The accompanying photo was taken last Thursday at California State University, Los Angeles, where I am a professor emerita.
Dr. Lauri Ramey, a professor of English and director of the CSULA Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, has had Juan Felipe Herrera, the current U.S. poet laureate, as a member of her advisory board for many years.
I will be working with them and our Cultural Affairs Commission as I continue to develop the criteria for the Culver City Artists Laureate.
For many years, the Jean Burden Poetry Series at CSULA has offered readings by well-known poets and others from non-traditional or under-represented backgrounds as well as interdisciplinary combinations of poetry and other arts to the Southern California community and, especially, to our CSULA students.
Juan Felipe Herrera was the most recent poet laureate to read his poetry.
Due to my computer not wanting to accept the photo from my cell phone, I sent it to my granddaughter, who forwarded it to my email.
In the photo, Juan Felipe is holding a book he just autographed for our three-year-old great-granddaughter, Ariana Cuadra.
Her father is from El Salvador.
The children’s books he has written are in English and Spanish.
We are encouraging the children to become fluent in both languages.
Ariana and her brother, 6-year-old Jonathan who is receiving a different book, will have the opportunity to enjoy and learn from the books.
Dr. Hoult, honorary poetess laureate of Culver City, may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
