Atena O. Danner
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atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Atena O. Danner
@atenaoyadi.bsky.social
4.1K followers 310 following 520 posts
Poet and cultural worker for justice and Black liberation/collective liberation

Atena’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=17480755&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

Blog: https://blog.atenadannercreative.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/atenadanner
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atenaoyadi.bsky.social
It’s the semi-annual Changing of the Journal! Sticker placement is VERY IMPORTANT!

Excited to do my first task list and morning pages in this fresh A5!

Have the best Monday you can, y’all!
Picture of my messy table where I’m putting cute homemade stickers (otter with coffee, purple Iris, etc.) onto my New peach color journal. There’s lots of discarded paper peeled off of the stickers next to my custom-made mug full of tea. There’s a turquoise blue fountain pen And the edge of my previous journal visible on the right hand side. And see two fingers my left hand, one with a purple Iris sticker and one with a manicure nail: cobalt-blue-to-pale turquoise ombre, with a thin strip of gold at the tip.
November 10, 2025 at 5:29 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
I wrote the letter I wish had been there for me when my kiddos were littles, when I was a newly single mom, and all the times I have been haunted by Not Enoughness. I hope someone who needs it finds it and then reads this while book which is full letters that we need at different times of life.
Four author headshots, enclosed in circles with a yellow background, set in a broader background of deep cobalt blue, from top-left to bottom-right: Kelly Hayes, Shane Burley, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasimha, Atena O. Danner. The title of their book is in yellow capital letters above their images: ‘READ THIS WHEN THINGS FALL APART.
October 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
I love having a book available in public libraries! A friend saw Incantations for Rest on the poetry features page of the Antioch Public Library in Antioch, IL.

Want to keep up with poetry #InThisEconomy? Utilize public libraries! And if they don’t have the books you want, you can request them.
Screenshot of the poetry landing page on the Antioch Public Library website; the cover of Atena’s book Incantations for Rest is visible in a line of featured books.
August 4, 2025 at 12:23 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
HAPPY MAMAS DAY!!!!!

Brick by brick!
Wall by wall!
Close the prisons!
Free them all!

Video: A pole with long, shiny, pastel colors ribbons blow in the wind on the parkway among the trees in front of Cook County jail in Chicago.
May 10, 2025 at 10:15 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
HAPPY MAMAS DAY!!!!!

Brick by brick!
Wall by wall!
Close the prisons!
Free them all!

Video: A pole with long, shiny, pastel colors ribbons blow in the wind on the parkway among the trees in front of Cook County jail in Chicago.
May 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
HAPPY MAMAS DAY!!!!!

Brick by brick!
Wall by wall!
Close the prisons!
Free them all!

Video: A pole with long, shiny, pastel colors ribbons blow in the wind on the parkway among the trees in front of Cook County jail in Chicago.
May 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Talking all day about intelligent racial learning with health care providers. Good times!
Conference swag tote back with a blue strap, sitting on a grey chair, with papers sticking out of the top; there are 2 overlapping right pink and blue speech bubbles, underneath the words read ‘embrace race; raising a brave generation. Together.
May 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Happy May Day! May your marches be safe and dry and your Beltane frolics be joyous!
Selfies of Atena in a purple hoodie over a red v-neck t-shirt with the words ‘STRONGER TOGETHER!’ - the letter ‘O’ in stronger is a gear with a hammer through it; In white letters and in smaller letters beneath it says ‘DePaul University Labor Education Center.’ Atena is wearing clear purple glasses, dangly beaded watermelon earrings and a pale blue kn95 mask.
May 1, 2025 at 4:18 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Happy May Day! May your marches be safe and dry and your Beltane frolics be joyous!
Selfies of Atena in a purple hoodie over a red v-neck t-shirt with the words ‘STRONGER TOGETHER!’ - the letter ‘O’ in stronger is a gear with a hammer through it; In white letters and in smaller letters beneath it says ‘DePaul University Labor Education Center.’ Atena is wearing clear purple glasses, dangly beaded watermelon earrings and a pale blue kn95 mask.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Good morning, y’all! Happy Friday! 😘
Close-up selfie of Atena, wearing purple glasses, red lipstick, a black-and-white beaded necklace, long beaded watermelon earrings, and you can see the shoulder of a black, brown and white sweater. She is smiling in front of a tall, pink and white magnolia tree in full bloom. Green grass and cloudy blue sky can be seen in the background.
April 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Resplendent magnolia tree with pink and white blossoms against a cloudy blue sky, with green grass underneath and in the background.
April 23, 2025 at 2:24 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
#ScamTexts

Has anyone ever offered you a job with benefits via text, sans interview, from an Outlook email address that doesn’t even have a name attached to it? Nuh-uh.

