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Emmy Perez |
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Emmy Pérez holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative
Writing from Columbia University and a BA from the
University of Southern California. She is the author
of a poetry collection, Solstice (Swan
Scythe Press, 2003). Her poems and stories have
appeared in Prairie Schooner, New York
Quarterly, Story, Indiana Review, North American
Review, and other publications. A former poetry
fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts &
the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, she
taught writing at the University of Texas at El Paso
for five years, most recently as Visiting Assistant
Professor of Creative Writing & Director of the West
Texas Writing Project Summer Institute (2005). She
has also facilitated writing instruction for women
prison inmates and GED students through the
University of New Mexico at Gallup and she recently
taught at El Paso Community College. An active
member of the Women Writers’ Collective in El Paso,
she is dedicated to promoting literacy and the arts
through community outreach. In Fall 2006, she
will be an Assistant Professor of English and
Creative Writing at the University of Texas-Pan
American.
Project Statement: “I was inspired to begin this
poetry project for youth after the recent deaths
of beloved poets and activists June Jordan,
Gloria Anzaldúa, and Lalo Delgado. Jordan’s
Poetry for the People project in
California and Anzaldúa’s writings on the
healing and transformative powers of poetry and
writing live on. Delgado, who came of age in El
Paso’s Segundo Barrio, wrote a poem titled
‘Stupid America’ that emphasizes the importance
and necessity of art (and its cultivation) in
young people’s lives. Over thirty-five years
later, the poem is a poignant reminder of the
artistic potential of underserved youth. As part
of this project, I teach poetry in a juvenile
detention center, libraries, schools, and
community centers in El Paso. I feel extremely
honored and privileged to hear the written and
spoken words of the students each week. They all
have something important to say, and we want
them to know that we are listening.
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Lecroy Rhyanes is currently a graduate student in the MFA Creative Writing poetry program at New Mexico State University and has a B.A. in Criminal Justice and English with a minor in Creative Writing and Security Technology. Rhyanes began working as a creative arts facilitator with the NMSU Family Life Center violence prevention program for youth called ¡Aqui se puede! creating poetry/photography books, documentaries and Hip Hop/Rap/Poetry audio cds. Since 2000 Rhyanes has also hosted a radio program currently titled the Soul Session and The Representation Show on KRUX 91.5 fm at NMSU and organized a program called Youth Radio for high school students who were interested in working with radio. Rhyanes began working with Emmy Pérez and BorderSenses in May of 2006 with incarcerated youth from the Delta Challenge Program in El Paso, TX and worked on recording their poetry inside the facility using a microphone, mixer and a laptop. In the Fall of 2006, Rhyanes continued conducting weekly poetry/recording workshops on Saturday mornings with the youth from the Delta Challenge Program and continues to do so today. He plans to organize poetry workshops in juvenile facilities in Las Cruces, NM as well. For more information please visit leehiphopshow.com and aquisepuede.net
Poetry Instructor Statement: "I hope that in the future, NMSU/UTEP and these other institutions of higher education can be the home of a creative writing workshop group/organization that goes into these halls, centers and facilities and help youth with their creative expression through the craft of poetry. I hope that every hall, center and facility in this state and in my hometown of El Paso, TX gets the opportunity to have mentors and youth collaborate and work together on projects related to publication and audio recording. There are certain places in a person's mind that can be impossible to reach by trying to counsel and study their situation. It is important that they be given the opportunity to open up on their own terms and through a medium that is
solely based on helping them educate themselves and others. The benefit of poetry doesn't prove itself through scientific study or data, percentage or anything like that; it grows organically within the person. I believe that once they've embraced a pride for who they are through something that's as productive as poetry, then it provides them with a tool (a choice)when approached with the problems they've run into in the past and that they will have in front of them tomorrow."
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Ray Ramos |
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Ray Ramos is a founding member of WE3BEANS poetry
band. He has participated in numerous poetry slams
and performances and works as a VISTA volunteer in
Segundo Barrio schools. He has been writing poetry
and comics for well over 20 years. He has been
actively involved in the poetry community since the
mid nineties when he was first introduced to a group
of poets at a local college. His work has been
published in Chrysalis, Message of the Muse,
Meta-4 presents Banned, BorderSenses, and other
publications.
Artist’s Statement: “Expression, especially
one’s own, is something I feel cannot be held in
– it needs to be let out, and if possible shared
with others so that the universal conscious can
be lifted to even higher elevations. So that we
may all learn from each other and grow as
individuals…. I am heavily influenced by the
Beat Generation and good comic books especially
Spiderman, because with great power comes
great responsibility. Dylan Thomas is my
idol, and all the madmen who came before and
after who did not follow the established motifs
of poetry and writing. I am an activist at heart
and a romanticist in spirit. I am the sum of my
parts and the product of the whole… I swear I am
the lost beat, born too late and waiting for
Jack and Allen and Billy to show up in a beat up
Coup Deville… so we can all ride off into the
sunset.” –Ray Ramos
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SPECIAL GUEST INSTRUCTORS: |
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Nancy Green |
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Nancy Green is a Black Chicana poet and musician
from El Paso & Ciudad Juárez who has over 25 years
of experience working in community-based programs.
She holds a Masters Degree in Education from
Cambridge College in Massachusetts. Her CD
Music from the Heart is a compilation
of original music that combines percussion and flute
music and sends a message of peace and empowerment.
Her poetry has been published in BorderSenses
and Chrysalis. She has conducted poetry
residencies with the Tumblewords Project and writing
workshops for caregivers of the El Paso Community
College Senior Adult Program. Nancy has performed in
the Border Book Festival and is a performing artist
with the Ysleta Arts Alive Program. She is currently
conducting percussion workshops and music therapy
for students with disabilities and their families
through the Division for Blind Services.
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Herminia Escajeda is a spoken word artist and a
member of WE3Beans poetry band.
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