Dear Writer
"Don't be stopped or slowed down by the word 'Writer.' A writer is one who writes." - poet Nikky Finney
I returned to Kentucky to visit friends from Berea College a few weeks ago. I was flooded with memories of that time - living in a cabin in the woods, thinking I could make extra money selling my plasma, working at a coffee shop, waitressing, all the while burning to be a writer. While at Berea, I took a class on the Harlem Renaissance with poet Nikky Finney. In the 25 years since I studied with her, I have reread one email she sent me thousands of times. She wrote:
“Don’t be stopped or slowed down by the word ‘Writer.’ A writer is one who writes.”
“So much of the world needs the muscle found in true words. Please keep sending what your head and belly make as one loaf.”
I think of Nikky more in the age of AI, because I am flooded with emails written by a machine - a soulless, meaningless pile of words.
I will anchor myself to the poets now and forever,
Alice
Personal News and Events
In June, Celia Vidal of Radio Nacional España interviewed me about “The Reality Behind the US Meatpacking Industry.” I interviewed legendary labor rights activist Dolores Huerta for the summer print edition of Elle Magazine. This fall, I will be in Italy for a book tour of the Italian translation of Life and Death of the American Worker. And in October, I will attend one of my favorite gatherings of journalists from around the globe at the Congress of Mérida Migration Journalism: Migrant Children and Youth in Mérida, Spain.
You can order LIFE AND DEATH OF THE AMERICAN WORKER: The Immigrants Taking on America’s Largest Meatpacking Company HERE.
An extraordinary feat of reporting—a gripping investigation into the brutal, often life-threatening conditions faced by America’s most vulnerable workers. It’s hard to imagine a more urgent or timely book, one written with rigor, deep compassion, and moral clarity. A vital, infuriating book - an absolute must-read.
—BRIAN GOLDSTONE, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of There Is No Place For Us