Printable Version
BIO
Khristian E. Kay is a storyteller; a teacher/poet. Generally considered to
be controversial in subject matter because
he pursues knowledge as the end all of existence. Khristian's work often
stretches the limits of complacency digging
into the cracks as it were of what constitutes idealism. While his work appears
political and often satirical he utilizes
the words as metaphorical rubber bullets: painful and bruising and only lethal
at close range.
Although a native of Milwaukee, WI and a systematic product of the
inappropriately named "MidWest" Khristian has
lived in many western states and tends to feel a homesickness for the Pacific
Northwest. A vocal advocate of education
versus schooling, the nobility of educators versus "teaching", Kay continues
within the K-12 and post secondary classrooms
teaching everything from English, Science, Multi-Media and Film, the Humanities,
IS&T, math, art and just about everything
in between. He has performed and lectured all over the country. Kay received
a Foundation for the Arts Grant in 1997
to produce a rap version of Othello as written and performed by his adjudicated
students at the state run boy's school.
Kay has edited and produced many small press periodicals and journals, and
currently oversees the non-profit organization
"KnowB4No.org" An organization dedicated
to expanding the education and knowledge base of people concerning the
risks of children and the transmission, prevention of AIDS, HIV, and STDs.
He has written several books for teachers
on teaching diverse student populations, including "The 3 'Tells" and is
also the author of several books and cds of
original poetry and spoken word.
MISSION STATEMENT
I am a Teacher. This is what defines me. This is: My chosen vocation. My
calling. My mission. I teach. I am not driven
by some inner mindspring of duty or dedication nor am I driven by some "higher"
divinity. I teach because it is what
I do. I did not become a teacher. I have always been one. Teaching has been
an integral part of my existence throughout
all of my endeavors, all of my "past" lives, all of my vocations. What I
have become is recognized, licensed, categorized
and regulated.
Despite this I still am a teacher.
As a teacher it is my role to guide you, to assist you in your learning.
I will not solve problems, rather I will set you
on course when you have strayed too far. It is my philosophy that you will
appreciate only those things you have
learned. And those things whatever they may come to be are not necessarily
those things which are taught. I will not
enable you to lose or quit. That is by your choosing. If you think learning
is too hard then it is too hard. I cannot change
what you think. If you give up, then I will move on because you have already
chosen not to learn. But if you try, if you
desire, if you attempt ... I will assist you in your education. We all should
have maxims to live by. I recognize some of
my maxims through my father – not by what he said but by his actions
– what he had done. It is this ideal: by doing,
by acting upon. I have summed into one:
What can you do today to make the world a better place?
INTRODUCTION CUE CARD
Our featured reader tonight measures his life as mired in integrity. Khristian
E. Kay is a prolific writer with numerous
books, chapbooks, and other forms of expression. He is a strong advocate
for the truth, whatever that may be, as
he often demonstrates that truth is a manifestation of social conformity.
He teaches in K-12 and College and is both
encouraged and dismayed for what passes as "educated" in our society. Please
help me welcome an advocate for the
under-anything, the self-appointed vanguard for free expression,
and the guy who states that if you only walk away
with only one thing tonight let it be this: "Question Everything."
Khristian E. Kay...
Printable Version |
