Lyricality’s Online Journal
Khadijo (JoJo) Abdi’s ‘The Gardener’
Khadijo (JoJo) Abdi piece “The Gardner” is about replacing damaging negative self-talk and narratives forced onto us by others and transforming them into beautiful gardens.
Halima Hagi-Mohamed’s Powerful Poem ‘Shankaroon’
Halima’s poem is titled Shankaroon. Shankaroon is an endearing nickname used for Somali daughters/women and it means, “better than five (others)”. In this poem, Halima unpacks topics that are often brushed under the carpet in our community due to stigm
5 Good Reasons to Join the St. Cloud Safe Spaces Conversation Project and 7 Steps to Hold a Safe Spaces Conversation
This article interviews James Alberts, who is leading the St Cloud Safe Spaces Conversation Project, to explain why your participation will strengthen your empathy muscle and help create an inclusive, hopeful future for central Minnesota.
Meet Minneapolis Creative Khadijo Abdi
Others receive positive feedback that makes them feel good about themselves and confident in their abilities, while someone with impostor syndrome takes praise from others as an exaggeration rather than a true reflection of their abilities. People with impostor syndrome are unable to internalize success. Imposter by Khadijo (JoJo) Abdi addresses this issue that many women with multiple and diverse identities face.
Paramount Center for the Arts Commissions Lyricality to Create LISTENING BACK TO IMAGINE WHO WE COULD BECOME, a Collaborative Communal Poem to Honor the Theatre’s 100th Anniversary
On August 26 at the Paramount Center for the Arts Theatre, audience members heard the debut of a new poem. Tracy Rittmueller read this collaborative communal work sponsored in part by Bill and Linda Henrichs and Gate City Bank. This article discusses the history of collaborative communal poetry, the general and specific artistic process that made this commemorative poem, names the collaborators, and shares a dream for preserving this history-making commission.
Anisa Hagi-Mohamed, Halima Hagi-Mohamed and Louise K. Waakaa’igan in Conversation
In this conversation, Lyricality’s “Read Poetry 2020” poet Anisa Hagi-Mohamed reads her poem Maxaa Kaa Maqan? What is missing from your life? in response to the poem I’m Okay by Louise K. Waakaa’igan. Afterwards, Anisa’s sister, poet Halima Hagi-Mohamed reads her poem Nomad in response to the poem This is Where by Louise K. Waakaa’igan.
How to read Now We Will Speak In Flowers by Micki Blenkush as a way to cultivate empathy, with a mini review of the book
Now We Will Speak in Flowers by Micki Blenkush does not candy-coat or sentimentalize the nature of human experience. Instead, she boldly explores human vulnerability and themes of connection/disconnection, and how extreme disconnection may lead to extremely altered states of perception. And it is exactly this sense of actuality that fosters the art of empathy.
Meet Central Minnesota Poet Hedy Tripp
Hedy Tripp was born and educated in Singapore. A Saint Cloud elder with the Minnesota Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) and retired professor/lecturer, she came to her identity as a poet late in life, she says, “Because I never had time, earlier, to say, ‘I am a poet.’”
Poets Abdi Mahad and Louise K. Waakaa’igan in Conversation
In this conversation, Lyricality’s “Read Poetry 2020” poet Abdi Mahad reads his translation of “Within” by Louise K. Waakaa’igan and responds with his own poem in English.
Abdi Mahad is a poet, editor, educator and translator, who wants to tell of the beauty of Somalia before the war happened.
Why Poetry Fosters the Art of Empathy
This article explains briefly what empathy is, some general ways people cultivate it, and why poetry fosters the art of empathy.