Chicago native to serve as Joliet's first-ever Poet Laureate

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Joliet City Council approved its first-ever Poet Laureate on Tuesday evening.

“I want to provide opportunities for people all over this city so that accessibility isn't an issue,” said Uxmar Torres.

Torres has been chosen as the city's Poet Laureate, an honor he called incredibly meaningful.

“A lot of the things that we carry, if we don't share them, they weigh us down,” he said. “Once we start to share them, we build bridges and community.”

The South Side native and current youth specialist at Joliet Junior College will spend the next two years organizing writing workshops and other poetry related events around the city, which leaders said would help properly promote the arts for years to come.

“The ultimate goal would be to establish these mechanisms in the community to get more and more community members involved so that, when I am no longer in my position as a Poet Laureate, the systems don't stop,” Torres said. “They keep going because the community is what's making them happen. I just so happen to be one of the people that's going to help kick-start them.”

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