What is Y.A.M.?
Y.A.M. | noun, adj
1, noun: a young, angry, melanated person. A Y.A.M. usually has little to no filter when discussing political and social matters. Kendrick Lamar went hard on that “King Kunta” track, like a prototypical Y.A.M.
2, adj: to act or express ideas like that of a person who is young, angry, and melanated. She went all the way Y.A.M. in that article about race in the publishing industry.
In other words, a Y.A.M. is a young person of color, particularly in the United States, who happens to be angry as hell about the current state of social and political affairs in her country. A Y.A.M. understands how the socio-political reality affects his life (and, by extension, writing) and has no problem letting you know how much it pisses him off. You may not have realized it, but Berneta L. Haynes, editor of Waking Writer, is a Y.A.M. extraordinaire.
Okay, so what’s the point of this space?
Y.A.M. was born from Berneta’s belief that writers must always remain conscious of the socio-political contexts within which they operate. Writers do not write in a vacuum but are influenced deeply by the goings-on in the world around them. As a young, black millennial influenced by writers like James Baldwin and Alice Walker, Berneta has never been able or even wanted to avoid socio-political issues like race, gender, class, and sexuality in her work and writing. These issues bleed through her writing and lived experiences.
This space offers her honest, unfiltered (and, yes, angry) observations on everything from politics to popular music. She hopes this space and may serve as a meeting and discussion ground for Y.A.M. folks and their allies in the United States and beyond.
Disclaimer: the views expressed in Y.A.M. are purely representative of Berneta L. Haynes and should not be viewed as representative of any of the authors highlighted on this site.
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