What was extremely interesting about each poet was their different backgrounds and what influenced them into writing poetry. The first poet, named Khadijah Queen, came to love poetry when she was in her undergraduate college, studying Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound, which I have studied in High School as well.

I took this photo in Union Square. A group of people brought bunch of letters and made

others participee in froming words out of them.

I think it goes well with this blog entry- power of words.

 I thought it was peculiar that we were required to go to the Joseph O' Connor reading as part of IDC. For all of our other Meet The Artist events, we've had to meet an individual who has played a significant role in the artistic community, like the photographer who traveled to New Orleans to take pictures of the Katrina aftermath. This time, it was a reading and oddly enough I had to be there for my English class as well. Overall, I loved Joseph O'Connors excerpts. I was inspired enough to write down certain lines of his excerpts because they really were so profound.

This was my first reading that I have ever been to and I have to admit I was extremely tired before the reading even began. Joseph O'Connor's presentation captured my undivided attention naturally through his articulation and natural speech. What he did to hold on to our attention was to throw in a couple of jokes such as the non-alcoholic mini bar before the session began and his coke that he drank was stronger than the alcohol. He was a funny man.

I am so glad that I attended Joseph O'Conner's presentation. I found so much interest not only in his writing, but also in his charisma and the way he spoke. It completely intrigued me how articulate he was. I seem to note in many Irish accents how articulate their speech is, but O'Conner caught me even more by suprise. Just by the way he spoke, I automatically gained the upmost respect for him. I believe O'Conner is an excellent writer. As he read various readings from his novels and poems, I was fully engaged in what he was saying.