of oppression. Anzaldúa says that making ourselves involves engaging in the creative process, “the acts of writing and reading,” examining the narratives delivered to us and then sharing stories of our own. This making of ourselves isn’t easy. As Anzaldúa explains, “creating our new self, new life, new project will cost us.” That cost is emotional and it means being vulnerable and accepting that, while we might be motivated by the desire to amend what is broken, or right some wrongs, the narratives we share can never unmake trauma. Therefore, it is imperative that this process be politically-minded. Making oneself should not come at the subjugation of others. In the process of making ourselves there is never any resolution, just the consistent work of healing; the potential that in the process of making ourselves we produce symbols and language for another’s survival. 

I don’t know if Boyd and the members of Incubus are fans of Anzaldúa. Maybe they had read her earlier work in

. Perhaps enamored of the text’s hybridity and assemblage, the way she weaves in and out of genre to make a fuller reflection of herself, the band was encouraged to move beyond conventional borders of contemporary rock music and pursue their unique blending of metal and funk. I love thinking about the ways seemingly disparate pieces of art can intersect ideas and culture. Speculating on the intersections between a platinum-selling band of multicultural musicians, and a queer cultural and literary theorist, considering the ways these artists encourage us to make truer versions of ourselves, feels especially pertinent during PRIDE month—a time when so many people celebrate becoming who they knew themselves to be. 

In my new role at

Atticus Review

as the Columns Editor for

, I hope to find more of these interesting connections. I look forward to cultivating and sharing reflections that might encourage your own creative process and prompt you to think about how your poetry, prose, music and art might help you better make yourself.

Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.

Donald Quist

Columns Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

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THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS REVIEW

BOOK REVIEWTHE WARMTH OF LIESA Review of SCHRODINGER'S DOG by Martin DumontReview by Giselle Defares"...a short and somber debut novel [exploring] the nuances of fatherhood, unconditional love, and the dilemma one faces with helplessness."GET THE BOOKREAD THE REVIEW

FICTIONIF EVEN THE ANGELSby Tommy Dean "A cut-glass memory of his son at eight, dancing in the rain, tongue lizarding out for a taste of the crying sky."READ ON

POETRYBY ACCIDENTby Anna B. Sutton"This would be / a prayer at home, but here it is // forgiveness."READ ON

CREATIVE NONFICTION1ER GAOUby Kosiso Ugwueze Part of our Superunknown: Stories about Songs series"I shake my hips and flail arms and throw my head back and absorb the song like I’m hungry."READ ON

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