Youth Leadership & Executive Co-Director
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We are always being, but also in the process of becoming. G "Poet G" Reyes likens himself to water that flows thru cracks & crevices creating opportunities for becoming more than what we are today. He is often seen walking in deep thought through crowded hallways of youth, bouncing to deep beneath slappin beats, sharing passionate secrets and wisdoms on microphones, and guiding teachers & learners towards seeking their own liberation. G is a warrior using transformative education, words, and concise ideas as weapons in the Oakland public schools, after-school programs, teacher education programs, universities, and in school reform institutions. He aspires to serve educators and youth towards transforming the self, schools, communities, language, knowledge, and the profession of education.
As Executive Co-Director of Oakland Leaf with Mirella Rangel alongside him, G considers himself blessed with beautiful adults & youth with whom creativity, celebration, criticality, solidarity, struggle, and movement truly progresses towards transformative action. He actively seeks to build real relationships with folks down to ride and grind for serious progress. At the same time, G is an educator who meets you where you're at and then pushes you to become more...whether you are a 30 year teaching veteran or a youngsta navigating the public school system. Doubling as Oakland Leaf's Youth Leadership Director, he also teaches the high school youth in the critical media program, Youth Roots as well as nurtures youth interns towards becoming the teacher intellectuals, artists, and activists of the Town's tomorrow. In doing so, G loves to create the culture to question the unquestionable, so that we could get to the heart of what's up, cuz "it is NOT what it is", as he often says. In understanding that, G believes that we could really start to flip the script and reclaim culture by producing our own culture in purposeful ways. So it's urgent that he works with both adults and youth...with teachers and administrators...with artists and activists...with families and community organizations.
When not acting as an Oakland Leaf leader & educator, G is working towards completing his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in the Graduate School of Education's program in Language Literacy Culture and Society. His current research intersects Hip Hop, Critical Media, Critical Social Theory, and Critical Pedagogy in a Youth Development framework. In addition to his primary research, he actively seeks to progress the movement in Teacher Education, School Reform, and Teacher Professional Development. He has presented at numerous conferences, university classes, and school staffs as well as written an out-of-print text called "Finding the Poetic High" and for journals such as California English, Multicultural Education, and the Institute for Social Justice and Education. To complement his academic work at UC Berkeley, he is an active Teacher with the Bay Area Writing Project as well as within Teacher credentialing programs.
Do you want in? Holla, cuz he's waiting for you...but only if you're ready to roll your sleeves up and ride hard.
Love is an Action