Hip Hop Educator's Institute

The Hip Hop Educator's Institute featured presenters/participants from a variety of traditional and non-traditional academic environments as well as performers, poets, visual artists, and dancers.






This conference was intensely personal for most, if not all, participants. Sure, we modeled classroom activities, sampled critical approaches to hip hop as texts, wrote and shared lesson plans, explored prompts and writing exercises, built rudimentary beatbox skills... but we also looked deeply into each others eyes, spoke without speaking, confronted our fears, and performed our hearts out.

There aren't words for the gratitude I personally feel toward all the participants and Josh, Katrina, MIcheal Cirelli, Queen God Is, David Kirkland, Daniel Banks, Willy Nye, Kaheama Byer, Piper Anderson, Mark Gonzales, and Chris “Kazi” Rolle. I am a person much too small to say this, but thanks to Amiri Baraka who opened the institute with his talk (peep the flyer below, designed by the one and only Erika Bozinovski!!!).





Steve came over from Bloomington to attend the conference, too. I am SO grateful he was there- both for his own life work and also to be my compassionate brother ear.



To my new friends- I'll be back through Madison sooner than later. Until then, keep on! I LOVE YOU!








Go Asia! First Wave- WHAT?!?!?!





Passed Shelly in a rush through the Atlanta airport. We need to catch up! Somebody email somebody!

I'm in El Dub for one more day, then off to Washington for Brave New Voices, the national youth poetry festival presented by Youth Speaks... and I am ready to catch that fire!

Here's to hope and action!