RuNett Nia Ebo

The last few weeks have been quite the learning experience. I have had the pleasure of meeting a variety of interesting people whose dedication to the community has really been astonishing.

Leola B.C. Highsmith, who runs a seven-days a week operation out of Grace Baptist Church of Germantown, helps to make sure over a hundred families in the area are fed each week, and that their children are given after-school activities and a safe place to go.

Reverend Kevin Porter hosts a monthly coffee house open mic out of the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown where locals are encouraged to connect with their creative side.

But I have felt no closer sense of connection than with Germantown's poet, RuNett Nia Ebo. RuNett and I had the opportunity to meet for the second time on Tuesday and get a great interview (which you can view here). It's been a while since I've written a good poem, but I completely connected with her theory that poetry can help us to deal with pain. So much of what she said resounded with me as I remembered how I used writing therapeutically as a child and even still today, with this blog and to some degree, with my facebook page.

Moral of the story: I may be working my butt off for this class, but I am meeting some fantastic people along the way!