RELAX: TALK: GROW - Instructive Memories: Adjusting to Iowa City

RELAX: TALK: GROW is a monthly networking/policy planning event that combines food and drink, visiting, entertainment and policy discussions to enhance black lives in our community. This month's discussion takes place from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23. The discussion topic is "Instructive Memories: Adjusting to Iowa City." Panelists will talk about their transition to Iowa City and the strategies that they used to make this community their home. 

Panelists include: 

• Jessica Welburn, assistant professor of sociology and African American studies. Welburn grew up in Iowa City and returned in 2014 after being away for several years. Her research focuses on racial and ethnic relations, urban inequality, and the experiences of African Americans in the post-Civil Rights Era. She is co-author of the book Getting Respect, published in 2016 on Princeton University Press. The book compares how members of stigmatized groups navigate racism and discrimination in the U.S., Brazil and Israel. She is working on another book manuscript exploring the experiences of African Americans in Detroit, MI.
• Bri'An Davis, third-year law student. Bri’An Davis is from Battle Creek, Mich. She attended the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. There, she received a Bachelors of Arts in sociology and a minor in Afroamerican and African studies—and was in the first generation of her family to attend college. She is currently a 3L at the University of Iowa College of Law and serves as president of the Black Law Students Association. Bri’An is passionate about social justice—particularly in relation to racism, sexism and LGBTQ rights. Post law school, she will be clerking for Judge Gershwin A. Drain of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. 
• Jamal Nelson, Multicultural Specialist in the Center for Diversity and Enrichment. Jamal was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. From early in his professional career, he has focused on leadership and trying to be an example for young leaders. Jamal graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, IL in 2014 with his B.A. in English literature and worked for Knox in their Center for Intercultural Life as a leadership coordinator and programmer. He also worked with an Upward Bound program at Northfield Mount Hermon High School in Massachusetts. Jamal is looking forward to making connections with the students at U of Iowa and believes that having drive, loyalty, and respect for your fellow person will allow anyone to gain the key to success.

The event will also include a reading by Monica West, fiction writer from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

West is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She received her B.A. in English literature from Duke University and her M.A. in English and American literature from New York University. She currently attends the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she is a second-year MFA student in the fiction program. Currently, she is working on a novel about a young woman coming of age in a conservative Christian revivalist family. Before attending the Workshop, Monica attended the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and the Napa Valley Writers' Conference. Monica was also selected as a 2014 Southern Methodist University Kimbilio Fellow and as a 2015-2016 Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow.

The RTG series is sponsored by the UI African American Council and UI Public Policy Center. For more information, contact organizer Michael Hill. 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact Monique Green in advance at 319-353-5513 or monique-green@uiowa.edu.