Meet Brittny Ray Crowell

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittny Ray Crowell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brittny, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

I’ve been fortunate to come from a host of loving, giving people. My immediate thoughts go to my grandmother, Eunice, and her sister Dorothy, whom we affectionately called Aunt Dot. We all know the cliche about people willing to give you the shirts off their backs, but I’ve never seen anyone practice a ministry of kindness like these two women. They were always making something to give away: jars of muscadine or strawberry and fig jelly, freezer bags full of chopped vegetables from their gardens, or bushels of the prettiest, greenest collard leaves. I think it actually might have hurt them to see you go without leaving with something. You’d stand up and get ready to go and they’d already have some parting bundle prepared or they’d have you follow behind them as they pulled things from the pantry or closet. Before I left to study abroad, Aunt Dot gave me a beautiful hand pieced quilt. I carried it with me on my lap all the way to Thailand. My grandmother extended the same love outside of the family to the surrounding community preparing meals or arranging donations for gift boxes during the holidays. I’m also grateful for the legacy of those I saw whose generosity came in the form of support. My Aunt Donna gave in the language of time. I remember people coming to her to sit and cry without saying a word and she would make space for them until they felt like laughing or smiling again. I don’t know if I can ever beat this kind of giving, but I try to walk in that capacity of love and offering. I hope that even when I don’t have much to give, people feel that I tried to leave them with some form of kindness and care within their spirit.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a writer, professor, and visual artist originally from Texarkana, TX. My creative and scholarly work largely focuses on memory and family archives. I’m dedicated to using different artforms–poetry, libretto, collage–as forms of reverence. I’m always excited to test the boundaries of innovation and play to see how memory can be extended and blended into different dimensions. I hope to begin making prints of some of my artwork in the coming year, in addition to publishing new poetry. As a professor, I feel so fortunate to engage with my students across a variety of subjects, from desire in American poetry, to hip hop as secular scripture.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Imagination, patience, and adaptability are some of the most impactful skills I’ve continued to hone during the course of my journey as a professor and writer. The term “manifestation” has become somewhat misconstrued lately, but I like to think of it as imagination in action. I’ve always known that I wanted to be a writer. I imagined what that might consist of and look like all my life. I didn’t know that teaching would be a part of that plan–in fact, I resisted it fiercely at first–but once I started to yield to what I came to understand was God’s plan for me, I realized the importance of being able to patiently adapt. The process didn’t necessarily become easier, but the cartography of my dreams became clearer. I began to see how teaching–the discourse with students, engaging with different generations and genres of thoughts and work–inspired and enhanced my creativity. I became a better writer by dissecting and discovering elements of craft with my students. When I would get discouraged with where I was in life or compared my progress to others, I took advantage of all the resources available to me or tried to create support systems with folks who had similar interests. I’m still learning to water myself like a plant, but I know that no matter where I find myself, my experiences and the ability to adapt wherever I’ve landed, for how ever long I’m meant to be there, will always serve me well.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m interested in collaborating with other artists and writer folks, particularly those who might be interested in offering workshops to the community. In addition to facilitating creative writing workshops based on Black food traditions and rituals with the Saving Recipes Project, I’m interested in providing workshops for mental health facilities and elders in the community. Anyone interested in collaborating can reach me at bcrowell@cau.edu.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brittnyraycrowell.com
• Instagram: @brittnyraycrowell
• Linkedin: brittny ray crowell

Image Credits

Headshot by Ann Packwood