When African American poet Camille Dungy decided to move her family to the predominantly White community of Fort Collins, CO, she did not expect to embark on a seven-year journey to diversify her front yard into a thriving ecosystem that invites all sorts of wild life.
This HOA-defiant act spurred her to apply for a Guggenheim Fellowship to produce a book that would chronicle her efforts while connecting to nature, much like writers before her such as Anne Spencer and Mary Oliver. Then COVID happened! Dungy found herself quarantined with her family having to teach her then fourth-grade daughter each day's worth of online elementary school curriculum, greatly curtailing her initial plans. The Colorado State University Distinguished Professor and author joined host Dr. Mark Anthony Neal to discuss the odyssey to complete her book, "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden," published May 2024 by Simon & Schuster.