Carlos Andrés Gómez
Award-winning poet, actor and author Carlos Andrés Gómez challenged students to be their authentic selves and interrogate stereotypes of manhood. Mr. Gómez was this year’s guest speaker at the Latino Association assembly. He is the author of the coming-of-age memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and named Artist of the Year at the 2009 Promoting Outstanding Writers Awards, he co-starred in Spike Lee’s film Inside Man. Mr. Gómez has been featured on NPR, TEDx, Upworthy, MSNBC, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and on Broadway with Savion Glover. Winner of the 2015 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize and the 2015 Makeda Bilqis Literary Award, his writing has appeared in numerous publications. A former social worker and public school teacher, Mr. Gómez has lectured and performed at more than 400 colleges and universities.
“From the time we are little boys, we are told who we are allowed to be, and most importantly, what we are allowed to feel, based on fear. Parents, teachers, coaches, friends use that fear and things related to it — insults, shame — to enforce who we are supposed to be.”