Alternative

al·ter·na·tive /ôlˈtərnədiv/

adjective

(of one or more things) available as another possibility. or not.

The alternative to what has been is better and brighter and real. We know this because of where we have been, where our ancestors have been, and where we know we will go. There is no alternative but one that is inclusive of all of us. Poetry has drawn the map.

Field

/fēld/

noun

an area of open land, especially one planted with crops or pasture, typically bounded by hedges or fences.

Or, the alternative: No boundaries or fences, no crops, only green pastures, gardens, and plains to become proof of our potential. We know these fields, their seeds carry witness, and they carry the other side of the storm.

The Story

Jessica Ceballos (y Campbell) - Instigator

Alternative Field was founded by Jessica Ceballos y Campbell first as something of a tiny press in 2016, publishing zine anthologies of work written by mostly local students, poets, and community members and often in collaboration with Avenue 50 Studio. Then in 2019, Jessica was gifted with boxes of old poetry journals and so she wanted to find a space that could incorporate a commitment to sharing while also nurturing this idea of using the poetry to negotiate how we engage with our community. She found a beautiful (and available) co-space in her hometown of Highland Park, and things were about to flourish…and then COVID happened. But then by chance, the opportunity came to move the library to a new particular space, one that Jessica fell in love with many years ago, in a building near and dear to her. Alternative Field is located inside the Avenue 50 Studio building.

Born and primarily raised in an artistic household throughout the northeast Los Ángeles of the 80s (El Sereno, then Highland Park, then Glassell Park), Jessica (daughter of immigrants, granddaughter of Indigenous women) was often inspired by the rich artistic roots of the surrounding area and its cultures. And moving forward to its disappearing present, Highland Park has shifted to something unfamiliar where art has become disassociated with its environment, and its new ways of marginalization and inaccessibility have been co-opted by real estate speculation and profit. Jessica develops programming to bring people in the community together for a common cause, and she uses poetry as the medium that re-associates and binds because it's what pulled her from trauma and the disorrientation caused by violence, abuse, and the foster system. Poetry was the clarity for her and has created access to so much. She knows it’s done the same for others and can do the same for more people.

Karineh Mahdessian, MSW - board member

bio coming

Monica Chavez - board member

bio coming

Our Work, This Land & Intention

In honoring my Wixarika and Amazigh elders and Indigenous / Native relatives, it’s of great concern for me to recognize the people who kept this (unceded) land before colonization and capitalism and who continue to call this land home.

Alternative Field acknowledges that it was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including but not limited to the local Tongva / Gabrieliño / Kizh peoples. We know how important it is to demonstrate a commitment to the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism. As a literary art space, we seek to challenge the traditionally held beliefs of how an art space can carry a responsibility to action and honor, not always or only through art but above and beyond and with intention. We do this through with whom and how we collaborate and keeping for whom at heart. But first, action and honor are not possible without acknowledgment. And it’s in acknowledgment that we recognize truth in history.

- Jessica Ceballos y Campbell

(Click HERE to read our statement on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”)