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[penhaul]

Went on a little inking spree! #currentlyinked #fountainpen #fountainpens #karaskustoms #pilotvanishingpoint #DeltaJournal

[penhaul]

New pen day!! This beauty just came in the mail yesterday #DeltaJournal #delta #fountainpen @penchalet

[deltaliteraryjournal]

MEET THE ARTISTS: LAS TINAS

  Leonela Guzmán and Sarah Alem make up the DJ duo Las Tinas (penned after their spirit animals Tina Belcher and Tina Fey). These ladies are taking over Baton Rouge.

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DJ: Hey ladies, thanks for meeting with us this week, and thanks for providing the tunes for the Teen Angst event Monday night! Tell us a bit about yourselves. 

SA: Sarah Alem, I’m an International Studies senior with a focus on Latin America.

LG: Leonela Guzmán, a junior. I'm currently enrolled in independent study, and I’m a Political Science and History double major at LSU.

  DJ: How long have you guys been friends?

LG: Two years? 

SA: I don’t even know… We kind of started hanging out a lot and just clicked as friends. It works.

  DJ: So you guys are kind of a DJ tag-team thing?

SA: Yeah. Individually, I'm DJ Niña and Leo is DJ Nena. "Nena" is a term of endearment and "niña" means "little girl" as a term of endearment as well.

LG: We’re playing on, I guess, my Hispanic background. Even though she’s…

SA: I’m half Lebanese…

LG: But you look Hispanic.

SA: I’m a wannabe.

  DJ: When did this project start?

SA: It started with a house party. We pretty much took everything out of a room in my house and turned it into a giant blacked out dance box. It was pretty successful. We played until like 4... which is something you can’t do at a bar. Here at least.

LG: I think the reason that we did it, well, there are two things: There was the embodiment of the fact that there’s a boy’s club—an established boy’s club—that kind of runs Baton Rouge, and we’re trying to fill in the void and be the girls that start making things happen. Aside from that, there are these things called... “Chad Parties” that we've been to over the years.

  DJ: What are “Chad Parties?”

SA: Our friend Chad used to throw these great parties in his apartment and all we would do is dance and play awesome music, and it’s not music that you’re typically going to hear in most places. So that’s what we want to bring to the public… like, outside of Chad’s apartment. 

LG: We want to “Chad Party” everywhere.

  DJ: Can we make that a hashtag?

SA/LG: "Chad Gon B Der"

SA: Yeah, it’s a thing.

  DJ: How did you end up wanting to do this together?

SA: It was literally a 50/50 thing. We were always hanging out and talking about all of the things we wanted to do. We were like ‘Oh my god, there’s this potential that we’re sitting on - that’s just not being worked on.’

LG: I used to do an International show for KLSU, and I was always trying to get her on. We've always had an idea of working together.

  DJ: What’s the next step?

SA: Working towards physical equipment and not just working from our computers... Hopefully making our own music and playing parties, but that’s something that we have to build towards. Have fun, make parties happen, create atmospheres.

LG: We’ll be around for a minute. We don't take ourselves too seriously though.

  DJ: So what does DJ'ing mean to you guys? Do you feel like part of the party or fade into the background?

SA: You’re in the mix. You’re having fun, too. You’re not just in the background. I don’t feel like I’m doing a job; I’m contributing.

LG: It’s a blast. We’re really lucky to have freedom with what we do - that there are people embracing this fresh thing. Venues are welcoming, and we're gracious. There are some truly great people in this town.

  DJ: So, Leo, you’re the Art Director for Delta Literary Journal. How did you get involved with Delta?

LG: For the last three years I’ve always been somewhat involved... with the readings at least. Being here and just being a part of the community. I have an emotional investment in a way… I didn’t plan on joining Delta, but it’s the best thing. I really just feel like there’s a new direction to push into, and we’re really onto something fresh. We have a great staff working to revamp the journal this year.

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Sarah Alem is a senior, International Studies (Latin America) major at LSU.

Leonela Guzmán is a junior, Political Science and History double major at LSU, as well as Art Director for Delta Literary Journal. She is also one of our readers in the ongoing Highland Reading Series this Thursday, October 17th at 7:00pm. For more information, check out our Events page.

To see more of Las Tinas and their mute interpretation of the recent film “Gravity”, check out @deltajournal on Instagram.

