Guest Column
Poet Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. died July 30, 2006 in San Antonio, Texas
It is with great sadness that we share this news with Trino's extended family of friends. After suffering a series of strokes in mid-July, Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. passed away on Sunday, July 30th at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas.
Trinidad Sanchez native of Pontiac, Michigan was ninth of ten children born to poet Trinidad V. Sánchez and Sofia Sánchez.
His poetry bestseller, Why Am I So Brown, (MARCH ABRAZO PRESS) is in its sixth printing!
In 1995, Trinidad was the winner of the Albuquerque Poetry Slam Competition and went on to the National Poetry Slam the same year. His anti-gun, anti-crime poem "Let Us Stop the Madness" was selected as one of the winning poems of the People's Choice Competition.
Sanchez has also been featured at the Austin International Poetry Festival, Austin, Texas; Houston Poetry Festival, Beyond Baroque Literary Center, Venice, Calif.; The First Nezahualcoyotl Poetry Festival at The Mexican Fine Arts Center, Chicago; The Detroit Institute of Arts Line Series, Detroit. and many other venues in the past decade.
He has also performed and lectured at various colleges including Wayne State University, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Cal Poly Tech and Bowling Green University. Trinidad has been recognized for his activism on behalf on prison inmates and his involvement in social issues with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Keep the Dream Alive" Award .
He was in the Artist in Education Program for the San Antonio School District, part of the ArtsReach Program of the San Antonio Department of Art and Culture and the Texas Literary Touring Program of the Austin Writer's League. He was an artist in residence in the Lansing Public Schools through a Michigan State University federally funded grant program and was a frequent reader in the Lansing area.
Trino was a mentor to many of us who knew him from his days in Detroit where he encouraged us to pick up pen and paper, record our deepest thoughts with care and humor and most importantly to take the final step of sharing our words out loud. He was a gifted performer of his poetry who crossed the boundaries of ethnicity, age, and life status. He worked with prisoners, with immigrants and with all of us to whom he brought truth, humor and light.
He was living in San Antonio with his wife Regina Chavez y Sanchez when he suffered a series of strokes in mid-July and was at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio when he passed away on Sunday, July 30th.
A Michigan gift of brown honey to the nation, we shared you willingly with Colorado y Tejas. You were the sazon of our days, the chili pepper of our nights. Trinidad, thank you for the life of passion and words you so generously shared with us.
Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. Presente!
- Condolences and donations can be sent to his wife, Regina at:
- Regina Chávez y Sánchez
- 2803 Fredericksburg Rd. #1215
- San Antonio, TX 78201
- 210.733.5167
- Source:
- Ana Luisa Cardona
- Consultant for Arts Education
- Office of School Improvement
- Curriculum and Literacy
- Michigan Dept. of Education
- cardona@michigan.gov
- 517-335-0466
- Visit the MDE Arts Education webpage:
- www.michigan.gov/artsed
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