Scammer no scamming! 🦊
Screenshot of a scam text, supposedly from “Darlene”, from Indeed (no last name), describing a full time remote job with benefits that I never applied for. Probably written by AI.
April 14, 2025 at 3:33 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Good morning, everyone! Let’s start the day on a high note. #HotMusic #BackInTheDay
Screenshot of image from Spotify of the roots “the roots come alive” album cover: a square image of a microphone on a mic stand centered vertically in front of out of focus image of an auditorium lit with glowing lights. In the upper left-hand corner of the label reads alive, all access”
April 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
LA, #AWP25– it’s been gorgeous. Blowing a million kisses to all my lovely workshop and retreat folks I was blessed to hug and share the same rare air with this week! Thanks for for buying these books so I could replace them with other, equally heavy books! XTRA ❤️💖🙏🏿 to Mahtem & Anaphora Arts!
Yellow, diamond-shaped ‘THRU TRAFFIC MERGE LEFT’ traffic sign, covered with about 20 stickers; there’s a beige-colored wall in the background with a cloudy blue sky above. Selfie of Atena with 3 brilliant Black woman writers, , smiling at the camera; AWP25 conference badges can be seen on Atena and the woman to her right. There is a sunny atrium with high windows in the background. Selfie of Atena with the top half of her face visible, wearing a red mask, beige kuffiyah, and purple glasses, long locs held back with white noise-cancelling headphones. In the background a large ‘Heart-LA’ display, appr. 6 feet tall; the heart is a red, valentine-shaped structure. Escalators, large digital displays, and partition dividers can be seen in the atrium in the background. Close-up selfie of Atena and her Anaphora writing cohort friend who is holding a copy of Atena’s book, ‘Incantations for Rest.’ Both are gorgeous black women with locs and clear glasses, smiling at the camera. Plants and the outside of a building are in the background.
March 29, 2025 at 11:36 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
My day at #AWP25 in LA was lovely! Connected with Zoom and IG friends, saw excellent panels, and had a lovely dinner at a cafe called Urth before soaking up Roxane Gay’s (late evening) keynote. Quoth Gay, “Then pen is not mightier than the sword. The pen IS the sword.” Hell yeah.
An artistic sticker-drawing on top of a crosswalk button sign which appears to be two mice with x-eyes and swirly bellies painted and purple and tan placed above the words “to cross push button”. Photo of participants of the Writing Toward community panel at a WP 25 in Los Angeles: from left to right, Mahtem Shifferaw, Ladan Osman, Asghar, and Safia Elhillo sit and chairs on an elevated stage. Close-up selfie of Atena with a dark purple satin-lined hoodie, dangling cowrie shell and abalone earrings, purple glasses, and white noise canceling headphones. He’s looking to the left with a calm expression. Behind her is an outdoor restaurant torch heat lamp, and a brick building is visible with a sliver of nighttime sky. On the #AWP25 bookfair floor, Atena and Stalina Villareal with their arms around each other smiling at the camera. Atena is holding Stalina’s book, WATCHA, and they are both wearing conference ID badges on purple lanyards.
March 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
I realized I’ve been travel-vigilant for over 8 hours and should probably horizontally chill for a while.
Atena lies on a hotel bed with white pillows and a brown leather headboard behind her. Wearing an orange satin bonnet and cowrie shell necklace, she peaks with one eye open from underneath a green satin eye mask, with a slight smile on her face.
March 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Here we go! Off to spread the good news about this hybrid poetic speculative autoethnographic lyric prose manuscript! Wish me luck!🙌🏿 #AWP25
Selfie of Atena standing in line at the airport, wearing a cold shoulder black blouse, pink mask, purple glasses, cowrie shell necklace and purple, fuzzy Care Bear hat.
March 26, 2025 at 12:44 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
As my mother might say: Happy as a pig in shit! 😁

After weeeeeks of being too busy and/or too distressed to work on my manuscript, I did a major day of organization and revision yesterday, consolidating and responding to months and months of feedback. Flow in full effect! Relief, gratitude, joy.
Image: Atena sits cross legged on a mat on the hardwood floor of her BFF’s attic bedroom. Spread out on the mat behind her are various stacks of bright pink and white printed documents: her manuscript and related notes. A small hot pink and silver water bottle stands among the papers. Behind a white column, sunlight shines into the sloping corner behind her, on pale green walls.
March 9, 2025 at 11:37 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Big Friday night plans!
Image description: on top of a colorful printed fabric, Atena’s teal journal with stickers all over the cover sits next to a paperback copy of the book “we grow the world together: parenting toward abolition“ edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson (with beautiful cover art: a collage of abundant plants, flowers and stars by Olly Costello). In the background is a circular pillow with a colorful feelings wheel printed on it. There are two pens and a can of Modelo Sandía Picante Chelada.
March 8, 2025 at 12:48 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
“If you don’t know where to start, start with getting to know people: find out what each other cares about, and what you might be good at together.”

