FROM METRO STREETS TO APPALACHIAN TRAILS

From Gaza to Kentucky: Sit In the Sun With Your Neighbor, Free at Last

April 11, 2025 | Culture, Opinion, PRISM

Queer voices in Gaza mourn love and life under Israel’s bombardment.

PRISM: Making Peace at Home

February 26, 2025 | Culture, PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky.

| Culture, PRISM

PRISM: The Fated Failures of a Harris-Walz Ticket

January 26, 2025 | Culture, PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky. By Drew Webb Before this most recent presidential election, I’ve never wondered if shock is a contingent factor in heartbreak. Surprise can twist a knife but cannot wield that blade alone. It’s historically a recipe […]

| Culture, PRISM

PRISM: What Rest is Teaching Me

December 22, 2024 | Culture, PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky.

| Culture, PRISM

PRISM: The Royal Decree

December 15, 2024 Culture, PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky.

PRISM: Bare Bones of a Trailer

October 30, 2024 PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky.

PRISM: What Collage Means to Me

September 23, 2024 PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky. by Jas Turk “Grounded” by Jas Turk Current Inspirations: Dust Tracks on a Road | Zora Neale Hurston When You’re Ready, This Is How You Heal | Brianna Wiest Frybread Face and Me | Billy […]

PRISM: The Velvet Phase

September 7, 2024 PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky. I heard it first, in the dark: an otherworldly squealing, high-pitched and sometimes close to sweet. Was it some kind of alien insect screeching, sending transmissions to listeners off-planet? UFOs love New Mexico, I was […]

PRISM: Wedded To The Land

August 4, 2024 PRISM

by Chaney Williams At the grotto beneath the statue of Mary, I spent several weeks writing and reading every day at the Loretto Community in Nerinx, Kentucky. I was there as an Artist in Residence through the Kentucky Foundation for Women. I sat on the stone bench and prayed for the collective liberation for all. […]

PRISM: ACQUIESCE

June 24, 2024 PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky. by Kenresa Jones Waxing Gibbous Moon March 22, 2024 11:04pm Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA PLAYLIST: Galimatias – “Wonder” Aches – “Her” Maxwell – “Silently” Marzz – “In The Morning” Emeli Sandé/Jay Electronica/Áine Zion – “Garden” […]

The Agony of the Leaves: Reflections on Tea

May 17, 2024 PRISM

As early as I can remember, I’ve been a student and lover of tea, Camellia sinensis. Green tea was my preferred beverage growing up, and if given a choice between tea, juice, and soda, I would choose green tea–preferably with honey and fresh lemon.

PRISM: The Call for Home

March 13, 2024 PRISM

PRISM is a storytelling series amplifying the experiences, creativity, and imagination of Black, Brown, and Indigenous storytellers based in Kentucky. by Persephanie Chiddick The country of my origin celebrated her 42nd year of independence from Great Britain the same month that I turned 32, November 2023. I stood over my latest attempt at our national […]

We Been Here: Honoring Black Queer Kentuckian Ancestors

February 16, 2024 PRISM

Austen Smith is a spirit-forward visionary artist, writer, social researcher, and founder of Our Lunar Intelligence, a black-centered organization focusing on housing justice and arts/culture. Austen uses ancestral reverence and black philosophies of space/time to restore the imaginations of systemically disempowered peoples. The PRISM storytelling series is back, and it’s Black History Month. I am […]

Rituals of A Sex Worker

September 27, 2021 PRISM

[cw: sexually explicit language, images, and descriptions] 4:45 AM The numbers flash in big red marquee bulbs behind my eyelids. The scorching brightness of the movie projector in my mind’s eye flickers, jolting me into consciousness: […]

The Earth Will Know Me Again

September 13, 2021 PRISM

Somewhere among the waters of childhood, maybe even sooner memories tucked into the folds of rolling hills sung by the birds in the trees, I can’t quite remember. Upon our very first entrance into this world, it is the touch of the one who gave birth to us that weaves together the emergent threads of […]

Death of a Body – A Call to Dance

August 18, 2021 PRISM

{content warning: alcoholism, death, disassociation, self-pity, self-deprecation, and some things related; religion, obituaries, and generational trauma} When I stopped dancing, my body tensed for forfeit. It forgot where it was going. It edged me – herded energy to its unknown parts. Important cavities forced havoc; shimmered down in the absence of self-understanding. A kind of […]

Reclaiming My Divinity

July 25, 2021 PRISM

Cave City is a small town off of 1-65 south. Most people know it as the huge ass dinosaur exit. But it’s more than that. It is home to a rich history and culture of Black Americans⸺most of which have been here since emancipation. I even lived across the street from the first school for […]

PRISM Letter from the Editor

July 20, 2021 PRISM

When Queer Kentucky reached out to me to create this series, I admittedly felt hesitant about accepting the task. On the surface, the task was simple: find five writers across the state who identified as Black, Brown, Indigenous or person of color, and curate the platform for them to tell their stories. It sounded easy, […]