We are so thrilled to welcome Safia Jama to Apogee Journal’s editorial team as our newest Nonfiction Editor! See what she has to say about finding community, seeing herself in the work of writers and artists of color, and what it means to love “work that doesn’t care to be likeable.”   Apogee Journal [AJ]: Welcome to Apogee. Tell us a little about how you came to Apogee Journal. What brought you here? Safia Jama [SJ]: I bought my first copy of Apogee Journal at the Housing Works Bookstore two years ago. I saw a painting of a black woman on the cover, her hands clasped over a white dress. (I later realized this ‘painting’ was in fact a beautiful photograph by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.) Riding the subway home, I began to read this journal that seemed unlike any other. I remember how my own brown hands mirrored the hands on the journal’s cover. I read an interview with Rich Benjamin. In it, he talks about his study of “whiteopias,” the virtually all-white communities situated near idyllic nature settings. I remember thinking about mountains and rivers and white people hiking with their families as I rode the F train back to my ethnically diverse neighborhood in... Read More