Your father keeps playing – roll child, roll, until the lessons are in your soul. Memories uprooted, ancestors gone, if you don’t do a thing, it won’t get done, in your memories of old New Orleans.

Roll with the crazy ways and keep playing, child, boy, teen. The lessons kick in and join with your memories of old New Orleans.

Funk band, lounge band, church band play. The stonecutter works overtime, but people will be back some day.

I’ll tell you stories about Marie Laveau, the Queen, as her namesake ‘washing waters’ rinses old New Orleans. Don’t play for the fanfare son, just play, roll with the crazy ways.

Child of the city, whistle and sing. Back o’ Town in Old New Orleans.  

-Excerpt from Blues, Boats, and Hurricanes, a performance piece written and performed by Cal State L.A. students and faculty in collaboration with UK poet Rommi Smith.

During February and March of 2006, Cal State students and faculty along with others in the Los Angeles area were inspired by British Council UK Writer-in-Residence Rommi Smith. While at Cal State L.A., Rommi spoke and performed for various university classes while also imparting her expertise during tutorials with students.

Rommi’s commitment to writing and education were outstanding as she met with and performed for many different audiences during her residency.

TEACHING

Students had the opportunity to hear Rommi discuss her career and ask questions about professional writing during presentations in various Cal State L.A. classrooms.  Rommi performed and spoke in many classes outside the English Department, including a visit to Genocide Studies with selected poems about exile, humanity, and survival to perform as the class was studying the Bosnian conflict. Rommi also engaged P.A.L.S., an on-campus peer mentoring group for freshman, with a moving performance of Room of Mirrors (part of her BBC Africa Season residency).

In addition to time spent working with students at Cal State L.A., Rommi visited Chester W. Nimitz School in Huntington Park, meeting with over 125 students who had previously read Rommi’s book Mornings and Midnights as well as former US poet laureate Rita Dove’s Selected Poems.

PUBLIC EVENTS

At the Cal State L.A. Art Gallery Rommi performed a selection of her work from the BBC Africa Season residency and from her collection Mornings and Midnights. In addition, an evening reception was held at the Art Gallery which gave University faculty and staff the opportunity to meet Rommi and hear her perform.

BLUES, BOATS, AND HURRICANES

In a lightning-fast eight hours of working with music and writing students at Cal State L.A., the moving collaborative performance piece Blues, Boats, and Hurricanes was born.  Students were encouraged to work outside their comfort zone to create a multi-disciplinary performance in collaboration with Rommi as she attended classes to discuss the project concept. At the same time, Rommi’s students at Leeds University in the UK created a smaller scale, sister project.  

Inspiration for this project came from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, as well as the rich cultural history of New Orleans; Louis Armstrong’s Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans served as a motif throughout. On March 4, 2006 Blues, Boats, and Hurricanes premiered at Cal State L.A.. Audience members were moved and marvelled at the performance - students felt a great sense of pride and reward for their hard work.

Nii Parkes is the latest British Council UK Writer-in-Residence at Cal State L.A. for the spring of 2007. Learn more about Nii, his residency, and public events in the Los Angeles area.


As the British Council’s UK Writer-in-Residence at Cal State L.A., Rommi joined other contemporary British authors as part of an ongoing literature initiative at major American universities. Writers in the program spend a month in the States with American students, teaching and contributing to campus and academic life as well as the cultural life of their host city. Residencies feature extensive author outreach and meaningful impact on both students and the general public.