Nicole Clark-Ramirez, Seminar Participant

Nicole Clark-Ramirez (nclark@massasoit.mass.edu) has been teaching as an adjunct in the English department at Massasoit Community College and Emerson College for about 3-4 years, and has added Bridgewater State College to her repertoire this past fall. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College in early 2003 and attended Boston University, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and UMASS-Boston for her eventual BA in English and Art. While completing her undergraduate degree, she worked for Boston Children's Services (now the Home for Little Wanderers) in both the HSP and EPiC programs. HSP (Healthy, Strong, and Proud) was a Boston area HIV peer prevention group that targeted glbtqs (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, and straight) youth. But EPiC was her main concern. EPiC (every person counts) was a very small group that traveled to urban area community centers and high schools (such as Revere High and Roxbury Community Center) to perform self-created presentations on anti-homophobia, anti-racism, and anti-violence for mostly at-risk youth of color. Nicole sees diversity as a necessity in the college classroom; everything from texts to conversations should embrace all diversities in our society, and she hopes that all instructors and professors feel the same. As an under-30, half-Cuban, mostly-closeted lesbian, she brings a bit of age, racial and sexual diversity to the NECIT seminar. Nicole plans to get her PhD or EdD and strives for the elusive job of a full-time professor. In her five minutes of spare time each week, she attempts to embrace her Cuban roots, read The New Yorker, work out at the gym, and write poetry.

Reflections: Spring 2005

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