#BACKWORDSpress

BACKWORDS blog explores the intersection between presence and history. The blog is a platform that honors the moment of encounter that any one person experiences—with art, literature, music, performance, or place. Often, reflections fit multiple categories—the opposite of a news program or style blog, BACKWORDS is not preoccupied with immediacy. An event does not need to be current to be relevant, nor does a memory need to be close to its origins to hold its potency.

Featured Posts

2020 and The One Where We All Try to Stay Sane

Tunnel Vision: Preparing to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail

Giverny, This Way

Happy Holidays!

My First Foray Into The Wonderful Wallowas

Spice and Rain

Traveling with Less

Antibiotics and Balinese Dance, A Winning Combination

Let's Confuse Each Other In German: How I Turned 30 in Paris

Recent Posts

Fall 2016 Issue: An Interview with Poet, Janice Worthen

This October, on the 1st of the month, the BACKWORDS Press team has the distinct pleasure of sharing the work of our Fall 2016 poets: Bianca Flores, Stephanie Adams-Santos, and Janice Worthen. We're collaborating with a new graphic designer for the issue—we'll introduce you to him later on—because right now we'd like to acquaint you with our new writers. Like we've done with past issues, our Fall 2016 Issue writers have helped us to gear up for the October release with a seri

Fall 2016 Issue: An Interview with Poet, Stephanie Adams-Santos

Fall 2016 Issue: An Interview with Poet, Bianca Flores

The Seattle Art Museum and the SAM Remix 2016

The Seattle Art Museum, three times a year, throws an event called SAM Remix. The latest event was “inspired by SAM’s exhibitions Graphic Masters: Dürer, Rembrandt, Hogarth, Goya, Picasso, R. Crumb and new art at the Olympic Sculpture Park including Tamiko Thiel’s ‘Gardens of The Anthropocene’ and Victoria Haven's ‘Blue Sun.’” The night allowed participants to choose their own adventure in an “evening of performances, tours, dancing and more at this creative late-night out.”

Pokémon Go'ing Somewhere: How One Mega-Player in App Gaming Might Be A Small Step for Privacy an

On a relatively clear July evening in Central Park, dozens and dozens of New Yorkers—men and women, some teenagers, some even with children in tow, across a surprising spectrum of racial identities, gender expressions, and (presumably) backgrounds—flooded a section of the park in search of a single Pokémon. The members of the "mob," as some on YouTube called it, were all users of the new Niantic app for Android and iPhone, called Pokémon Go, which allows players to use geoloc

Pre-teening with The Fugees

In 1996, I was twelve years old. Pokemon the cartoon debuted, before smartphones, before Pokemon Go, before you could catch ’em virtually. It was also the same year that my little brother and I were obsessed with the anime series, Gundam Wing. My parents bought and ran a restaurant at the Hillsboro Airport named after the World War I fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker. My family made good money for the first time in our whole lives – serving white people juicy cuts of prime rib –

"Would You Eat Your Cat?" & Other Dating Questions

It spoke to me. It reached out to me with its little inquisitive blue cat eyes on the cover, poised, hopeful, and said “read me.” It was 2013 and my first time in the the Powell’s bookstore on Hawthorne Blvd – the smaller one in SE Portland, but just as eclectic and cute as the other. I was with my friends (and future Backwords cofounders), Matt and Jenny, exploring the neighborhood, having a wanderlust day that found us in thrift shops and in this particular iconic bookstore

Designer Spotlight: An Interview with Maria Regine Cabbab

Near a month ago now, in July of this year, BACKWORDS Press re-released its Fall 2015 Issue—three short poems by three talented working writers—in collaboration with graphic designer, Maria Regine Cabbab. We had great fun with the redesign: getting to revisit these poems, to compliment them, to better carry their vision and presence into the world; but also to see how the poems might benefit, as individual pieces, as a complete issue, from being given a cohesive and artful vi

Giselle

We’re going to the opera house. THE Opera House. The ground was still sloughing off yesterday’s storm rains as we walked, threatening to soak our dress shoes. I can’t believe we’re walking toward THE opera house. I kept babbling at my companion, who received my constant exclamations with shared enthusiasm and a touch of patience. I was a little excited. Ever since I was young there was something about the white sails of the Sydney Opera House that called out to me. Not only d

Fall 2015 Redesign: An Interview with Poet, W Vandoren Wheeler

On July 15th, the BACKWORDS Press team had the extreme pleasure of re-releasing the work of our Fall 2015 poets, Jeff Alessandrelli, Wes Solether, and W. Vandoren Wheeler—this time in collaboration with graphic designer, Maria Regine Cabbab. In keeping with the continual expansion of our own artistic vision for the press, working with Maria on our Fall 2015 Issue seemed the perfect partnership for us at Backwords. We’re delighted to share redesigns with you all; it’s our hope

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