Nahshon Dion Anderson

Nahshon Dion Anderson
Born (1978-04-01)April 1, 1978
Altadena, California, United States
Nationality American
Other names Joy Kina
Education California State University Los Angeles
Occupation Author, Comedian, memoirist, screenwriter
Years active 1992–present
Notable work Shooting Range
Awards Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award
Website www.Nahshondionanderson.com

Nahshon Dion Anderson (born April 1, 1978) is an Afro-Mexican[1][2] and French Creole writer,[3][4] and the 2014 recipient of the Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award (BRIO), given by the Bronx Council on the Arts.[5]

Early life

Anderson's maternal family the Smiths and Scotts of Marshall and Longview, Texas resided in Pasadena since the early 1940s. Anderson was born in Los Angeles County in the suburb of Altadena and raised as a Jehovah's Witness with Rodney Glen King family. Anderson attended Marshall Fundamental Secondary School with Actress Lark Vorhees and Tamala Jones as well as Actors Jaleel White and Jaharay Benett as well as Rodney Kings younger sister Ratasha King.[6] As a member of Ms. Smiths drama club, Anderson was invited to view live TV show tapings of various sitcoms at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, mainly Family Matters.[7]

Career

On March 3, 1991, Nahshon awoke to an unusual amount of activity and unnerving noise coming from her neighbor Odessa King's home. Nahshon later learn that her family friend and Odessa's son, Rodney King had been tortured by several Los Angeles Police Department officers. During the 1992 Los Angeles Riots Nahshon's Paternal grandmother Betty Jean Anderson Fuentes originally from Opelousas Louisiana, her neighborhood in the Harvard Heights area of Pico and Western in Los Angeles near Korea Town went up in flames. On August 12 a demolition crew clearing the rubble inside a J.J. Newberry store that was burned by looters on the first night of the riots discovered a body John Doe #172 that was later identified as 20-year Nissar Mustafa.[8] Nahshon wrote an essay on community improvement for Discover Card and won $500 and used those funds to visit New York with their family during 1993.[9]

During 1994, Anderson began working at Chuck E. Cheese as Chuck E. They were cast in a TV commercial that was shot in Pasadena at the Sierra Madre location Anderson was employed at. They became Taft-Hartley and eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild. Between 1995-1996, Anderson worked at Universal Studios Hollywood during the weekends and attended John Muir High School in Pasadena with Tashauna Howard. Her godfather Tupac Shakur attended their prom on June 7 with his personal bodyguard at the Biltmore Hotel In Los Angeles. Anderson inquired about working in Hollywood, and Tupac directed her to contact Look Here Productions which was producing his music videos at the time.[6][9] Upon taking rapper Tupac's advice in the summer of 1996, Anderson began interning at Look Hear Productions with Tracy D. Robinson and Gobi M. Rahimi.

While attending California State University Los Angeles for two semesters after reading Black Talent News, at age 19 Anderson started working at The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show as a production assistant in 1997. Within months Anderson became Executive Producer Michael Davies personal assistant working at Buena Vista Television a division of The Walt Disney Company located at Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) in the development department[10][11] along with executives of The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show Hayma Washington and Shauna Garr. During this time Nahshon met Yusuf Bey of Your Black Muslim Bakery son Sayyed Yusuf Bey owner of Quick N Shine auto detail, who worked for the Wayans Family detailing their cars and fell deeply in love.[12][13]

Anderson was the production coordinator for hip-hop artists, Russell Simmons' One World Music Beat, Naughty by Nature's music video Jamboree, Master P's film, Da Last Don, and the documentary 1 More Hit.[14][15] In 1999, Anderson joined the Screen Actors Guild, appearing in Diana Krall's music video Let's Face the Music, Arrest & Trial, a Nintendo commercial, with Sheryl Crow at the 26th Annual American Music Awards, and did print modeling for PacSun.[6][15] Anderson was also hired by former VIBE writer Brianna Hyneman to assist her at The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 1999. In 2001 they moved to Fort Greene Brooklyn and worked with The Bachelor Pad and Trace (magazine) on The Black Girls Rock issue at the home of former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Wayner which was previously owned by Spike Lee.[16] After six months in Fort Greene, Nahshon returned to California.[7]

