Hi everyone. Hope you're doing well and resting on this MLK Jr Day.

I'm continuing echolalia echolalia by Jane Shi. If you haven't bought it yet, please consider placing your order here at Open Books: A Poem Emporium. W4G-tagged books on the Open Poetry bookstore send proceeds to The Sameer Project, one of the only organizations still on the ground in Gaza, and struggling to continue to meet the needs of Palestinians.

If you can't buy from the bookstore, please consider making a donation directly to one of the Sameer Project's campaigns, or consider sharing a fundraiser with friends. If you can't do any of that, consider sharing the reading group with some friends; if some of them can buy the book from Open Books, or even make direct donations to The Sameer Project, then that would help enormously.

my reading plan

I'm reading the pieces from "griefcase" this week.

I'm also going to read this piece by Sarah Aziza for Literary Hub: "Words as Borders, Weapons, Traps: Sarah Aziza on Being a Palestinian Writer Today".

I'll try to post some reflections later this week, and on Saturday at 12pm ET we'll get on video chat¹ and talk about whatever pieces we've all read.

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useful info

Here's some stuff I mostly also said last week, but didn't want to delete it in case this is your first email from me. Maybe the regular reminders will also be helpful.

a reminder about reading pace

I don't expect people to read at the same pace as me. Some pieces will stick with you longer; others might bounce right off. Some weeks, you'll be too overwhelmed by the world to do any readings; other weeks, reading will be a welcome escape.

Do what you can to try to keep your head above water. I'm trying not to require people to read everything at the same pace. Just tell the group what you have read so we have some context.

(my) schedule

here's my reading plan for now:

I think that's everything for now. I'll have some reflections to share later this week, and we can chat on Saturday (or on signal). If you have any questions, comments, future book suggestions, or anything else, please let me know.

Please take care of one another; hopefully we'll talk on Saturday.