Thanks for joining us for another episode of Patrons & Partnerships, presented by the Library Partnership Branch of the Alachua County Library District.
Our guest today is E. Stanley Richardson, here with us today to discuss his role as poet laureate of Alachua County, his organization ARTSPEAKSgnv, and his book, Hip Hop Is Dead – Long Live Hip Hop: The Birth, Death And Resurrection Of Hip Hop Activism. With so much to talk about, this discussion has been split into two parts - join us August 26th for the second half of the conversation.
To view other interviews and performances by E. Stanley Richardson, visit his website.
Visit the Alachua County Library District website to browse our collection and to find other resources and services offered at your favorite, local library!
You can view a transcript of this podcast on ACLD's YouTube Channel.
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Patrons & Partnerships, presented by the Library Partnership Branch of the Alachua County Library District.
Our guest today is E. Stanley Richardson, here with us today to discuss his role as poet laureate of Alachua County, his organization ARTSPEAKSgnv, and his book, Hip Hop Is Dead – Long Live Hip Hop: The Birth, Death And Resurrection Of Hip Hop Activism. With so much to talk about, this discussion has been split into two parts - join us August 26th for the second half of the conversation.
To view other interviews and performances by E. Stanley Richardson, visit his website.
Visit the Alachua County Library District website to browse our collection and to find other resources and services offered at your favorite, local library!
You can view a transcript of this podcast on ACLD's YouTube Channel.
Hey. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Library Partnerships podcast, Patrons & Partnerships. Our guest today is E. Stanley Richardson, the inaugural Poet Laureate for Alachua County. This interview has been edited for length and clarity and split into two episodes. The second half of the interview will be posted on Thursday, August 26th.[music]
Tina:Thank you so much for being here. Welcome.
Stanley:My pleasure.
Tina:This is - like I said, you're the second person we've had live in the studio doing a recording. So I really appreciate it. I hope it's a sign of more normal times to come, hopefully. First of all, if you wouldn't mind introducing yourself.
Stanley:My name is E. Stanley Richardson. I am the inaugural poet laureate of Alachua County, Florida. I am the founder and director of ARTSPEAKS, Inc., ARTSPEAKSgnv, Inc., and the founder and director of the North Central Florida Alachua County Youth Poet Laureate program.
Tina:Okay, so you basically gave us our three topics to talk about.[laughs] Can you tell us a little bit more about how you were selected as the poet laureate for Alachua County?
Stanley:I, uh. It goes back to, how I was selected, the process was they formed a body, the Alachua County Arts Council, and the county did a call for artists, they created the program, they were going to have a poet laureate. I had been doing the advocacy work for having a poet laureate. Being me, I almost didn't apply. I just thought it would be a cool thing for us to have a poet laureate, because the literary arts sometimes gets lost to the visual artists and everything. And so I thought it would be great for our community to have a poet laureate, especially since I got serious about my own artistic expression in the realm of poetry. So they formed a body to select a poet laureate, they opened it up to Alachua county residents. I can't remember exactly all the criteria - I don't think being published was a criteria. Now you have a lot of, we have a lot of amazing poets in this community. Amazing poets, amazing artists. So I went through this process. I'd submitted my application. Had to have two letters of recommendation. Uh, one of my letters, I was just talking about it over the weekend, we celebrated the late Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn’s birthday over at the Cotton Club. And I remember asking her if she would write a letter of recommendation for me. And she did. When I read it, my wife and I both, when we read the letter she wrote on my behalf to the council, we both shed tears. I mean, that's how powerful that was. And I pull it out right now when I'm having bouts of doubt, or some type of imposter syndrome going on, or I'm feeling like, you know, I'm not - that I'm not really - what am I doing here in this space, you know, that kind of thing. So I went through the process and submitted my application. There were - there are a lot of applicants. They whittled it down to, I think three of us and then the three of us, they scored us, so I had the highest score going in. So the ultimate decision was made by the county commissioners, so we all went before the Board of County Commissioners and did our thing. During the process, we had to - we had to submit written samples of our work and do an oral presentation to the Arts Council, and they scored us. I scored the highest. And we went before the Board of County Commissioners. And they pretty much went by the recommendation of the Arts Council who previously scored us, and I was chosen. I almost didn't apply. But it was like, once I did apply, I really wanted to - I really, you know, “it’s gotta be me.” Tina: You were motivated. Yeah, it's got to be… Who else would you choose besides me? It's got to be me.
Tina:So what types of responsibilities - roles and responsibilities do you have as the poet laureate?
