Lauren Fardig-Diop

she/her/hers

Primary Genres: poetry, zines, blog posts, memoir, grants. Poetry is my first language, it is still at the root of all the writing that I do.

What might you like people to know about you as a writer? What you like people to know about you as a person?

Writing is a daily practice for me. Most of it is journal entries, and they're terrible, not at all poetic or beautiful... but that's not their point. The point is to make writing like breath, as natural and involuntary. I usually write first thing in the morning, while the house is still quiet. One thing I'd like folks to know is that I became a teacher to help young people empower themselves through developing their writing and speaking.

YpsiWrites' theme this year is "Write for Change." Given this theme, what type of change do you think your writing inspires and what are your reasons for doing this writing?

I write a lot about disparities in public education, about restorative justice, about race and anti-racist thinking, so I like to think that my writing contributes to a large body of writers whose personal essays and poetry help readers think differently and push for more conversations about justice in the community. As part of the SEMIS Coalition project last year, my students and I interviewed community members from Ypsilanti and created an exhibit called "Humans of Ypsilanti" in which we highlighted the stories and voices of Ypsilanti residents as experts on their community. One reason this project was important to me was to show young people that their community already has incredible mentors and changemakers, and to consider whose stories we center in our research.

You can read Lauren’s education blog at https://504fardig.blogspot.com/.