We are excited to announce that SPOHP will be hosting the visit of Chicano slam poet Matt Sedillo during which he will be hosting two public programs on Tuesday March 28th. The first event will be a brown bag lunch with Matt Sedillo in Pugh 210 from 11:30AM to 1:00PM. The second event will be a poetry workshop held on the same day at HLA in the Office of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs (MCDA) on the second floor of the Reitz Union from 6:00PM to 8:00PM. Sedillo’s style of workshop operates using a multi prompt structure that is as versatile as it is dynamic. His workshop will address the theme of Black and Latinx solidarity. He will ask students to answer in stanzas a series of simple but pointed questions that illuminate the content of their lives or their knowledge of grand historical sweep or their summer vacation.
Matt Sedillo is a two-time national slam poet Grand Slam Champion of the Damn Slam (Los Angeles, 2011) and author of For What I Might do Tomorrow published by Casa de Poesia in 2010. Born in El Sereno, California in 1981, Matt Sedillo writes from the vantage point of a second generation Chicano born in an era of diminishing opportunities and a crumbling economy. His writing – a fearless, challenging and at times even confrontational blend of humor, history and political theory – is a reflection of those realities. The poetry of Matt Sedillo is in turn a shot in the arm of pure revolutionary adrenaline and at others a sobering call for the fundamental restructuring of society in the interest of people not profits. Passionate, analytical, humorous and above all sincere, a revolutionary poet fortunate enough to be living in interesting times, the artistry of Matt Sedillo is a clarion call for all those who know a new world is not only possible but inevitable.
Free parking is available in the parking garage of the Reitz Union after 4:30PM.