Stanley:Pretty much [laughs] what I was doing all along, promoting poetry and being an ambassador for poetry for our community.
Tina:So you were saying - you mentioned earlier that... that sometimes you feel like the literary arts are sort of lost in this community, or at least overlooked compared to the visual arts. Where do you engage with other people who are also poets?
Stanley:Okay, so this’ll probably answer your question, another question you probably gonna ask me about how was ARTSPEAKS came into being. And this is exactly how it came into being, your question, “Where do you go?” So back 2010-11, around that time when I met Carol and she encouraged me to share - I had this box of poetry, you know, that I just kept for me. I didn't share it with anybody. A few people, you know, that I felt comfortable around, I will share a bit, but you know, but I was never an artist. I was an athlete or something else. But I've never considered myself as an artist. Matter of fact, saying that I am an artist was one of the hardest, most difficult things I ever did. So, but once I kind of started embracing that, my own creativity started to evolve and I started to seek out other poets. So I started going to venues in Gainesville. And it was not that many. One venue that was very instrumental and is very dear to me is the Civic Media Center. They have the longest running open mic, I think, in Gainesville. I think it’s like 25 years they've been doing it on Thursday, the Thursday night poetry jam. So I went over there and I started going. It was a young man, he was at Sweet Mel's during open mic there. I would go in, like, on Tuesdays. So I started going to different places. And there - it wasn't that many. It was hard because the poets were like this secret society. And they all - they were different factions or different groups. You know, you had feminist poets that met in this place on this particular day; you had black revolutionary poets that met over here; you had queer poets that met over here on this day - there was all these little cliquish groups of people that met at different places at different times. Gradually, I found out this all this out. I’m like, man, wouldn't it be great to have all these different voices under one roof to celebrate voices and poetry? That's kind of how ARTSPEAKS came to be.
Tina:Was there buy-in from all of these different groups at that time?
Stanley:Yeah, I mean, it has grown, grown, grown, grown. I mean, the very first one we did, I got a lot of help from the poets at the Civic Media Center. I didn't know the lay of the land and then I wanted to be careful about stepping on anybody's toes. They didn't really know me, I'm from Alachua, I'm a country boy from Alachua, but everybody was really, really, really helpful and gave me all these contacts and the names of all the poets that that I'd had no idea existed. And, and we had our very first ARTSPEAKS, I think back in 2011, 2012 at the Thomas Center. It’s always held at the Thomas Center. So we've been holding it at the Thomas Center, and it's grown so much now I think the city of Gainesville claims it as their, one of their signature programs now.
Tina:[laughs] Of course. So I noticed that the last - when was the last live engagement that you had at the Thomas Center?
Stanley:We had an engagement back in March of this year. It was limited, the youth teen event. We started off doing a few events, then it got to be like we didn't want to oversaturate. So we got it down to two events a year. So we do a teen event - it’s normally in the spring, end of February, mostly the beginning of March. February is, everybody's doing Black History programs and everything like that. And then not after March, because the kids all get involved with testing. And that's another stressor. So I wanted to do before then. So the first week in March is normally when we have the teen event. And we had it this year. We didn't have a large group as we normally have - we normally have a huge group of teams from all over Alachua County and Lake City. There's a poetry group at Columbia High called Method Poetry and they bring kids down. And it's not a competition or it's not a slam. It's just a platform for young people, a safe space for them to come and express themselves uncensored.
Tina:Do they have to apply to attend or to get up and read? Or do they -
Stanley:Normally, normally... Normally, I mean, you can just show up and read, yeah. But normally I have an idea about how many people - we’ll have them, you know, sign up or just send their, their school that they're affiliated with, their grade, that kind of thing, and their name, so that we can put them in a program or something like that. But we've had kids, teens - we don't really want to turn anybody away. So we've had teens that show up the day of -“Hey, Mr. Stan, I'm so and so from, can I…” Of course.
Tina:So then I'm assuming that the adult event happens in the fall?
Stanley:The adult event happens in the, in the fall. This year, if everything don't go into another shutdown and everybody's comfortable coming out. Because we didn't have an adult event last year, 2020, because of COVID. But this year - normally it’s in the fall around the latter part of August, or the early part of September. UF opens up, students get back, and before football gets too crazy, that little area, that little time slot in there. But this year it's gonna be September 19 - that’s a Sunday - at 5pm at the Thomas Center. So keep my fingers crossed that we don't get shut down or have to be isolated again. And we can all come out. I mean, I miss my people, you know?
