FOURTH WAVE NEWSLETTER
New Editor, New Stories, New State
Brought to you by an SF Bay Area native transplanted to the Midwest
Greetings, my fellow writers, readers, critical thinkers, and enjoyers of Fourth Wave. This is Dre Cáceres, your new Newsletter Editor. I am writing to you all from a small-owned cafe and full-bar in a historic part of Wichita, Kansas called Delano, the place I call home since November of last year. Hanging from the sky-blue paneled walls are art pieces from local members of the community; last month it was a local photographer and this month it is a local artist’s horror-movie-themed paintings. Near a corner booth, I sip hazelnut black coffee and a two-dollar mystery beer (this week it’s a Voodoo Ranger IPA) as rockabilly music plays through the speakers. I eavesdrop on a row of patrons talking to the bartender about drunk Shakespearan plays. This is not the typical bar I frequented when I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area, yet it is the exact type of cafe that I was looking for when I moved 1,300 miles from Sacramento, California.
In fact, one of the first few days after I first came across the Vagabond Cafe, I noticed a patron with pride pins who looked very obviously queer to me. I told my partner, “This is my type of cafe.” A handful of days later, as I was sitting next to a large group of patrons talking about queer literature, I found myself joining a queer book club. The following week, my professor over Zoom said, “Dre, you seemed to have found the queerest cafe in Kansas.” That was the moment I started to feel like I could potentially belong. This could really be my new home.
I would like to take this moment to fully introduce myself to you all. Patsy Fergusson, Fourth Wave’s founder, was my high school journalism teacher for the entirety of my four years when I was a staff writer on the school newspaper before graduating in 2013. It was not until many years later that I would find myself coming back to journalism, writing an article for Fourth Wave amidst the ongoing pandemic. I’ve always been a writer, especially a poet, but I often find myself stuck, just as every writer encounters a type of writer’s block — but for me, it is like writer’s paralysis. But with the increase in articles and poetry being published on Fourth Wave, I was offered an opportunity to edit this newsletter, engaging with and highlighting the many contributors. I am excited to be among your newest editors, and among the growing list of contributors to Fourth Wave.
But back to Kansas . . .
I am still absorbing the many differences that come with moving from a politically liberal state like California to the much more politically and culturally conservative and hyper-religious state of Kansas. Patrons of the Vagabond have shared that their experience as a born-and-raised Midwesterner is that Wichita is comparable to Sacramento, minus the population difference. In many ways, I would agree: the historic Delano looks very similar to Old Town, but probably smaller. You can reach any part of town within 20 minutes; everything is close by; heck, even my home is a walking distance from the Delano businesses I frequent. But there is much less to do recreationally, the weather is unpredictable, and I have both a basement and a cellar I will need to maintain during tornado season (which apparently I am currently in). But all of those things are trivial compared to the political agendas of ultra right-wing, conservative representatives of Kansas and neighboring states like Oklahoma, especially when it comes to intersectional feminist topics of interest to me like queer youth and trans rights. These are topics I will be delving deeper into as I engage with the social and political work of the Midwest.
For this newsletter, which includes links to every story published on Fourth Wave since the last newsletter went out May 7, I would like to highlight the wide range of topics and contributors — from revolutionary mothers to people trying to decolonize the language of a multi-colonized country. Many of these stories and poems were nominated for a boost this month, but only about 63% of them were approved by curators to receive wider distribution; those are marked with an asterisk.
I hope you will look over this rich list and find a few stories that you want to read and enjoy. And don’t forget to clap, highlight, or comment to support your fellow feminist and womanist writers. As the tagline says, Let’s start something!
