Straight Out Scribes is very proud of the fact that in their 30 year history, they have donated much of their energy helping worthy causes, highlighting businesses owned by women and people of color, providing free programs in their community, helping other artists who have become ill or fallen on hard times and have been able to make yearly monetary donations to Loaves and Fishes, Mustard Seed, Prison Radio, the campaign to free political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, The MOVE-9, Angola 3 and others. Straight Out Scribes is the mother /daughter poetry duo of Dr. V.S. Chochezi and Staajabu.
Prior to the pandemic, Straight Out Scribes was involved in projects such as “Creative Minds” which is a gathering of artists of all kind. It was a Free Family Friendly event held on the last Saturday of every month through January 2020. The featured poet each month was a poet from the poetry anthologies that Straight Out Scribes has been publishing since 1990.
The mother daughter duo was featured in “Legacy: A four generation family art show” at the Sacramento Poetry Center (SPC) with family members Jessa Ciel, Billy Ward, Tisho Ward, their three children and Areyanna Jones. The duo teamed up with the family to showcase 30 pieces of their visual arts.
The GOS “Art Gallery Studio on 1825 Del Paso Blvd hosted Straight Out Scribes’ newest anthology “Caledonia Daughters” which combined the art of poetry and short stories about Black women in space in the future. Dr. V.S Chochezi spoke about the publishing process and author Staajabu talked about the historical participation of African American Science Fiction writers.
Straight Out Scribes has received honors and awards for their work. The awards include the Coalition of Labor Union Award for cultural contributions to the labor movement; the Sound of Soul Music Award for best spoken word group; Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission New Works Award, and Outstanding Women of Color Award.