-----PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR HAWAII'S YOUTH!-----
***** PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD! *****
!!! PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!
ALOHA EVERYONE
in just 3 days!
Youth Speaks Hawaii (LLC) presents
the 4th Annual INTERscholastic Poetry Slam* (2008)
hosted by: world champion slam poet, the Mighty Mike McGee**
featuring: Farrington HS -vs.- Kalani HS -vs.- Kalaheo HS –vs.- UH Lab School –vs.- Haki Puu LC
Saturday, November 29th, 7/8pm
@ Kaimuki High School Auditorium
All Ages, $3
for those of you who came to a packed Hawaiian Hut for last year's InterSlam,
you know how awesome it was, we fully expect to you see you folks again!
AND please don't forget to tell everyone you know about next Saturday's show!
*for those of you wondering what I'm talking about "Slam*"?
A poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets perform their original work and are judged by 5 members of the audience.
Who are instructed to give numerical scores (on a zero to 10 or one to 10 scale) based on the poets' content and performance.
so far the schools sending teams to compete in this year's poetry slam are:
- Kalani HS (3X defending champs)
- Haki Pu'u (3rd year)
- Kalaheo HS (2nd year)
- UH Lab School (2nd year)
- Farrington HS (1st year ever)
questionable are: Punahou (2nd year), Halau Ku Mana (2nd year) & Waianae HS (1st year ever)
** this year's host is the Mighty Mike McGee:
- Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, 2006
- International World Poetry Slamionship, 2006 (2nd)
- National Poetry Slam Individual Grand Champion, 2003
- San Jose Poetry Slam Grand Champion, 2003 and 2004
- San Francisco Poetry Slam Grand Champion, 2003
as some of you are familiar, Youth Speaks Hawaii had a great summer
the 2008 YSH Slam Team placed 1st, winning this year's annual Brave New Voices International Youth Spoken Word Slam Poetry Festival held in Washington DC, while being filmed for a HBO (home box office) documentary, scheduled to air in jan/feb '09.
in the meantime, this year's fall semester brings us
- 4 new YSH mentors: Jocelyn Ng, William Giles, Tui Scanlan, & guest mentor Moira Pirsch (of wisc & minn fame)
- 2 YSH after school artist residencies @ Kalani and Farrington high schools
- a language arts elective course @ UH Lab School, taught by our very own talented Arts & Education Director / Workshop Facilitator / Mentor: Darron Cambra (Darron@YouthSpeaksHawaii.org)
- continuing our free and open Wednesday youth poetry workshops, 4:30pm, @ The ARTS at Marks Garage (1159 Nuuanu)
- bold new partnerships with Kids Talk Story Hawaii, GirlFest Hawaii & The ARTS at Marks Garage
- the 2008 Youth Speaks Hawaii INTERscholastic Poetry Slam! (sat, nov29), we are looking for volunteers (see below)
we are currently working on
- a new YSH spoken word cd featuring the world champion 2008 YSH Slam Team, and the poems that won them such fame
(this cd should be available in limited amount at next week's INTERslam!)
- starting up a new free monthly weekend YSH open mic /slam
- an arts and education youth spoken word curriculum development program
- seeking / finding help with YSH grant writing / non-profit paperwork stuff, like book-keeping and accounting etc
- a new YSH chapbook, we are accepting submissions, so get at us!
Anyone interested in lending us a helping hand this Saturday?
Or have any questions, concerns, or anything in general etc; please feel free to holler @ me: Travis@YouthSpeaksHawaii.org
--WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUTH SPEAKS HAWAI'I?--
-YOUTH SPEAKS HAWAII
Founded in 2005, Youth Speaks Hawaii is the local chapter of the nation's leading nonprofit presenter of spoken word performance poetry, education, and youth development programs. At Youth Speaks Hawaii young writers 13 to 19 years old are speaking their own messages through the powerful medium of spoken word slam* poetry to many of their urban and suburban peers.
We, at Youth Speaks Hawaii are absolutely committed to providing youth with as many opportunities as possible to develop and publicly present their voices in a variety of media from live performances and theater, to videos, books, cd's, television & the internet.
At Youth Speaks Hawaii, the voices of youth matter. Politically aware, critically engaged, and unafraid to speak, youth are moving themselves into positions of power - claiming voice when they've been voiceless, and access where they've been sidelined. Because the next generation can speak for itself.
--YSH ACCOMPLISHMENTS--
-YSH has been running free weekly poetry workshops for youth, every Wednesday of the school year from 4-5:30pm at The ARTS at Marks Garage, in the gallery district of Honolulu's historical Chinatown. The Wednesday workshops continue through the summer months of June, July & August.
-YSH has sent 4 youth poetry slam teams (6 poets a team, 13 youth from 8 different Oahu high schools, 6 mentors & 5 parent chaperones) to the past 4 annual Brave New Voices International Youth Slam Festivals held in San Francisco (2005), New York City (2006), San Jose (2007), AND Washington DC (2008) WHERE OUT OF 52 TEAMS REPRESENTING 48 DIFFERENT CITIES FROM 4 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, THE 2008 YSH SLAM TEAM PLACED 1ST!!! WINNING THE 2008 BRAVE NEW VOICES INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SLAM FESTIVAL!!! An upcoming HBO (Home Box Office) documentary following the 2008 YSH Slam Team's odyssey to DC will be airing sometime in February 2009, so stay tuned for updates!
- YSH poets have performed their poetry in over 50 venues (from Oahu to Oakland to New York City) including 30 different Hawaii schools, from intermediate to university campuses, from Manoa to Maui & Hilo.
- YSH poets taped a nonsmoking commercial in conjunction with the state & other agencies in the winter of 2006, which has aired statewide on television through the summer & fall of 2007.
- YSH has published 2 slam poetry journals or chapbooks ("Spread the Word" volumes 1 and 2,) as well as put out a cd (entitled "Spoken Words" volume 1)
- YSH has received support, grants & funding from such charitable organizations as the Hawaii People's Fund, the Starbucks Foundation, the Hawaii Arts Alliance, the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture & the Arts, GiRLFeST, the re:VERSES Poetry Collective, the American Lung Cancer Association & The ARTS at Marks Garage.
- YSH has run 8 semester long Artist Residencies in 6 different Oahu high schools. Sending a YSH Mentor as an at least once a week supplement to help facilitate the teaching of creative writing and spoken word slam poetry in the classrooms of different English teachers. Thereby sharing & spreading the YSH pedagogy.
- YSH has held 3 annual Interscholastic Poetry Slams, involving 6 schools each sending a team of 4 poets to represent and compete for top honors in front of audiences 600 people large.
-----PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR HAWAII'S YOUTH!-----
***** PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD! *****
!!! PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!
--
TravisT
Outreach/Program Director, Youth Speaks Hawaii
Travis@YouthSpeaksHawaii.org
Creative Writing Teacher, Palama Settlement, Kids Talk Story
TravisThompson@KidsTalkStory.com
TravisT@hawaii.edu
808.753.4661
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