Nathan Spoon 🧠 🏳️‍🌈

excellent

an abstract meta-expressionist painting

acrylic, ink and gloss on unstretched canvas

#art #painting #acrylicpainting #abstractpainting #expressionism #casualism #metamodernism #metaexpresionism

“I’m Kind of Stuck in the Middle. I Don’t Know Where to Go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults | Autism in Adulthood Background: Autistic adults frequently experience social stigma, which may be compounded by additional marginalized identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. Black autistic adults, in particular, may face unique challenges at the intersection of racial bias and autism stigma. However, the experiences of autistic people with intersecting marginalized identities remain underexplored in research, contributing to a limited understanding of stigma’s impact across diverse communities. Methods: We used qualitative methods to explore how intersecting identities shape autistic adults’ experiences of stigma and marginalization, with an emphasis on Black autistic adults. In total, 32 autistic adults (16 Black and 16 White) completed a semi-structured interview regarding their social experiences. Participants shared recent stories of peer exclusion, acceptance, discrimination, and support that they had experienced, as well as their feelings surrounding these events. We recorded and transcribed these interviews and used an inductive, or data-driven, approach to thematic analysis to identify salient themes in the data. Results: We generated three intersectional themes, which encompassed the unique impact of stigma on those with intersecting identities. Specifically, these themes included: (1) identity-based discrimination shaped by race, gender, and LGBTQ+ status; (2) challenges in obtaining and processing an autism diagnosis; and (3) difficulties navigating personal identity, particularly among Black autistic participants. While autistic adults broadly reported stigma experiences, Black participants often described layered forms of exclusion related to both their race and autistic traits. Across racial groups, women and LGBTQ+ participants also reported distinct forms of marginalization and erasure. Conclusion: These findings highlight how autism stigma intersects with other marginalized identities to shape social experiences. Black autistic adults, along with autistic women and LGBTQ+ autistic people, may encounter compounded barriers to acceptance, identity development, and belonging. These results underscore the need for more inclusive research and supports that attend to the diversity of autistic experiences.

Black autistic adults are too often left out of conversations about stigma and autism.

Our new paper shows how stigma is shaped by race, gender, and sexuality, creating unique challenges for Black autistic adults, women, and LGBTQ+ autistic people.

www.liebertpub.com/d...
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an abstract meta-expressionist painting

acrylic on raw canvas

#art #painting #acrylicpainting #abstractpainting #expressionism #casualism #metamodernism #metaexpresionism

new painting - acrylic and gloss on canvas

#art #painting #acrylicpainting #abstractpainting #expressionism #casualism #metamodernism #metaexpresionism

truly vile

Thank you!

an abstract meta-expressionist painting

"One Way," acrylic on canvas, 2025

art is a community, and part of being an artist is being a part of that community: go to openings. see the work of your peers. talk with people about their work and your work. participate.

you might create work alone, but you and your art does not exist in a bubble.

Nathan Spoon on "The Three Trees at Hudimesnil" I wanted this poem to also evoke the feeling of wonder still beating at the heart of being alive now, the glimmers of hope still shining here.

Today's Feature:

In this week's installment of What Sparks Poetry: Nathan Spoon on “The Three Trees at Hudimesnil”

Read here:
poems.com/features/wha...

Experiences of autistic joy Challenging mainstream narratives of autism as disaster, this participatory study of Autistic Joy found that a majority of its 86 participants often experienced joy. The study was conducted using a...

Autistic voices suggest the key barrier to joyful experience is not autism itself but other people’s lack of acceptance of authentic autistic behaviours such as stimming & pursuit of special interests.
Wassell, E. (2025). Experiences of autistic joy. Disability & Society doi.org/10.1080/0968...

Thank you for your dedication to poets and poetry. Excited for you to discover your next chapter!

Honeybee on the lip of my small birdbath, sipping water. Algae spot I need to scrub better. Sigh.

My writing advice is also water the bees when you water the birds and and watch out for bees before you spray everything with your garden nozzle. 🐝 🌱

Mirrors and Reflections (preview) Six disabled and neurodivergent poets consider what it does and doesn’t mean to be a disabled poet.

I loved being part of this conversation about disabled and neurodivergent poetry in the new issue of The Writer's Chronicle - the official magazine of @awpwriter.bsky.social

writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/2025-apr...

also, my book has a pre-order link!

press.syr.edu/supressbooks...

circling back to add that the pre-order link for my book is now up!

press.syr.edu/supressbooks...

two smiling faces in downtown LA

cover of "the importance of being feeble-minded"

got to spend my AWP days with the best of poetry besties. + reminder that my book now has a cover!

In a world that constantly reminds us of our capacity for destruction, perhaps the most revolutionary act is to tell stories about our capacity for tenderness. To suggest that sometimes, the quiet magic of a garden can be as profound as the clash of armies.

Thursday morning at AWP! with Julie Marie Wade, @ivertownandcountry.bsky.social & @dawnlundy.bsky.social !

not sure my body/nervous system is either. wishing you safe and easy travels!

Writers and/as Artists Seizing the Image How do writers working at the margins of race, gender, and sexuality seize the possibilities of the image in verbal language through visual art? This panel negotiates the interplay between drawing, collage, video, and graphic art against the usual means of writing: story, metaphor, and plot. This panel presents five writers who practice visual art to resist conscripted identities to present radical possibilities of the imagined across verbal and visual language via the image, icon, and picture. Thursday, March 27, 1:45, Room 518, Level Two

I won't be at AWP. But, my dearest Ronaldo Wilson & I put together this panel on writers working w image, which came out of a silly & serious collab we created together. My presence will be in the room *somehow*, remains to be seen! I promise you'll get a kick out of it.

[Text description: Does your AAC work? We are looking for current postsecondary students who use AAC devices and strategies to study. Task: sharing your experience in a way that works for you. Rewarsd: up to AUD200 & joy of being valued for who you are. Join Now. jing.hu@monash.edu. Approved by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee.] [Image description: A manual Proloquo Board is placed next to an iPad with Proloquo loaded on it]

PhD student Jing Hu from Monash University is conducting a study on the experiences of post-secondary students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

Please find more information below: sites.google.com/monash.edu/j...

yes. otherwise i'd have to unfollow people when i want to keep in touch.

everyone talks about doomscrolling, but doomposting is worse

GAY-SCAPE FROM LA! A virtual reading between beestung and just femme & dandy. Tuesday March 25th from 6:30pm to 7:45pm EST. Featuring n.l. rivera, iris nguyen, Erika Gill, Young Fenimore Lee, Jennifer Wang, Tylyn Johnson, Alex Carrigan, j.j. rowan, felix salmoran, and emcee Kirin Khan.

Happening TOMORROW night, Tuesday March 25th! Email me for the Zoom link!

Welcome Back While not dreaming what am I doing. Getting lost among the leaves it seems. But why even. Why not let the leaves get lost among me as I lose myself among them enjoying the real effervescence of mutual mutability. One night an owl called out. What is it saying I asked myself as one does in situations like this. As if I could or had a right to know. People we forget remember us all the time. The bench empty under the nearly leafless tree is probably lonely. I could ask it but then I would be left holding one too many things. There are days anybody might feel like rolling up their heart and drawing what goes with it into a shell.

This is one of two poems in the (still) current issue of Southern Humanities Review. I also have a new collection due out soon in the Propel Disability Poetry Series and poems on the way in the anthologies "Love Is for All of Us" and "I Witness"

Authors sharing new publications: post links and alt text! 💙💙💙

We want to read your things, we really do. 📚

thank you!

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Martha!