Tina:Yeah. Stanley: Yeah. I'd like to backtrack a little bit and talk a little bit about the Youth Poet Laureate. This will be also an inaugural -
Stanley:Yes, yes. Yes. The Alachua County, North Central Florida Youth Poet Laureate program, which I'm very, very excited about. And we're gonna need a lot of community support. Hopefully, we get the Alachua County Library District to partner with us on this, and also the Alachua County School Board. I think that would be just amazing. And this is, we've partnered - ARTSPEAKS Courageous Young Voices is what our youth program is called. We just call the adult ARTSPEAKS
and the whole thing is ARTSPEAKS:Bringing Poetry And People Together. So it's all about fellowship centered around poetry, spoken word, and storytelling. But the Youth Poet Laureate is in partnership with urban rural New York City and the National Youth Poet Laureate program, which I imagine that most who watched the inauguration got to witness Amanda Gorman, who was our very first National Youth Poet Laureate back in 2007. So we're going to try to initiate - well, we’re not going to try, we are going to introduce that program to our community. And there're about 10 counties. It was up to me and the parent organization to how big a territory I wanted. The goal is to try to include as many young people as possible. If you know this area of Alachua County, if you know Gainesville, if you really truly know it, you know that it’s pretty much all rural, except for Gainesville. Everything else is really, really rural. So I wanted those kids who may live in Gilchrist County, or Levy County, or Columbia County or Union County to have access. So I included all those really smaller bordering counties. I think I even included Suwanee - I think there were 10 counties that will encompass the North Central Florida Youth Poet Laureate program. And from that area, we will select a youth Poet Laureate and a youth poet ambassador to represent our area on a national and regional, regional and national level. And this is a competition. ARTSPEAKS is not a competition. ARTSPEAKS is just for anybody, any teen that wants to express themselves at all, however they want to. There's a beautiful story about - I was on Facebook one evening and this woman was, was just ranting and just really upset because of her child. Her child was in eighth grade, was in middle school, and wanted to sing a song at the - at the talent show, but the song had elements of suicide, and the principal would not let her sing the song. I didn't know this woman. I just saw her. And she was just venting and just being a mother. You know, I understood it. So I contacted her and said, Look, we have this platform that’s just for what you're going through, for young people to have a platform and a space they can express themselves however they choose to. And this person came, they brought their family, the whole family came, they played piano and sang this song and got a standing ovation. It was, you know, the best time in their life. That's ARTSPEAKS, for anybody. Now, the Youth Poet Laureate program is different. It is a competition. And it's based on a lot of different things - advocacy, community work, your writing, your oratory skills, all of that kind of stuff. The young lady, Miss Huynh, she's going to be a freshman at Stanford, I think, in the fall. She's out of California, she's this year's winner. So every year they crown a new, new poet laureate champion, a National Youth Poet Laureate, and they're always four regional participants, and they come from the different regions of the United States. There's a south and a west and the north and the east region; they all choose a winner, and -
Tina:Now, you're pointing to the book, it’s titled -
Stanley:Oh, this is the National Youth Poet Laureate - A Tiny Grain of Sand, National Youth Poet Laureate Anthology 2021, edited by Alexandra Huynh and Serena Yang. That’s - there are two of these young ladies here who were regional Poet Laureates. Alexander Huynh is the present youth Poet Laureate.
Tina:How important - this is one of the questions I actually prepared for you. How important is uncensored expression, self expression, especially for youth? I feel like they don't ever have the opportunity -
Stanley:It is incredibly important, I think, to validate youth voices to let them know - and I let them know that this is all about their voice. Nothing else matters, just your voice. However you want to express yourself, this is the space for it. And I have two wonderful young women, young ladies who always assist me, Brittany Coleman and Chera Sherman. They normally - I just get everybody together and I get out of the way and I just take photos and stuff and make them introductions and let them do their thing with the young, with young people. It's a joy. I mean, that's even, even my kids. They like, they'll ask me, which one is it? Is it the old people or the young people? I said, it's the young people. Okay, I'll come, I don't want to hear the - you know, that kind of thing. Because it's these, these youth voices are so powerful when you give young people the platform to express themselves. I think - I think young people or teenagers are the - are the most human among us. They have not yet been tainted or corrupted by, by the world. And they're the most, the most honest among us. So it's, it's incredible the things that they express.
Tina:I was just thinking that because they don't have the same life experiences that an older poet might have, their poetry may be more raw, but like you said, untainted as well.
