Road Trip: Dayton, OH

So, I'm back from Dayton, Ohio where I had the opportunity to present at the Dayton Literary Festival with Dan Godston and Jennifer Karmin, two of my colleagues from the Poetry Center of Chicago and 2 people I consider literary geniuses in the line of work in which we do here in Chicago. We began our trip on Friday afternoon, when Dan picked me up and I slide into his car, meeting his lovely black dog, Gertie (aka "the poetry dog") in the packed car. The first few hours were spent updating each other on life events (they haven't seen me in few months) and we had a good time sharing poetry teaching techniques and just general funny moments as apart of teaching in the schools (some what of an impromptu meeting to prepare ourselves for the presentation at Dayton U.). We had a five minute meeting and that was about it.

I called my brother Kevin (aka "Andre") to let him know I would come by and say hi while in town, though my time was limited! It took us about six hours from Chicago to get to Dayton, because there was an accident on 75 but then, once we got into the city limits, we were able to slid by my brother's crib, say hi, hang out a bit, run over to the college, grab out registration packets for the event (around 7pm), then grab a bite to eat at a submarine sandwich shop (I had a Chicken Cheese Steak Sandwich that was off the chain) and then we dropped Andre back to his place, and had a chance to hear the Legendary Nikki Giovanni do her thing at the Victoria. I have never seen so many people in one place for a literary author. There were over 2,000 people in the place, old, young, white, black, it was a sea of faces that were glowing with the life she pumped into our souls. I really dug her storytelling and how she kind of segued way from the stories into the four bold poems she would read at the event. I was glad she read, "Nikki-Rosa" a beautiful poem that I have taught in a class before. She also read from the book she won an award - Rosa - also new poems from her book, "Quilting the Black-eyed Pea" which I picked up and also her CD which contains over 50 spoken word tracks. So that was pretty exciting for me. I wanted to have her autograph the book but it was so long (the line) and we had to get over to Cincinnati where we would be staying with Dan's family , so we left around 9:30 pm, where we picked up the poetry dog (from Andre's house).

Next day, we had to get up at six a.m. which was the earliest I have ever gotten up for a long long time. Jen and I did well, Dan was ready and we rolled out of Cincinatti back to Dayton, OH. After a little adjusting, we were on the road and ended up at the University on time at 8:15 a.m. where light breakfast was waiting for us. We set up our room for the presentation (testing the LCD player) and me testing the DVD equipment to ensure Dan's presentation and my audio would be able to work during the presentation. We had an early slot (9:00 am) and the presentation was about engaging youth in poetry with multidisplinary projects. Dan's part of the presentation dealt with some generational projects his students completed with senior citizens and students making rain sticks with poetry (cool); my poetry presentation was interactive with fun poetry things educators could do with their students - like the poetry pledge we do at the beginning or ending of each of my classes, "popcorning" poetry, and showcasing some of the student work that has been published or recorded and Jen's poetry presentation was very nice showcasing student work that was actually written and focused on teaching youth how to write free verse.

The rest of the day was spent at several workshops. Some excellent, some very boring, some very bad. There was one that sticks out in my mind - the one about Langston Hughes. Let's just say it was presented in a paper format and the person read Langston's poems "dead". I am like how can you read Langston's poems like with no feeling? That one was a struggle to sit in (imagine more than one hour in one place listening to a person talk about Langston's life as a Underground Communist. I wanted to hear more about his life as a writer, what make him a communist? And linking all of the pieces together poetically. But who am I anyway?

I did enjoy a short conversation with the legendary Toure, whose presenation was a few hours before we got to Dayton, OH. I had to pinch myself as I stood at the reception, having a general conversation with him about the Literary event.

I was happy we did get good response on our presentation, though the attendance was less to be desired. One of the attendees said she wanted our group to come back to present more about what we do with Undergraduate student teachers. I hope we do get to do that so I can come back and visit with Andre.

The other part of the trip was spent with Dan's family and we had a good time generally. Sorry no partying went on during this "working vacation" but don't worry. I'm slated to go on the HBCU trip to Ocho Rios later this year (late May) so I'm pretty sure that trip will be a no-sleep trip where I will be in all kinds of mocha madness.

Until then, ya'll be blessed and I'll talk with you soon.

Blessings,
~~Mocha Sistah