[deltaliteraryjournal]

Meet the Artists: Phillip Spotswood

Our final Highland Reader in this week's “Meet The Artists” series is Phillip Spotswood. Swing by tomorrow at 7 PM to see what else this guy has up his sleeve!

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DLJ: Hey, Phillip. Thanks for meeting with us. Why don’t you give us a little introduction?

PS: Well, I’m Phillip from Mobile, Alabama. I moved to Baton Rouge to join City Year. It’s a non-profit organization; it’s education based. We go into under-resourced schools and offer whole-school support and teacher supplements. Got here in July for training and it’s a ten month program, so I’ll be here until May.

DLJ: That’s incredible. Does that affect your writing at all?

PS: Yeah, well, it affects it pretty realistically in the sense that I don’t have time to write. At the end of the day you are drained. I get there every day at 6:45 AM... It’s a high-stress job.

DLJ: It sounds impressive. So when you do have time, what do you produce?

PS: Poetry. I’d say sometimes it veers into short fiction or flash fiction, because I’d say my poetry leans towards the prose-y side. Sometimes the longer prose gets into flash fiction.

(Check out this month's Flash Fiction Contest here!)

DLJ: So has writing always been something you wanted to do?

PS: I’ve always liked to read and write, but up until my sophomore and junior year transition, I was only interested in writing literary theory - which is researched-based writing. I really liked that, and it’s what I was into. I didn’t really get into the creative side. I appreciated it, but I wasn’t that interested. Creative writing is definitely a lot more work for me than literary theory.

DLJ: Do you find yourself more of a “left-brained” person because of that? Are you are attracted more to logic, math and science as opposed to creative arts?

PS: Yeah, I tend to me more logical in thinking and not as creative as people think I am. So that’s why it’s surprised me that I got into creative writing. Even now I’m battling with whether I want to go for an MA or an MFA.

DLJ: Is there something central to your writing now that you’re doing creative writing?

PS: I remember one of the first poets that I really got into was A.R. Ammons. He was writing in the 50s and wasn’t really known. He’s a logical poet. He writes about hard science. Awesome stuff. I really dug it, and I saw this mix of disciplines between creative thinking and logical reasoning that I really appreciated.

DLJ: How would you describe your overall style?

PS: My poems tend to be very ruminating. Revolving around one idea but with a logical flow. I write about hard science and the awe that's in realizing scientific facts. Like, the formula for velocity. I have that tattooed on my leg. Velocity is time over distance, so the idea of something constantly moving forward and never being stagnant or backtracking... That’s how my mind works. I take something like that and expand it to an abstract thought.

DLJ: It's taking something impersonal, like a formula, and romanticizing it.

PS: Yeah, and that’s what A.R. Ammons does, too and that’s why I like him. Same idea with this [astronaut on forearm]. I’m really into the idea of drifting. The image of the astronaut, cut off from his ship, just drifting in space… I really love that idea. A lot of my writing centers around the idea of drifting and what your state of mind is in a place of drift.

DLJ: Are you going to bring some of that Thursday? Have you read before?

PS: Yeah, one of the pieces is a lot about drifting and I’ll definitely read that.

DLJ: Aside from Ammons, are there other inspirations?

PS: There’s this contemporary poet, Carol Lynne Knight. She’s awesome. I met her through a poetry instructor at Alabama. We read Carol’s book called Quantum Entanglement. Specifically, the idea is that this subatomic particle over there [signals] is somehow mysteriously linked, we don’t know how yet, with a particle over here [signals again]. Whatever B does affects A. She takes that idea, applies it to relationships in her life, and explores how that idea manifests itself. She takes that hard scientific theory and, like you said, romanticizes it. 

DLJ: So how on earth did you hear about Delta?

PS: My friend Sarah goes to LSU, and I had been looking for some kind of outlet like this. I saw that she was going to a reading. I kind of butted my way in and was like, “Hey, I want to read.”

DLJ: Well, it worked.

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Phillip Spotswood is a 22-year-old English graduate of University of Alabama. He is one of the featured readers in our ongoing Highland Reading Series this Thursday, October 3rd at 7:00pm. For more information, check out our Events page.

To hear more about Philip and his thoughts on the Breaking Bad finale, of which he’s never seen an episode, check out @deltajournal on Instagram.