In "Poetry is Not a Luxury" by Audre Lorde, Lorde states that writing poetry is a necessity for women in order to explain complex long forgotten feelings that will inspire change. I connected this powerful essay to the lack of creative outlets for my community in York, Pennsylvania, as well as the community's access to public readings and discussions. My community, sadly, does not have a place where people can congregate and discuss poetry that does just this: that not only inspires, but leads to important societal change. My hairstylist, Dana, and I were discussing the issue of lack of creative space for upcoming authors and writers, and she told me about The Grotto, a community center in York that is nowhere near talked about enough. The Grotto is an educational and nonprofit organization that provides a working space for those who need it. It is located on West MarketStreet, which, according to Arcgis Story Maps, is where 12,087 citizens live. This is a great central location as it will make it more accessible for a large majority of people. This will allow for a diverse population to be able to meet together in order to provide multiple perspectives. The Grotto offers various services such as coworking, business development workshops, and community engagement that are designed to spark creativity and innovation. They also have space to host workshops and events, conference rooms, and community programs. As great as this nonprofit is, it has almost no name recognition and hosts few community events. Since The Grotto is thirty dollars hourly for a space to host, I think if members of the community chipped in say five or so dollars, or do what a lot of local businesses do where they give “what they’re able” and work more as a donation process rather than a formal payment. If this nonprofit was more vocal or hosted more events focusing on creative writing/ poetry slams, I believe we could be able to do as Lorde would want us: “that we give name to those ideas which are, until the poem, nameless and formless-about to be birthed, but already felt.” It could also be led by a variety of English majors or aspiring writers. In this class, African American Literature, we have discussed a variety of themes common to these forms of literature, and how they connect back to our community. Authors like Audre Lorde wished to share their stories in different ways whether that be poetry or narratives, and did so in order to connect readers to the story. How do we as readers rejoice in the triumphs and empathize with their pain? I interviewed my hairstylist as she lives in York and suffers from the lack of creative outlets, and gave her Audre Lorde’s essay, “Poetry is Not a Luxury” to ask her questions about the topic.

"Poetry is Not a Luxury" by Audre Lorde

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Continue storytelling with ArcGIS StoryMaps and keep your content. Request that Esri migrate your account to ArcGIS Online by May 31, 2025, and complete migration by June 30, 2025.

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After one year, you will need to purchase an ArcGIS Online subscription to continue using ArcGIS StoryMaps. Check out the StoryMaps <link>retirement page</link> for more information on the ArcGIS Online subscription options.

ArcGIS <link>StoryMaps</link> is the professional version of StoryMaps and is available as part of <link2>ArcGIS Online</link2>. Both products share similar storytelling capabilities, so if you are familiar with StoryMaps, you'll feel right at home with ArcGIS StoryMaps. Visit the <link3>retirement page</link3> for a detailed comparison between StoryMaps and ArcGIS StoryMaps.

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Both of these options include access to ArcGIS StoryMaps and the other ArcGIS Online apps and capabilities. Please note that there is a price difference between the two options that you will need to pay if you want to keep your account active when your free subscription expires. See the FAQs on the <link>StoryMaps.com retirement page</link> for more information about these subscription options.

Selecting Request migration below means that you are deciding to change your StoryMaps.com account to an ArcGIS Online subscription. During the free subscription, you will have access to your existing stories and collections via ArcGIS StoryMaps, as well as an array of additional capabilities offered by ArcGIS Online.

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