NEW SUNS, VOLUME I: The Arts Revolution in Belize.

Image: From My Only Sin is Being a Woman, by Belizean artist Briheda Haylock.

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My first NEW SUNS column is out. It’s about lushness in art, tourist gaze, and feather collecting. It’s about the badass corps of Belizean artist who are turning their world upside down, forcing new orbits and new centers of gravity. They’re talking about LGBT youth, domestic violence, gender construction—all new territory in a conservative pop culture. They’re forcing their country to listen. They’re creating their future.

And writing about them was made possible by my patrons. Intrigued? Join here. Patrons get all kinds of goody extras, including behind-the-scenes dirt and postcards from abroad.

Writing this piece was deeply instructive. The funny thing is, while I was writing, I kept casting about for points of reference and sources of authority. How to justify writing about THESE stories and not others?—and I’d gravitate toward Belize being English-speaking, or being a favorite of USian retirees. In other words, falling into the exact same white-proximity traps of “justification” and “newsworthiness” I observed as a freelancer all the time.

So, funny thing: I’m still finding my own orbit, too.

Thanks to those of you who are helping me.

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