In the workshop, Stacyann Chin will share her knowledge of poetry with an intimate group of participants, ages ranging from 16 to 25, allowing young adults the opportunity to develop their craft. After the workshop, poets will take to the stage to perform their original works. To sign up for the workshop, fill out this form (space will be limited to 15 participants).

Tiffani Jones is a board member at V&M and local youth artist, she shared about Some of the Things I Believe “We chose the theme because not only is it an incredible piece by Stacyann Chin, it is a topic that can be broadened upon in a multitude of ways. We cannot wait to see all of the different stories that emerge from this workshop. This topic is also simple enough that people can come in with already written poems for the open mic that still tie into our theme.”

Hosted by Valley and Mountain, the event will take place February 25th 2023, with the workshop from 3pm-5pm with a meal provided before the Poetry Open Mic following at 6:00-8:00pm, at Rainier Art Center (3515 S Alaska St, Seattle, WA 98118).

A light meal will be provided for participants at 5pm, prior to the Open Mic. All poets are welcome to participate in the Open Mic. The 5-minute slots will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis starting at 6:00-6:30pm. Stacyann Chin will close out the event by performing her original work.

Jarred Galloway, an educator, organizer, and faith leader, says “When thinking about what might encapsulate our poetry event I looked no further than ‘Some of the Things I Believe’ from Staceyann Chinn’s most recent work, Crossfire. Chin’s piece forces the reader to process one’s own truths amongst and against worldly systems that confine and oppress.” 

Poet, actor, and performing artist Staceyann Chin is the author of the new poetry collection Crossfire: A Litany For Survival, the critically acclaimed memoir The Other Side of Paradise, cowriter and original performer in the Tony Award–winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and author of the one-woman shows Hands Afire, Unspeakable Things, Border/Clash, and MotherStruck. She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, and her poetry has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She proudly identifies as Caribbean, Black, Asian, lesbian, a woman, and a resident of New York City, as well as a Jamaican national.

The event will be co-hosted by Tiffani Jones and Chad Goller-Sojourner.

Tiffani Jones is a 21-year old budding poet who started performing and publishing pieces in 2017. She has several pieces online that can be found on the South Seattle Emerald’s site. A few of her pieces were also listed in both of the Emerald's books “Emerald Reflections: A South Seattle Emerald Anthology” and “Emerald Reflection 2: A South Seattle Emerald Anthology”. Most of Tiffani’s poems are dealing with social injustice or heavy emotions as her way of speaking out towards the world. She has always been a plant hoarding, writer's blocked poet and has taken the last two years off of writing for her mental health.

Chad Goller-Sojourner is a Seattle-based writer, solo-performer and recipient of a distinguished Washington State Arts Commission Performing Arts Fellowship. His work has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and featured on NPR. In 2013 he debuted his sophomore solo show: Riding in Cars with Black People & Other Newly Dangerous Acts: A Memoir in Vanishing Whiteness. The groundbreaking and crushingly honest story of what happens when a black boy, raised by white parents, “ages out” of honorary white and suburban privilege and into a world where folklore, statistics, and conjecture deem him dangerous until proven otherwise. His inaugural solo show, Sitting in Circles with Rich White Girls: Memoirs of a Bulimic Black Boy, debuted July 2008, and chronicles the performer’s life-long affair with the scale and ten-plus year liaison with an eating disorder.

This event is co-created by Valley and Mountain’s Pastoral Fellows Isabelle Spaulding, Jesse Roth, Jarred Galloway, and Tiffani Jones, a group of emerging leaders in faith, the arts, education, and community organizing.