Freddy Gutierrez, vato de aquellos, MFA, Oakland based Writer, Teaching Artist, and Cultural Worker. Freddy inspires and nurtures writers to move from the page to the stage and the street. Freddy has taught with Youth Speaks, Chapter 510, and the Oakland Public Library. He facilitates writing and performance arts spaces with men and youth who are policed, imprisoned, and marginalized by the prison-industrial complex. Freddy has read and performed at cultural centers, universities, jails, and juvenile halls throughout Northern California. Currently he is co-facilitating a performance project at San Quentin State Prison that is known as, the Artistic Ensemble. His poetry is a call for positive male socialization, illuminates the plight faced by migrants in this country, and stands against the criminalization of youth of color. Freddy’s work has been published by Nomadic Press, Econo Textual Objects, The Acentos Review, and POOR Magazine; and was featured as LoWriter of the Week selected by U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.