FREE | Thursday, August 31st | 5 pm - 6:30 pm
We will have a discussion with artists Michael “Yoko” Amos, Erica Berry, and Gayle Burnett about their work as writers and storytellers, and about using the power of the medium to have difficult conversations that touch on topics such as climate change, racial inequity, and politics. This discussion will also be livestreamed, and registration is required for those who wish to join remotely.
LIVESTREAM REGISTRATION
Michael “Yoko” Amos
Michael “Yoko” Amos spent High School in the Bronx cutting class and learning to mix music in his bedroom: a collection that stretched from his mothers eclectic taste: Blood, Sweat, and Tears; Dizzy Gillespie; thumbed thru Aretha Franklin to Carmen McRae with splashes of Odeta, Richie Havens and a strong dose of Calypso! Michael now travels through life writing his own soundtrack. He became a DJ for family reunions, local parties, clubs, and working the wedding circuit. He can now be found spinning at parties on the east coast from Upstate NY to Florida, and from Columbia, South America to northern Minnesota. He currently resides in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Reflecting back on the musical arc of his life, Michael spreads love through assisting any being who connects to the vibration and is moved in some way with the music he plays. Michael considers himself a 64 year-old “working DJ” who has developed a knack for deep moving and connecting with crows and music.
Erica Berry
Erica Berry’s (‘18) nonfiction debut, Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear, was published in February 2023 by Flatiron/Macmillan (US+Canada), and Canongate (UK+Commonwealth) in March 2023. Wolfish is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and a semifinalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award. Her essays, which often explore the intersection of feelings and the natural environment, appear in The New York Times, Orion, The Yale Review, The Guardian, Aeon, Literary Hub, Wired, Outside, Colorado Review, and The Atlantic, among others. Winner of the Steinberg Essay Prize, she has received grants and fellowships from the Ucross Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources. The 2019-2020 National Writers’ Series Writer-in-Residence in Traverse City, Michigan, Erica is on the summer faculty of the Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop, and also teaches at Literary Arts, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and the New York Times Student Journeys.
She graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014, and received her MFA from the University of Minnesota as a College of Liberal Arts Fellow in 2018. She now lives in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, where she is a Writer-in-the-Schools and an Associate Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters.
Gayle Burnett
Gayle has been leading and facilitating courageous conversations regarding diversity, race, and equity for much of her lifetime. She founded Peace of Culture, in 2018, as an expression of her commitment to the work. Gayle is the co-author of Peace in Everyday Relationships (Hunter House Publishers, 2003) which provides information, practical tools and real-life examples to support readers in the development of conflict resolution skills within diverse environments. From 1990 to 2004, she worked with a wide array of diversity and leadership clients, including Ernst & Young, Lucent Technologies, AT&T and the NCAA, supporting increased understanding and effectiveness amongst their employees.
Gayle’s career choices have also been diverse. She began as an assistant vice president and analyst for a Wall Street clearinghouse bank, where she worked in the international markets of Singapore, Australia and London. She gained a first-hand understanding of the subtle difference between people that can create misunderstanding, conflict and poor performance. As a past partner and principal of Inter-Change Consultants (1989 – 2003) and as the Atlanta Coordinator for the National Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (1995 – 2000), she worked tirelessly towards ending violence and racism in the world. She joined the Atlanta Public Schools, in 2003, where she served in several capacities, including the Executive Director of Innovation. Gayle joined the boards of KIPP Metro Atlanta (May 2019), the Georgia Charter Schools Association (September 2019), and Wesley International Academy (June 2021) to continue her service to the children of Atlanta. Gayle Burnett holds an MA in Economics from the City College of New York, is a Fellow Alum of Harvard University’s Strategic Data Project, and a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach.