Below are the 3 most recent journal entries recorded in originalwoman's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006
5:39 pm	Interview with Let's Do It on The Road Article in Lets Do It On The Road Online Magazine Women Spoken Word Artists On Tour – Interview with The Original Woman By Susan Chenelle Original Article at http://www.letsdoitontheroad.com/originalwomaninterview.html Published July 2005 On stage, the Original Woman, a.k.a., Nitche Ward, confesses, "I have to tell the truth. I'm not really a poet. I'm a people's soldier. I only use poetry as a tool to mobilize the people." This native of North Carolina, has been educating, training, and mobilizing since 1996. She also co-chairs a five-location spoken-word series with Queen Sheba, Kwintessential and HBO's Punany Poet Mo' Browne, called "Sistah Cypher: Women Empowerment Through Spoken Word," hosted out of Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; Durham, NC; Norfolk, VA; and London, UK. You can find out more about her and her two spoken-word CDs, "The Messenger of Truth" and "Life—By Any Means Necessary," on her website: theoriginalwoman.com. How/when did you start writing and performing poetry? Original Woman: You know for any poet—poetry is something that you are born with—it's something that runs in your veins since birth. Poetry has been on my fingertips since I was old enough to know how to use a pencil. I remember writing about my experiences since elementary. Believe it or not I was always somewhat of any introvert, so the only outlet to get out some of my frustration was through poetry. I was raised pretty much as an only child. I am the oldest of five; the youngest of my siblings and I are separated by 15 years, so I was alone a good portion of my life. So my pencil was always my best friend. I was never the prettiest or the most popular. I wasn't the best at anything, but I could always write. I remember competing in writing and oratorical competitions in middle and high school, and for some reason I won a lot of them, so I grew attached to my writing. Did you wed poetry with politics from the beginning? OW: I have always believed the old saying that "the personal is political." I wrote about my experiences and my frustrations. I remember one of the first poems I ever performed was called "The Black Man's Pride." It talked about the frustrations of people of color living in America today, and how it was rooted in the politics of this country over the last 400 years. I think I was in 9th grade at the time, so I was about 14 years old. I performed it at school during a student body assembly—a talent show or something—the poem was so raw and blunt that the principle cut off my mic in the middle of the poem. This was one of my first realizations that people were afraid of the truth. I ended up spitting the poem for everyone after school that day while we were waiting for the buses. I think I helped create a few revolutionaries then, though none of us knew what the word revolutionary meant at the time. Ever since then I have committed myself to recruiting soldiers one by one. How/when/why did you choose "The Original Woman" as your artistic name? OW: Ironically it wasn't purposeful! One of the my oldest poems was called "The Original Woman." It was a poem about full figured women ­ and how we rock! Over time it became my most requested piece ­ particularly in this little black owned coffeehouse in Durham, North Carolina called IDEAS. So whenever someone saw me in the street, they could never remember my name, so they would say ,"hey um, um ­ original woman," and it kind of just stuck! Over time I have made the title my own, and I use it to bring awareness to cultural and body image issues, as well as sarcastically breaking down the gender binary. Please tell us about Sistah Cypher. How does a five-venue poetry series work? OW: Sistah Cypher is a national network of women empowerment through the form of art—in particular spoken word. The organization was started by me and two other international spoken-word artists, Queen Sheba and Kwintessential. What we do is go scouting for some of the most powerful artists, who are also hardcore activists in the communities, and showcase them through performance and workshops. We work on issues such as rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, pay equity, affirmative action, women in the military, LGBT awareness, the war against women, media madness against women, and other hot topics that affect women today. What differentiates us from most artistic projects out there is our action component. We are also out there organizing students and elders, putting together protests and rallies, educating the youth, going in the schools—we try our best to create change and not just talk about it. Right now we have venues in Washington, DC; Norfolk, VA; Chicago, IL; Durham, NC; and we have a brand-new venue in London. We are out hitting the concrete constantly bringing people into the movement through spoken word, and we are growing everyday. For the most part, one or more of our co-chairs travel to