It’s been a minute. You’ve probably been wondering where the $%&* is Autumn’s latest? Life has had its way with me. I’ve had to work the weekends and evenings the past several weeks, which eats into my writing and free time. And, after dropping a heavy bottle of sake on my barefoot yesterday afternoon, I now have a comminuted fracture (which means I shattered my bone). That’s really put a damper on the fun. Sadly, it’s also put some of my upcoming travel plans on hold. It’s not easy to get around with shattered bones.
I had promised you a short story or the beginning of a novel and then I went dormant. Do not fear, I have been writing. I just haven’t had the opportunity to focus my energy on publishing here. But soon, my dear readers, you’ll have not only a short story to read but also a few poems and another essay about grief as an engine driving our lives. All in due time…
I do have something exciting in this article that I’ve worked on.
Before I get to it though, I wanted to share an essay I read regarding the war in Israel. I thought it was a very reasonable and sound essay about a very complex situation. If you have a chance, please read it: “To my non-Jewish friends, it’s time to show up.”
With all the propaganda floating around on social that seems to be justifying terrorism and murder for a greater purpose, it’s time to remind everyone that anytime humans are murdered for a cause, it’s probably not a cause we should be supporting - actively or passively. And if you think terrorism, kidnapping, rape and murder in real life are justifiable in any way, you need to do some soul searching and get your priorities rearranged. Because there is something wrong with you.
Now, I am off my soapbox...
As promised, I am kicking off my interview series, which allows me to sit down with other writers, playwrights, poets, screenwriters, filmmakers, theater directors, and artists about their projects and their approach to living and sustaining a creative life.
I am honored to have had the opportunity to sit down with Joe Milan, Jr., author of the novel The All-American. He and I attended UNLV together; he was in the PhD program while I was completing my MFA.
Joe and I also have the commonality of teaching English overseas in Asia; he taught in Korea and I taught in Japan. During a fiction workshop we were both in together, I had posed the question of whether or not I as an American had the right to create fiction set in Japan about Japanese characters. The answer is yes, but it isn’t a simple yes.
I had written the beginning of what I felt could be a novel but I was very concerned about being called out for appropriation. He had offered guidance and also encouragement in doing the hard work of asking myself those questions in advance, in order to figure out what was driving the story and how to create fully developed characters sensitively.
I reached out to him to see if he’d be interested in talking about the creative process, how The All-American became a book and what drove (and still drives) him to be a writer. It’s an interview that looks at the process of writing story from a creative angle. Let me know what you think! I plan to offer more interviews with other writers, poets and artists.
Watch the interview below:
A bit more about Joe and his novel:
Joe Milan, Jr. is a second-generation Korean American who taught in Korea for nine years. He’s the author of the novel The All-American (W.W. Norton, 2023) and was the 2019-20 David T.K. Wong Creative Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. In addition, he has been a Barrick Graduate Fellow and BMI Ph.D. Fellow at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
His work has appeared in wonderful places like The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and others. He is now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. You can read more of his work at joemilanjr.com
The All-American is a deeply funny and poignant coming-of-age tale that turns the American immigrant narrative on its head.
In the woods behind a trailer park in rural Washington, Bucky, a Korean-American high school senior, trains alone with a tire tied to his waist to pursue his singular goal: to play college football. But when the U.S. government deports him and the South Korean Army conscripts him, he finds himself alone in the country of his birth and caught in the underbelly of a forgotten yet bitter war. To make it out safely and earn his ticket home, Beyonghak must face tough but essential questions about his family legacy and personal identity, at last parsing the difference between the roles he is expected to play and the type of man he wants to become.
Read some reviews:
More about the book: W.W.Norton
I encourage you to buy Joe’s book, which you can purchase via Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, Target, Walmart, or Amazon (if you must).
Feel free to drop a comment about the interview or any questions you might have about the book. I’ll be happy to pass these along to Joe.
Thank you so much for bravely speaking out and sharing that article, Autumn. It meant a lot to me, especially after seeing my social feeds clogged with so much hate. I'm of Jewish descent and my heart breaks for every victim of this conflict. The justification and celebration of innocent lives lost is devastating and horrific. Desperately hoping for peace. ❤️