About

In 2017, I worked with pretty much any candidate running for Democratic office in Howard County (HoCo) that I could get my hands on. This included a slate running for the Democratic Central Committee (DCC), as well as some independent candidates for it. My friend, Safa Hira, who’s now on DCC, and I wanted to put together a yearbook of memories of the events, people, and moments that made the run-up to the primary election on June 26th, 2018, when the DCC race finished, a magical time for us and others. Putting one book together for each of 20 DCC candidates proved challenging. When I was trying to figure out what to do with the campaign yard signs I’d collected over the past year, I decided to make them into collages for individual candidates in lieu of a long-form yearbook. Because that was such fun, and because I wanted a place to share my experiences with all the epic, wonderful people I’ve met and have yet to meet on the Howard County political scene, I decided to fashion this bricolage-based online journal about it. At first, Facebook posts on silly but serious ways of interpreting my observations on HoCo became the space I went to for opining on local politics. It wasn’t good enough, mostly because I prize linguistic play so much that it felt like cheapening the verbal bonding my politico friends and I were doing in those digital missives. An actual web destination for my life in local politics is a way to honor it. Journaling and collage-making has been a way that I understand the world, cope with life, and enter events into the ongoing story of “Akbi” since I learned to write. In my 20s and 30s, my interest in the academic study of Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance rhetoric led me to explore how a careful attention to genre and form can deepen, broaden, and spice up my writing. Political Poetry Pastiche is a way for me to marry local politics, a record of my experiences, and fun with words and language. That last one is my greatest joy in life, so let’s get to it. Part of what I love about writing on the web as opposed to other formats is the flexibility it allows, as visual collage does, too–but more so. I can alter an article at any time. I can add, subtract, rearrange, expand, shorten. The deadline is “forever after it’s first published.” So, when the fancy strikes you, check back on articles you’ve already read. You never know–they might be different. One lesson that I’ve learned — and that inspired this site — about community organizing so far that is it’s really true what they say, that all politics is local. If it’s not, it should be. But also: all politics is, really, HoCo-al! I’m grateful for your readership! Check back with me each week here at politicalpoetrypastiche as my linguistic, literary, and generally loquacious involvement in local politics takes on a mélange of prose and poetry genres. After all: All Politics Is HoCo-al™. Join me on Facebook here, find me on Twitter at @politicalpoetr3, and follow me on Instagram using the handle @politicalpoetrypastiche.