Arts Intranet

As a teaching artist, I believe my role is to pass the poet’s pen as it was passed to me in the 8th grade, hoping my students will take the pen and right/write their lives.

Walking down Broadway in Nashville, TN I instantly felt like I had arrived at the place I was meant to be. I could hear music pouring out of every door that I passed by, and I felt more alive than I ever had before. Within the first week of moving to Nashville I got to see Sheryl Crow at the Bluebird Café, and I knew that I had made the right choice in pursuing my dream of being a musician.

People often assume Juilliard students could never cope with the rigors of military life, but I beg to disagree: Nothing could prepare one better than pervasive pressure to perform at a level of utter perfection, interminable personal and professional criticism, and the resultant ability to flourish in an environment where failure is simply not an option. 

In the early eighties Benny was a sixth grade student in a New York State Literary Center program on Ancient Greece that integrated ancient Greek literature in English translation, as the inspiration for student writing, with the school’s Social Studies curriculum on Ancient Greece. As part of my two-month residency with sixth grades in two schools, I invited poet, Greek translator, and Harvard professor, Robert Fitzgerald to work with me for two days.

One important lesson I have learned during my college career is to “learn how to learn.” To be competitive in the industry, you must take the initiative and continue to learn throughout your life. I believe arts education in school is important because in addition to teaching essential skills needed in every day life, it is the keystone in a well-rounded education.

I’m attracted to the idea of thinking inside the box. A 2013 piece in the Wall Street Journal, Think Inside the Box, posits, “People are at their most innovative when they work within the constraints of what they already know.”