We’re giving a huge round of applause to Brandy Nālani McDougall, a graduate of the UO’s Creative Writing Program, for being selected as the 2023-25 Hawaii state poet laureate!👏💚💛 McDougall was born and raised on Maui, and is currently an associate professor of indigenous studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and director of the Mānoa Center for Humanities and Civic Engagement. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from uoregon in 2001.  “I see poetry as, above all, a form of connection, of pilina, that was created to help us humans to remember, to dream, to empathize, and to hope, and all of these ways to connect are really core to healing ourselves, our ʻāina (land) and the planet,” McDougall said.  Congratulations, we are so proud to call you a Duck!🦆 #CallMeADuck