2009: Wishing you and your family & friends many blessings for this winter holiday!

To All Things Girl:

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Title: Fall Back
Poet: Kathy Nguyen, 2008.
Submitted to the January/February 2009 edition: Journeys

Fall Back

I'm quickly falling back
with autumn until the time
slows down

and loops itself
around dried leaves and cinnamon,
sharp air and full moons
caught in Chinese lanterns.

The pulse of things rushing
below the dew of grass
moves the earth as
Hermes moves the stars
and tongues throughout the night sky.

Writing then becomes
a vein circulating oxygen to the soul,
a fervent prayer placed on the heavens.

I'm quickly falling back
with autumn until the time
stops

still like bare branches of a tree,
like a semicolon hovering
between action and rest,
rewinding and unwinding connections,
muscles, neurons

so that meditation can sit like a holy teacher
at the center
of all the concentric circles of a tree trunk

whispering that the answers are already there.

Artist's bio submission:
Kathy Nguyen goes by A~Lotus or Ambiguitylotus online. She has been writing poetry since 7-8 years old but seriously worked on it since high school. She loves not only looking for patterns and symbolism when it comes to writing poetry but also in every single connection, thing, and person in her life. She is an arts and crafts hoarder as her closet is filled with various (mostly unused) art supplies and knickknacks that are impatiently waiting to be turned into peacocks and hummingbirds. Her mind is forever brewing with ideas and experimenting with various artistic media such as photography. Sadly, since 95% of the time is spent on school and work, she has very little spare time to devote to the visual arts. She aspires to go to nursing school and get a doctorate degree and believes that everything happens for a reason, including using art for therapy and as a form of expression as well as to complement her love for science.

Commentary: It was originally a free-flowing poem with minor punctuation to illustrate that sometimes we need to let ourselves fall back just to stop our lives from spinning out of control. It was a poignant time for me as daylight saving time ends, and I am still currently recovering from my car accident. Sometimes it feels good to just rest and breathe.

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I hope they accept my submission! I really like this site. We need more positive websites like this to make ALL girls and women feel good about themselves every moment, every day.

*Note: I just checked my email today (11/06) to find that my submission has been rejected because I was not aware that "publishing in entirety" includes anything on my own poetry journal (which is all original). Well, given that I have never really been published anywhere, this is all new to me. I guess I'll figure out what to submit next. It's kinda disappointing though. Sometimes, things are misleading (or vague).

To All Things Girl:

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Title: I <3 Nature's Candy
Artist: Kathy Nguyen, 2008.
Description: A still life of plastic fruits with origami heart. Clockwise: Star fruits, origami heart, grapes, bananas, and an apple.
Submitted to the May/June 2009 edition: On Display

Artist's bio submission:
Kathy Nguyen goes by A~Lotus or Ambiguitylotus online. She has been writing poetry since 7-8 years old but seriously worked on it since high school. She loves not only looking for patterns and symbolism when it comes to writing poetry but also in every single connection, thing, and person in her life. She is an arts and crafts hoarder as her closet is filled with various (mostly unused) art supplies and knickknacks that are impatiently waiting to be turned into peacocks and hummingbirds. Her mind is forever brewing with ideas and experimenting with various artistic media such as photography. Sadly, since 95% of the time is spent on school and work, she has very little spare time to devote to the visual arts. She aspires to go to nursing school and get a doctorate degree and believes that everything happens for a reason, including using art for therapy and as a form of expression as well as to complement her love for science.

Commentary: After looking at this photo for several minutes, I finally realized why I like this photo so much. It's kind of funny, since I took this photo practically months ago. There's the first fact: I really do love fruits, and that's my favorite thing about the summer where I live (because it's always unbearably hot and humid throughout the summer). Second, I love science, and the apple is the symbol for that. Remember "Eat an apple a day keeps the doc away"? Fruits provide good sources of vitamins!! Third, I'm am such an origami enthusiast. Hey, I even dressed up my origami heart a little. It turned out so well that it was a huge hit! I made a few more for my coworkers and the patients at the hospital where I work at. Finally, even though the star fruits were in the background of the photo, I couldn't help but to stare at the shininess of them. Star fruits are found in Southeast Asia, and I know Vietnam has them since my mother and cousins ate them before they came over to America. Interestingly, these star fruits represent who I am as a Vietnamese woman. I am a Vietnamese American as these fruits are also a mixture of both cultures. Someday, I'm going to try how these star fruits taste like, since I've tried most of the fruits from my parents' country already. Oh, and even though it's a still life, I couldn't help but to notice that it is a symbolic life that paints a few facets of myself in this photo, so I'm pretty sure that I haven't discovered everything yet!

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I hope they accept my submission! I really like this site. We need more positive websites like this to make ALL girls and women feel good about themselves every moment, every day.

x-posted to origami_club.

*Note: Now that the submission guidelines were clarified to me via email, I withdrew this photo submission. (11/06)

As of 6pm, maybe this submission may be accepted! (11/06)