Prasanta Verma's Newsletter - October 2021

culture, communication, and curiosity

a newsletter 
by
Prasanta Verma

Hello!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of my newsletter! I'm so glad you're here and am excited about bringing you interesting content each month. What do you think of the title? Yay or nay? 
 
Speaking of new, I’m so glad you’re here for this new thing of mine. I’ve got a lot for you in this newsletter, so here we go! This monthly newsletter will hold a mix and match of the following: writing updates, suggestions of interesting folks to follow, curiosities or things to think about, questions about culture and communication, a poem, books to read, and a quote to ponder, and other links and information that I hope you will enjoy. If you want to read more about me and what I write, click on my website and read about me right here. 
 
Does it feel like you're also in the midst of a transition with the trees? With the upheavals of the past few years, we've all been walking through some sort of change or another, adjusting and coping as we stumble through change.

One recent transition for me: I’ve been helping my parents move out of their house they've lived in for 45 years, my childhood home. If you've ever had to say goodbye to a home you've loved or a childhood home, you may understand some of the complexity. It’s an emotional and difficult process. Letting go of things isn't easy—objects which hold meaning and memory, though they have little monetary value. While I’ll miss my childhood home, I know that the change was necessary and important. I have some precious memories—and the hope and desire to build new ones.

I’m not sure I imagined what it would be like not coming back to my old familiar home with the screened back porch that I love. One of my favorite memories is swinging on the back screened porch. No matter how hot the southern day, I could always count on shade and a pleasant breeze on the back porch. Do you have one special memory of home that brings you a ray of hope or joy? Sometimes, I wish I could stack them side by side and play them forward, like a movie. 
 

Writing News
 

In writing news, I was honored to have been published in the following places recently.

First, in Inheritance Magazine, I wrote a tribute to my mother and the story of many immigrant mothers, in a piece called “Her Hands”. This piece is special to me as it offers a small peek in my family's immigrant story.
 
For Sojourners, I wrote about the stigma of mental health in the Asian American population in conjunction with Asian American/Pacific Islander Month and Mental Health Awareness month. The more we talk about it, the more we normalize it and not hide from these conversations.

In the summer issue of Bramble Lit Mag, the magazine for the WI Fellowship of Poets, I had a poem published called “Matching Game”.  

In The Mudroom

I write each month for The Mudroom Blog, a website with stories that are real and raw, from the mess of our real lives. At The Mudroom, "We don’t have to be anything in the mudroom except our messy, marvelous, mud-caked selves. There is a hook with your name on it, with room for your stuff. All of it." I hope you'll come and hang your coat on the hook for a few minutes in The Mudroom and read a true story I wrote this week called The Girl Who Was Born Dead.  Do you have a miracle story in your life? I don't know about you, but I need reminders that the impossible can sometimes be possible. 
 

Fall Color Viewing Guide 
 

Do you love the fall colors as much as I do? Here's a handy guide for when the fall colors will peak in each of the 50 states.