(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato, with my co-anchor and colleague, Jacqui Tricarico.

Jacqui, first, how you doing?

- Great.

- You have to think about that?

- No, no, excited to set this one up with you, because we got the opportunity to speak with so many different people down at the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City.

And we're seeing a lot of those interviews on "One on One," and excited to set each one up with you.

- Yeah, and NJEA stands for the New Jersey Education Association.

Jacqui and I, and our terrific team, went down there, interviewed educators from across the country, keynote speakers, a whole range of folks who were there.

Jacqui, let's tee up this first one.

I did this first interview with Talena Lachelle Queen.

- Yes.

- Poet, educator, artist, activist, you saw the interview, I did it and watched it later.

There's a big connection between poetry and Paterson, New Jersey?

- Exactly, yeah, and we know that connection, Steve, because of programming we've done on "Remember Them," talking about Allen Ginsburg, he was a famous poet from Paterson as well.

But, yes, Queen, she goes by Queen, says she was really born a poet.

And she is really involved in the Paterson community in so many different ways as a poet, with the Paterson Poetry Festival, and as an educator.

And in your interview, Steve, she gets very emotional in one part of it, talking about the kids and the children that she educates and works with to create poetry.

I know you remember that part of that interview where she gets so emotional, you could just tell that that is one of the most important aspects of her career and what she does day to day.

- It's interesting, and by the way, on the back end of this, Andrea Hering, Jacqui did that interview, we'll tee that up after you see Queen talking to us.

But I'm curious about something, with Queen, with Talena Lachelle Queen, what I'm curious about is this question, why at a teacher's convention, the New Jersey Education Association, why was she such an important figure there, and what is her connection to the NJEA, one of our longtime underwriters?

What's the connection there, Jacqui?

- Yeah, she works at the NJEA in a couple of different roles, actually.

There was a poetry area set up at the convention this year, she worked with them on that.

As well as she has worked with them to support and design implementation of representative curricula throughout the state.

So her and the NJEA have been working together over the years, and she continues to thrive with them in those regards too.

- Real quick before we go into the interview, I've never said this on the air, I probably shouldn't, I struggle with poetry, meaning it doesn't resonate for me.

And I respect and appreciate all the great poets, like Allen Ginsburg and others who we featured on "Remember Them," which Jacqui is the executive producer and co-anchor of.

Are you, I hate to say it, are you a poetry person?

- I love poetry, I read poetry with my young girls, who are six and eight.

"Where the Sidewalk Ends" is a nice poetry book that we break out from time to time, and the girls love reading those, and trying to decipher them, and understand them.

I think poetry and music, there's a lot of synergy there.

And they're constantly asking me about different music, and what does that mean?

And we talk about how it's similar to poetry.

So I think poetry is really beautiful.

And Queen talks about how some of her students will say, "I'm not a poet, I can't write poetry."

And then she says, "But have you ever tried?"

And they work together and she sees them thrive in so many different ways when they really just give the attention to it, and open up, and open themselves up to be able to do that.

- 15 years we've been working together, I didn't know that you love poetry, now I know.

- You know.

(Laughs) - Learn something new every day.

This is Talena Lachelle Queen, this is the Queen talking about her passion for poetry.

Check it out.

- Hey, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We're coming to you from the NJEA Convention here in Atlantic City.

We are honored to be joined by Talena Lachelle Queen, who goes by Queen.

Now, you're a lot of things.

You're a former journalist, broadcast journalist, but you're a poet, an educator, artist, activist, and you are here to share your poetry at the NJEA and also talk about the connection between poetry and education.

- Yes.

- Talk about that.

- Well, one of the most important things about sharing poetry is that it's telling a story that we can teach through.

Some students need to understand that their story, their life story, their culture, and their history and histories of all peoples can be taught through that lens.

And so, when it's no longer a lofty, unreachable poetry and more of a connected real life poetry, it empowers students to share their own voices and look at the world in a different way.

- I'm curious about this.

You come out of broadcast journalism.

We worked at the same network for a period of time.

When you got out of school, I was out of school for a lot longer.

- Yes.

(laughs) - But you... You don't have to say yes, we get that.

But you make this transition (Queen laughing) from broadcasting and journalism to teaching in Paterson, New Jersey in the area of poetry.

Why that passion for poetry?

'Cause also Paterson I know has a long history of great poets.

- Okay.

So, I feel like I was born a poet.

I started writing poetry at five years old.

My grandfather shared his poetry with me.

And five years old is a time before most people are reading well.

So, I was already writing poetry at that time.

So, I went to a school that was Rosa Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, where I majored in creative writing and poetry.

And then, I went to college and started studying broadcasting, because - Mm.

- the creative writing program at the high school eventually became journalism.

They taught us all kinds of writing.

And so, I've always, I started as a poet, and then went to school and studied broadcasting at Montclair State University, and then interned at the... broadcast stations - Yeah.

- and lots of different ones.

- Yeah, we have too, Jacqui Tricarico, our executive producer here, comes out of the Montclair State University Broadcasting Program.

But you come out of that, and then you get into the classroom.

- Yeah.

- And here's what I'm curious about, Queen.

You're teaching poetry to young people, teenagers in Paterson, do they get it right away?

- They're afraid at first.

They really are afraid at first, and they're not sure they can do it.

And then, I show them different artists, and I ask them to trust their pen and to just- - Oh, go back, go back.

Trust their pen.

Give me a little more on that.

- Okay.

So, I'm asking them to trust their pens.

So, firstly, I'm saying just write something.

And I tell them, you are making clay, and once you put this clay on the page, then we can mold it into something else.

So, just trust yourself and whatever you're thinking in your body, it doesn't have to sound like a certain thing, just trust it, go with it, and let's see what happens.

And when that becomes something different, when we start to see it crafted into something that looks like what other professional writers have done, then I show them, you are writing like Nikki Giovanni, or you are writing like Bell Hooks, or you are writing like fill in the blank.

And then, they feel validated and will repeat that success again and again.

And so, I think it's important for students to trust their pens, to go ahead and trust their educators as well and make the clay and let us help them mold it.

- What's the connection between your work and the NJEA, New Jersey Education Association?

By the way, let me disclose the New Jersey Education Association, big supporters of public broadcasting, supporters of ours at the Caucus Educational Corporation as well.

You work with them how?

- I do a lot of poetry with the NJEA, but only because it's my passion.

I was actually brought on to do some curriculum writing in satisfaction of the Amistad law.

- [Steve] Right.

- And then, I joined the consortium.

But whenever I'm in a space with someone, I say, oh, let's look at this poetry.

Here's what I have to offer.

And so, the first piece that we ever saw through the Amistad commission work was a piece that I wrote called, "How Do I Tell Them?"

- I'm looking right here, "How Do I Tell Them?"

- Oh.

- That was just about your the step ahead - Yeah.

- in this way.

"How Do I Tell Them?"

What's the theme?

And dare I ask, can you give us a little bit?

- Maybe.

So, "How Do I Tell Them?

"- - Is that unfair to ask a poet?

- No.

A lotta poets memorize.

And I don't choose to memorize.

Every one of my poems have their own life, their own voice.

It doesn't have a predetermined cadence.

- Mm.

- And that makes it a bit more difficult to memorize.

But I've done it many times and I have resources here.

I put everything in my Google Drive, and so I have access to everything that I've been- - But what's the theme?

"How Do I Tell Them?"

- "How Do I Tell Them?"

is speaking from a mother's voice.

And it's asking African American writers how they teach students their history without breaking them, without making them feel bad about atrocities that have happened in history.

What's beautiful about early 1900s poets and others, is that they've recorded the history in their poems.

And so, what I'm doing is referencing the poems and asking the writers, how do I tell these stories?

And my first goal for writing that poem was to get artists, students to see and look up those other artists and find more about those poems.

And so, it references Nikki Giovanni and Terrance Jackson and Countee Cullen, and so many different poets.

- I'm sorry for interrupting.

I'm curious about this.

This is clearly your passion, your mission, a big part of why you're here, not just here, but doing what you do.

How rewarding is it for you to connect with one of your students in Paterson through poetry?

Not just professionally, but personally rewarding.

- I have tears all the time.

So, I'm in class- - Wait a minute.

Is it happening right now?

(Queen laughing) - You triggered it.

You triggered it.

- I know.

No, listen, I'm no Oprah.

She can get it going like that.

But why, as soon as I said students do you have this reaction?

- You're gonna ruin my makeup.

Because I love them so much and it's really incredible to see them find themselves in something and real...

It's just a moment when they realize like, I can do this.

It's so satisfying.

Okay.

It's so satisfying - And you help them do that.

- to have that experience.

But you help, you made, and I'm not gonna say you made, yeah, you partly made it happen, they made it happen, - Yeah.

- but you facilitated that.

You set the- - That's an important word.

- Yeah.

Why?

- Facilitate.

Because what I'm doing is not, I'm not creating something.

I'm sort of like, I'm mining it.

The cobalt is in the earth.

The gold is in the earth.

The oil is there- - But you're mining.

- We're not creating it, we're just mining it.

And so, when the students are discovering what they have inside, it's already there.

- Okay.

- And so, I like to ask this question, are you a poet?

- I would say no, but you ask them, do they say, what do they say?

- And they say no a lot.

And then, I say, how do you know?

And then, they learn in fact that they are.

And when they create something, I said, is this a poet's work?

And they say, yes.

I said, did you change your mind?

Are you a poet?

And there's a realization like, yes.

And that's incredible for them to hear someone else sitting next to them say, and they get to go, wait a minute, maybe if he's a poet, I could be, I need to try and find out.

And so, they all come into the room not sure.

- And they leave?

- And they leave accomplished with a product.

And so, I want to create products with them, so that they have an archive of what they've done in our time together.

- Hey, Queen, can I say this?

- Yes indeed.

- While you're crying on the air here at the NJEA Convention, (Queen laughing) don't blame me on this, you're the one, because you went to that place.

I'm sure you went to a place that you envisioned.

Well, listen, you're doing it, not me.

But you clearly connect and care deeply about your students.

You honor us by joining us to not just talk about your poetry, your teaching, your work, which you care deeply about and most of your students.

We wish you all the best.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

I appreciate you.

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