This is an email from The Assemblage Newsletter, a newsletter by Assemblage.
Nov 27, 2020
The Assemblage Newsletter #57
Welcome to this week’s newsletter from Assemblage. These newsletters go out every Friday to highlight some of the top works from the past week. We hope these links (all friend links, so anyone can view them) bring you into a warm corner of the house to ponder, before having some leftovers. You can also view all of our previous letters via the Letters tab on our homepage.
“There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair.” — Haruki Murakami
We couldn’t have grown this publication to where it is without you. Our writers and our readers. We look at Assemblage and all of its sub-publications as a collaboration, a big piece of art, that we all participate in. So, thank you for your time, your creativity, and your willingness to remain open.
Featured Writer
Each week we feature one of our fantastic writers and up to six of their essays or poems on the homepage underneath the Featured Essays and Featured Poems section. This week we posted our 26th Featured Writer: Sara Grace Stasi. Sara Grace writes poems and short fiction and takes photographs as musings on life. She has published 12 works in Assemblage in 2020.
Collection
Collections are groupings of stories or poems with an overall theme. You can find Collections on the home page underneath the Featured Stories, Featured Poetry, and Featured Writer sections. We have released On Writing, On Love, On Poems, On Self, On Equality, Unsung, 100 Fans, On Grief, How To Do Sh*t, 70 Fans, Forgotten, Fresh, On Mental Health, On Life, On Psychology, On Introverts, On Friendship, On Social Media, 90%, On Nature, Life Lessons, On Future, Lost, On Numbers, On Family, On Society, On Food, Poetic Interlude, 2020, and this week we released 1,000 Fans.
1,000 Fans features 3 works which amazingly, all have more than 1,000 fans on Medium. In fact, two of these essays have more than 2,000 fans. This section is a great way to get acquainted with multiple works around one theme, as well as to find writers you haven’t read before or ones you shouldn’t miss. Take a look at our Collection this week and see what you’ve missed because you may just be the only one.
1,000 Fans features words from Michelle Elizabeth, Megan Holstein, and Lance Baker.
Essays and Poems From the Past Week
The Line Between Depression and Reality by Jonathan Greene
“The line between depression and reality is getting blurrier and blurrier. I don’t know if it’s because my LASIK is so old or just because I am getting so old, but my eyes aren’t working right. They are seeing too much and too little at the same time. The world is a black and white kaleidoscope and all I want to do is to keep turning it and turning it.”
Come Back To Me by Estrella Ramirez
“Time stands still, and yet
races at the pace of
the heart beating out
of my chest”
I’ve Lost Another Business and I’m Tired of Fighting by Iva Ursano
“I think I lost my focus a year ago or so and only focused on how high my earnings were growing and how many hundreds of thousands of fans I had accumulated. How many millions of views I was getting on video pins. How big, how great, how high, how powerful, look at me…Iva the great.”
Shōnan by Jessica Lee McMillan
“I wrap myself in this coast
and rise like moon between.
I return like tide every time
to this divine company.”
My Cat Has Cancer by Niki Marinis
“For me, in the wave of news I don’t like, shock and denial are instant, and I immediately attempt to set up permanent residence. Barcalounger goes there, flatscreen goes there…”
I’ve Become One of Those Internet Suckers by Em Unravelling
“I’m a sucker, pure and simple. I’ve been got by the parts of the internet I swore would never get me. But I’m a sucker with the smoothest legs you ever did see and soap that acts like sandpaper but smells like heaven. And I’m saving the planet and supporting start-ups and shoring up the economy.”
Weekly Note
“Writing is an extreme privilege but it’s also a gift. It’s a gift to yourself and it’s a gift of giving a story to someone.” — Amy Tan
These words matter. All of our words matter. This is why:
People Ask My Why It Matters by Jonathan Greene
“People ask me why it matters. Because words matter. True community matters. And true community is forgiving but does not have to be universally accepting. Some communities have ethics and standards to uphold to assure that the quality of the work remains at the highest level possible. And if you don’t meet that level, it’s not their fault.”
