Curtis long, originally from Philadelphia,
grew up in an atmosphere of a city known for its dedication to culture. Culture
that wrapped it’s observers in the beaux
arts, and the essence of both art and science museums; and theaters housing
symphonies, plays, musicals and ballets, with schools offering subjects leading
to possibilities within a wide array interests. Curtis left Philadelphia
well-inculcated in the value of writing, poetry, a passion for languages,
music, dance, theater and the graphic and sculptural arts. He was a member of
the Philadelphia Experimental Group of New York’s Katherine Dunham School of
Cultural Arts. Since leaving Philadelphia, he has pursued the study of multiple
languages, including French, Spanish and Japanese. He has also been able to
study and master voice, piano and guitar. These skills lead Curtis to
participate in a number of outstanding choral groups, most notably the Hall
Johnson Choir in Los Angeles, and as a founding member of the (now the Master
Chorale).
During his life, Curtis spent time
abroad by residing for extended periods in both in San Juan, Puerto Rico and
Mexico City, Mexico offered the opportunity for Curtis to engage in what has
become his trademark skill: the translation (or creating other-language
versions) of song lyrics and poems. Those tenures gave him the opportunity to
collaborate with many notable artists, including Nydia Caro of Puerto Rico and
Armando Manzanero of Mexico. Available on Amazon.com is his memoir, “Manzanero,
Mexico, My Dear Old San Juan, Moi.” a memoir of his life and times in the
foreign language music scene.On this
same musical front, for more than 20 years, Curtis has been collaborating with
musician Tommy Dodson in the creation and performance of original stage
musicals and other works, under musicalsocal.com.
In addition, he has written and staged a narrative play covering the extent of
the African American Experience, “Strange Land / Strange Brand” with his words
and music of an accompanying song, “Journey.”
From all of Curtis’ international
travels and the skills he learned along the way, Curtis has never stopped
expanding his fellowships around foreign languages. Curtis has belonged to both
the American Translators Association and the American Literary Translators
Association, continuing to amplify his knowledge through attendance at seminars
in the U.S. and abroad. As a further extension, he obtained a Certificate in
Translation from San Diego State University (SDSU). The final outcome of that certification SDSU
published his translation of the Mexican novel, “Donde las voces se guardan,”
by Marco Antonio Samaniego. The title in English is, “The Whispering Voices of
Atabalpa.”
During his life, Curtis was also
part of an early digital marketing company named RosArt Multimedia, Inc. This is when Curtis ventured into the new and
emerging digital web. During this period, Curtis was involved in massive
translation projects for digital marketing including the basic understanding of
wording for both foreign languages and for more sophisticated keyword selection
and placement for the client’s websites to perform in the Search Engines, which
turned into a very successful program online marketing program for his clients.
During this time, Curtis became legally blind. This did not stop Curtis from
continuing on the web. He wrote personal-opinion essays under the title of
“Synapse-Shots,” which were published on his now-defunct, personal website.
Today, Curtis volunteers at the
San Diego Braille Institute for the Blind. He continues to use and share is
language skills by offering classes in Spanish. He also enjoys keeping himself
and other colleague’s current by running an ongoing discussion group about
Current Events and Politics. Finally keeping his love of music alive, he also
works with fellow Braille institute members on Piano lessons.
In addition to being one of the
writers, Curtis is Vice President of IFZ.
