2nd ANNUAL STEVENSON POETRY NIGHT

At the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Saint Helena

at The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

6:30 P.M., Thursday, April 26

1492 Library Lane

St. Helena, CA 94574

MDR AND THE HAY(NA)KU AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY

From Sonoma State University--

Reprinting Facebook Note: "Decolonization via ethnoautobiography"—to raise that to 60 first-year college students is, among other things, to appreciate and respect more those who teach for a living, and especially those addressing such tough if not fraught topics. Deep gratitude to decolonialism scholar and professor Leny Strobel for inviting me to lecture and workshop. I presented both the hay(na)ku and the MURDER DEATH RESURRECTION projects as exercises in destabilizing centers of power (at least poetically) and thinking more creatively and with more empathy. The last two images are sample hay(na)kus. I see that these students are living with so many types of pressure (as affirmed by one who wanted to show me her journal after class). "Deep Grief" (referring to how the environment is personalized) simmers about. Afterwards, I'm glad students used the word "interesting" more than once when asked their opinion about poetry and what unfolded in class. From what I understand, poetry doesn't always end up ... interesting. Lastly and certainly unexpectedly, I learned something about my son's life from these students, de facto his peers—hopefully it improves me as a Mom.