Adela Najarro, Neighbor

Poems. Poetry. The creative life. All this matters. My poetry has appeared in numerous journals and can be found in the University of Arizona Press anthology <i>The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry</i>.

I arrived in Santa Cruz to work at Cabrillo College where I am now the chair of the English department. At Cabrillo, I co-coordinate the Puente Project, a program designed to support <i>Latinidad</i> in all its aspects, while preparing community college students to transfer to four year colleges and universities.

My identity as a US Latina informs my teaching, my poetry, and even sometimes trips to the zoo. My extended family’s emigration from Nicaragua to San Francisco began in the 1940’s and concluded in the eighties when the last of the family settled in the Los Angeles area.

I now call Santa Cruz home, and I feel so lucky to live in an area of spectacular natural beauty. As a member of the board of directors for Poetry Santa Cruz, it is also a pleasure to live in a community that supports the arts.