ALUMNI PROFILE
POWER TO THE POET San Diego’s Poet Laureate Reflects on a Lifetime of Community Activism BY ELIZABETH SALAAM
In his first act as poet laureate for the city of San Diego, Jason Magabo Perez ’03, MA ’13, PhD ’16, called out to the streetcorner flower sellers, cabbies, hotel bellhops, lettuce-pickers and others who make up the multicultural backbone of our community. The reading of his poem, “We Draft Work Songs for This City,” during Mayor Todd Gloria’s State of the City address in January 2023, was a powerful acknowledgment of some of the most overlooked and uncelebrated residents. It was also a clear statement about how — and whom — Perez intends to serve during his two-year term as poet laureate. “For me, poetry and activism are never separate,” he says. The child of Filipino immigrants and the youngest of three sons, Perez was born in the wake of a devastating family trauma. Three years earlier, his mother and another nurse were convicted of poisoning patients under their care in the case U.S. v Narciso and Perez. The judge later dismissed all charges, citing prosecutorial misconduct and “overwhelming prejudice to the defendants.”
