Beauty All Around Us Zine Reading
Join Arizona Humanities and poet Tommy Jodie for a virtual reading of the Beauty All Around Us zine. Featuring original poetry and prose from 15 Indigenous youth, this zine explores the power of Indigenous food sovereignty. This session is part of the Blue Corn pre-festival programming. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Sign up: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/n58kyss
MEET OUR READERS:
Alexis Clifton is a Lipan Apache, Wixárika, and Spanish writer and creative, published both in freelance creative writing and painting/design. She is currently a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying for her BAs in English and Creative Writing and Communications in Media Arts. She also works as a staff writer at The New Absurdist, a garden intern at the UNC American Indian Cultural Garden, and a co-owner of Ich’e Th’idawere Consulting. Her work maintains a closeness to home and familiarity, while still trying to bridge of the margins of the surreal. @a.r.clifton
Ana W. Migwan is a Keweenaw Bay Indian Community citizen. Her work appears or is forthcoming in West Trestle Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Chapter House Journal, Beauty All Around Us, Liminal Spaces, and Passages North. @annalindgr
Marianna Cota is an enrolled member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in Arizona. They currently serve as a Food Sovereignty Coordinator for the Meskwaki Nation, while also creating and connecting through their business, INDIGENEXUS. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Biology and a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Community and Behavioral Health. @marianna.gmc
Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon is a Mohegan researcher, writer, and youth advocate committed to centering Indigenous voices in the pursuit of health equity, climate justice, and cultural preservation. She is also the Founder of the Sunrise Healing Community, a nonprofit that connects Indigenous youth and young adults to culturally grounded healing resources. @kiaramtantaquidgeon
Laken(she/her) is Indigenous (Lakota and Standing Rock) poet and artist. Recently, her work was published by Abalone Mountain Press’ Issuu, “Beauty All Around Us: An Indigenous Food and Sovereignty Zine. Laken is also a part of the Yeehaw Indigenous Creatives Collective where she is planning a new outdoor installation of spring 2026. She is always learning more about her decolonized self by reconnecting with the land and diving deep within herself where she finds wisdom from her ancestors. Her art reflects struggling with identity and feelings of loneliness in this colonized world. You can always find her experimenting with different mediums including wild clay and jewelry making. For more poetry and art, you can find Laken @Readmyaura or her main account @Daydreaminlaken.