Spoken Word Poet Performs at NMH

Mayda del Valle, a celebrated spoken word poet, kicked off Hispanic Heritage month with a performance at Monday's all-campus meeting. Her rapid-fire recitations – in a style that has been compared to Latin jazz and hip-hop – were on grandmothers, language, and home cooking and brought her Memorial Chapel audience to their feet. Del Valle, who comes from a Puerto Rican background, told the crowd to always be proud of their heritage. She also encouraged students to forge careers out of what they love to do, even if the path doesn't seem practical to other people. "Never believe them when they say that you can’t be an artist because you can’t pay your bills," she said. "It’s not true."

Del Valle is a Chicago native and began performing when she was in high school, according to her official bio. She graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Art and went on to win both the 2001 Nuyorican Grand Slam Championship and the individual National Poetry Slam Championship. Del Valle was an original cast member and writer for the Tony award winning production of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She has appeared in several films and, in May 2009, performed at the White House. She followed her performance of "A Faith Like Yours," "Tongue Tactics," and " In The Cocina" with a visit to Martha Neubert's Women's Studies class and Bea Garcia and David Taylor's Spanish classes. She then had lunch with the general student body and dinner with the members of Circle of Sisters, SALSA and the Brothers.