Youth We Have Been Privileged to Work With & Learn From
Meet the youth:
Araceli Montaño
Araceli Montaño began with the Crossroads Collaborative in 2012 through her participation with the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam (TYPS). She started writing poetry in 2010 as a way to cope and heal when her brother passed away. As part of Sunnyside’s Poetry Club, she worked weekly with TYPS and went on to place in the top three at the citywide Slam Championship for three consecutive years. She now serves as the TYPS Slam Coordinator and as a staff member of its host organization, Spoken Futures Inc.
Aida Villarreal-Licona
Aida began participating in the Crossroads Collaborative through Kore Press with her work on the Grrls Literary Activism Project as well as through her participation with Sarah Gonzales in a YWCA Racial Justice Summer Camp, Nuestra Voz, where she learned to exercise her own voice in the public sphere. Her experiences through Kore Press and Nuestra Voz have helped her integrate her efforts as both a scholar and activist. Today, she attends Scripps College in Claremont, California.
Joanna E. Sanchez-Avila
Joanna came to the University of Arizona as a Sally Casanova California Pre-Doctoral Scholar from California State University, Long Beach to work with Dr. Adela C. Licona and the Crossroads Collaborative. She is presently involved with numerous community-based organizations around the United States and she is now continuing her journey as a doctoral student at the University of Arizona in the Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English (RCTE) program. Here, Joanna will research narrative, cultural memory, feminist pedagogy, body politics, identity, and public policy.
Anastasia Freyermuth
Anastasia’s participation with Crossroads Collaborative began in the summer of 2012. She worked with the Kore Press Grrls Literary Activism workshop; her experiences have undoubtedly offered her opportunities in which she can help people have access to filmmaking and other media practices—especially those who have been historically and systematically excluded.
Na-il Emmert
Na-il’s work with the Crossroads Collaborative began with his time at Eon. Eon works to strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual, two spirit, transgender, queer, questioning, intersexed, and straight ally youth communities by creating social opportunities, providing information and support on health issues, advocating for youth rights and challenging society’s perceptions of youth as they face institutionalized oppressions that target the many facets of their identities.
Lindsey Bressler
Lindsey worked with the Crossroads Collaborative through Kore Press’ Grrls Literary Activism Project, which catalyzed her interest in both social action and storytelling. Lindsey is now a rising second year at Northeastern University in Boston studying International Affairs, Economics, and Arabic. She aspires to find a career that promotes women’s economic development.
Enrique García
Enrique began with the Crossroads Collaborative through his participation with the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam (TYPS). Enrique is best known for his recent book published by Spoken Futures Press, entitled Tortoise Boy Says. The debut collection from Tucson poet and renowned performer Enrique García includes a total of 19 poems written from 2011 to 2013, and tells the story of one year spent living in a desert city: cultura and reflection, struggle and beauty. In addition, he was the 2012 city wide slam poet champion.
