Maria Patton
she/her/hers
Primary Genres: I currently do news writing for Concentrate Ann Arbor, and Sports feature stories for Michigan Athletics. I am also an intern for the Communications department of the Detroit Lions, where I record and transcribe interviews of players and coaches. I have previously written identity-based pieces for the Michigan in Color (MiC) section of The Michigan Daily. This section was created to uplift the voices of students of color at the University of Michigan.
It is hard for me to choose a favorite because all of the writing I do is centered around a passion of mine. I love talking to my community members and writing about all of the issues and interesting events that are happening in Washtenaw County through Concentrate. I am currently working towards a career in the Sports Media industry, so working with Michigan Athletics and the Detroit Lions is extremely fulfilling and exciting for me. Writing for MiC was both a strenous [sic] but rewarding task. It was pretty difficult for me to write about my identities as a Black woman because unfortunately, the pieces I wrote are mostly centered around the maltreatment and marginalization of my identities. It was very important for me to tell the world about my experiences in this world as Black and a woman. Most of the time I had a lot of fun writing about whatever I wanted and was feeling at the time, but wriitng [sic] in that way also came with its challenges. There are pros and cons to the writing I do, but I love all of the pieces that I put out!
What might you like people to know about you as a writer? What you like people to know about you as a person?
I am extremely passionate about what I do! I hope to continue to make Ypsi proud and represent this city the best way possible in every space that I occupy!
YpsiWrites' theme this year is "Write for Change." Given this theme, what type of change do you think your writing inspires and what are your reasons for doing this writing?
I think that my writing pushes my community to think critically about the treatment of people around them. I aspire to change my community for the better and to create a more equitable world for all. I want my audience to read my pieces and become motivated to make a change that is beneficial for the well-being of everyone around them. I also grew up playing softball and have strong ties to the athletic world. In the athletic spaces I grew up in, I rarely saw images of myself. Women's sports were and still are hardly recognized and appreciated in the athletic community. I rarely see Black women in all forms of sports, whether that be as analysts, writers, or simply playing the sports. I hope that through my job in collegiate and professional athletics, little girls will look up to what I am doing and see that they too can be successful in sports, no matter what society says about what women and Black women should do and who we should be.
You can read more of Maria’s writing at the following websites:
