ASHLA CHAVEZ RAZZANO, 18

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Ashla Chavez Razzano has found great inspiration and community in the city she calls home. As a musician in the local music scene of LA, Chavez Razzano uses the power of song and lyrics to swing the crowd and bring a sense of unity between listeners at every show. With lyrical themes ranging from third-wave feminism to the hypocrisy of religion, and genre influences such as gothicism and beat poetry, Chavez Razzano mixes her myriad inspirations into a single unique voice that she hopes to share with the world.

Chavez Razzano’s writing has been published in Poets & Writers Magazine, Pinstriped Zine, the nonprofit organization 826LA, and the debut album, “Sirens,” by her band, Street Play. Through organizing and performing at charity events, Street Play has raised money for cancer research and support for the LGBTQ+ community (specifically, support for trans youth) and plans to do more. Chavez Razzano hopes to utilize her independent writing in order to inspire similarly positive change. She recognizes the art scene of LA as a powerfully unifying force that includes youth of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, passions, and creative styles. With the momentum of her band, Chavez Razzano hopes to bring about empowerment in all she encounters.

Chavez Razzano plans to attend university in the fall of 2020 to major in English and philosophy.

He Set the Pasture Aflame

by Ashla Chavez Razzano

“Come faster, brother, the pasture’s burning,

I thought I told you to extinguish the flame.”

I doused the wick in gasoline.

And if I was wrong, God will bring rain.

“Don’t you see? Don’t you pray?”

We are in his hands at the end of the day.

It’s not my fault he made me this way.

So run from the embers and I will stay.

Holy Heaven do I seek,

Do not these burns prove me meek

Unarmed and into the fire -

I never doubted you, Father.

“If you leave yourself here,

God has wronged me.

For you have become him

And forgotten the meaning.”