Speeding to the Stoplight

"'speeding to the stoplight' was a collection I started writing about five years ago after the death of my mother. At the time, I didn't know what it would become. It took me awhile to find the purpose for the collection, but its purpose lies in connection: to memories as a son, a brother, and a friend, to the music of my culture, and between two artists.Art connects us. Reading the work of James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Chekov, or even C.S. Lewis, I began to fundamentally understand that the things I thought happened only to me were actually the same things that happened to them years before. My hope is to create accessible work for black students. When I started writing, I was a boy who had just lost his mother. Now, I'm a man who believes that these words and visuals can give something to those who have lost hope."-Maureik Robison"For many of us, writing, music, visual art, and other creative approaches are what connects every aspect of life. speeding to the stoplight makes this connection apparent, and it will resonate with our brothers and sisters who are finding their way in this creative pursuit of living (in a society that makes it difficult to do so).Maureik and I come from similar backgrounds. We both studied music in high school and into college, and in a way, I owe a lot of my early creative inspiration to him. But eventually we both began to focus on other creative outlets, which showed us how important each outlet is individually and together. I hope that this project reaches people who have dreams and aspirations only attainable through creative thought and expression, as it did for our ancestors and predecessors who laid the groundwork for us. "-Elijah Anderson