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Highlights

Report on the first Texas Youth Word Collective Group Piece Youth Writing Workshop

The first Texas Youth Word Collective Group Piece Youth Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Neo Soul Slam Champion Brian Francis, was held on Sunday, November 12, 2006. The results of this first workshop were fantastic! Current and former students from LBJ, Pfugerville, Hendrickson and Stony Point High Schools, as well as, members from the nationally renowned Neo Soul Slam Team, and English teacher Amy Citzler from Pflugerville H.S., all participated in writing exercises, discussions, as well as individual and group performances. The group poems that came out of this workshop, after less than an hour of writing and collaboration, were very exciting and gave us considerable incentive to hold another group piece workshop in the very near future.

We want to thank all those who participated in our inaugural group piece youth writing workshop for their creative contributions to the process. Below is a group poem written and performed by Brent Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.) and Ruby Willmann (LBJ H.S.) at the group piece writing workshop, as well as the exercise that prompted the poem. Also below are photos from the writing workshop showing the rest of the participants. We encourage youth from all over Austin to consider participating in our future workshops and the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam.

Click Here to See More Pictures

Untitled
Copyright 2006
By Brent Caballero and Ruby Willmann

Poem

Ruby: Take caution of a woman like me whose life has become nothing but built off of hypocrisy

Brent: You surrender with every unacted action. You helped them lash your own back when you placed caution tape around your wisdom

Ruby: I’m lost and I’m too sick to struggle so I surrender morals and values

Brent: Cooperating with the system that will bite your tongue for you if it meant diminishing the strength of your soil with sorrow

Ruby: Morals and values. They used to have definitions and I used to have ambitions but I can feel myself…

Brent: I can feel you, and the numbness

Ruby: …sinking with each shot. I can hear myself thinking if I keep drinking I won’t remember any of this and really, that’s all the motivation I need to tip back

Brent: Nowadays it seems the will of a person is borrowed by the next like “why should I get dressed for this job when I could just stand in this unemployment line and chase this unearned check?”

Ruby: But don’t worry about me. One day I’ll get up

Brent: But you see nowadays nooses know no color-code

Ruby: One day I’ll start trying

Brent: They are getting tied tighter on yours and everybody else’s neck

Ruby: Chasing the last breath of children in sweatshops
A struggling father’s lost checks to pay the rent

Brent: In a sense we are willingly hopeless
Apathy for ourselves have shifted place with our pride
We are no longer killing each other

Ruby and Brent: We are burying ourselves alive.

Writing Prompt:

The workshop started with the facilitator providing five poster boards, each with a theme horizontally across the top edge and a random series of letters vertically down the left edge of the poster board. Participants were asked to suggest two words for each letter in the theme. Three participants per theme were then given 20 minutes to write a poem using all of the words under their theme. Once they were done, one person from each group read their poem to the entire workshop. Then the facilitator gave differing instructions to each group as to how to integrate each person’s poem into one group poem: line by line, verse by verse, stanza by stanza, and poem by poem.

Below is the theme, the letters, and the words used by Ruby and Brent for the poem they wrote together.

Theme: Why I Surrendered

Letters Words

A actions, apathy

C caution, cooperate

H help, hopeless

W willingly, wisdom

S strength, sorrow

We conducted this youth group writing workshop for three reasons. First, because the teams at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival that advance to the finals all have strong group poems in common, we wanted begin introducing Austin youth poets to the process well in advance of the creation of the next Austin team. Second, now that we are in our third season, we want to promote the creation of a youth writing community. This is much more likely to happen if there is a forum for youth to get together where creativity is emphasized and competition de-emphasized. Finally, while writing poems is primarily an isolated, individual pursuit, in the real world people have to work together. This is particularly true in terms of writing professions; law, journalism, marketing/advertising, advocacy. All of these, and many other endeavors, require collective contributions for creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness of message. Hopefully, long after young people have participated in these writing workshops, they will be much better prepared to work with others to develop messages that will improve the world.

We want to thank profusely Brian Francis, Mike Whalen, Tre Stepter and Joe Brundige of the Neo Soul Slam Team for their time, energy, experience and enthusiasm in sharing their love of spoken word with the next generation. We also want to thank Jo Vanzandt, Steffany Overby, and the Corpus Christi Slam Team member Rocky for their participation and support. And, of course, we want to thank all of the youth that participated in our first Group Piece Youth Writing Workshop. We are thrilled with the results and can’t wait to hold the next one. Keep your eyes peeled!!!

Chicago Trip

Gator and I went up to Chicago and Madison Wisconsin for the National Youth Spoken Word Summit, National Hip Hop Political Convention and the
University of Wisconsin-Madison Teacher Institute. Click here to read an article by
the Univerisity's Communications school.

In the past four years, the Texas Youth Word Collective’s Austin City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam has resulted in teams of youth taken by TYWC to perform before and astound national and international audiences in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

2004 (San Francisco) Austin Under 21 Slam team member Chris “Gator” Ockletree performed in the Midwest before thousands this summer at the Latin Music Festival with Latin Grammy winner Romulo Garcia.

Two time Austin Under 21 Slam Champion Shannon Leigh (Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco) will be featuring on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam this season.

These and other youth poets, having performed in the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam, have gone on to pursue college careers across the country, teach in Austin’s public schools, and create theatre and improv companies in cities throughout Texas. A night at the City Wide is a preview of greatness to come.


