I am spoken word poet, a motivational speaker, and a catalyst for change. I work with words to inspire people to connect to and impact their world. I create digital poem collages and provide interactive presentations challenging audiences to become involved with their own potential for community change.
I am a transportational bicyclist with more miles on my bike than my car in the last two years. I am a professional mental health advocate seeking to change the mental health system to a recovery oriented community of hope. I think peer support is the future of mental health treatment. I am a Judo Olympian and believe that most things can be overcome by belief in oneself and persistence in the face of adversity.
I share these ideas with art gallery showings, clinics, workshops, presentations and keynote addresses throughout the United States. These are memorable interactive experiences with Powerpoint slides, performance poetry, current research, and audience exercises. These are intended to inspire people to make exciting goals and informed choices to connect to and engage with their worlds.
Poem “The Size of the Fight in the Dog” (Title developed in collaboration with Ken Braiterman of New Hampshire)
“Never quit, never give up, take the impossible and grind it up for breakfast.
Chew off everything I bite, spit those can’ts, shouldn’ts and “forget about its” out with the bones.
Work right at my means, define the dreams from the deepest, darkest, most desperate extremes,
Squeeze rocks to find the hope, expand the scope of every plan, revoke the doubts of every man,
Take my single human hand, make the scars tell a new plan, shape my voice to a true command
It’s change refused that I can’t stand, delay, look away, and try another day that’s not my way
Yet…year by year I learn new ways to persevere, to build consensus to concur,
That to demur might be to prefer, that it’s not weak to keep the peace,
It’s a waste to be a martyr so the try harder, try harder, has to become work smarter, go farther,
Build a team to share my dream, learn that no one is quite what they seem,
Trust as least a few to do their best, lead by example so the rest can start to see the test,
Give and grow the hope of a careful group, reflect, refine, and reframe so it’s not all moot,
Time and patience to relate, re-create, be aware, to share the care,
Create a vision of a system of a world that has never been imagined anywhere
It’ll take people beyond compare to find a way that’s fair
to share this planet that’s… beyond repair.”
