The Klein Family School of Communications Design is the new home of the Baltimore Poetry Library, and on Saturday, March 5, the school hosted an opening of the collection. The Baltimore Poetry Library is a compilation of thousands of volumes of poetry in various formats that constitutes the single largest collection of poetry in the mid-Atlantic region. The collection’s curators Douglas Mowbray and Christophe Casamassima have been accumulating the materials since 2003. They decided to house the collection at UB because of the reputation of the School of Communications Design—specifically the School’s MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts as a welcoming place for Baltimore writers.

According to Casamassima, “The goal of the Baltimore Poetry Library is to document and archive the full history of Baltimore’s various literary communities, to acquire every piece of literature ever published in Baltimore, by Baltimore writers, and by Baltimore publishers, and to make that collection available to students, scholars and lovers of poetry.”

Mowbray hopes that the community will see the collection “not as a museum to showcase poetry books, but rather a petting zoo that encourages the tactile experience.”

Over the next several months, Casamassima, Mowbray, and School of Communications Design faculty will develop policies for community access to the collection.

Written by Kerrin Smith

This summer I’ll be returning to Armagh, Northern Ireland as a teaching assistant for the Armagh Project (AP), a month-long writing residency in which students develop poetry collections, short plays and journalistic features during an intense cultural immersion. Though I made the same trip with AP in 2012, I feel as though I’m going for the first time: stressed about what to pack, nervous about making my connecting flight, and incurably excited. I’m trying to remember all the traveling wisdom and advice people offered me before my first international flight, and two stick out clearer than all the rest:

1. Do not say “top o’ the morning to you.” Nobody actually says “top o’ the morning to you.”
2. If you’re in a pub, do not order the drink widely known as a “car bomb.”

We, the group of six students who went on the first Armagh Project trip in 2012, were told that to understand the source of “The Troubles” (the time of conflict between British rule and the quest for Irish autonomy), you really have to start with the Battle of Boyne of 1690, an event that spurred centuries of systematic colonization and oppression of Catholic denizens, who tend to sympathize with Nationalist goals of united Ireland under a sovereign Republic, and Protestants, the descendants of English and Scottish colonizers who largely want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. When the Republic of Ireland was founded in 1921, six counties in the north–a region called Ulster with a large Unionist population–remained part of the UK. In the late 1960s, protests for a unified Ireland and military reaction burst into a decades-long conflict marked by bombings, assassinations, and firefights between the two factions.  So you don’t order a car bomb in Northern Ireland because it’s likely that someone in the bar has survived one.

Kerrin (front row, far right) and fellow Armagh Project 2012 students during the John Hewitt International Summer School, a five-day festival of culture and creativity where the students had the opportunity to perform their own short plays.

This is the history the other students and I had to absorb within our first week of the residency. Today, Northern Ireland is safe in its “frozen peace,” as former Irish President Mary Robinson calls it. Catholic and Protestant communities are more segregated now than they were before The Troubles–separate schools, separate sports clubs, separate neighborhoods. It’s difficult for an outsider to navigate such a delicate situation, and challenging to mine it for source material as a writer. We wanted to be comfortable and not disturb this peace that had been built over the last twenty years, but we also could not pretend that this history did not live in every corner of the citizens’ consciousness. I remember blurting out a question to Tony Kennedy, a community activist working to integrate the two populations, about how the two sides could even tell each other apart. He told us how his own son was assaulted by a group of boys who discerned from a slight difference in his accent that he was a Catholic.

This is where it was useful to be a visitor. Our ignorance and American accents were disarming. It allowed people to be frank with us, and their stories bubbled organically to the surface. For instance, Kimberley, one of our instructors, happened upon a meeting of socialists in the common room of our hostel who soon after disclosed their participation in the Irish Republican Army (IRA). When we met playwright Martin Lynch, he paused the recounting of his experience behind the barricade of his Catholic neighborhood in the 70s to ask if any of us had ever hijacked a truck, because it was a lot of fun and we should try it some time. In a bar our first night in Belfast, we met cops when one of the other students bummed a cigarette from them; they graciously answered my questions about legislation equalizing the number of Protestant officers and Catholic officers in the police force.

