Trapeta B. Mayson, M.S.S. '95, who currently works as chief program officer for a mental health agency in Philadelphia's Kensington section, has been named the city's Poet Laureate for 2020 and 2021. Fellow 鶹AV School of Social Work and Social Research alums Dun-Weah Mayson (M.S.S. '95), Nancy Kirby (M.S.S. '65), and Julie Rainbow (M.S.S. '93), attended the event, announcing Trapeta's appointment, at the Philadelphia Free Library.
News of her appointment was covered by both and the city's NPR affiliate, WHYY.
From WHYY:
Those in the nonprofit world may not realize Mayson is a respected poet, just as those in her literary circles may not know of her day job in social work.
But to Mayson, the two go hand in hand.
“I always used to say, ‘One day I’m going to quit my full time job and just be a writer.’ I made peace with that in my 30s when I realized one informs the other,” she said.
“I am a clinical social worker. I work in communities dealing with difficult issues. I’m covering a lot of this in my own work: gentrification, immigrant issues, or simply about love and things that are not stated in communities,” Mayson added. “People care about one another. Beautiful things happen.”
Read the on the WHYY website.