Stanley:Yeah, yeah. It's all - it's all of those things, it’s just how they perceive the world. You know, everybody - my perception when I sit down and write is from a 59 year old black man who was a child of the 60s who was waiting for the revolution. Because that's what I grew up around. You know, civil rights was all around me and the revolution, and I'm always waiting for, you know, every time I see a rumbling or bubbling over in the streets, I'm like,“Oh, this is the revolution?” You know, because I've been hearing about it since I was a little kid, you know? And that's kind of like how I see the world. But yeah, I mean, young people, I think they're more empathetic than our generation.
Tina:Do you think there's a way that poetry can connect the two generations, though, in a - I mean, it's... I think it's powerful to be an older person and sort of sit back and let the youth have their voice to be able to express themselves. But I think that it's also important that people with experience act as… sort of guides?
Stanley:Absolutely, yeah, it's just the way - what kind of guide are you going to be? Are you going to be the kind of guide that just won't let you stop and look at the flower and anything like that, just gonna just take me down this trail, and you know the way and nothing else matters? Or are you gonna be the kind of guide that will allow me to make different observations on this same trip that you've taken 500 times, but I may see something different, new, and that kind of guide that will allow that to be expressed? So yeah, there are different kinds of guides. I remember, I know when I was first becoming a dad and a father, and it may sound funny to some people, but to me, it was like... I realized that this young person was a whole human being. Not just something for me to tell, do this, do that, do that. They had their own experiences, their own whatever, you know, bad days, or going through whatever they're going through, their emotions - they are whole and complete at that particular point in time, they are a whole person. And it's kind of strange, like, okay, this child is a human being, and I need to treat this child, even though it's my child, as a human being with their own uniqueness, their own - their own, you know, reality.
Tina:I had the same experience with my son. I can almost remember the day and where we were, and just going, this is an individual. This is not my possession.
Stanley:Right? So that's something that people go through, it wasn’t just me.
Tina:Yeah, no. Stanley: Okay. Well. Maybe it was just the two of us. [laughs] I do - I want to kind of get back on to some of my questions.
Stanley:You better stay on because I’ll take you for a ride. I’ll take you for - [laughs] Tina: I know, I know. [laughs]
Tina:Well, and I would willingly listen. Getting back to you as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Alachua County, what have been some of the most memorable moments for you?
Stanley:Most memorable moment, I guess, the day I actually realized that I was, had this responsibility of being the inaugural Poet Laureate for the county. And this, this county has a university in it, you know, so. [laughs] So I think when I just realized the magnitude of that. And then right after that, I was contacted by the Alachua County, the media department, and they said that - I think it was Paige Beck, TV20? - wanted my birthday. I’m like,“What do they want my birthday for, man?” I mean, why are they trying to research me, you know? But they were doing this black history program, and they had me - they featured me and three others. And the other people they featured were like these enormous figures like Josiah T. Walls and A. Quinn Jones - Tina: Mhmm. and the first black graduate from UF Law School. And me! I'm like -
Tina:History's ongoing. Stanley: For real? Wow! I’m like - that was kind of like, heavy, you know, I’m realizing, man - because - and one thing about me, I don't, I don't even really like listening to myself. But that, that was a moment, and the other moment was my very first task for the county right after I was selected. I was contacted by the county to compose poetry for the Alachua County Truth and Reconciliation process. And they were going to have this memorial service for the lynching victims of Alachua County including the Newberry Six and some who were lynched and all around the county. That was... I'm trying to search for the right word, but it was an honor. A little scary also, because this is one thing you want to get right. Tina: Right. It’s a lot of pressure.
Stanley:Yeah, yeah, you want to get it right. But I - one poem I had already, I had written years ago,
it’s called Century Oak:A Conversation with a Tree, and that was one that I read, that I had, didn't have to compose it, it was already there.. I'd already written it years ago. The other one, called An Elegy For Black Bodies.[music] Thanks for listening to Patrons & Partnerships. The second half of our interview with E. Stanley Richardson will go live on Thursday, August 26th. If you know of an individual or organization you’d like to recommend for an interview, email us at lpsfprogram@gmail.com Storytime with the library is back with Storytime on the Green. Visit our site at aclib.us/storytimeonthegreen, one word, for times and locations. Partnership staff hold storytimes at Smokey Bear Park off 15th every Thursday at 10am, and we have a representative from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to help you sign up if you live in the 32609 zip code. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides preschool children with a free book every month until age 5 - if you have a child under age 5 in your household, it’s a great opportunity to encourage their love of reading. Residents of the 32641 and 32601 zip codes can pre-register now. The Millhopper School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is open for registration! Play games, compete for the House Cup, and prepare for your OWLs during this school year. Register at aclib.us/msww before September 1st to be part of this year’s sorting ceremony![music]