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Q&A With Antwan Herron

(interview me)

Antwan Herron
Location: Carson, CA United States
Joined: Apr 10th, 2007

About (request update)

My name is Antwan Herron. I believe in art. I believe in truth. I am devoted to the human race, but I am not romantic about it. Therefore, I sit somewhere between despair and joy.
I was born black and male. Art is the greatest human gift. What does this mean? Why, it means quite simply that the great purpose of art is beyond providing merely entertainment. Frankly, speaking, it is soul engineering. I am still youthful enough to believe that the world can be changed and that dying is just as easily achievable by nonchalance in life as is falling victim to a bullet. It is impossible to assess all that I wish to do with my life. This much is true: I am young, gifted, and black and will work to make the rest fall in place. What else do I know to be certain? That “hatin” is an overused term and, oftentimes, is misdirected. That love makes the mind sparkle like fireworks across the darkest night. That those who neglect their internal well-being do so at their own psychological risk. That the world is political whether we like it or not. And, that the root of inner conflictions and self-doubt is the lack of or willful avoidance of sexual maturation.
Have completed a degree in Literature; am working to complete a second in Afro-American Studies. Next on my agenda: undertake an M.F.A. in creative writing, which means I may be “poor” for a few more years. Why school? Why not devote my energy to a more lucrative career? Perhaps, I have been reading too much Du Bois, too much Hansberry, too much Robeson, too much Wright, or just plain reading too much. I should get my head out of the books you say. Become more pragmatic. I am too “naïve.” Perhaps. Or, maybe whoever subscribes to this belief should read a few lines from “Black Boy” or “Darkwater” and become hypnotized. Should dip their minds in a book and become a little naïve. The world could use a few more naïve people.
There are certain heart—pieces without which I would surely be miserable. The first is Writing. The second is Theater. The third is Activism. And, if in reading you have determined to measure the progress of a group of people as historically mistreated as the black or white urban poor, by reducing uplift to the so called “exceptional” individuals (if I may call myself so) then I offer this: Do not for one second believe that one or two or even three celebrated blacks, especially those who “rose” out of the ghetto, working through school or some other “legitimate” venture (a 9-5 maybe), is in any way a sign of progress. It is the valleys that we must look to, not the mountaintops.

My Interview Question

If you should die, what would you want someone to say about you?

Current Whereabouts:

Writing, Theater, Politics, Soul-Engineering

Life & Professional Aspirations:

To write, write, write....use all my talents to help the poor, disempowered, disppossessed

Education (request update)

UC, Los Angeles class of 2009

Undergrad Major: African-American Studies

High School: Horace Mann High School in Gary, Indiana, IN class of 2000

Best Memories:

1) The speech competitions I was involved 2) Theater 3) Graduating