Miles Enriquez-Morales is a poet, athlete and student in Los Angeles. His boxing journey began in Longmont, Colorado where he eventually became a coach for youth classes. He also hosts a class called Trans Boxing which is specifically for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people in LA. He is a fellow student of past guest Tlotlo Tsamaase, who is a writer in the same Master of Fine Arts program.
Miles sits at a wonderful intersection as a poet and a boxer; in my head, I think of poetry as a practice of sensitivity, nuance and discernment. Whereas the story I have of boxing is one of competition, violence and domination, which can be beautiful and artistic in its own way. I haven't met many boxer/poets, but Miles is one of them.
The question of gender, biology and identity is both alive as well as politically charged right now, often in violent and harmful ways. When it comes to treating each other as humans first, we're not doing well as a culture. We'll hear Miles' story of becoming a boxer and finding camaraderie, kinship and safety to be himself in a space so often perceived to be meant for only one kind of person. As a teacher, artist and competitor, Miles shows us that this can be for anyone.
Let's get settled in and hear what Miles has for us.
Show Notes:
Miles Enriquez-Morales on Instagram
TransBoxing.org
Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist by Frans de Waal
#120 The Stories That Might Set Us Free (with Tlotlo Tsamaase)
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#134 Trans Boxing (with Miles Enriquez-Morales)