- ZenTee
FOR US AT Kindred, there are few things that leave us more vulnerable, and more empowered, than when we share our stories, and this issue is no different. We step into the light and bathe in the darkness. We are raw and whole and broken just as we were meant to be. We create, we fail, we make new friends, and we celebrate our heroes. We explore how our hearts have longed for something we think we can’t have but soon realize we have had it all along. We bleed, cry, flee, and dig in our heels to stand our ground. We define bravery and then re-define it for ourselves again and again.
In this issue, we are honored to highlight the winners of the first ever Bangkok Refugee Young Writers Contest (BRYWC). Founder and Director of the BRYWC, Lace Fang, started this contest as a way to engage refugee and asylum seeking youth in her community and create a platform to share their unique voices. To enter, participants were filtered into three age groups, 10-13, 14-17, and 18-21 and were asked to submit an essay with the prompt, “Your Personal Hero.” The turnout was incredible, and best of all the participants formed new friendships along the way. It was a privilege to read these powerful stories written by young people who come from diverse backgrounds yet share an undeniable bond through their experiences currently living in Thailand. To learn more about this project, please visit (and like!) their Facebook page.
Contributors include: Essays by Stephanie Platter, Marissa Niranjan, J.M. Roddy, Allanah Raas-Bergquist, Vanessa Payne, Jacqueline Viola Moulton, BRYWC Winners Sharon K., Sarah Ruth, Aqib Ahmad, and Yashap William, along with poetry by Becca Lavin and Sarah McArthur.
ROSHNI from ZenTee is our featured artist for this issue. Roshni
loves expressing herself through art, and she especially enjoys Zentangling as it seamlessly lets her integrate creative, focused patterns with her traditional Indian culture. The entire process is extremely therapeutic and has kept her sane the past few years being a student at UC Berkeley. Roshni says there’s really nothing like listening to Beyoncé while Zentangling to her heart’s content. In fact, the music she listens to truly weaves itself into her designs—edgy, bold splashes of color rooted in culture and history and beautiful, intricate details that make her simple forms come to life! ZenTee welcomes any enquiries and design ideas, so please feel free to contact them via their website! They also donate a portion of all profits to the Berkeley Free Clinic, aimed at providing accessible healthcare to the community it serves.
https://getzenteemental.com/
insta: @getzenteemental
Brave enough to break it open
In the past two months, I have lost my home, my possessions, my job, and my church. I’m not a natural disaster victim. I didn’t do anything wrong. My partner didn’t leave me or die. All of these losses were voluntary. I lost them in order to gain something far more precious: my health. Allow…
People are presents
It was a calm afternoon, when suddenly someone knocked on our door. My younger brother immediately got up and opened the door, thinking that some friends came to visit us. But instead, one unknown man stood there, wearing black jeans and a white T-shirt. We all were looking at him, wondering whether we have ever…
You’re braver than you believe
Piglet and I have something in common. More than our affinity for red scarves and the fact that I often turn his shade of pink this time of year. Piglet and I are often afraid. “Oh d-d-d-dear!” I believe I was almost 25 when I first realized that fear had far too much say in…
Poetry of the body (performed)
COURAGE AS A FRAGMENT and THE FRAGMENT AS COURAGE (Faith in the fracture – the bravery of ignoring a/the whole) A Performance* of Cowardice (those elusive fragments of bravery) in poetry and of running hard. *Poetry is already a performance of the labor of words and so to add the body to it we have,…
This week, I found my voice
The thing about catalysts is that they aren’t necessarily loud or obvious or explosive or expected. They can arise out of a variety of places and they can change your life without warning or care for your needs. A catalyst causes reaction. It is the mixture of two disparate objects or notions never likely on…
Your own brave life
You are the hero of your own BRAVE life. You may think you have failed. But no. Your supposed failures are, in truth, the little horrors you subject yourself to in order to see more clearly, the heroic failures of others and of yourself, so that you may be able to accept them graciously for…
.This is my blood too.
After I broke the vaseAnd the candle in it too My sister said,“This isn’t like you.” But isn’t it?Isn’t this me too?This unpleasant sideThat grabs for any object it can throw. Isn’t this me too?Furious.Shattering my lungsWith high-pitched screams And shallow hums. Isn’t this me too?The broken glass on the carpet that…
To the Bibi that I love
She looked after me when I could not look after myself. She was capable to understand the struggles that I was facing without me saying a word. She was never afraid to lend a hand to anyone in need. She was never afraid to stand up for what is right. She put others’ needs before…
Heart explosion
For as long as I can remember, I have deeply desired to become a mama. I was never fearful of those first few days with a baby, but I was afraid of how I would get there… When I was 15 years old, my cycle stopped, so my mom took me to the doctor. A…
For the rest of right now
You are so brave. You are so brave. You are so brave. You are so brave. I have whispered these words more times over the course of the past week than I have in my entire lifetime, and I am a birth doula, so that is saying a lot. In fact, I heard them so…
My mom, my hero
I am seventeen years old. I am a Pakistani Asylum Seeker. My personal hero is my mother! My mother’s name is Josephine William. She has been my hero since my childhood because she is an extraordinary woman. What makes her extraordinary is, how she smiles, talks, cares, inspires, helps, and positively reacts to her surroundings.…
The hero of my life
A hero is someone who helps people, saves their lives, and risks his life for others. A hero is a person who cares and loves others. Just like Superman, Spiderman, etc. My grandfather, Mushtaq Ahmad, is my inspiration, my hero. Although he died on 27 March 2016, I look at him as my hero, mentor, and m
Kindred 