Read Anne's essay at Howlround: https://howlround.com/senses-are-present-boycotts-endurance-art-series and her latest at Coalitionist: https://coalitionist.substack.com/p/anne-mason-the-catasterism!

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Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling writer and theater artist Anne Mason! (www.acmcreativeconsulting.com)

About our guest:

To be more precise, Anne is a life writer, theatre artist, and creative consultant who is passionate about transforming skills and lessons from within the theatre sphere into tools for all facets of community, industry, and humanity. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014 and strives to turn her experience into lessons of hope and resiliency. When Anne isn’t at the theatre, she can be found reading, enjoying the outdoors, communing at coffee shops, or solving (and creating!) crossword puzzles. Anne lives in Laramie with her cat, Orange Julius Caesar. Connect with Anne: @annecatharine89 – acmcreativeconsulting.com

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Anne! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE. THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling Scott Macklin, of the musical collective Now Defunkt! (www.nowdefunkt.com)

About our guest:

Scott Macklin is a highly accomplished and innovative leader in higher education with extensive experience developing and implementing transformative programs and strategies. His work focuses on developing narrative-based learning systems and comprehensive strategies to improve education and the ways we can reach and engage our students and constituents. He is dedicated to addressing racial and identity inequity in his research and is deeply committed to creating systems that benefit everyone. Central to his work is the notion of storytelling where stories are forged in the process of deep hanging out; where a story is made in collaboration with a community of practice, where one engages in the act of making the story "with" people from a particular community not just "about" them. You can see his work in action at: www.scottmacklin.com

JAMCATION! A new album, now available to stream! nowdefunkt.bandcamp.com

JAMCATION! VINYL NOW AVAILABLE FROM WASHINGTONES RECORDS! https://washingtonesrecords.myshopify.com/products/jamcation-12-eco-friendly-lp-presale

About Now Defunkt:

Built on bold love, groovy grooves and a fierce sense of interdependence, Now Defunkt emerged out of lock-down as a creative collective of family and friends producing primordial sound-box of the soul shifts with a twist of lemon. Now Defunkt’s vibe is like a grooving vinyl record spinning round in a raucous room and sometimes it skips like it’s trying to tell you something. It’s got the crackle of time, the echoes of stories left unsaid, and a rhythm that dances like it’s fighting the dark. It’s messy, it’s groovy, and moves like it means it. It’s a music that travels, shifting from one place to the next, without ever truly settling, but always feeling at home wherever it is. Now Defunkt is more than just a band; it's a vibrant collection of individuals—family, friends, and a diverse group of unique personalities—who've found a way to create music together. Bringing together members from different generations, perspectives, and locations. Our collaboration is a testament to the power of diverse voices and experiences. The older members contribute their seasoned wisdom and the younger members inject a potent burst of energy, resulting in a dynamic and surprisingly effective musical synergy. Now Defunkt's music is a vibrant tapestry woven from diverse voices and perspectives. The music speaks with a gentle, heartfelt sincerity, celebrating the richness and complexity of the human experience. It's a journey, a shared exploration of creative flow and collaborative energy, where differences are celebrated, and harmonies emerge from seemingly disparate strands.

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Scott! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE. THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling author A.M. Sosa! (amsosa.net)

About our guest:

A. M. Sosa (they/them) is a queer Mexican-American writer from Stockton, CA, and a graduate of UC Irvine's MFA Programs in Writing where they were awarded the 2022 Henfield Prize. They have received support from Tin House, Community of Writers, and the Carolyn Moore Writing Residency. Their debut novel, And I'll Take Out Your Eyes, is being published by Algonquin, and their fiction has been published in Zyzzyva and the Santa Monica Review. Instagram: @unapinchebruja

About AND I'LL TAKE OUT YOUR EYES, now available from Algonquin Books!