From ‘Care is A Verb: Resources for Finding Your WE’ on Atena blog, ‘Go Back and Get It: Thoughts of a Black Cultural Worker.’
[Image description: a black and white illustration of the outlines of mushrooms on the ground with a root system spreading out beneath them. Above the mushrooms, there is a red block with white text that reads, “NO FUNGUS” and red text within a white box that continues the phrase “WITHOUT us!”]
March 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
Austerity/Warmth
Atena, in clear purple glasses and white headphones, looks into the camera, wearing a silk burnt orange v-neck blouse, black matte polish manicure with glossy black tips, a gold cowrie shell ring and earrings, and a soft amber-tinted lip gloss. Atena, in clear purple glasses, looks into the camera, wearing a black blouse and black chiffon scarf tied at her neck; she has a black matte polish manicure with glossy black tips, black circular earrings and a soft berry-tinted lip gloss.
February 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
“Lissen, y’all. I firmly believe we’re all doing the best we currently know how to do. AND we are definitely gonna need to do better if we’re going to survive together, spirits intact!”

— From my Fall Newsletter. LNKTRĒ to read more!
Graphic of white text on gradient turquoise background: At top of image: Grounding & Direction for Tired People Who Care: Fall Newsletter; at bottom of page: aena danner creative | author | artist; patreon.com; Center of page is white background with Black text a quote reads: ‘Lissen, y’all. I firmly believe we’re all doing the best we currently know how to do. AND we are definitely gonna need to do better if we’re going to survive together, spirits intact!’ Atena is written in turquoise script at the end of the quote.
February 7, 2025 at 8:17 PM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
“I’m listening for the water. There’s plenty a la maison. Pool and fountains. The displays here are familiar, somewhat comforting. Carved masks adorned with raffia. The smells, too. I am grateful for the gifts my parents gave me – gifts of culture and belonging.” See ‘Atena & The Ocean’ on Patreon.
Collage: various photos with accompanying text, of Atena in different scenes in Senegal, including Atena wearing sunglasses and a hat on a beach and Atena standing in the ocean. Another photo shows a handwritten note with Wolof words. The white text on a black background reads: “I’m listening for the water. There’s plenty a la maison. Pool and fountains. The displays here are familiar, somewhat comforting. Carved masks adorned with raffia. The smells, too. I am grateful for the gifts my parents gave me – gifts of culture and belonging. They find me once in a while and I love it.” At the bottom of the image, text says: “Atena and The Ocean: Senegal Diary and Photos” followed by an Instagram handle: @atenadelight and an icon indicating the content is a 40 second video.
February 6, 2025 at 3:33 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
It’s OK to turn down the lights, retreat into your cozy games or puzzles, TURN OFF THE NEWS, go to bed early, call off of work because of your anxiety, do something fun with your friends, cry… it’s OK. We’re not machines and we were not ever intended to consume information at this rate… - My Patreon
Image description: graphic representation of the text this post is excerpted from: “When the shock and awe starts to overwhelm, it’s OK to rest your mind and your body and your body-mind. It’s OK to turn down the lights, retreat into your cozy games or puzzles, TURN OFF THE NEWS, go to bed early, call off of work because of your anxiety, do something fun with your friends, cry… it’s OK. We’re not machines and we were not ever intended to consume information at this rate, let alone terrifying, weird, harmful information. We absolutely must rest and find ways to enjoy life if we are to survive this.”; Creative Reflections, Week of 1/27/25: Homework, Haiku and Humanity.
February 5, 2025 at 5:20 AM
atenaoyadi.bsky.social
THANK YOU from FSJP Erikson! Hope & Solidarity was just fantastic!

It was such a privilege to co-host our recent discussion with Drs. Eman Abdelhadi and David Stovall. Deep gratitude to our brilliant guests and to all who joined us in the audience!

Missed it? We’ll share the recording soon.
January 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM