499:, Tim'm proudly accepted this position with Teach For America in July 2014; a position he feels bridges his work as an educator with his long-standing commitment to LGBTQ youth advocacy. He relocated from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA where he serves on the Atlanta-based Programming Board for the LGBT Institute. Tim'm was promoted to Senior Managing Director of Teach For America's LGBTQ Community Initiative and continues to do work nationally to advance safer and braver classrooms for LGBTQ kids and educators.
284:, was one of the few settings where DDC could emerge. The "idea of pan-Africanism and black nationalism is also kind of working against progay . It's one of the few places were those two identities converge." DDC was one of the first groups of their kind. They were formed, in part, as a response to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS among queer black men. Curator William Jones booked them as part of his "Black Gay Male Radical Performances" series at the Black Dot Café in
453:, notably as a high school coordinator in DC in 2006 and 2007, where he helped to the build capacity of high schools to get more of their students into college. He is known for his engaging teaching methods, and has taught on the post-secondary level as an instructor of Writing Pedagogy classes at
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showcase that has appeared at various colleges and universities nationwide. He continues to teach and perform nationally, promoting a collection of poetry released in April 2015, "pre|dispositions: affirmations on loving" and a new Hip-Hop/Soul/House project, "ICONography," which was released in
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of The New School in New York City, and as an instructor in
Stanford University's first-year Writing and Critical Thinking Program. In the 2008 to 2009 Academic Year, West taught in the Department of World Languages and Cultures as a Visiting Lecturer in Ethnic Studies at California's
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Charles Edward, a minister, and his mother, Irma Pearl Stinson, who served at various times as an administrative assistant and nurse. He counts his mother as one of the biggest influences on his life, showing him how to be thankful, loving, forgiving, and
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in 2010. West credits DDC for breaking through the media as queer and black artists, and enabling him to perform as an out LGBT black soloist, "We had pretty much remained invisible in the media prior to Deep
Dickollective, so the affect was far-reaching."
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graduate and well known poet, spoken word artist and performer, lives. He started MyWritingProfessor.com where he serves as the owner and principal consultant, and remains a longstanding advocate for youth. In
December 2012, he accepted a position at the
193:. He decided to move on to attend college, accept himself, even if uncertain about what his future held. His tireless work as a high school student enabled many opportunities for college, Cornell University and Duke University among others.
260:. Shortly thereafter in 1999, he discovered that he had AIDS, so he took an academic break to focus on his health and options for his future. It was during this time that he started youth advocacy work and joined forces in early 2000 with
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where he was swiftly promoted to serve as the director of youth services through May 2014. Tim'm's desire to have a broader impact on LGBTQ youth and young adults led his interest in Teach For
America, who'd just launched its
288:. Their debut recording "BourgieBohoPostPomoAfroHomo" surprised hip hop and spoken word communities, with a fresh approach to the political and social issues, from a perspective of an increasingly vocal black and
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Tim'm West and the masculine mystique: In his career as a hip-hop artist—and now through his work at the Center on
Halsted—West has demonstrated that there's more than one way to be a black gay man.
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who has achieved success as a performer, activist, author, teacher, and poet. He has been featured in many documentaries about hip hop culture, in addition to his books, he is widely
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and competed in the
National Science Competitions where he was twice selected to represent his state at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. He met then-Governor
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and repeat the 'M' on his first name. His family began calling him "Tim'm" which has remained his moniker. He is the second son of nine children, born into a musical family in
434:'s "Positive Youth Institute," and his graduation as a distinguished fellow of the Black AIDS Institute's "African-American HIV University's Community Mobilization College."
115:. He says his dad was more of a storefront preacher with mixed success, but it did offer the first times West recalls being a poet, and performing. West grew up primarily in
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Flores, Maria Ruth A. Knowledge Morena and
Literacies de Colores: Toward the Embodiment of Life Giving Knowledges in the Arts, Poetry and Song. ProQuest, 2006.
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359:(2003). West says the book and CD are testimonial, they are "literary and musical projections of my rites of passage from shame and silence into self-love."
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Malebranche, David J., et al. "The relationship between gender role conflict and condom use among black MSM." AIDS and
Behavior 16.7 (2012): 2051–2061.
173:(LDS Church) which sponsored his troop. He began attending LDS Church functions at the age of twelve. While being considered for a Mormon mission, he
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Accomando, Christina. "Social
Justice, Action, and Teaching: The Legacies of Eric Rofes." Issue 34-Social Justice Action, Teaching, and Research: 9.
