-How has this place affected the making of your work?
A place that has been and is still of substantial prominence to me is the place of my birth, New York. I was born in raised in the great state of New York. Known for many things including as The Big Apple, N.Y. has schooled me in many ways. It is a point of pride I have in connection to being a New Yorker. There is a certain swagger New Yorker’s are associated with and often people link me to it before I even tell them. They then follow-up by saying I don’t sound like a New Yorker and I assure them though my mother made painstakingly sure my speech wasn’t solely colloquially and culturally intonation boobie-trapped, it comes out when I’m angry. Having one’s own style and finding residence within that is a huge part I’ve taken from being a New Yorker into my work. Everyone may not understand you and that’s okay – do it anyway! This is a huge nod to my state of origin and is infused throughout my work and lifestyle. And while I have an appreciation to New York, I have had a transitional love for Massachusetts that has been unexpected, unanticipated and a host of other “un’s.” I love this place! And so with my being, my artistry and all that is within and in me, I blend the place of my biological origin to the place I’ve come to love and reside and ‘rep’ what I’ve learned to where I am.
–Are such themes prominent in your work?
The themes that are prominent in my work have elements of standing one’s ground and owning one’s space, for sure. But what I’ve noticed that is also in my work my stance of home being within a person and not solely specific to a region. I don’t negate or even down residential pride. But because of my background of moving many times in addition to never really feeling “home” whenever I would enter the homes of my childhood, home became a bit unclear until I decided home is within me. This type of empowerment is something I try to infuse in my writing as well as in all I do.