In this presentation, I show educators how to use art in their classroom to increase engagement, deepen connection, and extend learning. HANDOUT: http://femininepronoun.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/My-Life-In-Songs.pdf JAMBOARD LINK: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1p1D9luqgM8sYNqigxh535rQcyRQ66D...

In my work as a poet, and more specifically a poet whose work centers the ancestral, it has been an especially fruitful season. Two events have provided an opportunity for me to engage with community as a poet and to place the ancestral front and center. I delivered my poem about our brave enslav...

I wrote “hoodoo for 9 offenses (a little rock ritual)” in anticipation of performing at the 66th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine’s historic act of bravery at Central High School. I was gifted a signed copy of Elizabeth Eckford’s book The Worst First Day: Bullied While Desegregating Centra...

Our retreat house, (Fannie Lou Hamer House) where we give away space to Black artists, needs a new air conditioning system. Will you donate so that we can host artists in the fashion that matches how much they give to the community? We’ve partnered with my non profit THE COMMUNITY ARCHIVE & it is...

In 2016 the U.S. shocked me for the last time. I read this poem at the St. Louis leg of the National Women’s March:

At the beginning of this year, I was waking up at 4 am every night.  Because I value my sleep, I would lay there and stubbornly will myself back to slumber. I was determined that this weird insomnia would not leave me tired for the coming day. I had things to do. People routinely asked […]

(photo credit Richard Grzelka) I’ll be performing “Who Is Sam Blow?” the original poem I composed about Dred and Harriet Scott, enslaved ancestors who sued for their freedom, on two occassions in Memphis: June 10th at The Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library And June 11th at The Crosstown Arts Green...

Late in 2022 I finally started the non-profit that I had always dreamed of. THE COMMUNITY ARCHIVE centers African American oral history collection and its mission is to “serve as a platform for arts education and a repository for collected creative wisdom.” A few months ago we secured our first g...

A couple of weeks ago I moderated a panel discussion between artists about how art can create social change. The disciplines represented included musicians, vocalist, and dancers. The producer complimented me and said it was the best panel that he had ever attended. I replied, “In order to be int...