Anthony S. Blacksher is a poet, professor, and vinyl record collector. Writing and perfoming under the name Ant Black, he is the associate publisher of San Diego Poetry Annual. He performs regularly with the dance collective bkSoul, producing collaborative theater for social justice and awareness. As a founding member of Collective Purpose and the open-mic Elevated, Anthony helped bring the San Diego spoken word and poetry slam scene to national prominence. He is a professor of sociology at San Bernardino Valley College and also doctoral candidate of Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Anthony’s dissertation, Life After Def: New(er) Black Intellectuals in Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, explores how spoken word poets negotiate their role as intellectuals and performers on a television show.