5 Questions with Cassandra
My name is Cassandra Bolesh. My pronouns are she/they. I am a Woman in STEM, and a Human in the Arts. I'm based in Potsdam, NY, where I am finishing up my degree in Public Health & Environmental Studies. I am *so* excited to be part of the Yokel 2026 crew! I am an artist of many forms, but some of my favorites are poetry, photography, and dance. My poetry will be featured in Yokel, and I am so excited for people to meet and read my words, as well as for me to read the words of the other contributors! I believe in art that defies societal expectation and norms, and that shines through my provocative poetry. Also, I often view poetry as a form of exorcism for heavy emotions and events. Check out my Substack, @prophetessportals. Enjoy!
1. If you could teleport once with no return trip, where are you going?
Oh my goodness, I am so excited about this question! Teleportation has been *very* high-up on my superpower wishlist since I was a kid. I’ve been currently (half) joking about booking a one-way flight to Europe once I graduate (soon!), because the current regime in the United States is terrifying..So, to make a long story short (I love to yap, and I live to yap): I’d pick Europe, specifically France/French Countryside/Italy/Greece/Scotland. I can’t pick.. So basically a non-stop European tour, with a home base in one of the locations.
2. What would your warning label say?
Red Flag: Drawn to Red Flags
3. What’s a personal “aesthetic era” you look back on fondly or with horror?
Does fondly and with horror count? In middle school, around 2014-2015 but spanning parts of 2013-2017, too, (including half of high-school), I had a soft emo aesthetic phase. I wore Hot Topic-coded rubber bracelets promoting emo/soft punk/soft metal bands and their song lyrics. I used a black eyeliner colored pencil, (that I literally had to periodically sharpen with the equivalent of a pencil sharpener...), to draw a line on my waterline (look it up for full cringe effect)...every day...to school...lol. Aka I was braver than I am now, at least in that arena. It hurt! I’m thankful it didn’t damage my eyes/vision long-term. I wore elastic black lace-effect choker necklaces. Painted my nails black/dark sparkly colors. Wore a lot of black, dark purple, and burgundy. Had black lace-up combat boots from Payless that I wore to bits. Got Doc Marten boots for Christmas. You get the picture...
Interestingly enough, I later learned from one of my favorite astrologers (June of Saturn & Honey) that we often embrace the sign of our 10th house in our natal chart to embrace rebellion/expression in our teenage/young adult/adult years. This is attributed to the fact that the 10th house of reputation/persona/career opposes our 4th house of home & family, ancestry, roots, and childhood. My 10th house is in Scorpio. I was definitely hardcore embracing my Scorpio Era!
4. What personal hill will you die on?
A series of hills;
➔ No human is illegal on stolen land
➔ Trans rights are human rights
➔ People should be allowed to be queer/LGBTQIA2S+, and accepted.
➔ We have to protect and care for Mother Nature, and all of our animal and plant (and fungi!) siblings
➔ Feminism isn’t a bad word
➔ And so many more...
5. What is a mundane task you take way too seriously?
I’m most certainly your typical “messy artsy dirty hippie” (I even wrote about that in a poem recently), and I often procrastinate cleaning...but when I actually get to cleaning and organizing, I am extremely meticulous and detail-oriented (I suspect that’s part of why I end up avoiding it so much-because it takes me forever once I finally get to doing it!)