“I like to see where my own life intersects or diverges from notions of what a teenager is supposed to be, or what a black personn is supposed to be, or a woman.” –Allison Joseph
What She Said, February 27: Allison Joseph
Katie Riegel
Poet, writer, mentor, workshop leader, teacher.
What She Said, February 26: Toi Derricotte
“To be published as a ‘woman of color’ makes me squiggle on a pin: I want to be read by white people, and not just white people who are interested in ‘black’ writing. I want even my speaking about color to speak in some universal way.” –Toi Derricotte
What She Said, February 25: Tracy K. Smith
“I shut my ears, averted my eyes, turning instead to what I thought at the time was pain’s antidote: silence. I was wrong… Silence feeds pain, allows it to fester and thrive. What starves pain, what forces it to release its grip, is speech, the voice upon which rides the story, this is what happened; this is what I have refused to let claim me.” –Tracy K. Smith
What She Said, February 24: Natasha Trethewey
“I have always loved the feel of books, the way they give a literal weight to words and make of them a sacred object.” –Natasha Tretheway
On Purpose: Work, Religion, and Community
I used to be a priest in the Church of Poetry. I had 60-80 parishioners per semester, mostly young people with varying dedication to Poetry. Some entered the classroom having only worshipped […]
What She Said, February 23: Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
“I had a lot of hatred, but I realized that kind of hate didn’t do much.
I had to start feuling myself with pride. We owe the ancestors that. So many of the souls who died ion bondage just want us to recognize their struggle.” –Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
What She Said, February 22: Nikki Giovanni
“A lot of people refuse to do things because they don’t want to go naked, don’t want to go without guarantee. But that’s what’s got to happen. You go naked until you die.” –Nikki Giovanni
Time to Redefine Ourselves
In a time unprecedented during the 50 plus years of my life, I am trying, again, to redefine myself. Or I am still trying to redefine myself, despite the pandemic and the […]
What She Said, January 17: Greta Thunberg
Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.
–Greta Thunberg
What She Said, January 16: Wilma Mankiller
Whoever controls the education of our children controls the future.
— Wilma Mankiller, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation
The Gloria Sirens 