Climbing Poetree Brings “Healing at the Margins” to Temple

WRITTEN BY: SIDNEY COFFMAN

Temple University’s Wellness Resource Center and Queer Student Union presented Climbing Poetree’s “Healing at the Margins” at the Howard Gittis Student Center on Thursday, March 2nd.

For over 13 years, Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman, co-creators of Climbing Poetree, have traveled the world presenting dual-voice poems, unconventional hip hop, and an award winning multi-media theater performance.

Climbing Poetree stresses the importance of love and acceptance, while also exposing injustice. The group attempts to provide hope for an attainable better future through its music, art, and theatre productions. Garcia and Penniman have independently organized 30 national and international tours.

President of the Queer Student Union, Jennifer Lawrence, helped organize the event.

“There’s so much hate, and we wanted to kind of bring some light to that,” Lawrence said. “The whole point of this event was bringing that light and unity to a creative sphere and creative space.”

The free event was made possible thanks to organizations multiple organizations: IDEAL, Division of Student Affairs, Queer People of Color, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Temple Community Garden, BRIDGE, Department of Sociology, Division of Student Affairs, and Student Activities.