Professor featured speaker at WNP
The founder of the Genius Discovery Academy and The International Conference of Thinking, professor William Maxwell, will be featured tonight at Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
Born in Centerpoint in 1929, Maxwell grew up in Arizona and studied at Howard, Oregon State, Maryland, California and Oxford universities. He earned his B.S. from Oregon State University, and was the first African American male to graduate from that university. He earned his master’s and doctorate at Harvard University, and went on to create and pioneer an educational model for the 21st century, a news release said.
In 1957, at age 28, Maxwell was elected to chair an international educational council for northeast Asia, with headquarters in Tokyo. At the time, he was the education adviser, 7th Infantry Division of the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea, where he studied all 142 U.S. soldiers with a genius-level IQ over 142, and “published the surprising results in the Phi Delta Kappan,” the release said, adding that Maxwell has conducted research or lectured in over 60 nations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific and North America, and published in major journals in Albania, England, Fiji, France, Korea, Nigeria and the U.S.
“He has served on the governing boards of three universities and has managed the nomination of many distinguished persons for the honorary doctorate. These include Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, Gordon Dryden of New Zealand, Professors of Physics Michio Kaku and Fritjof Capra, Governor Rose Moffett of Arizona, and Rev. Dr. Warren Stewart, a Civil Rights leader of Phoenix, Arizona,” the release said.
“Maxwell’s most important research concerned how to improve the thinking skills (IQs) of children which involved over 60 of his students at the University of the South Pacific over a four-year period and repeatedly demonstrated IQ gains of 19 or more points by skilled tutoring. His passion is helping people discover their inherent genius and their true calling,” it said.
“Everyone is born with at least one outstanding talent, usually more than one, which is one’s ‘true calling,’” Maxwell said in the release.
“With a fascinating history of innovating the field of intelligence studies and thinking, he has lived and taught his principles of developing genius all over the globe. He has returned to Arkansas to stay, with stories and poems under his belt that are sure to make us all THINK,” the release said.
“My first poem was published in a local newspaper in Korea, 1956; My second serious poem closed my first scholarly book, ‘Thinking: The Expanding Frontier,’ published in 1983 by the Franklin Institute Press, now available on Amazon. One of my more recent books, ‘The First Hero,’ closes each chapter with a poem,” Maxwell said. “I will be emotionally distilling poetry from one of my three books, ‘The First Hero,’ which was written to help all humans on the planet to fall in love with their brave and ancient African ancestors, the first true heroes,” he said. His late wife, Mary, was a public health nurse and co-authored some of his books. He will have information about his academy and his books at WNP.
“Wednesday Night Poetry is remnant of a distant past when we humans passionately wanted to connect to each other. Now, the entire human race suffers from anomie and thus none of us is happy. But WNP is an attempt to salvage what is left of civilized life,” Maxwell said.
“Professor Maxwell, or Uncle Bill as I call him, is an encyclopedia of knowledge and heart, a pillar of history who extends his hands to all of us to create a better world, one person and one poem at a time. He is such a powerful presence and I am intrigued and excited to hear more of his stories and poetry,” WNP host Kai Coggin said in the release.
Masks are required for entry, and for the duration of the indoor event. The regular open mic session for all poets will begin at 6:30 p.m. Maxwell will begin his feature set at 7:15 p.m., followed by another round of open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages. All are welcome.
This week marks 1,717 consecutive Wednesdays of open mic poetry in downtown Hot Springs since Feb. 1, 1989.
“WNP is the longest-running consecutive weekly open mic series in the country, now recently in partnership with Arkansas Learning Through the Arts, to share in the mission to spread arts awareness in our local community,” the release said.
For more information about WNP email wednesdaynightpoetry@gmail.com.