The best thing I took back from my first trip was that lesson–if you want to know something, understand, and have people open up to you, you have to be open. Ask questions. And don’t pretend to know anything you don’t. I thought I knew plenty when I first got off the plane in Dublin Airport. Thought I was prepared, educated hot stuff. But when I went to wash my face after the overnight flight, I ran into a janitor outside who was waiting to clean the bathroom when it was empty. I said excuse me. He, with a smirk, responded: “Top o’ the morning to you.”

Learn more about Armagh Project 2016.

Written by Christy McCurdy

UB’s M.F.A Reading Series recently welcomed award-winning author D. Watkins for a conversation and book signing for his debut essay collection, The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America. Watkins read excerpts from his book to a packed audience, highlighting some of his experiences growing up as a black male in East Baltimore. His drug-dealing past has given the now famous writer, speaker and educator a sought-after perspective about the black struggle.

Watkins signing a copy of The Beast Side following his reading

Watkins hopes that his stories, interspersed with lessons he’s learned and wants to pass on to others, will inspire people to boldly share their voice and make a difference. “The America I want to see won’t exist in my lifetime,” Watkins said. “But that doesn’t stop me from doing my part.” Watkins responded to audience questions, addressing racial inequality, the writing process, and his experience at UB, where he earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts.

Learn more about D. Watkins.

University of Baltimore freshman Evelyn Atieno was recently profiled in The Baltimore Sun for her startup magazine, Affinity, designed for the socially conscious teen.

“Affinity, published online and in print (through a printed-on-demand service), presents itself as a magazine ‘for the social teen,'” the Sun writes. “Articles from young contributors cover issues such as intersectional feminism, white privilege, LGBT rights, school shootings and mental illness.”

“I don’t want it to be a Time magazine. I don’t want it to be a Seventeen magazine. I just want it to be authentic,” Atieno, an international studies major, tells the Sun. “I want teenagers to be able to say what they’re thinking about the world.”

Read the Baltimore Sun article.

Learn more about Affinity Magazine.

Congratulations to the University of Baltimore’s Ethics Bowl team for qualifying for the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl after finishing in the top five at the Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl last weekend in St. Petersburg, FL. “This is the first time a UB team has qualified,” said Fred Guy, director of UB’s Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics and the team’s faculty coach. “We beat out such schools as Wake Forest, University of Florida, Auburn University, University of Miami, and 15 other larger universities.” The team will go on to compete at the Twentieth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl on February 21, which is part of the 2016 Association for Practical and Professional Ethics 25th Annual Conference in Reston, VA (just outside of Washington, DC).

The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is an undergraduate team competition that combines the excitement and fun of a competitive tournament with an innovative approach to education in practical and professional ethics. The UB team will compete against teams from colleges and universities across the United States and throughout the world who also qualified for the national competition by winning a regional ethics bowl.

Pictured l to r: Therman Morris, Anna Alrub, Raquel Bowing, Abby Salazar (team captain), Fred Guy (faculty coach), Keannu Smith-Brown and Moses Wamalwa

*This Saturday, November 21, the University of Baltimore will host the 2015 Two-Year College Ethics Bowl. This newly-launched competition is open to all two-year colleges. Teams from as far away as New Mexico, Utah and Illinois will be attending, and the top finishers will also qualify to compete at the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in February,

The Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies has launched a new e-newsletter. The new publication, which is slated to be published once or twice per semester, will feature information about new courses, student awards, faculty achievements, upcoming events and more. To subscribe, email lbates@ubalt.edu or amartsoukos@ubalt.edu.

Read the October 2015 issue.

Written by Christy McCurdy

Bold. Dedicated. Inspirational. These three words perfectly describe Brion Gill, a UB student, community activist, and spoken word poet known as “Lady Brion.” Inspired by the HBO television series, Def Poetry Jam, she has fearlessly stood on stages voicing her passions and convictions since she was twelve years old. Starting with church events and high school debate teams, Lady Brion’s talent has taken her to London, Ghana, Tanzania, and recently, to the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam held in Washington, D.C.

