Some Ecology Center employees happen also to be gifted poets. Nakia "Precious Gift" Dillard, Jahan Khalighi and Kirk Lumpkin will all read from their work in this evening spotlighting the Ecology Center Poets. An open mic on environmental themes kicks off the evening at 6 p.m., followed by the featured poets. Admission is free, but a potluck food or drink contribution is greatly welcomed.
Dillard is the Ecology Center's Farm Fresh Choice and its Outreach and Education Coordinator. She attends San Francisco State University with a major in Health Education and a minor in Holistic Health.
Khalighi, of the Ecology Center's Information Department, is a spoken word artist and two-time member of the Eugene Slam Poetry Team. He has performed his poetry across the country at places such as Bioneers, Esalen Institute, YBCA, Big Sur Regional Poetry Slam, and in the California school system. He was a co-founder of Communitree, an eco-arts organization based out of Oakland, and is a Board Member for Planting Justice, a food justice organization in the East Bay.
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Lumpkin is the Special Events and Promotions Coordinator of the Berkeley Farmers' Markets. He is the author of two books of poetry, Co-Hearing and In Deep. He's done featured performances of his poetry all around the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California; in Los Angeles (Beyond Baroque); New York City (Bowery Poetry Club); Colorado; Toronto; and in England and Scotland under the auspices of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He has been a featured poet at events with two U.S. Poet Laureates, one California Poet Laureate, and three San Francisco Poet Laureates.
