After leaving the car in my mom’s care in San Antonio, I have hit the west coast to meet with Williams alums in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I gotta say that after driving over 2,000 miles over the course of six weeks, it felt quite luxurious to hop on a plane and travel another 2,000 miles in just a few hours. And that cool pacific breeze that greeted me on the jet-way was the best welcome I could imagine. But then again, I was also delighted to be in the company of some of my best friends. Serendipitously, Daniel McKenna-Foster ‘07, just recently back stateside after two-years in Kazakhstan with Peace Corps, happened to be traveling through California during the same week! After interviewing many alums and hearing them rave about their college friendships, I was so happy to be reminded – in living color – of mine. I also was hosted by two of my best pals from high school. So, visiting California has been a friend-storm—exactly what I needed mid-way through the trip.
My first interview in town was with the writer/poet/performer Mayda Del Valle ‘00. She kindly invited me over to her house downtown and we shared a pitcher of lavender water while chatting in her living room. Anyone who endures as much traffic as Angelenos should have a supply of this stuff. Cool, calming, mmmmm…
Mayda has a long list of impressive feats to her name – performing at The White House, touring with Russell Simmons’s Def Poetry Jam, making Oprah’s Power List and winning a Bicentennial Medal from Williams. But like many of the accomplished alums I’ve met, she’s utterly down-to-earth.
I loved listening to Mayda’s story because it has such momentum and a real sense of discovery. A winter-study trip to MASS MoCA with Sandy Burton inspired her to create her own independent study, which replaced her thesis, earned her honors, and launched her at the young age of 22 into the National Poetry Slam. She was the youngest person and the first Latina to win. And she shows no signs of stopping.
We talked about how a liberal arts education encourages you to experiment. And the spontaneity of experimentation sets you up for inspiration. After that MASS MoCA show, she felt like a part of her was unlocked. Very quickly, she became a “woman on a mission”, who knew what she was supposed to be doing – writing and creating video performance pieces. Even though Williams didn’t offer a class to fit her interests, she did not let that hold her back; she simply created her own independent study. The artist in her was trained to see—and in this case what she saw was an opportunity.
Here’s a video of one of Mayda’s performances:
And some photos from our visit:
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