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jjpena.bsky.social
JJ
@jjpena.bsky.social
I'm a second rate writer 🚮 from outer-space 🚀 a burrito lover 🌯 queer 🌈and a human disaster|

jjpena.com
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"What is the responsibility of a 'feminist' when the power swings their way?"

Nicole Zhao chats with author @cherrylousy.bsky.social about immigration, feminism, and gender roles. Read it all here! buff.ly/vA6BRk5
October 22, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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Celebrating the work of our trans and queer contributors today and every day! Check out a few pieces from our archive we hope stay with you beyond the blog. buff.ly/554vznz
October 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
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here's an excerpt from my chapbook, which you should buy so I can afford childcare while I go into the fields and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables for my children to eat

asterismbooks.com/product/ragn...
March 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
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CALLS ARE WORKING - it has bought us precious time, but we NEED to keep the pressure up.

Tomorrow is the cloture vote.

KEEP CALLING: (202) 224-3121 ☎️☎️☎️

Tell your Dem Senator to vote NO on Cloture and NO on the Republican spending bill.

Do NOT assume your Senator will be good on this. Trust me.
🚨 Everyone needs to call their Dem Senator right now. They are starting to cave.

Tell them:
1. Vote NO on Cloture
AND
2. Vote NO on the Republican spending bill.

Don’t let them pivot to reconciliation. GOP doesn’t need Dem votes on that and they know it.

TODAY is the showdown.
🤳🏽: (202) 224-3121
March 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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Announcing the lineup for Smokelong's #AWP25 #AWP Offsite Reading on Friday March 28, 5.30pm, First Draft Taproom & Kitchen (10 mins walk from convention center). Say hi at Booth 656 (take part in our famous Bookfair Micro Contest!)
March 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
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This week's interview is the first of two with @jjpena.bsky.social, who was both a finalist and first prize winner in the SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2024. Here jj talks about "strangers breathe air into you", finalist in the competition:
www.smokelong.com/interviews/s...
Smoke & Mirrors with jj peña - SmokeLong Quarterly
Wow—what a gorgeous piece. Take me through the process of creating a work so perfectly compressed. I think about Ezra Pound who famously carved away at “In a Station of the Metro” until he had those g...
www.smokelong.com
February 25, 2025 at 2:19 AM
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Reposting with alt text.
February 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
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Inspired to listen to @dare-williams.bsky.social read his poem ETYMOLOGY (bit.ly/ExpoEtymology) in #Transposition, our podcast, born out of COVID & the need to celebrate our 2020 annual issue writers in a bigger way than sheltering in place allowed. Listen here: expositionreview.com/issues/vol-v....
Etymology - Exposition Review
by Dare Williams   |    Poetry   it starts in phoenix growing in the dark moves its way to you then leaves me breathless in hollywood where we laid our heads there was a break & I said ok let you driv...
expositionreview.com
February 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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I’m excited to be a visiting writer at Texas State University. I’m preparing a craft talk, a workshop, and I’ll be reading. Be there Feb 26! Also, I’m open for university bookings for Fall 2025 & Spring 2026, email me if interested.
January 28, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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Want to do something about Trump’s anti-immigrant executive orders?

Download a community defense playbook at defendandrecruit.org, sign up for a training, and check out this op-ed in Teen Vogue today.
January 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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Today's writing prompt, courtesy of Edgar Gomez via 100 Days of Creative Resistance (Writing Co-Lab):

www.writingco-lab.com/100-days

"Choose a person you love. Write about one perfect day you had together. Leave out any wisdom. Just remember something nice and hold on to it as long as you can."
January 23, 2025 at 11:22 AM
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Time for some good news! We are thrilled to announce that Vanessa Hua’s flash, “Forecast,” has been selected for Best Microfictions 2025! Congratulations, @vanessahua.bsky.social ! https://buff.ly/3WqCFus
January 21, 2025 at 2:45 PM
"For the longest time I’ve wanted to be alone.
Friday nights are the loneliest. I’m afraid to admit—
time is killing me. Sometimes I’m so far away
I forgot silence is another form of living."
January 20, 2025 at 12:03 AM
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Art & words will help us get through 2025. We are honored & grateful to present our beautiful JANUARY ISSUE: https://buff.ly/2Z36noR

WORDS: @zoebflavin.bsky.social @sashabrown.bsky.social @jillkitchen.bsky.social & Ciara Alfaro
ART: Daisuke Takakura
PLUS: Jessika Bouvier interviews Shze-Hui Tjoa
January 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
SO PROUD!!!!!!
So… I’m a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow! I’m still feeling speechless. I’m full of gratitude. www.arts.gov/impact/liter...
January 14, 2025 at 5:44 PM
This is me ☺️
January 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
why are so many big/canonical writers monsters?
January 13, 2025 at 9:33 PM
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Never been much of a love poet, but here’s my attempt at writing a love poem for my love, published in the Winter 2025 issue of @sixthfinch. Thanks to Rob MacDonald for giving this piece a beautiful home.

Read the whole issue here: sixthfinch.com
January 12, 2025 at 7:44 PM
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My January Newsletter: The Things We Carry open.substack.com/pub/artoffla...
The Things We Carry
lending weight to our stories
open.substack.com
January 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
howdy peeps,
for my first post on this platform, I am happy to share that I won @smokelong.bsky.social's Grand Micro Contest. If you have some time to read, please check out my work/interview and all the other writers in the issue.

www.smokelong.com/stories/the-...
the sky didn't slip inside - SmokeLong Quarterly
let’s pretend the day didn’t begin with death. let’s pretend you didn’t facetime my sister from your car crying, YOU’VE LEFT ME & I’VE FALLEN THROUGH THE EARTH, & then put a plastic bag over your head...
www.smokelong.com
December 16, 2024 at 8:41 PM