Glowing in the Dark: A Solstice Reading

Reading from We Were Not Alone, a Community Building Art Works Anthology

edited by Hari Alluri & Seema Reza with an introduction by Jewel

Since 2010, Community Building Art Works has been building community in military hospitals through workshops led by professional artists. In that time, we’ve learned that more voices make for stronger community. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we moved our workshops at Walter Reed and Ft Belvoir online and opened them up to everyone, regardless of military connection. At “the altar of the laptop,” as Army veteran and community member Anne Barlieb calls it, people from around the world met weekly to write and cry and laugh, to hold one another across space. The poems included in this anthology are written by established authors and workshop participants, some folks being both: members of our community—writers of our time. All profits help our programs grow.