Angelou always a big draw in SD

Maya Angelou, who died today at her home in North Carolina, visited San Diego several times over the years, drawing sold-out crowds for readings at area colleges. In February 2009, people stood in the rain for more than two hours to hear her at UC San Diego’s RIMAC Arena.

She was a fan of the Border Voices Poetry Project, founded in 1993, which teaches poetry to school children in San Diego, hosts poetry fairs and publishes poetry anthologies. Angelou appeared at both the 2000 and 2002 fairs.

“She was somebody with a big name and a big heart,” said Jack Webb, the group’s founder and director. “She’d learned humility and insight from the hard, sweet labor of writing poetry. She’d earned her fame, and the love people had for her.”

He said Angelou will be honored at this year's poetry fair, scheduled for Saturday at the new central library.

Angelou’s 2002 Border Voices appearance drew 7,500 people to Cox Arena. Webb remembers one of the highlights was when a local girl, Brianna Harrison, 9, came on stage, beaming at the opportunity to meet someone she considered her hero. (See the clip at bordervoices.com) Brianna read from one of Angelou’s most famous poems, “Still I Rise.”

“Out of the huts of history’s shame

“I rise

“Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

“I rise

“I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

“Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”

Before her reading in 2000, Angelou met privately with Dasha, a 17-year-old girl from Oakland who had sickle cell anemia. The meeting had been arranged by the Make A Wish Foundation. "You've been such an inspiration in my life," Dasha said.

"God bless your heart, baby," Angelou replied in her distinctive, rumbling voice.

They sat in chairs facing each other in a small room. Dasha had brought along a collection of her own poetry, typed and assembled in a clear, plastic folder. She gave it to Angelou while outside a group of local academic and business leaders stood waiting for their own chance to meet the famous poet. They would have to wait a little longer.

Angelou leafed through Dasha's poems and stopped. "Read this one to me," she said. And Dasha did.