the city where the Sistah Cypher is being held at that time. We soon hope to build representation in every state. "It takes a village to raise a child—and a woman to raise the world!" (Superwoman, by the Original Woman) You recently produced the Freedom Fire Spoken Word Festival and the "$1,000 Poetry Slam" in Washington, DC. How did they go? How did these projects come about? OW: The Freedom Fire Spoken Word Festival was a project that was used to create and support artists in the social justice movement. I guess the best way to describe the Freedom Festival is that it is like a huge family reunion—yeah, a family reunion of artists and activists nationwide united for change. The Freedom Festival is an annual event held in different cities each year; this year it was in Washington, DC, and it was spectacular! Those who missed it this year will surely not want to miss it next year, when it will be held in Denver, Colorado. We try to teach artists of all forms how to learn to use their gift for changing the world. It's not enough to just teach any more. There are a lot of artists out there that think it's enough just to teach about social justice issues—and yes, we need that too—but it's not enough. We can't just talk about it; we have to be about it! That's what the Freedom Festival is about—working with artists to not only talk about it, but be about it. But we all have heard that "the revolution is financial," so in addition to working on the movement, the Freedom Festival works with artist to improve their booking and management as well. The Big Highlight of the festival is the $1000 poetry slam. The best of the best poets from all over the country come together for inspirational competition—and one leaves with slightly heavier pockets. It's not about the money though. The prize money is just a way to help a few of soldiers in the movement continue their artistic struggle. What is your vision for a spoken-word movement? OW: I don't know where the spoken-word movement is going. Although I perform spoken word, I don't consider myself a spoken-word artist. I'm just a soldier in the movement myself; I only use poetry as a tool to deliver the message. A lot of times you can't get everybody to go to a rally or a protest, or a meeting, so you have to find alternative ways to get the message across. All I know is that the movement will never die, because poets and artists around the world are keeping it alive. That's what keeps me breathing. What's the best/worst experience you've had while touring/performing? OW: Worst performance—I had a freak accident while touring through Georgia and South Carolina. I fell in the shower about a month prior and bruised my leg a little. It didn't seem to bother me that much, and it didn't scar. While I was on tour my leg started swelling up and it was becoming extremely painful. I didn't even think about the shower fall, because it had been at least a month prior. A week into the tour, my leg was so swollen that I couldn't walk on it, and I had to perform my shows sitting down. Two weeks into the road trip, I was on stage, and out of the blue, my leg burst open, and before I knew it I was standing in a puddle of blood. I know it sounds crazy! I was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the show, and I was hospitalized in the middle of Bum Fuck Egypt for 10 days! The good news about it is that it created an awesome piece called "Poets Spittin'in Blood!" Best Performance—The March for Women's Lives—Washington, DC; April 24, 2004—Largest march in the history of the US. It was so powerful to see so many people united together for women's issues. Sometimes in the movement we feel like we're the only ones. But when I was on that stage and I looked out into the audience and saw groves of people further than my eyes could see, I felt the ultimate solidarity. What are three essential things that you cannot go on tour without? OW: A pillow and a blanket to sleep on (in case I have to rough it for the night) Pencil and Paper to keep myself inspired And CDs to Sell What's the first thing you do when you get home from being on the road? OW: Sleep! Sleep! And Sleep! Being on the road is hard! Don't believe the hype they tell you on TV. A lot of artists come into this thinking that being a full-time artist on the road is spectacular and fun. I had my feelings hurt a few times in the beginning with those expectations! As a spoken-word artist, you're often on the road for months with no money, no place to stay, no food, and no idea about how you are going to get to the next venue. There has been several times when I had to spend my last $2 getting to the venue, praying that I sell enough CDs for gas and food for the next couple of days, and hoping that someone would be gracious enough to let me sleep on their floor until my next gig. Floors are hard, and cars are crowded! We keep doing it, because we believe in the art and the movement. Sheba always says, "Hey, sleep when you're dead!" Most of the time I can't sleep more than 3 or 4 hours at a time when I'm on the road just because I'm uncomfortable, or it's cold, or I have to be aware of my surroundings, so the first thing I do when I get home is jump in my big cushy bed and fall into a coma! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 19th, 2005
