Poetic Public Sociologist
I cannot recall a time in my life when I did not write. I think my love for writing was sparked by my passion for reading. Library was my favorite school “special,” which my mom reinforced with weekly trips to our local library. I still have that library card that I memorized all 16 digits of in case I should forget it and not be allowed to check out anything (back in the non computerized days of checking out books by getting your library card hand stamped with the due date). Autobiographies ranked highest on my list of favorite book and documentary genres. As Lee Man Wah would say- I found empathy for others through my curiosity.
It didn’t matter where or how the stories were told: music, films, magazines, books (no Internet back then!) I was hooked and began writing about my own experiences. My love for writing often paid off in the form of academic and financial accolades-winning Young Author and High School Scholarship Essay contests, which further encouraged me to continue. In high school I participated in my county’s early college program where I met my good friend Michael Richards while participating in the Dead Poets Club together. We eventually began the Essence of the Soul Open Mic at a small Bubble Tea Cafe (owned by a fellow college alum) near our college in Shoreline, Washington.
Around this time I began facilitating a poetry class at the Washington State Reformatory for members of the Black Prisoner’s Caucus where I found my love for teaching. After that, the two were forever entwined for me. I continued my college education on the East Coast accomplishing my goal of publishing in each of my three college’s poetry journals and writing my Master’s Thesis and Dissertation on the topic of Spoken Word Poetry. For the past decade I have facilitated TOTUS Spoken Word Experience at the University of Maryland College Park, hosted and facilitated numerous poetry events and presented/performed at conferences such as Split This Rock Poetry Festival, The National Conference on Race & Ethnicity, Critical Mixed Race Studies, and Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru).
