Deadline: 1 August 2012 (Autumn issue), 1 November 2012 (Winter issue)
There are many fantastic literary journals out there, looking specifically for submissions from women, feminists, gays/lesbians, Jewish, Christian, African-American, et al. In creating this online literary journal, we’re providing an outlet for AND by everyone: every age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious background. This journal will, in essence, celebrate and unify diversity.
Diverse Voices Quarterly is published as a PDF, available as a FREE download, as well as individual work pages. Unfortunately, we can’t pay, but what beats exposure?
Even though we welcome submissions from all ages and backgrounds, we publish work suitable for adults.
Poetry: 3-5 poems, 30 lines MAX (that is, one poem per page). Please send in one file, separated by a page break between poems. Rhyming poems are discouraged, but feel free to send if you think you’ll wow us with them.
Short stories: 3,000 words MAX. Or two short shorts that add up to 1,000 words.
Personal essays/creative nonfiction: 3,000 words MAX. Or two short essays that add up to 1,000 words.
–Simultaneous submissions are accepted but multiple submissions are not. Read about the difference between multiple and simultaneous submissions.
–We will not consider any material previously published; this also includes works published in other online journals or from any message board or blogs.
–While we will read submissions from everyone, the work MUST BE in English.
–Submissions for prose and poetry must come through our online submission manager. E-mail submissions for these genres will NOT be considered and will be deleted upon arrival.
Almost two hundred thousand years ago, Homo Sapiens fought a war against the Homo Helmei for the coastal passages out of Africa. Although modern man won, the deadly virus that had infected the Homo Helmei infected the early migrants. The disease lay dormant in their DNA until the year 2012. Every descendant of those migrants, from India to China to the United States has been infected. All will die.
The only survivors are the children of the Africans who did not migrate, whose DNA did not contain the virus. There is no test, no method of determining who will live and who will die to rise again as the living dead. If you are dark skinned, there is hope.
If not, you have 24 hours to live.
The Truth:
There are tons of zombie stories out there. Most of them create a lame back story and dive right into the killing and slaughter. I decided if I was going to do my own version, it had to be done differently. Using the retroviruses and genetic differences between the racial groups on Earth, I had a basis for an idea.
It is important to tell stories that have cultural relevance, that touch upon issues of the day and explore themes we may not be comfortable talking about. Such as race issues.
The comic industry has a lack of characters of color. It is primarily a white industry run by white people creating books about white characters. At the very least I wanted to create a property with an all black cast. One that didn't have anything to do with sports or crime.
The Liberator Magazine is seeking rigorous pieces that are or are about art, culture, education, or politics for our forthcoming volume, "THE LAST GENERATION OF BLACK PEOPLE". This broad-themed issue will also mark a makeover for the magazine: paper stock, binding, et cetera. We look forward to reviewing Drafts and Portfolios that are submitted on or before our deadline of July 21, 2012.
"Let us mix the long memories of a people destroyed with new narratives of our own making, as we move into space of our own choosing, as we dream in images woven from our people’s best desires, as we plan on designs drawn from our own reflection, then make again the universe that might have been but was not, here in this place, now in this time freed for our new creation."
-Ayi Kwei Armah, "KMT: In the House of Life"
"Your teachers/ Are all around you./ All that you perceive,/ All that you experience,/ All that is given to you/ Or taken from you,/ All that you love or hate,/ Need or fear/ Will Teach you—/ If you will learn..."
An epic portrait of the eloquent, award-winning Black, lesbian, poet, mother, teacher and activist, Audre Lorde, whose writings - spanning five decades - articulated some of the most important social and political visions of the century. From Lorde’s childhood roots in NYC’s Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work that embodied the connections between the Civil Rights movement, the Women’s movement, and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights. At the heart of this documentary is Lorde’s own challenge to “envision what has not been and work with every fiber of who we are to make the reality and pursuit of that vision irresistible.”
Reviews
“An inspirational testimony and powerful portrait of a remarkable woman who continues to inspire a whole new generation of women today.” - Noelle Reilly, QFest, 2009
July 2nd, 2012
Ng’endo Mukii tackles a relevant and sensitive topic of skin bleaching. This film searches a modern take of Ng’endo’s documentation of the topic with observations from her niece, her own perceptions and experiences and some history that uncovers the depth of this parallel thought.
These honest conversations and earnest thoughtfulness and writing makes this film such great insight into this issue.
Ng’endo is a film & animation student who just graduated from a master’s program at RCA (Royal College of Art) in London.
I am interested in the concept of skin and race, and what they imply; in the ideas and theories sown into our flesh that change with the arc of time. I believe skin and the body, are often distorted into a topographical division between reality and illusion. The idea of beauty has become globalised, creating homogenous aspirations, and distorting people’s self-image across the planet. In my film, I focus on African women’s self-image, through memories and interviews; using mixed media to describe this almost schizophrenic self-visualization that I and many others have grown up with.
