The Summer of Words
My Adventures in the Writing World.
Summer stirs up a lot of memories for me. I have a lot of stories to share about my summer experiences. It always seems that every year, my summers are the most meaningful for me. To begin, in 2018, I had the best summer ever as a writer. It was a summer full of traveling around the country, meeting new people, and gaining perspective on my writing.
In 2018, it had been exactly one year since I lost my mother. The numbness had finally worn off. Acceptance has taken its place. I poured my grief into my work as an educator and as a poet. At the time, I couldn’t write prose. I was unable to concentrate on writing anything longer than a sentence. My mind was stuck on poetry. So, I continued to focus on the genre.
My efforts paid off. In May of 2018, I received an email from Voices of Our Nation (VONA). It’s an organization that supports writers of color in all genres. I had been accepted for a weeklong poetry workshop to begin in mid-June. I was ecstatic! VONA was one of my dream writing workshops.
The program was to be held in a former charter school near Oakland, California. I hadn’t been to Cali since I was three years old. I was excited to be flying out to the West Coast. I stayed in a dorm with other writers at the University of California — Berkeley campus.
Before heading off to VONA, I received word from the Tin House Writer’s Workshop that I had been accepted into their summer program. I would read, write, and receive feedback on my poetry from my peers and instructor, acclaimed poet, Shane McCrae. My mind was blown! Tin House had also been on my list of writing programs.
I met some great writers and poets at VONA. The poetess, Patricia Smith, taught a class. There was even some drama, as one of the board members, Junot Diaz had pulled out from the week’s program, due to an allegation of inappropriate behavior. Many participants were still upset over the handling of the Diaz situation.
Tin House had its own set of problems — serious problems. But let’s begin with the positive. I met some great people like Alexander Chee, Marisa Siegel, and Kiese Laymon. People who are well-known in literary circles. I met some great women, like Nancy Johnson, author of The Kindest Lie, and Regina Bradley, a professor, and author.
Tin House had a huge racial problem. This didn’t surprise me, since the summer workshop was being held on a college campus in Portland, Oregon. If you know anything about the history of Oregon, they wouldn’t allow Black people to live in their state after the end of slavery. One of its guest instructors shared a nonfiction piece that was full of fat-shaming, misogyny, and racial slurs. He presented the piece at an evening event. The event was attended by close to one hundred participants, guests, and the local community.
The fallout was so huge that the Tin House workshop organizer held a meeting the next morning to discuss the issue and allow the instructor, also an author, to explain his reasoning for presenting the volatile piece. When he came out, he immediately went into how the piece had been previously published and didn’t feel any remorse about its contents. This further infuriated the crowd.
In addition, there was a split in the audience. Some people defended the author while others vilified him. People’s racist cards were showing. Many people of color were against the author’s piece and his pitiful explanations. The meeting became increasingly heated. We had classes to attend and people weren’t ready to leave until the poet, Danez Smith appeared and told everyone to get to their classes (I love Danez).
The summer of 2018 culminated with a two-week stay in Vermont. It was there I attended Breadloaf, one of the elite writing workshops. I was living a writing dream. Breadloaf had the least amount of drama. They had some racial issues, but it was handled. I didn’t feel like an outsider even in Vermont. There were many people of color at Breadloaf. I got to meet more writers, did impromptu open mics, attended meet the editor meetings, and also I also discussed my poetry with an editor from Graywolf Books.
Three prominent workshops in one summer! I was fortunate to have financial support to help me get to the workshops. People help writers they believe in. I appreciated the people who supported me during that summer. It was definitely a summer that distracted me from the loss of my mother. I missed her then as I still do now. But I know, somewhere in the great beyond, she sees what I’m doing, and is very proud. I know I must continue writing and become a published author. It’s what I want and what my mother expects.