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Tompkins, Kyla Wazana. Kitchen Culture: Literature, Eating and the Body Politic in the Nineteenth-century United States. Stanford University, 2004.
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Penney, Joel. ""We Don't Wear Tight Clothes": Gay Panic and Queer Style in Contemporary Hip Hop." Popular Music and Society 35.3 (2012): 321-332.
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Fleetwood, Nicole Rachelle. Documenting" the Real": youth, race, and the discourse of realness in visual culture. Stanford University, 2001.
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Bailey, Marlon M. "Performance as intravention: Ballroom culture and the politics of HIV/AIDS in Detroit." Souls 11.3 (2009): 253-274.
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Wilson, D. Mark. "Post-pomo hip-hop homos: hip-hop art, gay rappers, and social change." Social Justice 34.1 (107 (2007): 117-140.
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and was seeking a managing director. Given the trajectory of his own struggles as a queer black male in the South and even a
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to compete. He was interviewed by West Point recruiters, but after revealing he had
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exercise became an underground, and critical success. West continues to educate on
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NewBlackMan (in Exile): DeepDickollective Co-Founder Tim'm West on Frank Ocean
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Tim'm West: Rhymes with homo side | Music Feature | Creative Loafing Atlanta
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Doug Cooper-Spencer: The View From Here: Tim’m West, Hip Hop Renaissance Man
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West served as the Department Chair of English and Creative Writing at the
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He was awarded a "2013 Esteem Award", and in 2015 was named an LGBTQ icon.
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American performance artist, author, hip hop musician, poet, and activist
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In Spring of 2007, DDC released its final, full-length studio project,
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men at both AID Atlanta and Saint Hope Foundation's FUSION Center in
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interests, he was dropped as a potential recruit. West is now openly
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Tim’m West speaks at UTD and then Queerly Speaking | Dallas Voice
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West is featured prominently in the 2005 hip hop documentary,
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The One Loved Best, An Interview with Tim’M West | Prideindex
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West continues to host "Front Porch," a spoken word/hip-hop/
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Album Review: "In Security" by Tim'm West - G-Magazine Now
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and philosophy in 1998, while immersing himself in the
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Scholars Program where he taught a 6-week blog-based
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Snapshots: The He-Art and Experience of Tim'm T. West
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432:National Association of People with AIDS
327:about black manhood and responsibility;
317:and appears in Byron Hurt's documentary
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447:Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School
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33:(born July 6, 1972), better known as
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1142:20th-century American male musicians
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230:The New School for Social Research
148:The United States Military Academy
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1002:Tim'm West: Reading & Q&A
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300:in hip hop. West coined the term
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1167:African-American male writers
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1042:African-American male rappers
899:In Security: The Golden Error
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468:Washington National Cathedral
388:In Security: The Golden Error
292:community. What started as a
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276:, with San Francisco's AIDS
140:Southern Arkansas University
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439:Oakland School of the Arts
252:Deep Dickollective/hip hop
216:, with a concentration in
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460:Humboldt State University
272:(DDC). West believes the
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51:Humboldt State University
210:historical black college
82:Early life and education
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320:Beyond Beats and Rhymes
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362:In 2005 he released a
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345:Yale University Press
117:Little Rock, Arkansas
86:West was born with a
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982:My Writing Professor
341:The Anthology of Rap
331:and its complement,
31:Timothy Terrell West
1122:American male poets
988:Mad River Anthology
851:Songs from Red Dirt
455:Eugene Lang College
353:Songs from Red Dirt
329:Bring Your 'A' Game
286:Oakland, California
258:Stanford University
246:Stanford University
134:He participated in
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424:same gender loving
384:Love In Full Color
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165:His activity as a
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39:performance artist
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837:2014-01-04
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333:Fair Game?
298:homophobia
228:to attend
214:philosophy
152:West Point
125:basketball
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167:Boy Scout
996:Flirting
503:See also
420:bisexual
410:Educator
372:Flirting
364:chapbook
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101:gracious
68:Newsweek
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302:homohop
294:parodic
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191:anxiety
187:suicide
177:to his
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268:group
242:poetry
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105:reggae
290:queer
200:, in
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160:queer
994:and
403:soul
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416:gay
150:at
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565:^
547:^
422:,
418:,
370:.
366:,
248:.
162:.
131:.
107:,
951:'
947:'
934:"
925:"
921:"
901:"
897:"
888:"
862:"
853:"
840:.
711:)
76:.
20:)
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