TEMPLE TATTLE - Language is Migrant

Language is Migrant6:30pm Wednesday, May 1st

with PlatteForum Resident Artist-Poet JP Allen, Denver Poet Alejandro Jimenez and ArtLab Alum Rogelio Muñoz-Vargas

In this evening lecture--which takes its title from an essay by Cecilia Vicuña--we’ll dive into the joys, challenges, power, and limitations of writing across languages. PlatteForum resident artist JP Allen and Denver poet Alejandro Jimenez, a former undocumented immigrant who arrived to the US in 1995, will perform their own bilingual poems, as well as translations of work by Spanish-language authors. This will lead into a conversation between the poets and ArtLab alum Rogelio Muñoz-Vargas, and the audience about the power of translation and code-switching to fight--or reinforce--borders, narratives, and power structures.About JP AllenGrowing up bilingual in central Kentucky, JP was immersed in multiple, overlapping versions of both Spanish and English. As a poet and translator, he works into what’s uncertain, confusing, and exciting about spaces where languages intertwine.Click HERE for more information on JP Allen.About Alejandro JimenezAlejandro is a spokenword/performance poet, educator, and avid distance runner from Colima, Mexico. Arriving in the United States as an undocumented immigrant in 1995 and working as a farm worker for over 10 years in Oregon, he now resides in Denver, CO, where he works with youth as a Restorative Justice Coordinator at a public high school and tries to laugh with his students as much as possible.Click HERE for more information on Alejandro.About Rogelio Muñoz-VargasA former PlatteForum ArtLab intern and member of the Board of Directors, Rogelio is a 2018 graduate of the Denver School of Science and Technology at Cole High School. He is currently studying sociology at Metro State University, and volunteers for Padres & Jóvenes Unidos.Visit his online shop for political buttons that he has designed.To learn about past and upcoming Temple Tattle presentations, click HERE.All talks are free and open to the public.Generously supported by the Bonfils Stanton Foundationimage credit: collage by PlatteForum Resident Artist JP Allen