BUY NOW AT: BOOKSHOP | TERTULIA | BARNES & NOBLE | AMAZON

Cría cuervos y te sacaran los ojos: Raise crows and they will take out your eyes. A boy wakes up with a knife in his hand. It's the early '90s in Stockton, CA, when Christian is caught sleepwalking in the kitchen by his family--the beginning of a curse unleashed by an aunt. To save Christian and the family from the curse, the family seeks out a curandero who promises salvation, but at a price Christian wishes he didn't have to pay. As Christian grows up the curse follows him. His father emotionally and physically torments him, his mother's health spirals, his relationship with his brother deteriorates; nothing goes his way. Christian finds solace in a group of friends, bonded together by the sufferings that plague their community. As the childhood chaos of ripping and running in order to survive breaks way to an adolescence beyond his local neighborhood and a lifeline in the form of writing, Christian must decide: be consumed and enact the same violence that has plagued him, or break the cycle, once and for all. And I'll Take Out Your Eyes is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the power of memory and the curses we inherit from our family, and how to overcome them. Told in a voice that is clear and unflinching, this is ultimately a story of redemption.

PRAISE FOR AND I'LL TAKE OUT YOUR EYES:

> And I'll Take Out Your Eyes is a kaleidoscopic wonder of a debut. Never boring, A.M. Sosa seems somehow capable of pulling off any form or point of view. Any sentence might be as explosive, as tender, as breathless, as surprising as life. And there is so much life in this book. If nothing else, it is rare to find a novel as alive as this one. Sosa has arrived with a cannon shot.— Matthew Salesses, author of Craft in the Real World and The Sense of Wonder

Thanks for this amazing conversation, A.M.! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE. THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling humorist, poet, and essayist Kurt Luchs! (kurtluchs.com)

About our guest:

Kurt Luchs was born in Cheektowaga, New York, grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, and has lived and worked all over the United States, mostly in publishing and media. Currently he’s based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His first poetry publication came at age sixteen in the long-gone journal Epos, right next to a poem by Bukowski. He has also written comedy for television (Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn) and radio (American Comedy Network), as well as contributing humor to the New Yorker, the Onion and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others. He is author of the poetry collections Death Row Row Row Your Boat (Sagging Meniscus, 2024), Falling in the Direction of Up (SM, 2021), and the humor collection It’s Funny Until Someone Loses an Eye (Then It’s Really Funny) (SM, 2017). His poetry chapbooks include One of These Things Is Not Like the Other (Finishing Line Press 2019), and The Sound of One Hand Slapping (SurVision Press 2022). He won a 2022 Pushcart Prize, a 2021 James Tate Poetry Prize, the 2021 Eyelands Book Award for Short Stories, and the 2019 Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest. He is a Contributing Editor of Exacting Clam.

About TRIBUTARIES, now available from Sagging Meniscus Press!

https://www.saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/tributaries

In Tributaries, Kurt Luchs chooses twenty poems that hold vital meaning for him as a reader and writer—many, but not all, recognized as classics—and pays twofold tribute to them. First, he explores each poem with a deep-diving personal essay on how the poet works their magic upon us. Then he gives a tribute poem of his own, in response to, or inspired by, the poem under discussion. The result is a uniquely well-rounded, multidimensional way of honoring great poems, unlocking more of their treasures for both first-time and long-time lovers of poetry. Poets featured are Wallace Stevens, Robinson Jeffers, David Ignatow, Philip Larkin, D. H. Lawrence, Etheridge Knight, Wislawa Szymborska, Lucille Clifton, Gabriela Mistral, H. D., Jorge Luis Borges, Federico Garcia Lorca, Mary Oliver, Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Koch, Homer, Louise Glück, Robert Bly, Charles Simic and James Tate.

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Kurt! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE. THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Weekly shoutout: A new essay on HowlRound by theatermaker and friend of the show, Anne Mason!

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Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling author Monica Macansantos! (monicamacansantos.com)

About our guest: Monica Macansantos is a Filipino writer from Baguio, and is currently a Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellow with the Carson McCullers Center in Columbus, Georgia. She is the author of the essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2025), and the story collection, Love and Other Rituals (Grattan Street Press), 2022. She was a 2024-25 Shearing Fellow with the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, and her work has appeared in Colorado Review, The Hopkins Review, Bennington Review, River Styx, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and Katherine Mansfield and Children (Edinburgh University Press), among other places. She earned her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, and her PhD in Creative Writing from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Her work has been recognized as Notable in Best American Essays 2016 and 2021-2023.

RETURNING TO MY FATHER'S KITCHEN, now available from Northwestern University Press/Curbstone Books:

Purchase from Northwestern University Press: https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810148390/returning-to-my-fathers-kitchen/

From Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/returning-to-my-father-s-kitchen-essays-monica-macansantos/

Purchase from Book People in Austin, which sells signed copies of the book! https://bookpeople.com/book/9780810148390

Also from Monica, LOVE & OTHER RITUALS, a collection of stories: https://www.monicamacansantos.com/loveandotherritualsselectedstories.html

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Monica! All the best!

Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Weekly shoutout: Check out my friends at FunUsual Suspects!

Hi there,

Today I am delighted to be arts calling singer songwriter Josh Jensen! (https://linktr.ee/joshjensenmusic)

About our guest: Josh Jensen is a singer songwriter based in Seattle that once graced the Bellingham musio stages with his band Sweet Beets. Josh’s honeyed vocals and fingerstyle guitar accompany a wide range of what he dubs as PNW Americana stylings that make up his music. Josh recently released his album This Is Where We Landed’, which was pressed on PET records through Washingtones.

THIS IS WHERE WE LANDED, the new album now available through Washingtones Records! https://washingtonesrecords.myshopify.com/products/josh-jensen-this-is-where-we-landed-180g-lp-pre-sale

Listen to Eclectic Mementos EP on Bandcamp!

Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube Music

Instagram: @joshjensenmusic | Follow on Youtube

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Josh! All the best!

Josh Cover Image by @twicebaked.photo.

Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Hi there, Today I am delighted to be arts calling literary agent and author Jessica Berg! (https://www.rosecliffliterary.com)

About our guest: Jessica Berg is a literary agent, author, and the founder of Rosecliff Literary, where she champions bold, emotionally resonant fiction with unforgettable characters, strong stakes, and a sense of urgency. She is currently closed to fiction. She is especially drawn to upmarket, historical, and supernatural suspense, with a soft spot for haunting atmosphere, richly layered relationships, and characters who carry deep emotional wounds. Give her a protagonist standing at the edge of reinvention, a world on the brink of change, or a past that refuses to stay buried. She loves stories that explore grief, longing, ambition, and survival and the complicated ways they intersect. If your book feels like it belongs in a candlelit room with a storm raging outside, she wants to see it. She earned her MFA from Spalding University and contributes regularly to Writer’s Digest. Jessica serves on the boards of the Women’s National Book Association and the Historical Novel Society, and teaches nationally on querying, comp titles, and the business of authorship, with a focus on building sustainable, long-term writing careers. Her client list includes Vincent Zandri, Lisa Roe, Arizona Bell, and others Visit jessicaberg.me for more information.

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Jessica! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.

Much love,

j

artscalling.com

Hi there, we're back!

Today I am delighted to be arts calling Camille U. Adams once again! (https://www.camilleuadams.com/)

About our guest: CAMILLE U. ADAMS, Ph.D. was born and raised in beautiful Trinidad and Tobago. She is the author of the explosive memoir How To Be Unmothered: a Trinidadian memoir, finalist in the Restless Books Prize in New Immigrant Writing 2023. (https://linktr.ee/Camille_U_Adams)

Camille is a memoirist, a poet, and a nature writer. Camille has been awarded Best of The Net—nonfiction 2024. She has received five Pushcart Prize nominations and three Best of the Net nominations for her memoir writing. Camille’s work has also received recognition as a notable essay in Best American Essays 2022. Her writing has been long-listed in the Graywolf Creative nonfiction Prize 2022 and selected as a finalist for The 2021 Orison Anthology Award in Nonfiction. Her other honours include an awarded fellowship as an inaugural Tin House Reading Fellow, an inaugural Granta nature writing workshop fellowship, an inaugural Anaphora Arts Italy Writing Retreat Fellowship, a McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, a Community of Writers Fellowship, A VONA scholarship, and a Roots Wounds Words Fellowship. A Tin House Summer Workshop alum, Camille has served as a juried reader for Tin House for two consecutive years and as a moderator for two author panels. She has also received support from Kenyon Writers Workshop, Grubstreet, and others. In addition, Camille has been an associate CNF editor at Variant Lit and an assistant memoir editor at Split Lip Magazine and at The Account. She has long taught English and creative writing, emphasising the importance of strong craft, beautiful prose, and ugly truths. Having earned her MFA in Poetry from City College CUNY and her Ph.D. in Creative Nonfiction from FSU, Camille currently teaches creative writing and literature in New York City. She is at work on her second memoir.

Thanks for this amazing conversation, Camille! All the best!

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro.

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.

Much love,

j

artscalling.com