NEH Hip Hop Institute With Dave Wooley (CWP-Fairfield)...Proud of This Guy

Two years ago, Dave Wooley and Dr. Laura Nash attempted an NEH Hip Hop Institute promoting hip hop literacies with teachers across the United States. The NEH rejected it, so Dr. Nash went back to the drawing board and applied again. CWP-Fairfield provided a two-day workshop as part of the proposal. Lucky for many, Dr. Nash received the grant for the 2017 academic cycle.

For the last two days, the boys and I have presented at the institute, but last night we congregated at Two Roads Brewery where Dave Wooley, a teacher at Westhill High School offers hip hop literacy as part of his curriculum. The show he coordinated, organized, promoted and performed at was off the hook. It was fantastic to hear performers from across southern Connecticut do their thing.

It's been a long time since I've sweat that much...we danced and danced and danced. Of course, old farts retire at 10 p.m., but Dave represented our generation (with some newer generations) of the genre. It was awesome musicianship. Now I wish I was part of the institute so I could learn more about the history and context for the performances.

It was a great way to end a workweek and I'm super-duper proud to know and to be part of Dave Wooley's vision. He will be teaching for Project Citizen later this summer and I've already challenged him to make a music video called "Ubuntu." We shall see if he makes this happen.

Kudos to all involved with the NEH institute. It's awesome what they're doing. Such a great experience.