By Guillermina Rodriguez, Miriam Arias, and Ariana Segura

October 23rd, 2015

 

Phoenix High School was proud to welcome Emmy Award Winner and famous author Kwame Dawes on Wednesday, October 21st in our own Rose Theater. He shared some of his own poetry with the students of Phoenix High during the workshop. How did a world-renowned author make his way to a small town like Phoenix? Thanks to the Chautauqua Poets and Writers group, Dawes came to speak with us for a short but memorable amount of time.      

 

Dawes was born in Ghana on July 28th, 1962. He grew up in Jamaica where he attended college and the University of West Indies. He studied and taught in New Brunswick, Canada on a Commonwealth Scholarship. As a PhD student at the University of New Brunswick, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. He has also taught at the University of South Carolina as a Professor in English. Dawes is well known for being the first author to analyze Bob Marley’s lyrics and write a book on what he found in Marley’s own form of poetry.

 

We had the amazing opportunity of interviewing Mr.Dawes after the workshop in the Rose Theater. During his presentation he had an amazing connection with the audience and he carried that into our interview as he brought in some good humor. When we asked what is his proudest achievement he says, “I’m no idiot! It’s my children! It’s really not, but I have to say that. I didn’t do a whole lot – it’s pretty easy you guys know that. So I have to say this is mine!” Not only is Dawes a humorous person but he is very wise as well, as he tells us that he never “decided to become a writer, [he just]  started writing and then it became a habit.”  He also left us with some advice he had for aspiring young writers when he said, “Read a lot. Read  a lot, but read like a writer. Pay attention to the things that move you.”

 

The students were beyond excited to have the chance to listen and meet Dawes, but were “disappointed that he had such a disrespectful audience” (Sam Datz). Mr.Datz let’s us know that he also “really liked what [Dawes] had to say and [appreciated] the advice for future writers.” In short, many young Pirates wanted to be a part of this event – some even sat on the floor and had to stand in the back of the theater. As Mrs.Hale said “we just violated so many fire codes,” but in the end it was worth the trouble to hear an amazing author.

 

We also had a word with a few staff members here at Phoenix High, our digital media teacher Mr.Rhoades told us that he believes, “any opportunity that any student has to meet or experience something that is outside of the normal high school setting is very beneficial for the students.”   

 

Once again Phoenix High School would like to thank Kwame Dawes for taking the time to make his way here and meet some aspiring writers. And a special thank you to the Chautauqua Poets and Writers for making this event possible for the students.