Before I depart for Dubai (shortly) for my final performance and workshop of 2024, I’m reflecting on some highlights of my fall tour:
• Performing at the COLEGAS Annual Conference in Sacramento
(where I got the chance to connect with some of the most transformative, brilliant, and courageous higher ed administrators & educators I’ve ever encountered.)
• Receiving the inaugural Creative Life Award
(which allowed me to travel to DC and read some poems at Busboys & Poets, celebrate the incredible work of a non-profit I adore and admire, Writing Through, &, perhaps most special of all: see some of my dearest friends(and my god daughter!).)
• Being a featured author at the 20th Dodge Poetry Festival
(brought so many things full circle for me. There is nothing quite like a packed audience of poetry lovers. The lushness of the listening radiates off the walls.)
• Keynoting at the CIMPA Conference in the Cayman Islands
(a place I’ve traveled to and performed several times over the past two decades. It was so great to finally make it back after a long absence)
• Doing several day-long residencies at independent schools across the U.S.
(where we read poems closely, wrestled with global citizenship and what it means to bravely show up in the world, & I reconnected with some old friends I hadn’t seen in years.)
By my birthday this coming Monday, I will be back home and ready to decompress and unplug.
I am so grateful to everyone who hosted me for a gig this semester, assigned “Fractures” to their college students, or drove to see me at a gig. Ultimately, art is a catalyst for connection. And I feel so humbled by the ways so many show up for me and continue to champion my work.
Next month, I kick off my 2025 tour with scheduled visits to PA, IL, OH, KS, NY, IN, CA, MI, and I’ll be closing out my spring tour in Japan at the end of May.
If you (or someone you know) might want to jump in the mix and book me for a keynote, performance, or residency at your school, organization, conference, festival, or company—send me a note.
With all my heart,
Carlos
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