"Will you tell me the ways you’ve been keeping beautiful to stay alive?"

Correspondence between Orlando and Leòn

Authors

  • Orlando Ochoa, Jr. New York University
  • León Ozuna University of Texas at Austin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v23i2.2440

Keywords:

life, friendship, beauty, letters, distance, kisses, South Texas

Abstract

Orlando Ochoa and León Ozuna write to each other and reflect on the details of their friendship, love, loneliness, and sex across distance. This epistolary/poetic exchange is an answer to the question of how Ochoa and Ozuna—Mexican poets and lovers from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas—keep alive in the world.

A collage of photos and materials provided by issue authors. These include: a photo of a landscape with stars shining above a curved snowy road disappearing into a wooded horizon along the coast of Gichigami/Lake Superior; a cutout of cursive text written by Caitilin McMillan’s mother that reads “to the world's best heart”; a photo of Neelofer Qadir’s hand holding colorful postcards in front of the blue water of Gris Gris, Mauritius; a handwritten letter in Spanish dated August 1983 from Alana de Hinojosa’s grandmother to her mother, Evelina “Bebe”, asking for her to come back home to Calexico, California; a black-and-white troll block print and a Valentine's Day card with porcupine quills piercing a red-and-black heart and the handwritten message “Happy Valentines Day! Contains two genuine porcupine quills, picked clean by ravens. Love, Elspeth”; a black-and-white photograph of Dr. Donald Deskins Jr. in a three-point stance wearing a football uniform; a colourful poster with doves and peace flowers and text that reads “Viva! Viva! Palestina!”; an orange envelope reading “don't you dare write back!” with a hand-drawn scowling figure; a screenshot of a Zoom grid of smiling attendees at the American Association of Geographers 2021 Desirable Futures sessions; and background text and images from valentines written by Elspeth Iralu.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-15

How to Cite

Ochoa, O., & Ozuna, L. (2024). "Will you tell me the ways you’ve been keeping beautiful to stay alive?": Correspondence between Orlando and Leòn . ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 23(2), 111–113. https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v23i2.2440

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2024): Desirable Futures

Section

Special Issue: Desirable Futures

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Orlando Ochoa, Jr., León Ozuna

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors agree to publish their articles in ACME under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To read and review the agreement, click here. In line with fair attribution and proper permissions, note any copyrights of materials cited in your paper. Do not use materials that are not fair use without express written consent.