What led you to VOICES? Why are you here?

I came to VOICES because … I’ve seen how writing can transform lives.  When I arrived in Tucson, I was looking for a community literacy organization to support but I wasn’t sure how available I would be.  After visiting, it became clear that VOICES would put to good use any time I could share – and that the staff truly understood how to support young writers.

I’m here because I believe that we all have a psychic need to tell our stories, to have a “voice.”  It seems to me that it’s the youth who, developmentally, are most in need—and most open—to exploring what makes them unique.  Youth are particularly eager to know who they are, where they come from, how they’ve changed, what they love, what they believe, who they want to be, and where they want to go in their futures.  VOICES encourages youth to write about themselves,  and also to write about their communities.  In this sense as well, youth also seem more open to doing rigorous critical inquiry projects.  They get excited about investigating all of those normalized things that maybe shouldn’t be so normal in society.

Recently we saw you eating at Beyond Bread … what were you doing there, and what did you order?

My wife and I were on a date.  Daycare is a beautiful thing.  We hadn’t gone out to lunch, just the two of us, in a very long time.  I think we ordered their special, the salmon salad, and of course, had three cups of coffee.

Rumor has that you are in an MFA program. Which one?

I’m in Antioch’s program—out of Los Angeles.  I chose Antioch for two reasons.  It’s a low-residency model, so I can write from wherever we happen to be.  And it’s also the only MFA program in the country that’s devoted to social justice.  The writers are mature, have a broad vision about what writing can do, and they aren’t constrained by the common delusion that writing should be purely aesthetic.

What’s been your favorite VOICES moment so far?

Day one.  We all sat in a circle and everyone shared a bit about how they do or don’t identify themselves, culturally, ethnically, and why.  Everyone I think shared things about themselves that they hadn’t ever had the chance to articulate before.

If you could collapse your “philosophy of life” into three sentences, what would they be?

Three sentences?  I couldn’t collapse it into three books!  That’s maybe why I’m in an MFA program.  My approach to my “philosophy of life” is probably simple enough. I listen as hard I can.  I try to let in all the beauty and all the horror that I can—so that I’ll never be in denial about our role in enabling both.

You impress us. What impresses you?

Well, I took a drive up the Santa Catalinas a few weeks ago.  That was impressive.  But in terms of people, well, when young people step up and tell their stories.   I think they renew in us our sense that we all can play a role in making our communities and world a better place.

If you could interview one other person at VOICES, who would it be and why?

Any of the photographer volunteers.  I’d love to know what they’ve learned from the youth they work with about what pictures need to be taken—and about their vision in general.

(VOICES Photo/Krista Niles)