LA POET LAUREATE Luis J. Rodriguez Teaches as Scholar-in-Residence at CSUN, By California State University, Northridge
Aspiring writers and poets at California State University, Northridge had the opportunity to learn from the ultimate mentor this spring. None other than the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, Luis J. Rodriguez, a lifelong Angeleno and self-proclaimed “Valley Guy,” is serving as scholar-in-residence this semester and teaching a literature course in the Department of Chicana/o Studies. The class, “The Heartbeat at the Periphery: How Marginalized and Oppressed Literature is Moving the Culture,” focuses on works by people of color and labeled as “other” in the United States, including Chicana/o, Native American, African-American and LGBTQ writers, Rodriguez said. The graduate-level class includes undergraduates and graduate students. “I link literature to real life, to the world we’re in —poetry and its various rhythms, and its impact on people’s lives,” Rodriguez said. “Most of the time, young people are not exposed to great literature any more. Often, the canon is narrowed to white writers. My goal is to connect this great literature to the real world.”
