Issue 1: Winter 2025
The Personal Is Political - January 19th, 2026
Dear Reader,
Gloria Anzaldúa, renowned intersectional feminist scholar, wrote that “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.” (Borderlands/La Frontera, 1987, 34). In other words, Eurocolonial actors and institutions violently impose assimilationism onto people of color, queer and transgender people, disabled people, and more people who don’t identify with the dominant population. Taking inspiration from Anzaldúa, we build upon the work of women of color, decolonial, and transnational feminists by establishing Wild Tongues Journal, an artistic and literary space for nonmainstream voices, identities, and subjectivities to thrive. Within the highly politically charged climates in both the Global South and the Global North, we recognize the urgency of personal, political, and intellectual expression through artistic mediums.
We firmly believe in the axiom, the personal is political. The pieces we have displayed in this issue demonstrate that in myriad ways. From music to poetry to digital art, each piece resonates with the theme and is imbued with the distinct background, character, and lived experiences of its creator. The artists and writers published in our Winter 2025 issue challenge and disrupt dominant narratives. “Intersticios On The Body,” an essay by Emma Melara, tackles the issue of sexual violence deployed against women of color. Kass Malcor’s artpiece, “Will You Have Said Nothing?,” criticizes CSULB’s discriminatory actions towards transgender folks on campus. The poem “Cleanse” by Karen Guevara calls out the violence of racism towards Latine people. Their works coalesce to form a collage of existence, resistance, and resilience from local to transnational scales.
We would like to thank the submitters and readers of Wild Tongues Journal! We would also like to extend our gratitude and appreciation for the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach, and especially to our faculty advisor, Dr. Basarudin. We hope that this inaugural issue resonates with you and showcases the strength of wild tongues that refuse to be tamed.
With radical visions of solidarity,
Darya and Christine
POETRY
ART
★ To The Place That Raised Me, Even Though Times Got A Little Crazy
by Violet Valdivia
★ Chola Doll
by Violet Valdivia
★ Will You Have Said Nothing?
by Kass Malcor
This piece was made around the CSULB Presidential Open Forum on February 19th, 2025. I spoke at the open forum to call attention to the crushing silence from CSULB regarding the attacks from the Trump administration on transgender and gender non-conforming people. A few days before the forum the CSULB administration finally released a statement meant to address the fear caused by these attacks in an email titled “Support for CSULB Community” (sent February 14th, 2025), however, it made no mention of the word “transgender” in the body of the text. Only making vague statements that the university is committed to its students and employees “whatever their identities,” without describing how they intend on demonstrating that commitment or actually to whom. I made this piece in response to it: a drawing of the Walter Pyramid at sunrise comprised of various phrases, the clouds and sky being composed of the messaging that should break
through the fear of the word “transgender” and instead encourage our solidarity.
MUSIC
★ Melody of Freedom by Arvin Tabassi
“Melody of Freedom” (نغمه آزادی) is a song Tabassi wrote in solidarity with the nation-wide protests of Iran, initially sparked by the death of the 22 year old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini on September 16th, 2022. It features a famous Iranian revolutionary song known as “Barpakhis” (Arise), singing about Woman, Life, and Freedom. Multiple traditional Iranian instruments are incorporated with contemporary styles, reflecting the modern movement of our generation that is keen on obtaining a free identity as well preserving Iranian heritage and culture. This song was written as a reflection of sentiments towards past and ongoing situations within Iran. Tabassi's hope is that it touches the hearts of those that have been mutually affected in the face of adversity, knowing that Iranians within the nation and across the globe are striving towards a brighter future free of oppression and injustice.
ABOUT OUR CREATORS
Adrian Lugo
Adrian Lugo is a cultural anthropologist with a BA in Anthropology from CSULB. Currently a master’s candidate in anthropology at CSULB. He is a researcher with experience in virtual ethnography, video game research, and DEI work. Research interests include: Digital Spaces, Virtual Ethnography, Multimedia Ethnography, and video games.
Alejandro Hernandez
Alejandro Hernandez is an English student at California State University, Long Beach. His work is influenced by Latin American and Lusophone postcolonial literature, and often explores memory, silence, and the ways political histories surface in intimate spaces. He is based in Southern California.
Arvin Tabassi
Arvin Tabassi is a Composer & Producer writing cinematic for music in Film, TV, and Games. His works have been featured in multiple professional and student projects, and shared on various online platforms. Much of his music takes inspiration from both modern and traditional genres, influenced by cultures all around the world.
Cheri Mae Jocson
Cheri Mae Jocson is a first-generation Filipina poet and artist born in the Inland Empire and living in Los Angeles. She is the author of hybrid poetry and journal collections: All Out of Confessions (Curious Publishing, 2023), and I Have A Confession– (Curious Publishing, 2021). Cheri Mae received her B.A in Creative Writing from California State University of Long Beach where she was the recipient of the 2024 William Shadden Memorial Award for Poetry.
Cynthia Fernandez
Cynthia Fernandez says the piece, “Being Proud,” was a long thought up piece. It's a piece that will always hold a special place in her heart. Fernandez’s collegiate pursuit is to, in the end, become a dermatologist.
Daisy Selene Rodriguez
Rodriguez is a 28-year-old queer woman with deep roots in Mexico and El Salvador. Rodriguez writes and creates from the rage, fear, and pain she has witnessed and lived through. Rodriguez chose to use their voice for those who do not share the same privileges she does.
Emma Melara
Emma Melara is a Salvadoran-Mexican writer based in Los Angeles, California. She is currently pursuing a MFA in Prose at California State University, Long Beach. She loves books, cats, and pozole.
Karen Guevara
Karen Guevara is a Latin American poet who blends both English and Spanish in her poetry. The themes of her poetry revolve around community, family, and oneself. Through her poetry, she aims to be a voice for those in her community who are overlooked.
Kass Malcor
Kass Malcor (they/them) is a History Major and Queer Studies Minor, they are a transfer student and in their senior year at CSULB as of Spring 2026. Their research focuses on the emergence of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s in the US and how it intersects with the pathologizing of queerness.
Matilda Iem
In the past, Matilda's poetry has been featured in the Palouse Review and events with the Long Beach Public Library. As an aspiring artist, she enjoys trying to paint a picture with her poetry. She lives in Long Beach, California.
Myla Zuri Hartman
Myla Zuri Hartman is an avid reader and writer who has been dabbling in creative writing since she was 9 years old. She writes poetry, fan fiction, and fiction in her free time, and her writing is heavily influenced by themes of growing up, emotional turmoil and struggles, and healing. Myla is a freshman at Girls Academic Leadership Academy in Central Los Angeles, is of mixed heritage, and resides with her family in Venice, California.
Stephanie Rowitz
Stephanie Rowitz is a Master's student in the English department at California State University, Long Beach, where she also earned her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. Her main research interests include twentieth-century British literature, with a focus on Modernism, feminist theory, and the gothic.
Violet Valdivia
Violet Valdivia is a mixed-media artist based in California whose work explores themes of nostalgia, identity, and memory. Drawing from personal histories, she uses painting, printmaking, and 3D media to highlight the tensions and contradictions in notions of representation and belonging. Her practice offers an interdisciplinary perspective informed by broad sociological contexts while being grounded in collective and personal histories.