Speak Easy: A Generational Poetry Slam

OMIGOD it was a great night. It was not only the opening night of the Riverwood Poetry Festival, I got to see some old friends I haven't seen in ages.

This generational slam pitted the current CT Youth Slam Team against former members of adult CT slam teans. It was hosted by Elizabeth Thomas, a great poet, teacher and one of those friends I do not get to seen often enough.

Krishna Hayes, yet another I haven't seen in too long, was the sacrificial poet. It seemed appropriate since he was a member of the first CT Youth Slam team and is now, of course, an adult. For those who don't know, the "sacrificial poet" is not part of the slam but is used as a demonstration to teach the judges how to judge.

The adult team lost the toss and had to go first. Faith Viciinanza, a friend I have actually seen within the last six months, unlike most of my poet friends. I realize now I should have taken notes realizing I would want to write about it, but I can't remember order or even names of some of the Youth Team.

Ngoma, probably the poet I haven't seen in the longest time was absolutely phenomenal. I'd forgotten just how dynamic a performer he is. It was as his slam in New Haven a decade or so ago, that I competed in my first slam. The slam is long gone, along with the coffee house where it happened, and Ngoma moved to Harlem. I'm so glad he came back to CT for a day! He had the highest score of the night with his second poem, including two 10s!

The youth poets were all talented. My favorite among them was a young woman named Jenna. Her poems were well-written and literate, deep and philosophical without losing the dynamic power of her performance. I'll bet we see a lot more of her. To learn more about the youth slam team check out Upwords Poetry

Dan Derosa was the only adult team member whom I had not heard before. He too slammed me to the wall with the power of his pieces.

The adult team won handily but youth team gave them a run for their money.

Between the two rounds, Minta White performed. I was going to say she "played the flute" but to say that would be like saying Picasso drew pictures. It was the most amazing range of flute usage I have ever seen. I can't even find a way to make an explanation make sense. You really have to hear this woman.

Lisa Lobasso and Pat Hale, both of whom will be reading at the festival later in the week joined the standing room only crowd in the audience.

Five of the Riverwood Poetry Series BOD were there too. Kathryn Kelly and I staffed the merch table, Julia Paul took pictures and Dolores Lawler joined the audience. And Colin Haskins, our executive director, made our festival announcements before the event began.

Pictures (when Julia posts them) and names of the youth team (when Elizabeth sends them) are coming but I wanted to get something out tonight!

And join us tomorrow night at Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor for Partners in Poetry, otherwise kwown as The PIPs! And move downstairs for our latenight venue in the "Underwood Cafe" with poets Dan Wilcox, LisaAnn LoBasso and George Wallace. It will be hosted by Julia Paul.

life goes on - social networking

From Life Goes On:

Do you think Facebook, MySpace, etc., are for kids? Do you use them? Do you find them useful? If you do use them, which do you use? How often? What for?

I meant to answer this over the weekend but during the few minutes of free time that I had, I fed my Facebook addiction. Yup, I use social networking, and for the first time I find it not only useful, but fun. Come write on my wall!

I started using MySpace a few years ago when I first started teaching. My students kept asking if I had a MySpace and I finally set one up so I could know what they were talking about. I discovered that many of my family in Erie also had MySpace pages.

So I started giving out the page address along with my classroom page at the beginning of the year. The kids laughed at me. "What YOU have a MySpace fo'?" I explained about communicating with my family, and some of them added me as friends. Some teachers say they would never do this. But I am of the philosophy that I would rather know than not know, what my students are involved in. I did learn whose pages I really should go look at if I didn't want it to piss me off enough to confront the kid.

I also had a student remove me because of a comment I made in class. She was falling asleep every day, and I had noticed she has bulletin board posts on MySpace at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., etc., and I said, "If you weren't up all night posting on MySpace, you might be able to stay awake in Geometry class." She took me off her friends list. <-;

I've had a Facebook page for a year or so too, but I never did anything with it until I got involved in the Riverwood Poetry Festival this year. Many of the poets from the festival have Facebook pages, and many poets I would like to come to the festival have Facebook pages. It really IS a great networking tool, unlike MySpace, which seems to be more social than networking.

Maybe that's why I like it better. I am finding my network of poets is growing. My daughter and stepdaughter both have Facebook pages, but I can't seem to find any more of my family. I do hope they join up.

