My___on Mondays

Episode 18: My Frankenstein Monster Part I by Samantha Silva

Idaho author and screenwriter, Samantha Silva's debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was published by Flatiron Books in 2017, followed by Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft in May of 2021. Her essays appear on LitHub, and her short story, “Leo in Venice,” was the September 2019 issue of One Story. She is currently working with Seattle Repertory Theater to adapt Mr. Dickens and His Carol for the stage, and was a 2020 Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow. 

You can learn more about Samantha and her work at: https://www.samanthasilvawriter.com/

Episode 17: My Small Moment of Clarity and Release by Zach Herbert (St. Terrible)

Zach Herbert is a Boise based musician and performance artist who has been creating under the moniker of "St. Terrible" for the past 10 years. With work that tends to be existentially charged and skewing towards the rougher edges of the human experience, Herbert has created a wide array of works ranging from immersive dance pieces to short music films. For this piece, the aim was to create something small and soft, a brief meditative moment of relief from the intense anxiety and feelings of detachment Herbert had been experiencing around the time of its creation.

 

View Zach Herbert's most recent project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk55qgIDAq0

 

Episode 16: My Salamuna by Huma Aatifi

Huma Aatifi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and came to the US in 2002. She is a painter and heads the musical project, Unda Fluxit. Her piece is titled “My Salamuna”, which comes from “Salam”, a Muslim greeting. In it, Aatifi takes the listener on a meandering tour through various aspects of her life, welcoming us to her inner world.

 

Read an interview with Huma here: https://razorcake.org/huma-aatifi-interview-by-ryan-leach/

 

Purchase Unda Fluxit's album here: https://www.spacecaserecords.com/spacecase-releases/unda-fluxit-master-of-the-house

Episode 15: My Book Songs by J.R. Rivero Kinsey

J.R. Rivero Kinsey is a writer of both music and prose, based in the mountains of Idaho. Today's selection, titled “My Book Songs” comes from the second album of her solo music project called Palankeen. It features three songs. The first, titled “Slender” is a re-telling of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure in seven verses. The second, “Baruch in the Northern Lights”, is based on two characters from the series, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. She ends with a song called “The Good Counselor”, which focuses on the story of Persephone in the Underworld and features an excerpt from The Odyssey.

To learn more about J.R. and her work, visit: https://jrrkinsey.com/

Episode 14: My Harmonium by Jesse Blake Rundle

Jesse Blake Rundle is a songwriter and poet, originally from Kansas and currently living in Boise, Idaho. He released his debut, Radishes and Flowers in April 2020.

To learn more about Jesse and his work, visit: https://www.jesseblakerundle.com/

 

Episode 13: My Not Bog by Teal Gardner

Teal Gardner (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Boise, ID, where she has resided since 2016. Read more about her work at bodiesofthemesh.cargo.site.

This recording explores the slippages among ecosystems, the human self, and the ruins produced by extraction. It features a sound experiment that replicates Alivn Lucier's 1969 "I Am Sitting in a Room."

Special thanks goes to Hartford University's Nomad MFA Cohort C6 (Seasick) for the company and collaboration in the artist's exploration of Crystal Peat. And a thank you to the professors Christy Gast and Camila Marambio and their project Ensayos, where you can learn so much more about Peatlands:  https://ensayostierradelfuego.net

For more information on Peatland conservation, see http://www.globalpeatlands.org/.

Episode 12: My 2011 by CL Young

CL Young is the author of a chapbook called What Is Revealed When I Reveal It to You (dancing girl press, 2018), and co-author with Emily Skillings of Rose of No Man's Land, a chaplet from Belladonna* Collaborative. Her poems have appeared in Lana Turner, Poetry Northwest, The Volta, and elsewhere, and essays can be found at Entropy and The Scofield. She  holds an MFA from Colorado State University and currently lives in  Boise, Idaho, where she facilitates an ongoing project called Sema, currently a podcast on loss, grief, healing, and death.

To learn more, visit: http://clyoung.info/

Episode 11: My Dirty Fingernails by Heidi Kraay

Boise playwright, writer and theatre maker, Heidi Kraay, examines the connection between brain and body, seeking empathy with fractured characters. Her work, which has been published and performed both locally and internationally, pulls myth, metaphor and monsters together to attempt connections across difference. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Dramatic Writing and Design from Boise State University, and an MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies. She is an adjunct professor through the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing at Boise State University, and a teaching artist through The Cabin Literary Center.

To learn more about Heidi and her work, visit: http://www.heidikraay.com/

Episode 10: My Vigil by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

Daniel Drennan ElAwar is an artist, writer and activist. Born in Lebanon and adopted at two months, he grew up in Iran, Australia, and finally the United States, with four years lived in France. In 2004 he returned to Lebanon, where he lived and worked for 12 years. In 2016 he returned to the United States, and currently works as a professor of illustration in Canada.

To learn more about Daniel and his work, visit https://danielibnzayd.wordpress.com/

Episode 9: My Mondays in Sarajevo by Dzevad Vrabac

Dzevad Vrabac is a poet, born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslavia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Boise State University and an MFA from Saint Mary's College of California. Dzevad has lived and worked in Boise, Idaho since 1998 and enjoys reading, writing, plucking his guitar, walking, and visiting with friends.

*Poetry, music and sounds by Dzevad Vrabac, sound editing by Goran Fazil.