feminist | Erica Mena

That Time I Had To Look Up "thot"

January 27, 2015 by Erica Mena

I’ve been called many things by many people. I’ve also been called many things by many people who think I’m this Erica Mena, and not the Erica Mena I actually am. It’s because I have a googleganger. And it so happens that, though I am slightly older than her and so have our name on most social media platforms (from before I even knew about her), she is much more “famous.” I use the scare-quotes because she’s a reality TV […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: erica mena, feminism, feminist, googleganger, reality tv, slut-shaming

The Hair Experiment, Week 1

February 3, 2014 by Erica Mena

It took me a long time to come up with something to do for the new year. (Self-improvement being the go-to for change in the new year, perhaps needs examination, but that’s a project for another year.) I’m happy with my weight, I no longer smoke, I eat well, I have a good work/life balance (in that I work all the time, for almost no money, but I love what I do so it’s still satisfying). I floss my teeth, and […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: curly, feminism, feminist, hair, shaving, short hair, women's hair

Critical vs. Criticism (And Misogyny in SF)

August 10, 2013 by Erica Mena

Not all reviews have to be critical. Of course they have to be critical, but they don’t have to criticize. And it’s too bad that so many reviewers out there seem to think that in order to demonstrate their own intelligence they have to tear apart the work they’re reviewing as much as possible. I’ve seen this over and over as a trend in reviewing – surprising because just a few years ago I remember a number of people ’round […]

Categories: Reviews • Tags: criticism, feminism, feminist, guardian books, literature, misogyny, reviews, science fiction, sexism, sf mistressworks, women

The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley

March 22, 2013 by Erica Mena

A strange thing happened to me yesterday while I was finishing The Descent of Alette: I fell asleep. To be fair the carbon monoxide detector had gone off with it’s out-of-battery warning very late the night before, and I have a hard time falling asleep so getting interrupted set me back an hour or two. And it’s been surprisingly cold so I had the heat cranked up and was lying on my bed in front of the space heater where it was warm. […]

Categories: Poetry, Reading Journal • Tags: alice notley, contemporary epic, descent of alette, epic, erica mena, feminist, narrative poetry, poetry, reading journal

Red Missed Aches… by Jennifer Tamayo

November 27, 2012 by Erica Mena

There are several narratives at work here: one of gender identity, the feminist body; a second of immigration and national body; a third of multi-linguality and the fragmented tongue; and finally the images constructing their own narrative of collage and erasure, a body of memory half-erased. This is a complex, surprising, astonishing, engaging work. Clearly rooted in contemporary feminism, there is a scary-sharp intellect at work here that makes the book almost a little intimidating. Like you know there’s a […]

Categories: Poetry, Reading Journal • Tags: avant garde, feminist, hybrid, jennifer tamayo, poetry, red missed aches, red missed aches read missed aches red mistakes read mistakes, switchback books

Remembering Adrienne Rich

March 29, 2012 by Erica Mena

Some years ago when I was an undergraduate just beginning to think seriously about poetry, I met Adrienne Rich. In fact, I picked her up from her hotel and drove her through downtown Boston to the UMass Boston campus for her lecture. It was my mentor and friend Askold Melnyczuk who was coordinating the reading series, and though I’d just met him that semester in his introduction to fiction writing class, he saw in me enough poetic promise to send […]

Categories: Poetry • Tags: adrienne rich, askold melnyczuk, Diving Into The Wreck, essays, feminist, Fox, Martín Espada, poet, poetry, UMass Boston

Erica Mena

Poet | Book Artist | Translator

Tag: feminist