Last spring Dallas Public Library Curator and Arts Director, Rae Pleasant,  reached out to me and invited me to do poetry reading based on poetry and artwork rooted in my family album.  The reading was held on Saturday, May 12th at the Main Branch of the library.  I want to thank all of those who attended and especially want to thank Rae for inviting me and all the work done on installation and organizing the event.  Rae is an illustrator and artist herself and you can check her work out here at Pleasant Folk.  It was also a treat to meet another Pleasant.  Thank you, Rae. 

“Family” is perhaps the most powerful, surely the first and most primal influence in defining who we are or who we imagine ourselves to be.   As we move further away from our youth the previous generation takes its exit one by one.  As we watch the cycle unfold we realize that "family" is beyond space and form.  We idealize the ones who have passed on, but are keenly aware that their influence, (for good or for ill), remains ever present. Families have always been a messy business. Our experiences range from love, anger, joy, frustration, jealousy, ambivalence, compassion. It's all there. We can’t run from who we are and a large part of who we are lays at the feet of these experiences.