Mr. Timothy Gomez is a Chicano educator and writer from Long Beach, CA. A local graduate of Monrovia High School, he went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University, Fullerton and his Master of Fine Arts in writing from Sarah Lawrence College. At Sarah Lawrence, Mr. Gomez worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Vijay Seshadri – as well as renowned writers Jo Ann Beard, Nick Flynn, and others – to complete his memoir manuscript, Such Waltzes Aren’t Easy. His essays and prose poetry have appeared in a number of literary journals, including No Tokens, Honey Literary, sin cesar, and Education Post.
For the last 12 years, Mr. Gomez has taught secondary English, History, and Writing in the working-class neighborhoods of Southeast Los Angeles and West Long Beach. During his tenure as Humanities Department Chair at Aspire Ollin University Preparatory Academy, he and his students founded the Write or Die writing club, which hosted regular community open mic nights at local coffee shops and bookstores. In 2022, he was honored as a Teacher of the Year for the city of Huntington Park.