With all humanity and in solidarity from the gayest cafe in Kansas,
Dre Cáceres
Newsletter Editor
Fourth Wave
Writers who contributed stories this period include:
Catherine Oceano, Moymona Begum, Words by Egypt, Aza Y. Alam, Mona Lazar, Catherine Oceano, Amy Sterling Casil, Edward Swafford, Eleni Stephanides, Michelle Teheux, Linda Caroll, Ramsey Hanhan 🇵🇸 🌍, Rustam Seerat, Frances A. Chiu, Ph.D. | writing coach | editor, Christyl Rivers, Phd., William L Hughes III, Streamofsocialconscience, Sarah TC, Sangeeta Kalsi, Lsjaffee (Writer, Educator, Over-Thinker), NatalieSugabelle, Gail Marie Valker, Revolutionary Mama 🕊️🌱, Aza Y. Alam, Sonja Cillié, Evelyn Jean Pine, Chelsea Monrania, Lola Rosario, Thomas Wedge, Patsy Fergusson, armi nellik, Ruhi Hanan, Osi I., Merr Gumm, Bella DePaulo, Pragya Chaturvedi, Kayla Writes, Katarina Felicia Lundgren, Viragoria, Suma Narayan, Snarky Lisa, Vena Moore, Kate Brennan, Sarah Kyomugisha, Summer Roberts, Dawn Fifer, Saswati Pradhan, Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar, Toni Hargis, Hermione Wilds Writes - Writer and editor, Victoria Caravaggio
Topics we covered since the last newsletter include:
Whyte* supremacy: microaggressions, othering, racism, and whyte feminism
I Don’t Feel at Home Anywhere
* Women, Inter-Racial Friendship and the Politics of Envy
* It’s 2024: Let’s Cut the “Model Minority” and “White Adjacent” BS
From Hilarious to Heartbreaking — a Selected History of Racist Snubs
* On Why I Prefer to Use Puerto Rico’s Indigenous Name in My Writing
White Privilege and the Misrepresentation of Asian Culture
Feeling “Othered” In White Dominated Spaces
* Her Boss Became Her Bully — Then She Died by Suicide
Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland: Disparate Treatment?
Global tragedies, censorship, and political outrage
*The Genocide Continues
Tested on Palestinians: Fascism Coming to a Campus Near You
The Dilemma: To Remember or Not to Remember a Massacre?
* My Path to Becoming a Revolutionary Mama
More Than 300,000 Children Affected by Floods in Afghanistan
Midwifery Service Crisis Under the Taliban Regime
Freedom of the Press is Dying in India
Our personal stories
*Growing Up As A Girl Child in America: Part 9
* Once An Ugly Girl…
I Had Plans for Saturday: This is What Happened
Why Must I Fight To Be Me?
I Made my Pupils Stand Up in Class
My Husband Was Caught Speeding — I Did the Speed Awareness Course
Ugly Girls Transform!
What It Means To Be A Single Lady In Her Thirties In My Country
A Love Letter
Our poetry
Thanks to Poetry Editor Suma Narayan for developing this space
Heart Of Stone
Hushed
Song of Praise
Where There Was Once Love
* Poet On The Lam
The Shams Story
* I Never Walk Around My Garden Alone
The Servant
Unrequited LOVE
The Green Love
Drop — A Wart on Time
May, Mango Month
Thoughts on books, movies, music, art, and other media
*“The Giving Tree” Reimagined: Mutuality, Reciprocity, and Community
Marriage, The (Social) Prison
* Leonora Carrington Just Smashed Her Record — and Her Ex-Lover’s
Wayanad: The Land Of Paddy Fields
Imagine John Lennon Was A Woman
Sexism, gender roles, and male-female relations
Playing with Dolls Is Fine
* The Hardest Part Of Being A Woman
What Mother’s Day Is Like For The Childless Woman
* Sprinkle Sprinkle: Should All Women Marry Rich Men?
* What If Your Groom Changed Your First Name, Too?
The Benefits of Roasting Tom Brady
The Cringey Claim, “My Spouse Won’t Let Me”
I Wish My Mother Wasn’t A Homemaker
* Ode to Difficult Daughters, Responding to “Boy Moms”
* How To Raise Little Girls To Become Strong And Capable Women
My Faith is Fragile in Male Hands
* Honey, I Shrunk the Women’s Sizes!
Why Women are Ditching Dating Apps
You Don’t Need to Work Like a Man
* Women as Women — Financial Power and Intersectionality
Men in power: the patriarchy's stronghold on women's safety, sexual harassment, and femicide
*Can Femicide Policy Prevent the MMIWG Crisis in Canada?
Women Choose Bears Over Men and There’s One Reason For It
* I Got Catcalled in the Street
To the Female Community Writing About Abuse and its Consequences
I Had to Move Jobs After I Was Sexually Assaulted
Some Women Helped Build The Cage Of Patriarchy
Mothers Create the Patriarchy
* When Marriage Ends in Murder
* Fat Is My Refuge
* “Because You’re Worthless”
Trailblazers & honoring ancestors: women of history & women making history
Battle for Equal Rights: Path to the Right to VoteChelsea Monrania
Unmasking Our Six Ancient Maternal Ancestors
* Two Teen Girls Solve a 2,000 Year Old Math Conundrum
Forgotten History of Female Football
Education: systemic issues, empowering youth, and awareness of ecology
Parenting Tips for the Lost
Stop Using the R-Word for Anything Other Than Slowing Down
Rejection, the new redirection
*To understand why we are using the spelling “whyte,” read Aza Y. Alam’s (boosted) story Women, Inter-Racial Friendship and the Politics of Envy
Have you got a story or poem that focuses on women or other disempowered groups? Submit to the Wave!
