Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!
On Pretense, Prophecy, and the Absence of Poetry
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11 Jan 2026 2025, We Hardly Believed You Reader, Big plans for 2025 were (expectedly, predictably, unavoidably, resignedly) deferred and revised. As I said, some two dozen newsletters ago, I stand irresolute. And it's a good thing. While I did not manage to bring back Legacy yet or move forward much on some of my current writing projects, and while some of my content production was downright paused, I did in August discover a (maybe "the") book idea that will define much of what I'm about here. And Literary Nomads charges forward with almost 50 episodes produced this year. I should hit 100 episodes sometime in late summer, I think (... last words). So what sense does it really make to dare draw goals for 2026? Because without them (and without a quarterly review and re-assessment), that resignation becomes more permanent. Besides, I like thinking about passion projects! So here are a few:
What are your 2026 goals? What have been your successes or frustrations from the past year (I mean, in terms of goals). Let me know!
The Problem With Dunbar-OrtizIt happens, and I welcome it when it does. When I shared my January TBR video on social media, someone wrote to let me know that Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, award-winning writer of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2014), was a "pretendian." Now what does that mean? The term is an accusation for someone who pretends some indigenous authenticity for personal gain. Effectively it diminishes, even trivializes, the experiences of native peoples while sometimes taking opportunities from them. There is nothing simple about the accusation: indigenous peoples have worked to reconcile identity since the beginning of settler history which stole land and divided their nations. But the briefest search about her claims turn up numerous sites arguing about her status and connections to indigenous culture and ancestry. In the introduction to her history, she claims that her mother was part Indian. But in later interviews, when challenged, she suggested in varying degrees that she had no indigenous roots. Does this compromise the significance of her book and the importance of reframing our history to dissolve white myth-making? Well, there are separate reasons to be concerned about her history (which leans heavily on the trauma of indigenous past and present rather than much appraisal of its contributions and power). But I also will not pretend her project is anything but significant for white readers and culture. I had planned to use the book this year to conduct a project similar to what I did with Hannah Arendt last year. Now I'm shifting gears, replacing Dunbar-Ortiz with Ned Blackhawk's award-winning history, The Rediscovery of America (2023). And no, this is not because I am making a statement about the connection between author life and art/work. It's because it is not my place to weigh in on indigenous identity, ever. And because there is a sizeable part of the native community that does not see her or her work as representative of their story. It would be wrong of me, I think, to spotlight it as "the" history as Waywords showcases it. I'm thankful to the commenter who pointed this out to me, and I will have to be far more careful in vetting the works I choose. Literary Nomads: Writing Into the Wind Pt. 2Had some real fun with the Cassandra myth recently, stealing it back from a number of male writers (and 2000+ years of readers) who want to call her victim or cursed or crazy. Why can't we recognize first that she is right? And if there's a curse, why isn't on the listeners who simply ignore her? There's a kind of Apollonian order of "reason" and "harmony" which gets in the way, the kind of status quo that supports existing power, resists change, even when it spells the end of Troy and the death of Agamemnon. Is it any wonder that it was Apollo who was rightfully spurned by Cassandra in the first place? So where does that leave us? As writers, we carry messages from places of wisdom and truth to places where they are seldom wanted or understood. But we do it, partly, as witnesses of integrity, speaking not always to power but to/for the more silent audiences around us, those who need to know they are not alone. Adichie does exactly this as do so many Nigerian writers. We'll be turning our attention to some of them next. Want to write with us? Give the last two episodes a listen, then share what you're thinking! Episodes ahead:
Have a question or comment about what we're talking about? Use that mailbag and let me know!
Calendar: Opening a New YearCheese, please!
Some Verse:Book Reviewfor colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (1976) Still thinking about this multi-media work. Certainly the live stage performance is what we should seek, but that is harder and harder to find: a few YouTube videos are out there, but not well filmed. Dance, song, poetry, improvisation, memoir, actor ownership, . . . and where every step or word doesn't speak aesthetic beauty, the raw experiences do, of black women under the power of black men, of women and men, of the timelessness of the experience, connecting deep into the feminine mythos. Yes, there's a star-studded film out there, too, but . . . no. This is, must be, about an experience of the common, I think. Reading it doesn't get us there, but reading it invites our reflection, which the stage production accelerates with little pause.
Engaging in 2026Many thanks to those who offered suggestions and recommendations for the Waywords "Engaging" page, a list of connections and communities that can help us as we move forward, thinking about literature and literacy, activism and writing, teaching and philosophy. I've updated the page recently, adding almost a dozen new places where your time and energy is meaningful, substantive, and feels good for that. If you know of any online communities or local recommendations for our readers and listeners, let me know!
Settling down to read some Paulo Freire. Anyone want to read along with me? Send me a note! Steve What's Still Ahead?
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Waywords Studio
Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!