Like many other parts of the world, Africa is no stranger to European standards of beauty. The practice of skin lightening is becoming rampant in many African countries as some folks go to drastic lengths to shed their dark complexions for lighter, “more acceptable” ones. And from advertising and magazines, to TV and film, the black aesthetics are being pushed out, while European standards of beauty — blonde hair, blue eyes — are becoming more mainstream.
“It seems that the world is conspiring in preaching that there is something wrong with Kenyan ladies’ kinky hair and dark skin,” Kenyan model Ajuma Nasenyana told the Daily Nation.
Nasenyana wonders why European skincare companies that push lightening creams are entering Kenya marketing the European standard of beauty.
“Their leaflets are all about skin lightening, and they seem to be doing good business in Kenya. It just shocks me. It’s not OK for a Caucasian to tell us to lighten our skin,” she said.
Despite her beauty and that of women like her, Nasenyana is dismayed that while she is heralded abroad for her dark skin, at home she is seen as less than ideal.
“I have never attempted to change my skin. I am natural. People in Europe and America love my dark skin. But here in Kenya, in my home country, some consider it not attractive,” she lamented.
Instead of simply being disgusted with the growing contempt some have for their own skin, Nasenyana takes every opportunity she has to speak out against skin lightening and discrimination in the modeling world. She is also very critical of the Western media’s influence over Kenyans and concedes they are constantly being bombarded by magazines and advertisements that praise lighter skin.
“When you flip through fashion magazines like Vogue and only see white models, then you get the feeling on what is happening to black models. It is not fair,” she explained.
But Nasenyana, who has modeled for everyone from Victoria Secret to Carlos Mienes, isn’t just speaking out. The reining South African Fashion Week Model of the Year is also thinking of launching a line of cosmetics and natural skincare products for black women. Her hopes? That her products can inspire her peers to love their skin instead of bleach it.
The 16-year-old with the spectacular uneven bars routine and personality to spare beat Jordyn Wieber for the first time Sunday night, winning the Olympic trials and the lone guaranteed spot for the London Games.
"Everyone was telling me you have this great potential and you can be on top," Douglas said. "I didn't believe that, but everyone was just telling me to believe in myself. I did and I'm kind of up on top and it's amazing."
The only thing more amazing would be to end up on top in London, the rest of her teammates beside her.
Led by the 1-2 punch of Douglas and Wieber, this will be the strongest team the Americans have had since 1996, one that will be not just favored but expected to bring home only the second Olympic team gold. McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman, who were with Douglas and Wieber on the U.S. team that won the title at last fall's world championships, also made the team, as did Kyla Ross.
Maroney is the world vault champion. Ross, not old enough to be on last year's world team, is a two-time US champion.
"I guarantee one thing: The truth is going to come out on the Olympic Games," said Bela Karolyi, whose wife, Martha, is the national team coordinator. "And the truth is that we are solidly the first place team. There's no question about that."
One gymnast who won't be in London, at least not as a competitor, is Olympic champion Nastia Liukin.
Liukin announced her comeback last October, hoping to become the first reigning Olympic champion to return to the games since Nadia Comaneci in 1980. But desire and grit are no match for shoulder problems and a three-year layoff, and Liukin's glittering career sputtered to an end. She fell on uneven bars, her signature event, when her fingertips could only brush the bar after a release move, and needed to take a step back after landing her dismount on the edge of the mat.
The crowd gave her a standing ovation, and she regrouped with a nice balance beam routine. As she walked off the podium, her father and coach, Valeri, greeted her with a kiss and fans began to stand.
Tears filled Liukin's eyes as she waved and said goodbye, to the crowd, her comeback and a career that includes five Olympic medals and four world titles.
"Of course I wanted to go out and put two good performances out there and end my career that way, so it's a little upsetting," Liukin said. "Today is something that I'll remember for the rest of my life. It can easily compare to winning the all-around gold medal to me. Those are pretty much the two highlights of my career ... winning an all-around gold medal and getting a standing ovation not once but twice."
Besides, Liukin leaves knowing the Americans are in great hands.
Wieber has been considered the favorite for Olympic gold since winning the world title last fall, her biggest competition expected to come from Russians Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova.
Turns out, her real rival was right here at home.
Determined to make the Olympics, Douglas left her hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., two years ago to train with Shawn Johnson's coach, Liang Chow, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Douglas served notice of her potential at this year's American Cup, where she actually beat Wieber, though her scores didn't count because she was competing as an alternate. Douglas came up just short at nationals, and again the first night of trials.
On Sunday night, however, Douglas would not be denied again.
Needing to score a 15.25 or better to pass Wieber, Douglas put on a show worthy of Vegas on the floor exercise. Basketball players would be envious of the hops she gets on her tumbling runs, yet she lands them with such security there's got to be some glue somewhere on those feet. She had the crowd rocking and rolling to her techno music, and she wore a grin so bright it could have powered the arena had the lights gone out.
When she finished, Chow greeted her with a bear hug. And that was before they saw her score: a 15.3 that gave her a total of 123.45, just enough to hold off Wieber.
"Winning or not winning at this meet is really secondary," Chow said. "Clearly we saw here that her mental strength and gymnastics strength is coming along."
