Send Jordan to Tin House!
Donation protected
Hello friends!
Welcome to the gofundme to send dear poet Jordan Nakamura to the Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop!
I'm Jeremy, a member of The Best Poetry Salon, a Los Angeles writer's workshop. Together with my fellow poets, we're on a mission to send Jordan to green & lovely Portland, Oregon for a refreshing week of poetry and friendship and gentle partying.
Who is Jordan Nakamura?
Besides being a genuinely kind, caring, gentle, and deeply conscious human being, Jordan Nakamura is a poet and elementary school teacher living and working in South Central, Los Angeles. He recently completed an MFA in Poetry from Antioch University and his work, reviews, interviews and articles can be found in The Adroit Journal, Zocalo Public Square, Lunch Ticket, and The Curator.
What is the Tin House Summer Workshop?
"The Tin House Summer Workshop is a weeklong intensive of workshops, seminars, panels, and readings led by prominent contemporary writers. The program combines morning workshops with afternoon seminars and career panels. Evenings are reserved for author readings, singing, and dancing."
--from the Tin House website, https://tinhouse.com/workshop/summer-workshop/
The Tin House Workshop is the first workshop into which Jordan has ever been accepted. It's a big deal! There he would have the opportunity to have his work reviewed by rockstar poets Hanif Abdurraqib, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Solmaz Sharif.
The cost, at $2,000.00, is high, but we are determined that having been accepted, he must attend. It would be heartbreaking he should not be able to benefit from this opportunity to grow as an artist because capitalism.
Jordan is a remarkably talented and thoughtful poet, his clear eye focused on longing, justice, and the interplay between desire and the divine. His work is daring, energetic, lyric. Here's an excerpt:
"THE ONLY ROLE I WANT
Why would I want an Asian Hamilton?
Apparently we have one now
and I can “see myself,” finally, in a slave-trading elitist
who made a bank to pay back war debts.
He played with guns and died in a duel. A man
led to believe he couldn’t die. The bank spawned Wall Street
which refuses to die. Hamilton left out indigenous voices
in its retelling. An Asian plays him now. This is called
a diversity win. I imagine dying all the time— some of it real,
some of it mine. My mind holds a diversity of graves.
To win is the outcome of a game.
There’s a game called How Many Awful White Men
Will I Get To Be? White men always win,
but it keeps getting played. To die is the outcome of life.
My mother says life’s not a game."
--Jordan Nakamura
We realize this is financially a difficult time for everyone--but we're confident that our community can come together and make this wonderful thing happen. We're looking to raise the money by the end of May. As per Jordan's wishes, any extra funds will be donated to KTownForAll, a grassroots organization he volunteers for which does justice, advocacy, and outreach work with members of Los Angeles' unhoused community and other community justice rights issues.
We would be so grateful if you'd consider donating to our dear friend. Thank you!
--The Best Poetry Salon
Welcome to the gofundme to send dear poet Jordan Nakamura to the Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop!
I'm Jeremy, a member of The Best Poetry Salon, a Los Angeles writer's workshop. Together with my fellow poets, we're on a mission to send Jordan to green & lovely Portland, Oregon for a refreshing week of poetry and friendship and gentle partying.
Who is Jordan Nakamura?
Besides being a genuinely kind, caring, gentle, and deeply conscious human being, Jordan Nakamura is a poet and elementary school teacher living and working in South Central, Los Angeles. He recently completed an MFA in Poetry from Antioch University and his work, reviews, interviews and articles can be found in The Adroit Journal, Zocalo Public Square, Lunch Ticket, and The Curator.
What is the Tin House Summer Workshop?
"The Tin House Summer Workshop is a weeklong intensive of workshops, seminars, panels, and readings led by prominent contemporary writers. The program combines morning workshops with afternoon seminars and career panels. Evenings are reserved for author readings, singing, and dancing."
--from the Tin House website, https://tinhouse.com/workshop/summer-workshop/
The Tin House Workshop is the first workshop into which Jordan has ever been accepted. It's a big deal! There he would have the opportunity to have his work reviewed by rockstar poets Hanif Abdurraqib, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Solmaz Sharif.
The cost, at $2,000.00, is high, but we are determined that having been accepted, he must attend. It would be heartbreaking he should not be able to benefit from this opportunity to grow as an artist because capitalism.
Jordan is a remarkably talented and thoughtful poet, his clear eye focused on longing, justice, and the interplay between desire and the divine. His work is daring, energetic, lyric. Here's an excerpt:
"THE ONLY ROLE I WANT
Why would I want an Asian Hamilton?
Apparently we have one now
and I can “see myself,” finally, in a slave-trading elitist
who made a bank to pay back war debts.
He played with guns and died in a duel. A man
led to believe he couldn’t die. The bank spawned Wall Street
which refuses to die. Hamilton left out indigenous voices
in its retelling. An Asian plays him now. This is called
a diversity win. I imagine dying all the time— some of it real,
some of it mine. My mind holds a diversity of graves.
To win is the outcome of a game.
There’s a game called How Many Awful White Men
Will I Get To Be? White men always win,
but it keeps getting played. To die is the outcome of life.
My mother says life’s not a game."
--Jordan Nakamura
We realize this is financially a difficult time for everyone--but we're confident that our community can come together and make this wonderful thing happen. We're looking to raise the money by the end of May. As per Jordan's wishes, any extra funds will be donated to KTownForAll, a grassroots organization he volunteers for which does justice, advocacy, and outreach work with members of Los Angeles' unhoused community and other community justice rights issues.
We would be so grateful if you'd consider donating to our dear friend. Thank you!
--The Best Poetry Salon
Organizer and beneficiary
Jeremy Radin
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Jordan Nakamura
Beneficiary