Last week, I had the pleasure of attending three different events that explored the work of various prominent Black writers, poets, and artists as a part of the CAAPP’s Black Study Intensive.
The first event I attended was Emily Greenwood’s “Overthrowing Deadly Metaphors.” I chose to attend this session because it was the first session of the week, and I wanted to get a feel as to what I could expect from the rest of the week. Greenwood’s session was lecture-style followed by a q and a, and in the lecture, she explored philology and different theories around race and the ethics of slavery – most of which were from Aristotle. I was personally very startled by what I learned from this session, in that people were trying to justify the dehumanization and enslavement of people solely based on the color of their skin. To me, if you have to create theories as to why something should be allowed, it shows just how wrong it really is.
The next event I attended was “The Sweetness that Survives the Slaughter” with Aracelis Girmay and Zun Lee. I was drawn to this session because of the juxtaposition within the title – I found it alarming yet intriguing and wanted to know more. In this session, Girmay and Lee took turns sharing and explaining some of their work. Lee’s was particularly interesting to me, showing different images from the 50s and 60s. I distinctly remember one of the images was of a Black mother with her daughter dressed very nicely in front of a “White’s Only” sign. The juxtaposition of the mother and daughter with the sign, along with the fact that they can exist in the same photograph, just emphasize the constant struggle that the Black community faces, constantly being reminded that they were not wanted in certain spaces during that time. Unfortunately, this is something I think still exists today.
I also attended “Thinking in Creative Practice: A Masterclass” with Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon. I attended this session because one of my professor’s suggested it, and I thought it would be interesting to attend a session that was more of a workshop, rather than a presentation. This session was Van Clief-Stefanon leading a poetry workshop, like the classes she teaches at Cornell University. While she opted for traditional lecture-style and some free write time, she also showed a few videos to demonstrate certain points or lead into the next topic, which I found interesting. I also liked what Van Clief-Stefanon talked about in her session with the 5 D’s, while I hadn’t heard of the 5 D’s, the question associated with each D was something I have heard. Then, she added two more D’s onto the original five, which were disruption and departure, which elevated the thinking of the original five.
I’ve been putting a lot of effort into educating myself as a white person, and I’ve been doing this by engaging with Black stories, listening to Black speakers, and educating other white people. So, I saw this as an opportunity to continue that journey and continue exploring the harsh realities of what it means to be Black in America. However, I wasn’t expecting some of the sessions to have direct correlations to what I can do with my work. I went in thinking it was mostly going to be an opportunity to learn about the speakers and hear some of their work, and I wasn’t expecting to take away different ideas I can incorporate into my own work. One example is with Lee and Girmay’s session, Dawn, one of the moderators, talked about how many times a photograph is taken at face value, but then imagery in poetry is never taken as face value and is assumed to have deeper meaning. I found that point very fascinating, and it makes me want to try utilizing old photographs as a writing exercise – which isn’t exactly what they were referring to, but I think it could still be interesting.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to hear the work of Black artists alongside their personal stories. It has inspired me to continue wanting to hear Black stories, as well as become more creative within my writing and writing processes.
-Dean Pinnell
Representing Adolescence @ Pitt 