Journeys: Inbound, Outbound (Inside Look Series)

In case you didn’t know, before there was The Nasiona Podcast there was (and still is) The Nasiona Magazine. On August 29th, we celebrated the magazine’s 2-year anniversary. We continued the celebration this week with our previous episode highlighting one of our authors, Carl Boon, and his imaginative biography poetry collection, PLACES & NAMES, published by The Nasiona Publishing House. We continue this celebration on today’s podcast by showcasing the work of two essayists — Stephen D. Gutierrez and Morelle Smith.

We selected these pieces to share with you today for two reasons. First, because our editorial team originally nominated them, along with four other authors, for the Pushcart Prize back in 2018, during our first few months as a magazine. Second, because of the kind of inner world exploration many of us have been experiencing during the pandemic lockdowns, while simultaneously craving for a time when we can travel freely once again. Today’s episode takes you into two kinds of journeys: the inner world of the Self, and the external world of traveling through a foreign land. 

Act 1: “I Saw It All,” by Stephen D. Gutierrez. Read by the author.

“Beware of the spiritual journey. You may end up in a place that’s not so comforting. I discovered this hard truth at a meditation retreat in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Vipassana Meditation, the time-honored method attributed to the Buddha, gave me vision, startling vision, and terror. It unanchored me,” Stephen D. Gutierrez.

Act 2: “Passages,” by Morelle Smith. Read by Jo Weston.

“Each time I go back to Tirana, I see big changes, but I seek out the old parts of town, the narrow streets, talk to people who live there and people who are visiting, and describe the unchanging and magnificent landscape. ‘Passages’ describes several visits made to Albania (after my first stay there, which I wrote about in my travel memoir Tirana Papers),” Morelle Smith.

 

The Nasiona Podcast amplifies the voices and experiences of the marginalized, undervalued, overlooked, silenced, and forgotten, as well as gives you a glimpse into Othered worlds. Hosted, edited, and produced by Julián Esteban Torres López. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @JE_Torres_Lopez

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