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Leslieann Hobayan
Leslieann Hobayan

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Mar 14

How BTS Rocked My Asian-American World

Maverick Mondays are back for another season! Weekly posts about what it’s like to live in the US as a woman of color, as the daughter of Filipino immigrants, as a spiritualist, as a witch, as a poet-writer, and as a mom to three young women. I like to call…

Asian American

7 min read

How BTS Rocked My Asian-American World
How BTS Rocked My Asian-American World

Aug 2, 2021

Heal Your Money Stories

Like the majority of folks of color, I was raised on money stories of scarcity. Add that to the fact that my parents were immigrants, fleeing a country under martial law, and had nothing when they first got here. Super scarcity! (Not a superpower you want! Haha) The other day…

Healing

7 min read

Heal Your Money Stories
Heal Your Money Stories

Jul 26, 2021

The Trauma of Hustle

These are the messages we receive in our capitalist society. It’s all GO GO GO. Do Do Do! It’s no wonder we’re all suffering from some kind of ailment, whether it’s physical illness like Crohn’s disease or a mental one like depression. This is the trauma of The Hustle. * …

Healing

5 min read

The Trauma of Hustle
The Trauma of Hustle

Jul 19, 2021

The Labels We Give Our Trauma

[content warning: child abuse, sexual violence] When I was in sixth grade, my religion teacher, Sister Pam, a young light-skinned Black nun in our parish, talked to us about how to behave like good Catholics. The night before, I had done something to anger my dad and got whipped by…

Healing From Trauma

6 min read

The Labels We Give Our Trauma
The Labels We Give Our Trauma

Jul 12, 2021

You Don’t Belong Here

You don’t know that you truly don’t belong until someone points it out to you. A few months ago, a Filipina woman was knocked down and beaten in midtown Manhattan in broad daylight. The attacker screamed at her, “You don’t belong here.” After it happened, I talked about this with…

Healing

5 min read

You Don’t Belong Here
You Don’t Belong Here

Jun 28, 2021

Healing Racial Trauma

The Summer of 2002 was the first time I entered a space exclusively for people of color. This was the intent of the space: to bring folks of color-specifically writers of color-together WITHOUT worrying about the white gaze. I was dumbfounded. To be able to be authentically ME without measuring…

Healing From Trauma

5 min read

Healing Racial Trauma
Healing Racial Trauma

Jun 21, 2021

Mothering While Brown

“You can use my foundation,” I said. “No, Mommy. I can’t.” “Why?” “Because it will be too brown.” Whoops. For a brief second, I had forgotten. My oldest and I were out shopping for makeup at the local drugstore. She was attending her first Sweet 16 party and wanted some…

Women Of Color

5 min read

Mothering While Brown
Mothering While Brown

Jun 7, 2021

Know Who Your Friends Are

The last five years have been a kind of reckoning. A revelation into who’s got your back. And who doesn’t. * As kid growing up, I didn’t have many friends. I was friendly with people, but for the most part, I was quiet. …

Women Of Color

7 min read

Know Who Your Friends Are
Know Who Your Friends Are

May 24, 2021

Write The Difficult Thing

I am writing the difficult thing. I might get some things wrong. I might get some people upset or mad. And it will definitely be messy. But it’s better than the alternative. Silence is a powerful weapon. I intend to break it. And continue to break it over and over…

Anti Racism

7 min read

Write The Difficult Thing
Write The Difficult Thing

May 17, 2021

Sorry, the Job’s Been Filled

Tell me if you’re heard this one before: I don’t remember exactly what she said to me. All I heard was “full-time”. Two new non-tenure-track (NTT) positions had opened up in the department, specifically for creative writing. One of them in poetry. …

Women Of Color

6 min read

Sorry, the Job’s Been Filled
Sorry, the Job’s Been Filled
Leslieann Hobayan

Leslieann Hobayan

Poet. Activist. Teacher. Healer.

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