5:45 pm	Interview with Promiseland Productions To view this interview on it's homepage visit http://www.promiseland-productions.com/njiamagazinepage3.htm In Session w/The Original Woman Spoken Word Artivist Nitche Ward For those of you who thought the revolutionary period was over…do we have a treat for you. Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get your soapboxes and your megaphones ready to rally with a righteous woman with a cause. Nitche Ward a.k.a. The Original Woman is not only poetically skilled to paint pictures with words, but she has also bears the moniker of “Artivist” (those who combine arts and social justice), carrying with her a mighty voice of empowerment. Deeming herself a People Soldier, Nitche has been on the forefront of the spoken word scene since 1996, and crafting her art for over a decade. She recently stepped into the journey of a full time artist just three short years ago. “My work is somewhat different from most spoken word artist in that I am a full time social justice organizer as well.” Her mission is to utilize her words to mobilize the masses to make change – in addition to lobbying legislatures and organizing public demonstrations. In August of 2004, Nitche was involved in the assembly of the “Stop the Bush Agenda Protest” against the New York City Republican National Convention (an event that comprised 15,000 in attendance). Shortly before that she served as Senior Field Organizer in the National March for Women’s Lives (April 2004) – the largest march in the history of the US, gathering 1.15 million “artivist” and activist. In her last project (April of 2005), she was an essential element in organizing of the National Women of Color and Allies Conference - a historical event sponsored by the National Organization for Women. As if that isn’t enough, Nitche is the Festival Coordinator for a Semi-Annual National Freedom Fire Spoken Word Festival, and Co-Chair of Sistah Cypher – a venue with Queen Sheba out of Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, and Norfolk, VA, and London. To shed light on some of her spoken word ventures, Ms. Ward’s works have been featured on BET’s Mic Check, the New York Reproductive Justice demonstration and several radio stations throughout the country. She’s performed with HBO’s Def Poets like Alix Olsen, Ishle Park, Staceyann Chin, and Helena D. Lewis. In , she’s worked along side national entertainers like Whoopi Goldberg, Infamous Peter, Paul, and Mary (National Legendary Folk Singers), Ani DiFranco (“Riteous Babe” folk singer), Moby (The face of techno), Wanda Sykes Hall (Comedian), Nikki Giovanni (Poet and activist), Yolanda Adams (Gospel Singer), MC Lyte (Hip Hop Pioneer), Myra J. (Comedian), and Queen Sheba, (Internationally known spoken word artist). In between law school and performing fulltime in nationwide appearances, Nitche has penned an ensemble of poetry in a collective work called Naked Expressions and comprised three CD compilations entitled Life – By Any Means Necessary, The Messenger of Truth,and lastly, The Addiction. Have you ever heard something so powerful, yet so enigmatic, that you had to listen to it more than once to get a full understanding of its message? Like food to a hungry man…he can never get enough. It’s exactly how I felt once I received a copy of Nitche’s poetry track, Barbie , via email a few weeks ago. We all know there is a difference between spoken word and poetry, but if I may, I’ll offer up an analogy of my own. Lightly put – poetry is a relative thought, while spoken word is the voice that relays such a conception and the emotion that envelops it. To say the least, my ears weren’t fully prepared for such fervency behind Nitche’s words. Because I was expecting the usual liberation of words flowing over a melodic jazz instrumentals (I love it, so no offense by any means), the dichotomy of hatred and self-love, anger and passion, combined with background antics that amplified an already profound delivery, spilling through my tiny computer speakers, left me utterly speechless. I contacted Nitche immediately after her piece met its end, to get a better insight on the person behind the words of such a powerful piece of work. Here’s what I learned from the Original Woman herself: N:To begin with, tell us a little about yourself…like what you do on your free time? TOW:I’m in law school right now so juggling classes and performing as a travel poet, can get kind of tough. I have to schedule things really far in advance sometimes. My initial intention was to stop but when I stop doing performing and just concentrate on school, but I get so depressed. I’ve been full time performance poet a little over four years so I couldn’t just go cold turkey. N: Why law school? Poetry and law seem like two different entities that sit on two different sides of the creative spectrum. TOW: The reason I am in law school is