{"id":60,"date":"2015-11-20T15:02:11","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T15:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/?p=60"},"modified":"2016-01-04T20:44:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T20:44:07","slug":"m-f-a-alum-d-watkins-returns-to-ub-to-discuss-his-new-book-the-beast-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/2015\/11\/20\/m-f-a-alum-d-watkins-returns-to-ub-to-discuss-his-new-book-the-beast-side\/","title":{"rendered":"M.F.A. alum D. Watkins returns to UB to discuss his new book, The Beast Side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Written by Christy McCurdy<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06419.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-50 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06419.jpg\" alt=\"DSC06419\" width=\"301\" height=\"358\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06421.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-51\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06421.jpg\" alt=\"DSC06421\" width=\"278\" height=\"370\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica',sans-serif;color: #444444\">UB\u2019s<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ubalt.edu\/cas\/graduate-programs-and-certificates\/degree-programs\/creative-writing-publishing-arts\/beyond-the-classroom\/reading-series.cfm\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #21759b\">M.F.A Reading Series<\/span><\/a><span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>recently welcomed award-winning author<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'Helvetica',sans-serif\">D. Watkins<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>for a conversation and book signing for his\u00a0debut essay collection,<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-family: 'Helvetica',sans-serif\">The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America<\/span><\/em>. 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\u00a0has\u00a0given the now famous writer,\u00a0speaker and educator a sought-after perspective about the black struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53\" style=\"width: 333px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06430.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53\" class=\" wp-image-53\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/381\/2015\/11\/DSC06430.jpg\" alt=\"Watkins signing a copy of\u00a0The Beast Side following his reading\" width=\"323\" height=\"284\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Watkins signing a copy of\u00a0The Beast Side following his reading<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica',sans-serif;color: #444444\">Watkins\u00a0hopes that his stories, interspersed with lessons he\u2019s learned and wants to pass on to<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>others, will inspire\u00a0people\u00a0to boldly share their voice and make a difference. \u201cThe America I want to see won\u2019t exist in my lifetime,&#8221; Watkins said. &#8220;But that doesn\u2019t stop me from doing my part.&#8221; Watkins responded to\u00a0audience questions, addressing racial inequality, the writing process, and his experience at UB, where he earned\u00a0an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Learn more about <a href=\"http:\/\/d-watkins.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">D. Watkins<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Christy McCurdy UB\u2019s\u00a0M.F.A Reading Series\u00a0recently welcomed award-winning author\u00a0D. Watkins\u00a0for a conversation and book signing for his\u00a0debut essay collection,\u00a0The 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/casblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}