Diana Medina on poetry/storytelling, healing and being a Latina artist
Meet Diana Medina!!
(Or rather @ offtheclocker)
If you don’t know her, Diana Medina is a first-generation Mexican-American poet, educator, and coach. In 2021, Diana released her debut poetry collection, Healing Out Loud through Alegria Publishing.
Diana and I first met at Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café in Sacramento some years ago. We both sat at a small round table sipping drinks and eating chips and salsa, as she told me it was her first time there. We chatted a bit about the poetry scene in Sacramento, and soon each of us got up to share our poems (and our truth) for the night.
What I really admired about Diana was her ability to tell stories that captivated the audience – me included. Her voice was strong, yet also held light and laughter.
I caught up with Diana recently and asked some questions around poetry/storytelling as an art, profession, and therapy. As well as what it meant to be a Latina poet.
How did you get started with poetry/storytelling?
Stories were always a big part of my family, especially when interacting with elders. I remember being a kid sitting around as the adults were talking and sharing stories about their lives, their childhoods, what life was like in the town they lived in, the chisme about other people... I felt like I was eavesdropping but they were letting me so it was also welcoming.
I started writing poetry as a tween-ager as a way to deal with my many feelings about things happening in my life. At that age (13,14,15) I started to feel the weight of the world differently. I was trying to figure out who we were, my body was changing, I started to care more about what my peers thought, and my family didn't always talk to me about any of it. Notebooks and words became a bit of a sanctuary to process all of that, to help me make sense of my own thoughts.
What inspired you to write the book, “Healing Out Loud?”
The Pandemic, I think. I didn't ever think I would write a book, but when lockdowns happened and I lost my job, I wanted a project that would feel like an accomplishment in the midst of so much that was out of my control. I had YEARS of accumulated poetry in notebooks and notes apps - things I wrote down while I was processing life changes like depression, infertility, anxiety, and trying to rebuild a life after divorce. So I thought, why not put this in a book?
What’s one art-industry anecdote you’d love to share?
This is a good one. Right after I wrote my book, I did personal deliveries to people in LA while I was there visiting. A friend from college bought many copies and gave one of them to her boss who turned out to be Jessica Alba. We ended up meeting on zoom and had a lovely conversation about the themes in my book that resonated with her. It was a very validating experience for me as a writer and poet to see what my work could connect with someone like her.
What has been the biggest challenge for you as a storyteller and poet?
At this moment I would say it’s time to cultivate the craft - not for a specific project but just because it's important to write. Work and life can sometimes get in the way of that. I also miss writing and sharing in community with others... again finding the time and having the funds to do that is hard as those spaces are not always free.
You talk a lot about healing and heritage, how has that helped shape your poetry?
It's at the core of my poetry always. For me, the poetry I write is a way to own my identity out loud and take my healing into my own hands in a way that my ancestors could not. But there are many facets to that healing. It's easy to heal through poetry when you are in a place of deep darkness or despair... but writing from a place of healing as a daily practice? That's a different story. These days it's also a different kind of poetry - I have been in therapy and working on my mental health for years. Whereas before, healing was about being able to name what my issue was: anxiety, depression, loneliness... Now my healing is about understanding the ways these issues come up in my day-to-day life as I am living it - at work, during interactions with my partner, when I am hard on myself. That is a different animal all together... and a different sort of writing really. And heritage comes into play here because much of what I am trying to understand in my writing is the legacy of intergenerational trauma.
How can women use storytelling to help them heal from trauma?
Storytelling is a powerful tool to heal trauma because it can help you unburden and make sense of moments and lived experiences in a new context. When I was part of the Moth Teacher Institute last summer, they talked about knowing if your story is about a scar or a wound... trauma comes into play in both cases, as does vulnerability. Being able to have a space in a community where you can be guided to pull the stories from your life, write them down, share them, and let others witness them and connect with you is an incredibly powerful thing. It can feel daunting to do it all alone... especially because alone in our heads... we may miss out on the meaning our lived experiences can have. But in a community with others who resonate with your experience... it can be validating and healing to feel seen and be heard. That is why I love to teach storytelling classes so much. It's a beautiful practice to cultivate.
What does it mean to be a Latina artist?
To me right now? It means leaving something behind in the world that will live on long after I go. It means seizing the opportunity to embrace art as a personal calling because my ancestors, elders and parents did all the surviving for me to have room to pursue a creative passion with my time.
What would be your advice to women of color who want to use writing as a vehicle for healing?
Just start writing... don't qualify the thoughts, don't spell check them, don't feel like it only counts as writing if it's going to go somewhere for others to see. The only audience/reader your current self needs to write for is your future self. When you look back on any of your writings you can see how much progress you've made, feel what has changed, and witness the story of your transformation written in your own words. All the other stuff will flow from there. And if you're like me and you're a lazy writer embrace technology: record a voice memo on your phone while ranting, there are apps that can plug it into a transcript later... poetry or stories will emerge from there. The3 important thing is to get the thoughts, feelings, and ideas out of your head and into a medium where you can see them and mold them into what you need them to be.
What is one tip you would like to give women of color who want to pursue the craft of storytelling?
Never say "I don't have any stories" yes you do. We all do. Stories don't need to be about big, epic, or comedic things... the most powerful stories are the ones that come from the memories we have of mundane little moments. There is a reason why those stick with us and your memory is full of them. Teach your memory like a mine... and start digging them up.
What events or projects do you have coming up you’d like us to know about?
I have a couple of projects in the works at the moment:
1) My website is going through a redesign as my writing work has continued to grow and I am defining how I want to put my work out there more.
2) I'm embarking on my third book project—a bilingual collection of poetry and essays exploring themes of family, faith, and spirituality within Latinx communities. My aim is to celebrate the human experience through the power of words, offering guidance for collective healing and celebrating often-overlooked roles, such as Tias as adult allies to young people.
3) I host a virtual monthly storytelling open mic called "Community Story Lab" on the first Saturday of each month with Capital Storytelling. I also continue to teach storytelling courses with them for people who want to learn how to build a practice around the craft of storytelling. I just wrapped up my spring round off Storytelling 101 class, but I am hosting an in-person workshop on March 16th with them at Sacramento State called "Half-Baked Stories" which will focus on how to embrace telling stories in raw imperfect first draft forms.
4) I will be one of the regional storytellers performing on March 16th at the Sacramento Valley Regional Storytelling Festival. (Sorry this one passed!)
5) More trips to Los Angeles will be going on in April for performances, workshops, and the LA Festival of Books in collaboration with my publisher, Alegria which is based down there.
