POETRY READING: WATER WILL NOT MAKE TEARS FOR WATER¬

Poet Laureate of Virginia 2020–22, Luisa Igloria will read a suite of poems created in response to our current exhibition Maya Lin: A Study of Water. Igloria will be joined by multidisciplinary guests who will also present inspired reflections.

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Fred C. Dobbs, Chair of Old Dominion University’s Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences

Dr. Deidre Gibson, Chair of the Department of Marine and Environmental Science at Hampton University

Dr. Eileen Hofmann, Professor of Oceanography at Old Dominion University

Dr. Paul Sanho Kim directs the orchestra and teaches violin and conducting at Old Dominion University

Suping Li is the co-founder of GARC, an award-winning architectural firm based in Norfolk, VA

Drew Lopenzina is one half of the folk duo Serious Black; he and Lizzie Black are well known in Hampton Roads for their “sweet harmonies, poignant original songs, and pure, organic, acoustic folk aesthetic"

Dr. Margaret Mulholland is a Professor of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Old Dominion University

Cherise M. Newsome is vice president for communications and marketing for the Hampton Roads Community Foundation

Leia Morrissey is a senior at Granby High School and one of the high school winners of a VA Young Poets in the Community distinction

Areen Syed is a rising 11th grader at Norfolk Academy, and one of 24 high school winners statewide of a VA Young Poets in the Community distinction

Dr. Jessica Whitehead is the Joan P. Brock Endowed Executive Director of Institute for Coastal Adaptation & Resilience (ICAR) at Old Dominion University

MORE ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:

Luisa A. Igloria is the author of Maps for Migrants and Ghosts (Co-Winner, 2019 Crab Orchard Open Poetry Prize, Southern Illinois University Press, 2020), The Buddha Wonders if She is Having a Mid-Life Crisis (Phoenicia Publishing, Montreal, 2018), and 12 other books. Luisa was the inaugural recipient of the 2015 Resurgence Poetry Prize (UK), the world’s first major award for ecopoetry, selected by a panel headed by former UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. A Louis I. Jaffe Professor of English and Creative Writing in the MFA Program at Old Dominion University, she also leads workshops for and is a member of the board of The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk. In July 2020, she was appointed Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Academy of American Poets awarded her one of 23 Poet Laureate Fellowships in 2021, to support a program of public poetry projects.

luisaigloria.com

Fred C. Dobbs is Chair of Old Dominion University’s Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences. He is a biological oceanographer who studies marine microorganisms. He herds terrestrial macro-organisms as Chair of Old Dominion University’s Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences. He wrote some truly awful poems in high school and continues to do so from time to time. Dr. Suess, Ogden Nash, and Mr. Anonymous are major influences.

Dr. Deidre Gibson is Chair of the Department of Marine and Environmental Science at Hampton University. She is a broadly trained biological oceanographer with research interests centered on population dynamics of zooplankton, but more specifically, gelatinous zooplankton, and currently oyster restoration. She has served as PI on NSF and NOAA grants to train the next generation of African American marine scientists.

Dr. Eileen Hofmann is Professor of Oceanography at Old Dominion University. She is a member of the science steering committee for the Southern Ocean Observing System. Dr. Hofmann is currently President of the Ocean Sciences section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). She is a member of the AGU Council and Council Leadership Team. She currently serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Marine Research and Antarctic Science and is Co-editor in Chief for the Journal of Marine Systems.

Dr. Paul Sanho Kim directs the orchestra and teaches violin and conducting at Old Dominion University. The composer of over thirty original works, Dr. Kim has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and by Virginia Beach’s Symphonicity. A violinist with the Roanoke Symphony, Dr. Kim holds music degrees from the University of Virginia, University of Maryland, and Shenandoah Conservatory. Kim also served as a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

Suping Li is the co-founder of GARC, an award-winning architectural firm based in Norfolk, VA. With over 20 years of professional experience in architecture, her work represents a wide range of residential, commercial, and institutional projects. She is passionate about using design to touch people’s everyday life in a meaningful way. Suping also serves on the Architectural Review Board of the City of Norfolk.

Drew Lopenzina is one half of the folk duo Serious Black; he and Lizzie Black are well known in Hampton Roads for their “sweet harmonies, poignant original songs, and pure, organic, acoustic folk aesthetic. A professor of Early American and Native American literature, Drew’s first book Red Ink: Native Americans Picking up the Pen in the Colonial Period (SUNY Press 2012) offers a vital rethinking of indigenous engagements with literacy in America’s colonial milieu. His second book, Through an Indian's Looking-Glass (UMASS 2017) is a cultural biography of the nineteenth-century Pequot activist, minister, and author William Apess.

Dr. Margaret Mulholland is a Professor of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Old Dominion University. She has examined how phytoplankton will respond to an ocean enriched in carbon dioxide, the impact of climate change on the Chesapeake Bay, and the contribution of nitrogen-fixing organisms to nutrient cycling. Her research tracks organic compounds in seawater. In coastal environments she has researched the impact of coastal flooding and the movement of pollution during floods. As of 2022 she has an h-index of 46 and has publications that have been cited more than 7000 times.

Cherise M. Newsome is vice president for communications and marketing for the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. She joined the Foundation staff in 2019 as director for multimedia communications. She previously served as director of communications for Portsmouth Public Schools, managing division-wide communications and marketing, executive and crisis communications, media relations, and public affairs. She also is a founding member of the Black-led Visionaries for Change giving circle.

Leia Morrissey is a senior at Granby High School and one of the high school winners of a VA Young Poets in the Community distinction. She believes in poetry as a means of encouraging students and others to articulate and express issues they care about, toward the goal of enacting change.

Areen Syed Areen Syed is a rising 11th grader at Norfolk Academy, and one of 24 high school winners statewide of a VA Young Poets in the Community distinction. Areen serves as the Hampton Roads Youth Poet Ambassador for the city of Virginia Beach, and is a member of the HR Youth Poets Slam Team. She has recently been invited to perform her work for a Black History Month program, as well as various other events. Areen is passionate about amplifying unheard voices and bringing light to social injustice through her work.

Dr. Jessica Whitehead is the Joan P. Brock Endowed Executive Director of Institute for Coastal Adaptation & Resilience (ICAR) at Old Dominion University.