Internationally recognized poet and activist Sonia Sanchez left Pittsburgh because of the… Internationally recognized poet and activist Sonia Sanchez left Pittsburgh because of the smog.

“I used to live in Homewood,” she said. “I used to drive to the University to teach. And I used to cough everyday because the air was so polluted. But they cleaned it up good.”

Last Thursday, Sanchez spoke to a sold-out crowd in a second-floor loft in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. The event, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s “She Said,” is an annual celebration of the “words of women.”

Wearing a purple bandana over her gray dreadlocks, a purple scarf and purple-shaded glasses, Sanchez interspersed personal narratives with poems. A poet of the Black Arts Movement, which sought representation of black and other diverse voices, Sanchez is regarded as a poet and an activist for peace and justice.

Sanchez’s topics of discussion included starting a class called “Black Women,” her brother and dad’s rocky relationship, peace and taking care of the earth.

To the young people in the audience, she said “This is your century