And I never have put much stock in others' opinions, especially those of young people telling me I'm not supposed to be doing something. All I can do is laugh, and wonder what it is they're doing that they are not supposed to be doing that they don't want me to see out here in cyberspace. Probably more than I want to know.

schizophrenia

I've always joked that my two hobbies create a bit of schizophrenia, and having suddenly become a Facebook junkie, I have "friends" from both sides. That is, I have poets on my friends list, and I have martial artists on my friends lists. The first thing that happened is that I was invited to two events on the same night. The first is from a poet:

A Poetry Salon at Freight Street Gallery on Saturday night, July 11, starting at 7 p.m.. It will be a chance to mingle with other area poets over potables and edibles and try out the sound of our words there.

The second is from a martial artist:

... is Graduating and you are invited to the Celebration Extravaganza!!! Bring your Swimsuit, towel, Appetite and Party Attitude! From Adult Drinks to Children's Toys, there will fun for everyone! Swimming, Bocci, Horseshoes, Volleyball and FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!!! At dusk there will be a Fireworks display in her honor! We look forward to sharing this special day with you!

Okay, so even I don't have a problem seeing which would be more fun if we go to either!!

But then there's the "status update". Today, I have updates from a poet and a martial artist right after one another.

The poet's status is:

Back from Duluth, which was actually a lovely town right on Lake Superior. I met alot of very talented writers and joined a newly-formed group that we dubbed the "Taconite Poets." As to what taconite is all about, I'll leave that to you and google!

The martial artists status:

trampoline :)

I like having both sets of friends.

tuesday newsday - bad news 24/7

From this week's Tuesday Newsday:

Do you think the news media is putting too much emphasis on the negative aspects of life and ignoring the more positive news items? Do you think they are exaggerating the negative and scary for ratings?

Of course they exaggerate and rerun the same horrific images over and over for the ratings. The question is not whether they should run more positive stories, the question is why do the negative and scary get better ratings?

My husband complains that I watch too much CNN, doom and gloom 24-7. That's not really true on CNN. They do throw in an upbeat piece occasionally, a teen who beat cancer, medical discoveries that could save lives. I use those times to go get a soda, or go pee.

People are not glued to the tv when there's a victory parade in Manhattan but how many of us could unglue ourselves after 9/11? We are enthralled by disaster, bored by happiness.

I think it's simply the way humans work. I know my best poetry is painful and dark. In fact, I was asked to find some happy poems and I had a hard time doing it. When I am happy, I don't write, I just "be happy".

I'd write more, but it's almost time for Rick Sanchez, where everyone gets to join in the bad news bandwagon. Time to go watch riots in Iran, hear about the backlash from the good news that Obama granted benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, see what's going on with the Air France plane crash, and maybe they'll take time out for good news like the hottest bachelors of 2009 so I'll ahve time for that bathroom trip.

life goes on - females over 50

This week's Life Goes On post says in part:

Have you noticed how when a female actor turns 50 she is suddenly no longer considered a leading lady!

Damn straight I've noticed. It's rather hard not to, especially once I became one of those over 50 women! But what I have seen in general is that women still cower at the thought of crone and croon at the thought of cutie. (Couldn't resist alliteration once I got started.)

Until women start being proud of getting older, and not hiding behind dye and makeup and cosmetic surgery, nothing is going to change. For example, at the karate tournament last week when collecting our cards for my division, they need to check our ages. The ages of the women were all 35 and over. The head judge said things like, "29 I see." and other such jokes. The other women went along with it, joking about anniversaries of their 21st birthday and so on. I said, "I'm 55 and proud of it!"

I see women in their 70s who still have improbably dark hair, who try desperately to cover their wrinkles with makeup that makes them look like something out of a wax museum.

I think it's a damn waste of time and quite a bit of torture to try to fit a 55 year old woman into the image of a 20 year old. I have better things to do with my time than subject myself to beauty parlors and put on makeup that will likely run and or get wiped as I work my way through my daily activities. I don't have anything to make up for. I am a 55 year old woman who can spar, write poetry and create web pages. I'm not going to waste the precious minutes I have left on earth trying to look young in order to be admired for something I am not. If you don't like what I look like, don't look.

Sure, I would love to see older women portrayed on the big screen. For that to happen, women need to tell Hollywood they want to see older women on the screen, and that the way to do that is to be proud of being an older woman. As Popeye said, "I yam who I yam."

Tuesday Newsday - Taking Care of Health Care

From Tuesday Newsday:

During the second Presidential debate the candidates were asked if they thought health care was a privilege, a right or an obligation. What do you think? Any of those, or something else?And if that isn't enough for you, how important is it to pass something quickly? And how do you think it should be implemented and financed?

Okay, so it's Friday and not Tuesday and Bonnie already posted our Friday blog and I haven't answered my own Tuesday Newsday post yet So, it's time to catch up.

First, I asked "something else" because I think it IS something else. It is a necessity! Without health care, debt can spiral out of control if you get sick. What doesn't sit right with me is the double punishment of being jobless and losing health care as a result.

Sure, some companies give 3 months free COBRA, or allow you to pay for COBRA, but it is sooooo expensive that it would not be affordable on unemployment. The way things are set up now, you have insult added to injury when you lose your job. Then what if you get sick? You can not only not pay for it, you can't look for a job while you're sick. Then what if it is a permanent illness, like cancer. Then, if you do manage to find a job, you will have a "pre-existing condition" which is not insurable.

So, my bottom line answer is that yes, we need a national health care system and given the state of the unemployment in the country, we need it QUICK!

I don't think we should jump into something we may regret like nationalized health care, but I don't think a government health plan as an alternative to private ones would be a bad idea. The private health care services say it will drive them out of business. I think that is nonsense. What it will do is make them consider their services, how to make them better, and how to make them more affordable, like any other competitive business in a democracy.

How to pay for it? Sin taxes. I've been through that already in another post, but who cares. I'll say it again. People would be healthier if they smoked less, drank less, ate less junk food, and drank less sodas. Let's tax those products as well as JUNK FOOD RESTAURANTS!!!

For example, at McDonald's you can eat their crap cheaper than you could buy and cook food. This is not an inspiration to actually cook, and makes it far too easy to ingest deep fried french fries, white bread buns, meat that could have ANYTHING in it, and sodas that have so many things that can hurt you that they can clean rust from bumpers by pouring it on them.

Okay, this one is done. Now I can do the more fun one from Life Goes On.

life goes on - identification

This week's Life Goes On is Identification. It says in part:

As you've gotten older, has your perspective changed on media you watch, hear or read?

Of course it has, but it's fun to look at the changes.

One big thing I remember is when VCRs first came out, and then, video rental stores. It was, "OMIGOD! I remember this movie! It was SO GREAT!" and we'd rent it and I'd either gag or laugh.

Welcome to L.A. was one I spotted and HAD to see again. It stars Keith Carradine (brother of David, but he's another story!!) The short description on IMDB is "The lives and romantic entanglements of a group of young adults who have achieved "overnight" success in Los Angeles" and yup, it was it. No plot, no real acting, just sex, drugs and more sex and drugs. On the other hand, when I was young I had the hots for Keith Carradine, and for that matter was very into sex and drugs, so I remember why I liked it then! LOL.

And then there's the big one. One that changed my life. The book On the Road by Jack Keroauc was one of the pillars of my teen years. I reread it when I had my own teenagers. That was a mistake. Or maybe a revelation. My heroes "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty" (i.e. Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady) were suddenly the corrupters of my teenagers. These paragons of independence of my youth were self-indulgent, irresponsible freeloaders who didn't understand the meaning of contributing to the society that was supporting them.

I think Loudon Wainwright III said it well in his song Talking New Bob Dylan

My kid cranked up her boom box to almost grown
When I heard you screamin' from her room
"Everybody must get stoned", thanks a lot, Bob

tuesday newsday - vat

From Tuesday Newsday:

Policy makers are debating on whether to add a value added tax to our daily purchases, on which we already pay sales tax. This is how they plan to pay for health care reform. So, is this a fair tax or are we unduly taxing the poor with this? Does the end justify the means?

No, and yes, in that order. A value-added tax that is indiscriminate would fall so much more heavily on the people it is trying to help so as to be counterproductive. If people who are already struggling to make ends meet are taxed on food and clothing, making them more expensive, then they may end up malnourished and poorly clothed. Then, those people are going to need more of the health care that this tax is supposed to pay for.

I do think that a national sin tax might be in order. We already have taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. Those could go up. Then if we tax sodas, candy and other non-nutritional edibles, then we could be using the money to help pay for the ills that could come from those as well as help pay for health care of those who will eat healthier because things that are bad for them cost more.

When I lived in Texas, most foods and clothing were nontaxable. Any one piece of clothing under $50 was not taxable. Any one piece of clothing over $50 was taxable. I thought that made a lot of sense. I pay more than $50 for a dress or a coat once every two or three years. Most of my clothing purchases are much less than that.

So, I think that a VAT is a viable option, but not if it is used to paint the whole house the same color. Instead, VATS should be painted into the corners and walls where it would have the least effect on the poor and still raise enough money to pay for health care.