Kim Block Writes Poem for Poetry Month
- Details
- Category: Personal Commentary
- Published: Wednesday, 31 March 2021 22:31
- Written by Kim Block

I am a person who stutters. Stuttering comes in many shapes and forms — not only in the ways in which people stutter, but the kind of people who stutter are very diverse.
Mike Wilson has dealt with stuttering all his life, and is active at conferences and in the stuttering community, including interviewing people who stutter on his podcast, Stuttering with Confidence.
For much of my life, I considered having a stutter to being a burden. It was exhausting, frustrating, and affected my quality of life.
In 1936, a statuesque 20-year-old named Mary Dowell was hired as a dancing girl for an extravagant Texas Centennial celebration in her home town of Fort Worth. Until then she had been, in her own words, “looked upon as a sort of freak” due to her height and pronounced stutter. “When I walked down the street people would look at me and grin, like I was the town idiot. I was the unhappiest girl in Texas.”
Do you have an idea for a workshop? Our November conference will be a chance to meet and socialize and learn together once again. Due to the success of our one-day conferences that we have been holding for the past six years, 2020 will be a big year as we expand the event and move the conference venue to beautiful Niagara Falls!