Dr. Maya Angelou's 90th Birthday Poetry Jam

People my age and younger usually remember Dr. Maya Angelou as a distinguished older woman who was a great poet, writer, activist and many more things.  April 4th would have been Dr. Angelou's 90th birthday.  Rather than show a clip of the woman us younger generations remember, here's 29-year-old Maya singing.

Through a weird bit of synchronicity, I wound up hanging out at theMaya Angelou 90th Birthday Poetry Jam in Bailey Park here in Winston-Salem, the city where Dr. Angelou lived in the later years of her life.  I never met her, but I would have liked to.

Several years ago, when I first came to Winston-Salem to look for work in 2009, I stayed in a homeless shelter and wandered around every day trying to see who had jobs available.  On Sunday mornings, I took going to a McDonald's on the East side of town, near the Cleveland projects, in the hood.  They would play gospel music on over the PA, and I would use eat a sausage biscuit and hang out and either draw or read.

There was a church across the street from McDonald's.  I had no idea then, but those same Sundays I sat there in McDonald's, Dr. Angelou was across the street in that church.

I met her only niece today, who told us everyone always wanted to call her "Maya", but she insisted on "Dr. Angelou" to those who didn't actually know her.  It was a cool afternoon, literally, and a great time listening to the area's poets read their own words, as well as those of Dr. Angelou.  Happy 90th!

Big thanks to Rachel White (of Designs, Vines, and Wines at Studios at 625 on Trade Street) for finding me and talking me into heading over there to hang out.  Good time.  More on it tomorrow.