(Published: The March 2008 issue of The 808 Scene Zine)
Team Hawaii, Adult Division: Kealoha, Stri Longanecker, Travis T, Lyz Soto, Dar'ron Cambra
and Tui "Tui-Z" Scanlan peeking out in the foreground.
It's one thing for a writer like me to immerse myself in an event by attending and socially mingling in order to hammer out an assigned article. Actually participating as a competitor among seasoned veterans is another thing altogether! More humbling still is realizing that a large number of your fellow competitors are half my age, and much, much better at this than me. Not only was this article researched in this way, but this topic is so interactive that you, the reader, can also get involved! So start brushing up your rhymes and come to the monthly competition on the first Thursday of every month at the Hawaiian Hut located in the Ala Moana Hotel.
April 19, 7:00 PM at Kaimuki High School Youth Speaks Hawaii will be hosting "The Grand Slam", a competition of the top poets of the year. The adult class of poets will have their own Grand Slam April 3rd who took 1st place at the First Thursdays competition. So, the bad news is that any newcomers will have to wait a year for another Grand Slam. The good news is, once you see what you’re up against, you'll want a year to practice! And any young people (being younger than 18) need only contact The Youth Speaks Hawaii people online, or attend the poetry workshops held every Wednesday, 4:30 to 6:00 PM at The Arts at Mark’s Garage. There are also plans to restart the Youth Speaks slams every third Saturday, at Mark’s.
Hawaii Slam and Youth Speaks are two crucial organizations that put the resource of public, personal expression into the hands of the local community. And the spoken word movement in Hawaii and elsewhere, is a lot stronger than many people may be aware of. In fact, all one has to do is go online, to get a feel for how powerful it has become. Hawaii Slam, Youth Speaks and Girl Fest all have a strong Internet presence, as do many of their sponsors and participants. Perhaps the best place to start would be to go to the Youth Speaks Hawaii Web page, (http://www. youthspeakshawaii.org) where one can contact the organization, and also get a sense of the grand scope of the movement and the immense talent out involved! They are also readily searchable on Myspace. Back in early December I had the opportunity to attend the Youth Speaks 3rd Annual Interscholastic Slam, and it was, without a doubt, one of the most moving and educational experiences of my life.
As I inferred earlier, it's not easy for an aging writer like myself to get taken back to school by such a group of sharp young upstarts, but it was definitely an honor and a privilege I won't ever forget. The brutal honesty and raw emotions of these powerful speakers and their craft took me to places I didn't expect, some places I didn't want to go, but realized we should all visit, because these amazing young people are our future. I vowed never to refer to them as “kids” again!
So I braced myself for the prospect of attending First Thursdays and reciting, to be a fair reporter and to really get good case of stage fright on. This was on the heels of the opening of Girl Fest, where I had been treated some of the nation's best poets! Can you say nervous?
But upon arriving at the Hawaiian Hut, I was greeted by warm handshakes and hugs and the smell of my favorite incense wafting on the air, and a strange thing happened. I was suddenly in room with over 400 friends, or people I had come to think of as friends, and all the fear of judgment and evaluation melted away as poet after poet took the stage and laid bare their souls for all to see. I almost chose to “share” and not compete, (you can do that) but my sense of responsibility over-road my trepidation, and it all turned out to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life! I did not even place as a competitor, but it was my first time, and I did not care one bit! In the presence of such immense talent, it would have been easy to simply follow the urge to bow out before even attempting to compete, but despite those feelings, or perhaps because I chose to ignore it, I was hooked!
I will be back, and I will be attending the Grand Slam probably as a casual observer and fan, cheering on my friends and fellow poets, as the adults battle their way towards the National competition held in Madison WI, in August. Youth Speaks will be competing nationally in July, in Washington D.C.
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