Assault

Ricky Marshal's Arrest Report

On July 4, 1997, at 12:50 AM, while Anderson was en route on Crenshaw Boulevard to Long Beach to her boyfriend Pastor Eugene Joshua Simms' home she was later assaulted at Jim Thorpe Park in Hawthorne, California.[6][10][11] Ricky Laverne Marshall was charged with the assault but found not guilty on all three felony charges. [17]

Writing

Nahshon at the Bronx Council on the Arts 2014 Brio award ceremony

After soliciting clients for over a decade by advertising erotic massages in the LA XPress newspaper and on Craigslist and Backpage and having extreme success,[18] Nahshon was inspired to cast a wider spell to entertain. During 2013, Nahshon returned to New York City and started taking writing workshop classes at Actors Fund of America Nahshon's prose revolves around the intersection of violence, race, ethnicity, gender, class, identity politics in America, and more specifically the marginalization and exploitation of persons identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Hoping to settle in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Nahshon discovered Fort Greene and most of Brooklyn had been gentrified and then settled in The Bronx.[7]

Nahshon wrote short story Shooting Range, which was inspired by the assault they endured on July 4, 1997 and their relationship with Sayyed Yusuf Bey. Shooting Range was edited by former VIBE magazine writer Brianna Hyneman who had been colleague's with Anderson since 1999.[17][19] In the Fall of 2013 through Poets & Writers magazine Nahshon discovered the Bronx Council on The Arts Brio grant competition for artists which they entered Shooting Range in and won $3k.[20][21][22][23]

Nahshon has interviewed LGBT writers and allies such as activists like Darnell L. Moore, National Book Foundation award nominee Professor Jeffrey C. Stewart, Renee Bess, Amy Heart, Amber Dawn, and New York Times best selling author Michael Arceneaux, forthcoming is Los Angeles Times music journalist Gerrick Kennedy and civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson as well as Jenn Baker for Lambda Literary online journal.[24]

Published works

Literary Journals

  • Coldcreek Review The Shallows[9][25]

Anthologies

  • Emerge: 2017 Lambda Literary Fellows Anthology. (Volume 3) Lambda Literary Foundation
  • Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars. Flashpoint Productions.[26][27][28] ISBN 978-1633048133
  • Emerge: 2016 Lambda Literary Fellows Anthology. (Volume 2) Lambda Literary Foundation[29] ISBN 978-1546327097
  • Prose & Lore Collected Issues 1-5: Memoir Stories About Sex Work (Red Umbrella Project) ISBN 978-0988259690
  • Prose & Lore: Issue 3: Memoir Stories About Sex Work (Red Umbrella Project) ISBN 978-0988259669
  • Prose & Lore: Issue 2: Memoir Stories About Sex Work (Red Umbrella Project) ISBN 978-0988259645

Non-fiction books

  • The Bronx Memoir Project BCA (2014) ISBN 978-1500674069

Activism

While residing in Hollywood and West Hollywood California, Anderson volunteered as at the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition and distributed food to homeless individuals at Sycamore and Romaine. Anderson volunteered for Heal the Bay and was a Production Associate for their 20th-anniversary fundraiser. Anderson also served as a Production Associate for Magic Johnson's 20th Mid Summer Night Magic week long fundraising event. Anderson interned at the Transgender Legal Defense Education Fund in New York City and worked on the Name Change Project.[11][30] As an activist, Anderson served as a grant review panelist for Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens Art Councils [2] and in 2016 was selected by New York philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein-spielvogel to be a New York State Council on the Arts grants Advisory panelist.[31] Anderson makes regular philanthropic contribution to organizations that support the arts,[32] Afro-Latin culture[4] and social justice.[33]

