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On April 28, Randell Adjei spoken word artist, author, arts educator and founder of the Scarborough-based youth-oriented initiative Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E.) was named the first Poet Laureate of Ontario. The unprecedented accolade is a moment in Adjei’s mounting legacy that’s been building since grade school. “It’s been a journey,” Adjei reflects. “It’s been about facing adversity, intimately, and finding different avenues to overcome it.” Adjei is frank in divulging the hardships woven into his story, highlighting several arrests in his youth and also the alarming and pivotal time when he was jumped and mugged shortly after being named valedictorian of his high school and graduating as an Ontario Scholar. Adjei has been able to ultimately find a centre, and a purpose, through writing about these instances of upheaval. “When you’re born to do something, I don’t think anything or anyone can hold you back from your destiny.” ....