Back in 1997, a twenty-four year old Staceyann Chin moved from Kingston to Canarsie to escape persecution for being a lesbian who refused to conceal her sexuality. Once here, she became a performance poet and political activist, and over the years she has won many slam poetry competitions, has appeared in Off-Broadway one-woman shows, and was co-writer and performer in the Tony Award-winning Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Staceyann recently published her critically acclaimed and incredibly moving memoir, The Other Side of Paradise. Rafael Pi Roman spoke with Staceyann at her home in Crown Heights about her life and her work.