William Upski Wimsatt
A 27-year-old native of Chicago, William Upski Wimsatt ("Billy") is an artist, journalist, author, entrepreneur, multi-issue organizer, philanthropist, organization-builder and lecturer.
A lover of cities and civic life, Wimsatt became one of Chicago's most infamous graffiti writers as a young teenager. After deciding that writing his name on things wasn't the best way to honor his community, he began publishing a broad sheet newspaper which was posted on Chicago's bus and train lines. At age 16, he became a columnist for the Source magazine. A reporter and essayist, he has written for dozens of publications including: The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, Vibe, XXL, and Utne Reader. He was named a Younger Scholar by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and received an Individual Artist Award from the Illinois Arts Council.
Wimsatt's first book, Bomb the Suburbs: Graffiti, Freight-hopping, Race, and the Search for Hip-hop's Moral Center (1994) has sold more than 25,000 copies, mostly through the Chicago-based Subway and Elevated Press, a company he founded and then sold to his current publisher, Soft Skull Press, based in New York City.
Alarmed by the socially and financially catastrophic expansion of the prison industry, he decided to entitle his latest book No More Prisons, even though most of the book isn't directly about prisons. Instead, No More Prisons focuses on solutions roughly described by the book's subtitle: Urban Life, Homeschooling, Hip-hop Leadership, The Cool Rich Kids Movement, a Hitch-hiker's Guide to Community Organizing, and Why Philanthropy is the Greatest Art form of the 21st Century (Soft Skull Press, 1999). It is accompanied by a hip-hop compilation CD also entitled No More Prisons (Raptivism Records) featuring: The Last Poets, Dead Prez, Hurricane G, Edo G, The Coup, Apani B Fly MC, and dozens more.
A proud college drop-out, Wimsatt believes young people have to take charge of their own education, whether in or out of school. He has spoken at dozens of colleges and universities including Harvard, Yale, Swarthmore, Oberlin, and the University of Chicago as well as numerous conferences, bookstores, schools, and subway stops. In 1996, he was the youngest person to be named a "Visionary" by Utne Reader.
Wimsatt is a founding board member of The Active Element Foundation in New York City and The Self Education Foundation in Philadelphia. A former consultant to Rock the Vote on youth activism, he remains the National Talent Scout for LISTEN Inc. (The Local Initiative Support, Training and Education Network) in Washington DC, and serves on the board of More Than Money. In 1999, he donated a third of his income to these four organizations and others. He believes using resources strategically is an art form and encourages people of all income levels to creatively use all of our gifts.
Wimsatt is Co-Director with Easter Maynard of Reciprocity, a new national organization based in Raleigh, NC, devoted to engaging people in building partnerships across cultures and disciplines for personal and social benefit. Throughout the year 2000, Wimsatt and Maynard are touring North America in collaboration with Raptivism Records, the Prison Moratorium Project, and other organizations and artists. Speaking at colleges and hosting gatherings, they bring people together to talk about creative ways to keep the world intact for future generations.
Wimsatt enjoys learning, meeting people and having fun when he isn't taking himself WAY too seriously.
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Suburban Sprawl |
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