Our conversation this week is with Clinnesha Sibley: child and mother of McComb, Mississippi, playwright, poet, literary arts educator, and purveyor of real stories.
Who are you accountable to? A simple question brought Clinnesha Sibley back home to do the same thing she did when she was a child: write and tell stories. She thought about the most powerful stories she'd ever heard, and they weren't on Broadway or at universities. They were in her father's truck or at a dinner table with family. These are the stories she wants to honor and document. And it's children in McComb she wants to teach and help see the best in themselves.
In this episode you'll learn about Clinnesha's journey away from and back to McComb, the value of art and expression in the home, her transition from success stories to love stories, why she decided to work for her hometown schools, and her focus on ordinary people we ignore in popular stories.
Clinnesha's Work:
Black Girl from Mississippi by Clinnesha Sibley
Clinnesha Sibley's "Bridges" selected the Black and Brown Theatre
Two Poems: All Lives & Hypephysics
Clinnesha awarded Educator of the Year 2022
Mentioned in this episode:
True Detective Season 3 on HBO Max
McComb, MS: The bombing capital of the world 1964
