This week Rachel and Scott ventured out of studio, to Kingsway African & Caribbean Cuisinerestaurant in Springfield. The menu offers many dishes unique for the area, including authentic jerk chicken created with a Nigerian recipe, goat curry and many vegan & vegetarian offerings. They sat down to lunch with local poet Johari Osayi Idusuyi who garnered national attention last year for her appearance at a Trump rally in Springfield.
Johari tells Scott and Rachel why she ended up taking out a book and very visibly reading it while seated directly behind our new president-elect. The book is called Citizenby Claudia Rankine, it's an award winning collection of poetry that explores the nuances of modern day racism. As you can see in this Rachel Maddow segment, Johari made national news with her action, which she says was a spontaneous protest after attending the rally for the sake of curiosity. (Her interview in this begins around 7:15):
Johari reads a poem from the novel, listen below:
Johari shared these upcoming poetry event dates. All take place at WM. Van's Coffee House in Springfield:
Thanksgiving Storytelling Night: November 22, 2016: 5-7:30pm.
- we recommend attendees to get there at 5 for drinks. Event starts at 6:00 sharp.
Poetry Open Mic: December 11, 2016: 4-7:00pm
- we recommend attendees to get there at 4 for drinks. Event starts at 5:00 sharp.
Christmas Storytelling Night: December 20, 2016: 5-7:30pm
- we recommend attendees to get there at 5 for drinks. Event starts at 6:00 sharp.