Entangled Portals
Dear community,
I hope you are finding joy, hope, and beauty in the midst of all that is.
For me, the harshness of these times is mitigated only by community, creation, and spirit. I just returned from a trip to Portland honoring the legacy of my beloved friend Ponyboy, on their one-year death anniversary. The exhibit titled Hye Freakquency showcased a lot of sketches and photography from throughout their life and grounded me in inspiration, love and legacy in community. We gathered and held their presence and perspective through their visual art.
Their transition was a catalyst for me to join a dance for social justice fellowship, and morph the grief & love into movement and expression. I was honored to show that work at the We Create festival in Boston in April, and at CHJL’s Re|Union in Los Angeles in May. I continue to be transformed by embodying and offering it.
Photo credits: Justin McIntosh (left and header) and Robert Alexander Villareal (Right)
This journey would feel incomplete without sharing this piece in NYC with my local community. My friend Angbeen - poet, filmmaker, and Moksh Communications Associate extraordinaire - and I have co-produced a very special night we’ve dreamed up — Entangled Portals. We’ve gathered an incredible lineup of musicians, dancers, and poets to create a loving, magical space together. It’s going to be an evening of traditional music, contemporary dance, and lyric poetry — a journey across the geography of feeling and desire.
Event Details
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM | Show starts promptly at 7:30 PM | Ends by 9:00 PM
Location: The Gibney, Studio H – 280 Broadway, NYC (Entrance is from 53A Chambers St)
Tickets: $20 advance | $25 at the door
Ticket Link:https://forms.gle/BxhRWfYnJtoUYKMv9
Why “Entangled Portals”?
It speaks to our interconnectedness — our struggles, joys, and liberations woven together. In physics, “entanglement” means the state of one particle can’t be described without the others, even far apart. That’s how we see community, too.
For folks in New York, I’d love for you to be there.
With love and light,
Nitika
P.s. - I’m honored to share that a creative nonfiction piece I submitted to the CRAFT Memoir and Essay Contest made it to the longlist. I’m still looking for a publishing home for this piece, which is about my family’s journey as refugees fleeing the Gulf War of 1990. So stay tuned, and I hope to share it fully someday.
Gems of Wisdom, Joy, and Healing
Hye Freakquency: Honoring the Work of Alix (Ponyboy) Meymarian Kolar
Hye Freakquency is a photography exhibit honoring the life, legacy, and creative practice of Alix Ponyboy Meymarian Kolar (they/he/she; 1976-2024). This exhibit offers a small, multidimensional reflection of their unique lens on the world through the sharing of their photography and other creative work as a mixed-race (Armenian and South Asian) queer, non-binary transmasculine artist based in the PNW.
Folks in/near Portland can view it @ the SWANA Rose Culture + Community Center.
The exhibit will be open for viewing on Saturday Sept 6th 2-6pm, Saturday Sept 7th 2-6pm, and Sunday Sept 14th 2-6pm.
I am loving the powerful music, poetry, and expression shared by the Arab Daughters, namely my friend and fellow coach Lina Kaisey. Here’s a couple of pieces -
Ounadikom - I Call Out To You - Poem by Arab resistance poem penned by Mayor of Nazareth, Tawfiq Ziyad, in the mid twentieth century, sung by Lina Kaisey.
IG: arabdaughters