On a quiet afternoon on Oct. 12, the poetry room at LAC was filled with students and professors ready to hear the work of Liz Gonzalez, a poet and former instructor at LBCC.
Gonzalez, who has won numerous awards from the Long Beach Arts Foundation, is now a creative writing instructor at UCLA.
Gonzalez has a history of doing philanthropic work. She has received awards from the Arts Council of Long Beach and is one of the founders of Uptown Word and Arts, a program that promotes literacy and the arts.
Gonzalez read her book of poems Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds: Poems y Cuentos new and Selected (Los Nietos Press 2018) which has a constant track of Gonzalez intertwining her hispanic heritage with her poetry.
“I was raised to be assimilated,” said González. “But, I really love Mexican culture, I naturally gravitate to it in my work.”
As the read goes on, González notably describes her life in the inland empire during the 1970’s.
González also expressed why she left LBCC as an instructor.
“My migraines were debilitating, I couldn’t even go to work everyday anymore.” said González.“I did a lot of work on healing. Now I want to celebrate people and experiences.”
With the topic of being hispanic being a constant discussion during the event, Jeff Epley, who organized it, explained why he invited Liz González to speak at LBCC.
“It is Hispanic Heritage Month. She represents the great voice of Southern California.” said Epley, “There is a huge Latino population here.”
Reply explained what the importance of having a woman of color speak about her work and life at a college meant to him as a poetry professor.
“It’s equitable. It provides access to many different voices, and it is important to see writers of your own ethnicity,” said Epley.
Liz Gonzalez has her own website where she explains her love for poetry, her philanthropic work, as well as upcoming events she is hosting.
For more information on Liz González and her work, you can visit https://www.lizgonzalez.com/pages/bio.html