because of my work in the community…like with the National Organization for Women for example. I want to be able to make a stronger impact in the community. I am still a hard-core activist for women’s right. My law degree will help build a stronger foundation for a more solid background in that area. I don’t really call myself a poet; it’s what most people can identify with. But I use my poetry to get the message out to the people. Most folks don’t want to sit and just hear some one speak half the time. They need to be entertainment in order to pay attention so poetry is what I use to get their attention…I am a people soldier and I do whatever I have to do to be heard, whether it’s protesting, marching, seminars, teaching…I try not to limit myself as a poet. N: Do you feel there is the difference between spoken word and poetry? TOW: Writing poetry and spoke word are tweaked but similar…all poetry comes from the soul…the genres are just tweaked. Poets are literary writers, and like writer’s their general focus is more on the prose aspect of creating, where spoken word is centered on the message. N: Do you consider yourself to be an artist? If so…why are you a spoken word artist and/or performer? TOW: Yes…I would say that I am an artivist. I am an artists as well because I think that artist tend to look at life with a little different perspective… everything I do bleeds art. Even in my court cases and my classes, I try to incorporate art into my deliberation. Art to me makes everything have a different flavor. N: What are you working on now? TOW: The Freedom Fire Spoken Word Festival. It’s an annual event on its 3rd year, that’s going to be held in Denver. The whole purpose of the festival is to teach artists how to incorporate a message behind their music; to empower and incorporate the message of community into their works. N: How would you say that you have handled the business side of being an artist? Describe some of your hardships? Some of the benefits? TOW: I think that it is really, really hard to be a spoken word performer – a touring spoken word artist at that. You have to stay on the grind and network and make sure you get your name out there. I remember when I first started the idea of performing was glamorized. I was excited and hyped about it, but when I actually started going on tour, I realized how difficult it was because we don’t have a lot of big names [in the spoken word industry]. People always underestimate your work, promoters short you of money…they disrespect your work…often times I don’t know where I am going to sleep once I’m done performing. I just pray that I don’t have to sleep in my car. But I love the art of it. I stay with it; I dedicate my life to social justice, ‘cause if I don’t, then no one else will. N: What advice would you have for those out there interested in venturing down this path? TOW: My advice would be to always have a contract, it’s the key element to being a touring artists. Meet as many people as possible and use as many opportunities as you can to showcase what you can do. Always have business cards and learn how to promote yourself. Take an interest in studying how to be what it is you want. N: What inspires you to write and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio? Describe the influences or topics your works are centered around? TOW: Social justice…when I was growing up I saw in my own household how social issues like crack cocaine, drugs and alcoholism affected my own family. Because it was so close to home, I saw that there was a change needed to take place – whether it is in my family or in my community. I love art, I love people, and I want something different for us. I feel we need to see each other out their hustling for change…like we do for money. N: Who are your favorite spoken word artists; what artists have influenced you, and how? TOW: When I was younger, Maya Angelou. At the time, she was the only one I heard about. Then when I got older, the more I developed, I took a liking to Nikki Giovanni. I lover the aggression behind her work…her poetry inspired me. But when I got into the spoken word scene, I saw that there were so many more under ground that were strong and talented. Like Queen Sheeba - she was always on the grind as an activist and that really inspired me because she does it successfully. Tim Jackson is another one. He’s not on an activist grind, but on a spiritual grind. His poetry proved to me that you can still have a spiritual aspect and still make spoken word a large part of your life. Woman Storm is another artist…she helped me to appreciate the conversational aspect of poetry by showing me how people in the audience don’t like to be spoken at…they like to be spoken to; it makes it more interactive. N: I got a chance to listen to two of your pieces. Barbie and Matthew 5:5. Can you tell us a little bit about those? TOW: (Sighing) Matthews 5:5 (see download at end of interview) took me a year to write. It was initially written about myself. But I found it was a hard piece to finish. Mainly because it’s about relationships. And I didn’t