Before qualifying for this prestigious competition, Brion was named the Baltimore Grand Slam Champion—the first female to win in ten years. Along with four other Baltimore
poets, she was then sponsored to compete in the National Poetry Slam hosted in Oakland, California, a week-long group tournament comprised of 72 teams. “It was definitely an anxiety attack all the time,” Brion shared, noting that these slams are like Olympic competitions. “It was an awesome experience to be among this many amazing writers and lyricists.”

At Howard University, where Brion received her undergrad degree, she was the “go-to poet on campus.” She performed at numerous campus events and explored many open mic venues in D.C., including Spit-Dat. By far her favorite place to perform, Brion loves the energy and community this small venue exudes. “So many poets get nurtured in that space,” she remembered.

While studying to complete her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at UB, she continues performing locally and is a deeply committed community activist. She is the resident poet for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a youth-run organization that pursues equality for the black community in Baltimore. Brion and fellow LBS members served on the frontlines during the Freddie Gray controversy, and the group continues to fight against police misconduct and other civil rights issues.

Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism. “Throughout history, you have artists who are furthering the movement,” she stated. She also volunteers with Dew More Baltimore, a grassroots organization that brought the national Youth Poet Laureate program to Baltimore. This program offers poetry workshops and competitions to at least 300 youth annually, who Brion and other poets teach once a week in over 20 Baltimore City schools.

Following in the footsteps of renowned poets like Amiri Barraka and Maya Angelou, Lady Brion hopes to turn her passion into her livelihood. Using her poetry as a tool to help others, she wants to become a professional poet and teach young aspiring writers at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). “I know the transformative power of spoken word, and I want to use that to better my community,” said Brion.

Written by Christy McCurdy

There she was: Abbi Jacobson, co-star of Broad City, the popular sitcom television series on Comedy Central. This wasn’t an average day. It was the first day of Laurise McMillian’s summer internship with MTV, and there, before her eyes, stood one of her favorite celebrities. “Seeing a celebrity is one thing,” she remembered, “but seeing the celebrity that you have a poster of in your bedroom and trying not to freak out is super hard.” Laurise had to repress her fan girl side, and she did. MTV didn’t have many rules for their interns, but staying composed during celebrity visits was one of the few.

Besides mastering self-control, Laurise learned a lot during her three-month internship at Viacom, owner of MTV. After discovering their internship program during a media conference in NYC, she was immediately interested. As a UB senior studying Digital Communication and specializing in Media Production, Laurise was a perfect fit for Viacom’s Social Media Marketing Intern position. Her responsibilities ranged from creating ideas for daily Instagram posts, to using a 3D camera to snap photos of celebrity guests like Cody Simpson, Tori Kelly, and Nathan Sykes. Prior to MTV’s Video Music Awards, Laurise brainstormed with employees and other interns to develop a social media strategy for the show. She also designed a CoverGirl sponsor board on Pinterest, connected with Miley Cyrus fans on Twitter, and researched behind-the-scenes data on Snapchat, among a wide variety of other projects.

Laurise would do another internship with MTV in a heartbeat. She loved living in NYC and thrived in Viacom’s creative environment. She wasn’t stuck doing any of the typical intern duties, like making coffee and stuffing envelopes. Viacom truly invested in their interns, and their Intern Welcome Party went above and beyond to prove this. Apparently, cupcakes and ice cream weren’t enough, but what about a surprise performance—in the interns’ honor—by the highly successful music artist, Andy Grammer? Andy commended the interns for sacrificing their summer freedom to invest their time wisely, a choice that Laurise does not regret. “MTV was great to their interns,” she frequently noted. They weren’t strict about dress codes or anything, for that matter. She always felt accepted in the Viacom community, even when she snapchatted a picture of her lunch on MTV’s official Snapchat, instead of her own account, because she forgot to log out.

Looking back, Laurise believes that Viacom’s leading example in expansion and innovation made the biggest impression on her. Their ability to create new ideas and strategies, and have the world copy them, sets them apart. She is already applying the skills she learned at Viacom in her part-time job at UB’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, where her creativity will be a huge asset. Laurise always knew she wanted to pursue a career in media, and her internship with MTV definitely confirmed it.