LA's Poet Laureate

On April 3, 2013 I had the opportunity to visit a public reading held on campus at CSUN and hear LA’s poet Laureate. The reading took place in CSUN's Jerome Richfield Hall and was from 6pm to 8pm. The event was arranged by one of CSUN's clubs, NCWC. There was not a sign in sheet or anything, everything seemed pretty casual as you walked in. The event was completely free, it was not fancy, and there were no handouts or programs. To the back of the room there was a table with some snacks such as crackers, bread, and cheese. Two of her books were being sold, Passing and A Wild Sunrise. There were roughly 45+ seats everyone was sitting, although I chose to stand. There was an icebreaker before the event began which was by my professor and the club's president, Sean Pessin, before she got in back of the podium to speak, a young man, Cody, introduced her to the crowd. Laureate read some poems from her books. She talked about past experiences and told the crowd that she was going to be herself because the crowd was different than those she normally speaks to. She was a former professor here at CSUN but left due to the negativity she received, she said that her teaching years were the worst yet she was able to turn such negativity into a piece of art, her poetry. Although she is not a vegetarian and has nothing to do with my blog, I thought I should share this with you guys because, as vegetarians we do receive a lot of negativity and we can learn from her, and maybe one day we can take this negativity and turn it into something amazing.