				Highlights Report on the first Texas Youth Word Collective Group Piece Youth Writing Workshop The first Texas Youth Word Collective Group Piece Youth Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Neo Soul Slam Champion Brian Francis, was held on Sunday, November 12, 2006. The results of this first workshop were fantastic! Current and former students from LBJ, Pfugerville, Hendrickson and Stony Point High Schools, as well as, members from the nationally renowned Neo Soul Slam Team, and English teacher Amy Citzler from Pflugerville H.S., all participated in writing exercises, discussions, as well as individual and group performances. The group poems that came out of this workshop, after less than an hour of writing and collaboration, were very exciting and gave us considerable incentive to hold another group piece workshop in the very near future. We want to thank all those who participated in our inaugural group piece youth writing workshop for their creative contributions to the process. Below is a group poem written and performed by Brent Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.) and Ruby Willmann (LBJ H.S.) at the group piece writing workshop, as well as the exercise that prompted the poem. Also below are photos from the writing workshop showing the rest of the participants. We encourage youth from all over Austin to consider participating in our future workshops and the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam. Click Here to See More Pictures Untitled Copyright 2006 By Brent Caballero and Ruby Willmann Poem Ruby: Take caution of a woman like me whose life has become nothing but built off of hypocrisy Brent: You surrender with every unacted action. You helped them lash your own back when you placed caution tape around your wisdom Ruby: I’m lost and I’m too sick to struggle so I surrender morals and values Brent: Cooperating with the system that will bite your tongue for you if it meant diminishing the strength of your soil with sorrow Ruby: Morals and values. They used to have definitions and I used to have ambitions but I can feel myself… Brent: I can feel you, and the numbness Ruby: …sinking with each shot. I can hear myself thinking if I keep drinking I won’t remember any of this and really, that’s all the motivation I need to tip back Brent: Nowadays it seems the will of a person is borrowed by the next like “why should I get dressed for this job when I could just stand in this unemployment line and chase this unearned check?” Ruby: But don’t worry about me. One day I’ll get up Brent: But you see nowadays nooses know no color-code Ruby: One day I’ll start trying Brent: They are getting tied tighter on yours and everybody else’s neck Ruby: Chasing the last breath of children in sweatshops A struggling father’s lost checks to pay the rent Brent: In a sense we are willingly hopeless Apathy for ourselves have shifted place with our pride We are no longer killing each other Ruby and Brent: We are burying ourselves alive. Writing Prompt: The workshop started with the facilitator providing five poster boards, each with a theme horizontally across the top edge and a random series of letters vertically down the left edge of the poster board. Participants were asked to suggest two words for each letter in the theme. Three participants per theme were then given 20 minutes to write a poem using all of the words under their theme. Once they were done, one person from each group read their poem to the entire workshop. Then the facilitator gave differing instructions to each group as to how to integrate each person’s poem into one group poem: line by line, verse by verse, stanza by stanza, and poem by poem. Below is the theme, the letters, and the words used by Ruby and Brent for the poem they wrote together. Theme: Why I Surrendered Letters Words A actions, apathy C caution, cooperate H help, hopeless W willingly, wisdom S strength, sorrow We conducted this youth group writing workshop for three reasons. First, because the teams at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival that advance to the finals all have strong group poems in common, we wanted begin introducing Austin youth poets to the process well in advance of the creation of the next Austin team. Second, now that we are in our third season, we want to promote the creation of a youth writing community. This is much more likely to happen if there is a forum for youth to get together where creativity is emphasized and competition de-emphasized. Finally, while writing poems is primarily an isolated, individual pursuit, in the real world people have to work together. This is particularly true in terms of writing professions; law, journalism, marketing/advertising, advocacy. All of these, and many other endeavors, require collective contributions for creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness of message. Hopefully, long after young people have participated in these writing workshops, they will be much better prepared to work with others to develop messages that will improve the world. We want to thank profusely Brian Francis, Mike Whalen, Tre Stepter and Joe Brundige of the Neo Soul Slam Team for their time, energy, experience and enthusiasm in sharing their love of spoken word with the next generation. We also want to thank Jo Vanzandt, Steffany Overby, and the Corpus Christi Slam Team member Rocky for their participation and support. And, of course, we want to thank all of the youth that participated in our first Group Piece Youth Writing Workshop. We are thrilled with the results and can’t wait to hold the next one. Keep your eyes peeled!!! Chicago Trip Gator and I went up to Chicago and Madison Wisconsin for the National Youth Spoken Word Summit, National Hip Hop Political Convention and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teacher Institute. Click here to read an article by the Univerisity's Communications school. In the past four years, the Texas Youth Word Collective’s Austin City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam has resulted in teams of youth taken by TYWC to perform before and astound national and international audiences in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. 2004 (San Francisco) Austin Under 21 Slam team member Chris “Gator” Ockletree performed in the Midwest before thousands this summer at the Latin Music Festival with Latin Grammy winner Romulo Garcia. Two time Austin Under 21 Slam Champion Shannon Leigh (Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco) will be featuring on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam this season. These and other youth poets, having performed in the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam, have gone on to pursue college careers across the country, teach in Austin’s public schools, and create theatre and improv companies in cities throughout Texas. A night at the City Wide is a preview of greatness to come.
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