Salutations! My name is Jayrod.
I am a nonbinary human (they/them) and a multi-cultural storyteller. I perform my storytelling through the mediums of spoken word poetry, short stories, and eventually novels that explore evocative imagery, the conflicts and connections bridging identities, cultures, and nations, and the myriad of possibilities at our fingertips if we choose to understand each other. My goal is to create connections between all of us that leave us feeling seen, safe, and snug.
I grew up in a love and hate relationship with Star Wars and Star Trek. Why? Because both of these series that open my heart to the limits of cultural understanding focused on cultural monoliths. From Tatooine to Vulcan the worlds always limited themselves. Deserts worlds, City worlds, and oceans worlds in Starwars versus Vulcan, Klingons, and Romulans of Star Trek. Why couldn’t the teams of storytellers shaping these stories build worlds that made sense to a ten year old who loved the diversity of characters within them? It bothered me then, and it bothers me now. I also grew up playing world spanning RPGs like Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series. In these games, I experienced stories of people who came from a multitude of different cultures, backgrounds, and identities and I longed to create stories that explored the vastness of our humanity. But how does one create an entire world? Or worlds?
Slowly. I’ve spent more than thirty years of my life developing the worlds I explore in my fiction. In that time, I gained a love and respect for both poetry on the page and performed for people. This became the lifeblood of my creative work. I’ve performed all kinds of poems to discover, the disconnect within Star Wars and Star Trek, wasn’t a lack of imagination. But the disconnect between the land we live on, the cultures surrounding us, and our investment in domination rather than understanding. Poetry healed this for me as I performed in bars, schools, and theaters. This journey led me to understand how I assimilated into a culture of whiteness, to the discovery that embracing my Blackness honors the scholars, warriors, and healers who came before me, and ultimately taught me about identity and the magic of owning ourselves. A magic I wish to share with you.
My hope is that I can use this space to help you access all the varied ways I create stories, and perhaps share something with you that makes you feel less alone on this pebble hurtling through endless space. Because regardless of what you believe, we are all here on this blue-green speck to make it better for generations after us. Our time is best spent caring for each other to create a future where we all understand ourselves.
Peace, Love, and Poetry,
Jayrod P. Garrett