THE DECEMBER 11, 1994 Sunday City Times section of the Los Angeles Times has this 42 year-old Black man sitting on a beat-up, 1960-something Thunderbird in a black beret with a typewriter and a brand new pair of athletic shoes. This is Brother Roland X. He was the one that first turned me on to the words “poetry slam.”

In the ‘94 Times article, Roland describes himself both as a hippie and a Black Panther. This newspaper was really digging Roland X because he is a talented, charismatic and colorful figure who was a prominent member of the Homeless Writers Coalition. Please recall that back in those days being homeless was heavily romanticized and publicized for both positive and negative effect.

But let us get beyond that and see the writer—not the “homeless writer”—Roland X. Roland himself told the Times, “I’m not your typical homeless. I’m just a hippie that don’t like to work a J-O-B.”

The work we have here is vintage Roland X. In fact “Dead Woman Dying” was the first electronic presentation I ever did back when I was an AOL member (it was a Macromedia Authorware Star presentation for those of you that care). Looking at this work now, you will see that his strong message is still quite up to date.