Only the trials winner was guaranteed a spot in London, and it was clear from the start that Douglas was going to give Wieber a heck of a fight.
She opened with a massive vault, soaring high above the table with her legs pencil-straight and body tightly coiled, and she needed only a small hop to the side to steady herself on her landing. She broke into a big grin as she thrust her hands in the air, and she trotted off the podium with her fists still raised. Her score of 16 — including a huge 9.5 for execution — moved her into first place, a spot she never relinquished.
She extended the lead on uneven bars, her signature event. Douglas is so light and quick as she flies between the bars that Martha Karolyi has dubbed her the "Flying Squirrel," and she gets such great height on her release moves she could have dusted off the Jumbotron. But it is her grace that makes her stand out, looking like a ballerina in a jewelry box as she pirouetted on the high bar. There's some hard-core steel beneath that pretty package, however. On one transition, Douglas' hand seemed to slip on the bar, something that would have made most gymnasts go flying. But she kept right on going, never even hesitating.
When she landed her dismount, the arena responded with a roar that was probably heard in San Francisco. Her score of 15.9 gave her a 1.35-point lead over Wieber with two events left.
But balance beam has been giving Douglas problems all month — a fall the second day of the US championships cost her the title — and Sunday night was no different. She had to windmill her arms to stay upright after a series of back handsprings, and she rocked and swayed for another several seconds after a back somersault. Her score of 14.85 was her lowest of the two-day trials, and cut her lead to 0.6 going into the final rotation — leaving plenty of room for Wieber, who finished on vault, the highest-scoring event.
Wieber didn't get her normal height on vault, however, and landed low, needing to take a step back to steady herself. A minor error, for sure, but every tenth counts when the Olympics are on the line.
"My ultimate goal was definitely to make the team, but I'm a little disappointed", with my performance, Wieber said. "I definitely think it's going to give me more motivation."
• July 2, 1908 Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Marshall earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lincoln University in 1930 and his Bachelor of Laws degree from Howard University School of Law in 1933. In 1934, he began working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He won his first major civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson, in 1936 and his first case before the Supreme Court, Chambers v. Florida, in 1940. In total, Marshall won 29 of 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court. His most famous case was the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in which the court ruled that “separate, but equal” public education could never be truly equal. Marshall was the 1946 recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Medal. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and in 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court. Marshall served on the Supreme Court for 24 years, retiring in 1991. Marshall died January 24, 1993 and there are numerous memorials to him around the country, including the main office building of the federal court system which is named in his honor and has a statue of him in the atrium. In 1976, Texas Southern University named their law school after him and in 1980 the University of Maryland opened the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. Marshall received the Liberty Medal in 1992 in recognition of his long history of protecting individual rights under the Constitution and in 1993 was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President William Clinton. Biographies of Marshall include “Thurgood Marshall: American Revoulutionary” (1998) and “Thurgood Marshall” (2002). Marshall’s name is enshrined in the Ring of Genealogy at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.
Willie Dixon is the man who changed the style of the blues. As a songwriter and producer, the man was a genius. If you wanted a hit song, you went to Willie Dixon. Played it like he said play it, and sing it like he said sing it, and you damn near always had a hit. Willie Dixon taught bass players how to rock 'n' roll. Listen to him on Chuck Berry's Chess recordings of "Rock and Roll Music,''and "Reelin' and Rockin''. He took big band music and Mississippi blues and melded them into something new, opening the door for Motown and others to walk in and take it even further. Features 8 super tracks, biography, image gallery and much more!
WILLIE DIXON
• July 1, 1915 William James “Willie” Dixon, blues musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Dixon was first introduced to the blues as a teenager while serving time on Mississippi prison farms. In 1936, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and took up boxing and won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship. After four professional fights, Dixon quit boxing to pursue music. During World War II, he was imprisoned for ten months for resisting the draft as a conscientious objector. By 1951, he was an employee of Chess Records where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician, and songwriter. From the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, Dixon ran his own record label. Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues, working with Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Bo Didley, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, and others. In his later years, Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and founded the Blues Heaven Foundation to preserve the blue’s legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Dixon was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and in 1989 he won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Recording for his album “Hidden Charms.” Dixon died January 29, 1992 and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Dixon published his autobiography, “I Am the Blues: The Willie Dixon Story,” in 1990.
• July 1, 1899 Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the father of gospel music, was born in Villa Rica, Georgia. Dorsey learned to play piano as a young man and in the 1920s was known for playing the blues. He is credited with composing more than 400 blues and jazz songs, including the 1928 hit “Tight Like That” which sold seven million copies. Dorsey began recording gospel music in the mid-1920s and became the music leader of two churches in the early 1930s. In 1932, he wrote his most famous song, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” and in 1937 he wrote “Peace in the Valley.” Dorsey was the first African American elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979 and in 1982 was inducted into the Gospel Music Association’s Living Hall of Fame. Dorsey died January 23, 1993 and was posthumously inducted into the Gennett Record Walk of Fame in 2007. “The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church” was published in 1992.
