The Writer’s Desk features the desks and writing practices of Gemini Ink faculty, visiting authors, teaching artists, volunteers, students, interns, staff, partners and more. Receive new posts in your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter at bit.ly/geminiinknewsletter.
Join us in welcoming Joelle Lamaie to our intern team this fall! Joelle is a sophomore majoring in English and minoring in Biology at the University of the Incarnate Word.
What’s a book or movie that you can watch over and over again and not get tired of?
Though I would love to name something considered more literary or distinguished, my honest answer is the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. I think the difference between well-made and exploitative children’s media comes down to how the creators choose to engage with children’s attention. “Good” children’s media values a child’s time and attention and honors that with craft and respect. I keep coming back to How to Train Your Dragon in part because its creators saw little me as someone worthy of a good story and beautiful art and music. It has a special place in my heart for teaching me the importance of challenging my beliefs about other people to become a more empathetic person.
Is there anything that you’ve been listening to lately—an interesting podcast, a song list, or album?
Haley Heynderickx’s I Need to Start a Garden is always in my album rotation. I suggest sampling “The Bug Collector” if you just want a taste. As a poet to my core, Haley’s lyrics blow me away. She makes incredible associative and imaginative leaps with her lyrics that many poets would covet. A few of my favorite examples are:
“And there’s a praying mantis/Prancing on your bathtub/And you swear it’s a priest/From a past life out to getcha/…/I try my best/To put the priest inside a jam jar” “The Bug Collector”
“It was more a mirage/In sickness and health/I showed you a body/Like a cluttered garage.” “Show You a Body”
“And maybe my god/Has a trot in her walk/And her Coach bag’s a knock-off/Her shoes are all dressed-up” “Untitled God Song”
What theme or symbol often emerges in your work? Why are you drawn to this theme/symbol?
I grew up in the Coptic Orthodox church, which is an ethno-religious sect of Orthodox Christianity that is deeply rich in history and ancient tradition. I had an extensive biblical education through the church that emerges in all of my writing, whether or not I am intentional about it. Much of my work explores my identity in relation to that ethno-religious community as I find myself often at odds with yet unable to separate myself from it. I also find myself writing about my family’s experience and dynamic as first generation North African immigrants.
Who are your favorite writers? And who is your favorite hero/heroine in fiction?
Growing up, I always looked up to Jo March of Little Women for doing what no one believed she could do. Then, I asked my friends to call me “Jo,” and I still do. My favorite real writers at the moment are Arundhati Roy, Dorianne Laux, Sherry Shenoda, and V.E. Schwab.