Awards, grants and honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sawyer, Kyle (2016-04-08). "2016 Writers Retreat Fellows". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  2. 1 2 "NYSCA Panelists Bios | New York State Council on the Arts". www.nysca.org. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  3. 1 2 3 Council Book (PDF). California Arts Counsel. p. 27.
  4. 1 2 2017 African American Heritage Month Calendar and Cultural Guide (PDF). City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. 2017. pp. 94 & 151.
  5. ↑ http://www.bronxarts.org/brio_winners_2014.asp
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Despite brutal assault, writer finds her voice - Rolling Out". Rolling Out. 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  7. 1 2 3 Ford, Sarah. "Formally Homeless Writer Rises Above Personal History". Denver Voice.
  8. ↑ "L.A. riots: Victims killed defending businesses, in random attacks". LA Times Blogs - L.A. NOW. 2012-04-29. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  9. 1 2 3 "Quick N Shine". www.coldcreekreview.amberdtran.com. Cold Creek Review. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  10. 1 2 "Nahshon Anderson". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  11. 1 2 3 "Nahshon D. Ratcliff | NEA". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  12. ↑ "PRODUCED BY 2009 // Screech Washington // PRODUCED BY CONFERENCE". www.producedbyconference.com. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  13. ↑ Birnbaum, Debra (2016-11-18). "TV Academy Elects Hayma 'Screech' Washington Chairman and CEO". Variety. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  14. ↑ "Bios". Bronx Book Fair. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  15. 1 2 "brio_winners_2014". www.bronxarts.org. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  16. ↑ Group, The Corcoran. "Do the Right Thing: Buy, Real Estate News, Press, Articles, Blogs, Stories, Latest, New York, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hamptons, Shelter Island, North Fork & Palm Beaches". www.corcoran.com. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  17. 1 2 "Local organization brings Bronx filmmaker's dream to life". Bronx Times. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  18. ↑ Grant, Melissa Gira. "7 Sex Workers on What It Means to Lose Backpage.com". The Cut. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  19. ↑ "Case Studies Editorial Support for Individual Clients". Cleis Abeni.
  20. ↑ Ratcliff, Nahshon. "My Art Story". National Endowment of the Arts. National Endowment of the Arts. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Attendee Roster" (PDF). Alliance of Artists Communities.
  22. ↑ "Lambda Literary Day on Governors Island – Sunday, September 24". Empire State Center for the Book. 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  23. ↑ "TRANSVISIONARIES 2017". BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  24. ↑ "Nahshon Dion Anderson". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  25. ↑ "Nahshon Anderson". Poets & Writers. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  26. ↑ "Our Happy Hours - How LGBT People Thrive(d) and Survive(d) | Kallmaker.com". Kallmaker.com. 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  27. ↑ "Our Happy Hours LGBT Voices From The Gay Clubs anthology reading | Metrosource". Metrosource. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  28. ↑ "The Amazon Trail: Happy Hours". On Top Magazine. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  29. 1 2 Johnson, William (2017-06-08). "Emerge: 2016 Lambda Literary Fellows Anthology". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  30. ↑ "Nahshon Anderson | Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc | ZoomInfo.com". ZoomInfo. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
  31. ↑ "2016 Panelists". Brooklyn Arts Council. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
  32. ↑ "2016 Gala Sponsors - PEN America". PEN America. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  33. ↑ Sylvia Rivera Law Project Annual Report. Sylvia Rivera Law Project. 2011. p. 16.
  34. 1 2 3 4 "California Arts Directory". National Arts & Disability Center.
  35. 1 2 3 Sawyer, Kyle (2017-04-26). "2017 Writers Retreat Fellows". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  36. ↑ "Watch the 2017 Fellows Readings". Lambda Literary. 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  37. ↑ "E-boletín June 2017". NALAC. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  38. ↑ Sawyer, Kyle (2016-08-26). "2016 Fellows Readings". Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  39. ↑ "VONA Shrine" (PDF). p. 4.

Sources

  • Dean, Terrance (2008). Hiding in Hip Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry--from Music to Hollywood. New York, NY: Atria Books. ISBN 978-1416553403.
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