Drake SJMC Days will kick off with Jazz, Journalism and the Roots of Creativity: An Evening With Dartanyan Brown on Monday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, sponsored by the Slay Fund for Social Justice and the E.T. Meredith Center for Magazine, Brand Media and Multimedia Education. The event will incorporate presentation, audio and video recordings, and a musical performance. It is based on “My Integrated Life,” an interactive memoir that Brown created for Rootstalk, an online Grinnell College journal.

Brown’s experiences include being a bassist and lead vocalist for acclaimed jazz/rock band Chase; interviewing the late Steve Jobs as a staff reporter for MacWEEK; and spreading the gospel of jazz throughout the country as a teaching artist with legends Dizzy Gillespie, Larry Ridley and Frank Foster. As an early adopter of education technology, he worked for Apple and as part of a team of sound designers and animators that collaborated with Dr. Seuss. His memoir also tells the story of his African-American family’s journey from Reconstruction-era Virginia to the integrated community of Buxton, Iowa, and then Des Moines, where Brown attended North High School.

Brown, JO’75, is a professional in residence working with Drake students during the 2022–2023 academic year. His residency celebrates the liberal arts education he received in both Des Moines public schools and at Drake. “I’ve enjoyed the last 40 years of helping others unlock the creativity they may have thought impossible,” said Brown. “Whether in jazz or journalism, rigor in preparation is a shared trait of both disciplines.”

— Denise Ganpat, School of Journalism and Mass Communication