Our series “Voices of Disability Pride” continues this week with spoken word poet and writer J.B. Stone. Stone discusses with WBFO’s freelance reporter Mason Ald the importance of not letting others define one’s journey, and how finding balance in his life played a critical role in their career as a neurodivergent person.
Stone is also a teaching artist, critic, and founding editor at Variety Pack, a magazine focused on diversity in artistic expression. While this segment has been edited for length and clarity.
PLAIN LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION: This week’s episode is a part of a series called Voices of Disability Pride, where WBFO features people with disabilities discussing their work, their journey, and advice for other disabled people. For this episode, spoken word poet and writer J.B. Stone joins WBFO’s freelance reporter Mason Ald for a conversation. Stone is also a teaching artist, editor, and critic. He speaks about how it's important to not let others define your journey and to seek balance in life along the way.
TRANSCRIPT
Mason Ald: Hi, I am Mason Ald. And this is the WBFO Disabilities Beat. This week we continue our series Voices of Disability Pride with local spoken poet J.B. Stone. Stone is also a writer, teaching artist and founding editor at Variety Pack, a magazine focused on diversity in artistic expression. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Thank you for joining me today on WBFO.
J. B. Stone: Thank you for having me.
Mason Ald: The first thing I actually did want to ask you was why did you pursue spoken poetry and the creative arts at large, and what was that journey like for you?
J. B. Stone: I think for me, a lot of it really stemmed from just years of loving writing in different forms. When I was in high school, I wrote a lot of different song lyrics. And then I went into spoken word because a man who would now be my mentor Ten Thousand was doing a feature for their open mic night at my school, and they did it at my student lounge. It was from that moment that I was like, wow, he's talking about his experiences as someone who's dealt with that phobia. Why don't I write more of that stuff?
Mason Ald: You've been in many different creative professions and still are in a lot of different ones I saw. What has that been like and what do you most enjoy about doing that?
J. B. Stone: What encourages me to take on these different roles is knowing the importance of having these different roles. So one of the things when I teach a workshop, I try to encourage the students not to bind themselves to one particular style. I encourage them to write anything and everything because that's how my inspiration comes into. Variety is the spice of life, and it's also the spice of one's writing.
Mason Ald: Does your lived experience as a neurodivergent person also play a role in your career like that, and how so?
J. B. Stone: I think I am a lot more blunt about who I am because a lot of neurodivergent folks we don't hide behind certain things I feel like. That comes in handy with students too, because I have a balance where I'm not telling them Santa Claus is dead. But I'm also not telling them at the same time that they can't write, that they can't do this or they can't do that. I am giving them an honest version of me.
Mason Ald: If you could give advice to a younger you or another person with a disability just getting started on their advocacy journey, what would you tell them?
J. B. Stone: If you need to leave a conversation, don't stick around trying to defend yourself. Just don't be part of that whole crew. Don't put yourself out there if you don't need to. But don't let people talk down to you either, whether that's the R word or someone just actively patronizing you, because that's another way to insult someone in the autism community. Look out for the signs. If their smile's little wider than it should be, if their tone is a little more happy-go-lucky than it should be, nine times out of 10 that person is probably telling you they don't think or value you and I.
Mason Ald: Who do you look up to or admire in our community?
J. B. Stone: If I had to pick a number one, it'd probably be Brandon Williamson. I don't know if you know who Brandon is, but he is one of the biggest mentors in my life. He's my slam poetry captain. I call him captain all the time because I love the Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. And he's the captain for Knuckles to my Flap Jack. He's given me so many opportunities to showcase my work.
Mason Ald: And then lastly, is there anything you've learned in your career that really sticks with you, like maybe a skill or an idea that you carry with you every day?
J. B. Stone: I think part of it is finding the balance between loving your writing and not being consumed by it. If you have a draft of something, don't stare at it each and every day. Take breaks. Go a day or two without looking at it. Maybe go a week. Some people have gone months without looking at a draft, and they'll spot new things because they gave themselves that time to do other things. And muses are all around us, so don't try to treat everything as a muse, but don't let the draft of something define your entire life.
Mason Ald: You can listen to the Disabilities Beat segment on demand, view a transcript and plain language description for every episode on our website at wbfo.org. I'm Mason Ald. Thanks for listening.