Writer Mitchell S. Jackson reminisces during read

On April 8, Mitchell S. Jackson, author of “The Residue Years,” appeared for a reading and Q&A session in Mt. Hood’s Visual Arts Theater. He talked about his camaraderie with MHCC writing instructor and author Lidia Yuknavitch, the process of writing his novel, living in Portland, growing up in poverty, world peace, Snoop Dogg, and other topics.

His appearance marked the second-to-last installment of the MHCC humanities department’s “Mouths of Others” speaker series where various writers come to Mt. Hood to read from their work and talk to students and interested individuals about their craft and writing in general.

Jackson was introduced by Yuknavitch, who listed many of his awards and focused on his achievement of the “Whiting Award” that won him a grant of $50,000. She said his winning the grant is important because he and his author peers face challenges when creating their work.

“Artisan writers, to me, are like the cultural laborers of society… they’re doing the hardest work that there is in culture, which is trying to change people through art, and literature, and music, and drama,” said Yuknavitch.

With the $50,000, Jackson is able to focus on creating literature, and not have to worry about having an income for survival.

“The rest of our lives is toiling to support ourselves and our families. You don’t have enough time to make the work you love… So what it means is that he can write – a lot, for us,” said Yuknavitch.

Before reading, Jackson talked about bumping into Yuknavitch at various TED talks and other readings. He then read from three separate works. One, a nonfiction piece, is about growing up with his father, who was a pimp and who gave him some insights on the lifestyle. The piece is called “The Pose,” and describes his father’s advice on how to conduct himself “when it comes to a female,” he said.

“You keep your head down, and your palm up,” read Jackson. “The pose is vital as shit for any working pimp. It’s also a symbol of shame. An acknowledgment of the pimp’s role as a victimizer…” he read, drawing from his father’s advice and his own realization of what “the pose” said about the pimp using it.

He then read from his novel, “The Residue Years,” a work of fiction. The excerpt is an apology he wrote after his editor pointed out that some of the ways Jackson portrayed women in the novel were misogynistic. Jackson said his goal was to project the truth through fiction, and said he couldn’t change all of the portrayals in question, so he added the apology.

“…All my skirt-chasing and tough talk is no better and mostly worse than a flimsy shield,” he said.

After reading from his novel, Jackson read from a letter to his daughter from another nonfiction work, an upcoming collection of short writings that he called essays.

“…At times it’s felt like unrecoverable miles from your heart to mine, for who knows how long I stumbled around, head astral, envisioning a version of this that, at its very best, would end up a manifest over certain success, or, at worst, a kind of super sage missive of teen advice.”

Jackson then answered a few questions from the audience. He covered frustrations and challenges of writing his novel, discussed different changes Portland has seen throughout his visits, and he briefly talked about racism.

To learn more about the writer and his work, visit:  mitchellsjackson.com.