PaciaSittingTome

Pacia Elaine is on a mission to make a positive impact through art, poetry and social activism. The poet and  co-founder of Cherokee Street Reach, a youth based arts initiative that provides in-school arts enrichment classes and summer camp, has a history of teaching and leading future entrepreneurs, poets, and social activists by personal example.

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“I work with a bunch of other youth-based arts nonprofits and grassroots organizations like CAMP, Freedom Arts Academy, and Bread & Roses Missouri. I am the interim Board President of the Greater Gravois Park Neighborhood Association, and I do some booking and reading curation for the Poet Laureate of St. Louis, Dr. Michael Castro and I’m a founding member of the St. Louis Brick City Poetry Festival planning team. I also facilitate the mural art club at Roosevelt High School, and teach poetry class at Most Holy Trinity in north St. Louis. In the past I have worked with the EBR Writer’s Club, Nine Network, STL Positive Change/Ferguson Commission, and Urb Arts’  Verbquake teen slam competition as a coach.”

This Urban Bush Woman’s work does not end with teaching. She also make time to perform her own powerful and uplifting anecdotes. She is to feature on the Maya Angelou Memorial Tribute at Yeyo Arts, May 27th and Lyrical Splash Poetry Show in her hometown, Alton Illinois on May 28th. Her poetry speaks of the double edge sword that life can sometimes be. She seeks to portray that every situation has an alternate viewpoint and invites listeners to think with more self awareness.

“I find the most joy in seeing an idea through the mundane and very literal definition of what it is, then exploring the figurative, intangible, or abstract aspect of that same thing; then finding new ways to look at it, explain it (or not), or experience it through the written and spoken word. It’s like the poem, Bridge Burner,  being, at it’s core, about my relationship to relationships.”

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Pacia Elaine is taking her art and activism to the next level. May 11th, she will release an aural project. Circa.ep; A Sound Book, is said to be, “A series of epic adventures that explore the depth of her penchant for creating allegories that are rich and textured and layered in narrative and rhyme.” It is a collection of poems, written from 2006 to 2014; performed over both raw and manipulated soundscapes, engineered by Muhammad “Mvstermind” Austin of MME. She has also been chosen to attend the Urban Bush Woman 2016 Summer Leadership Institute, a 10-day intensive program that serves as the foundation for all of UBW’s community engagement activities.

Just to overload your daily dose of Black Excellence, Pacia has an 11 year-old daughter who is a pretty dope individual in her own right. She sings, and paints, and has a business called Heaven’s Creations. Her handmade, soy based candles smell wonderful.

With women like Pacia Elaine to teach the children, the future is in good hands.

You can donate to her crowdfund for UBW STI at https://www.youcaring.com/pacia-elaine-anderson-564582

Jasmine Miciele
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