Roar Shack presents “You in the Sky”

On By ninarota_4vrelg

I won the Live Write contest at Roar Shack last month so I get to read at this month’s event on October 14, 4-6pm, at 826LA in Echo Park (next to Stories bookstore). Actually, I didn’t win, I tied, but not bad for having to write a six-minute story on a prompt chosen by someone else that you then have to read in front of a large group of people. I was terrified!

A bunch of talented writers, all women—appropriately, will be reading with me: Angela Stubbs, Kristin Casey, Sandy Yang, Tamala Whittley, and Tara Taylor Donlan.

Wine and cookies await you.

What makes you QUEER? at Glendale Gay Pride

On By ninarota_4vrelg

One paragraph and/or one piece answering the question: What makes you QUEER? Join 40 writers and artists (including me) at ACE/121 Gallery for the first ever Gay Pride event in Glendale.

Opening night is this Friday, 6-9pm. There’ll be a DTGlendale Artwalk between Abril Books/Roslin Art Gallery and ACE/121 Gallery with the afterparty at Gauchos Village.

This event is hosted by  ACE/121 Gallery, Abril Books, Roslin Art Gallery, and Gay And Lesbian Armenian Society

WCCW Reading Series: RETHINKING

On By ninarota_4vrelg

 

Mark your calendars! Please join us for a chain of Los Angeles literary luminaries: Dana Johnson, Désirée Zamorano, Bonnie S. Kaplan, and Ryka Aoki, at the Women’s Center for Creative Work on Thursday, December 7@7:30pm, 2017. Each of our writers has chosen a reader who, in turn, has chosen the next reader.

More information.

this imaginal is a child playing

On By ninarota_4vrelg

I use channeling to help my writing. to write. i ask questions to get deeper into subjects. instead, let me enter the imaginal space. a child playing. does a child ask questions to go deeper into a subject. yes, maybe, at least some of the time. but not by design, by play. a star is a magical being in the sky, not an ancient object which has been interpreted as the same shape by countless cultures throughout history. a child in play would not care about that. a talking alligator walking out of a swamp for instance, or a dancing cat. much more of fascination. and these are not parlor tricks. what does it mean to travel a light year? would i need shoes since gravity is optional. the alligator is wearing hobnail boots so i was wondering. the dancing cat, what would that look like now? do children ask these kinds of questions or do they watch the show unfold.

A Drop in the Ocean, Working with Refugees on Lesvos Island (2017)

On By ninarota_4vrelg

A talk by Nina Rota
Video and images by Ameeta Nanji and Nina Rota
Edited by Kate Johnson

A presentation about working with refugees on Lesvos Island during the month of January 2016. A discussion with images and video showing the overwhelming number of refugees, the organization of the different refugee groups on the island, the act of welcoming refugees to Europe, how global warming contributes to the refugee crisis, and how you can help. For more information, please contact Nina Rota.

Thank you so much to Ameeta Nanji, Kate Johnson and Michael Masucci at EZTV, and Alison Terry-Evans who runs the organization Dirty Girls of Lesvos Island. Please consider donating to this amazing organization.

my name is rajon

On By ninarota_4vrelg

it has always been so and will always be so. i was never born and will never die. there is no such thing as a beginning, there is no such thing as an ending. and my name will remain as it is forever.

there are different sized infinities. to an ant, the yard is an infinity. to a child, the house is an infinity. to a serpent the amazon is an infinity. therefore, i may be wrong. there may be a beginning and, possibly, an end, but it is so far beyond my perception that it may as well not exist. and so i will sleep as blisslessly as possible into the unknown until the monster floats to the surface and bites me again and i am faced with annihilation. usually, though, all it takes is a gift. i turn round, smile, and give the big baby a gift, and we are all good until the next time.