Writing and photography publication!! This one I'm really proud of, has been in the works for a while now, is a long time coming... Valley Voices: A Literary Review is edited by one of my favorite poets and scholars of our day, the incomparable John (/Jianqing/J.Q.) Zheng, who you might know from publishing exquisite haibun and short form poetry prominently many prestigious places, having several phenomenal recent eBooks and a seminal collection "A Way Of Looking" which won the Gerald Book Prize, has been written about at length in Frogpond and other impressive places. For their latest themed issue I was challenged to compose a photo essay showcasing some of my best fine art work from the years I spent in Los Angeles when I took a lot of street images and captured the urban environment somewhat obsessively. This was such a fantastic opportunity to share many favorite pictures I don't often enough exhibit, and also to compose a thoughtful essay/creative nonfiction with really serious, meaningful explorations and subject matter. Together this is probably my favorite thing I've had the chance to publish, certainly amounts to the most prominent featuring of both my writing and photography in print in a publication of great repute (Mississippi State University has facilitated the printing of Valley Voices for 22 years since Zheng established it impressively). I'm overjoyed and deeply honored at this great privilege and chance to say goodbye to my young adulthood and a place that I'll never forget, which every transplant and visitor cannot help in their hearts and memories having a somewhat complicated and ambivalent relationship to, and probably always will. Enjoy! ^^
