MICHAEL OATMAN

Admittance to a Better Life [audio essay]

Michael Oatman (b. 1975) is a playwright and producer in Cleveland. His first poem was written to a young woman who rejected him; however, the poem was published, changing his life. A self-admitted “semi-thug” at one time, he went on to college at Cleveland State University, eventually earning his master of fine arts degree in 2008. In 2011, he won the Emerging Artist Award in Literature and was only the second Playwright in Residence at Karamu House in Cleveland, a landmark center for African American artists in many genres; the first Playwright in Residence was Langston Hughes.

In this audio essay, Oatman tells about his own journey, away from the streets and toward education. It’s a journey that has more than a little drama. He speaks of change. Change means growing into something new, but it also means growing out of something. That something he’s leaving is “street cred,” which he describes as “evaporating away.”

Download the transcript.