realize at first, but I didn’t know how to get out of a relationship…because I always had a hard time getting out of my own relationships…but as with most of my pieces, I thought that there had to be a ending or solution to the poems…but Sonya Renee helped me to realize that not everything needed a conclusion or a message, she helped me to understand that. The piece ended up being about a woman who watches her mother go through domestic abuse…Now, I also realize that the poem reflects what I saw my grandmother – my mother – go through…the abuse she went through. But, I didn’t realize it was a poem about her until after she passed. N: Tell us more about Barbie? TOW: It’s a personal piece that I wrote because when I was younger I went through a lot of self-hate. I was conditioned to think thinks like - why do I look different, why are my hips bigger, my hair was different, and my lips are bigger. I was surrounded by white people all the time and as a kid you tend to compare yourself to what is around you. So I wanted to become what I was surrounded by – not consciously. At some point I began to look around and love myself…but now I look at my little sister and see her battling the same issues of self esteem; and I see so many young girls who are not happy with who they are and what they look like. I see so many of them trying to look like white girls…I think a lot of people of color – especially women – don’t quite understand how oppressed we really are; even from our own people. So this piece was created to bring about awareness. I have done a lot of pieces in community centers and people claim that there is no longer oppression. So it is also brings awareness to the non-African American people…this pieces gives those who are not African American a new perspective. N: Could you tell us some more about how you got started? TOW: I remember I was in high school…first year – I wrote a poem called the Black Man’s Poem. It was an in your face piece about the plight of a black man…and while I was performing on stage the principle cut off the microphone…it broke my heart. That day after school, I started spitting the poem in the gym while we were waiting for our buses and every body loved it. I was about 13 or 14 at the time… but I remember the next day I noticed that there was a sense of pride around the school…it wasn’t long lived but it was when I first saw that I could have an impact. N: Where do you see spoken word today, meaning what is your view of performances or pieces being written in today’s time? TOW: A lot of our open mike sessions and spoken word events serve as our chat sessions. I think historically, spoken word, hip-hop music and poetry, back in the day we used them to celebrate, to educate, as our war calls. There was a purpose behind it. Poetry is the mother of hip hop; without poetry there would be no hip hop…I think it actually started way back in the 60’s when we were disgruntled and hungry and unhappy…Now, I think that everybody is so out for themselves, out here struggling just to make ends meet, that the content has changed. There’s a lot of negative…but there are lots of positives; there are several underground artists that are on the rise to bring the purpose and unity behind the music and writing. N: Have you ever collaborated on a piece? Explain. If so, do you find it helps the process being one part of a creative pair? TOW: Sonya Renee. She’s the 2004 National Slam winner and one of the first feminist activists. Working with her gave me a different perspective of poetry. N: If you could work with absolutely anyone (artists, companies, writers--anyone at all) on a project, who would it be? TOW: I would love to work with Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Common – although I feel that he should make more of an active effort into bring women to the forefront. An not just the girls in his videos. Dead Prez - I love their revolutionary stance…not everything they do is positive, but I still like their stance. Angela Davis and Asatta Shakur; I would like to know about their journey as women and the struggle. Build with them and how we can translate their struggles to women’s lives today. So there you have it, a first-hand glance at the passion and enlightenment through the voice of Ms. Niche Ward. And last but certainly not least, I leave you with a two samples of her poetry (thought) and her voice (spoken word sample). I certainly hope you enjoy as much as I did. Father America All you could hear coming from his father’s house was screaming And glass breaking And somebody taking hit after hit after hit Little Quadri ran out of his father’s front door screaming “that’s it! I’m leaving. I’m leaving for real this time.” But for some reason he couldn’t get his father out of his mind Because he knew time after time he had tried to leave before Time after time he had tried to walk out of his father’s front door Because he couldn’t stay Nor could he leave Nor could he continue to accept the neglect and abuse he received He had faint memories of being embraced by his mother’s red black and green sleeve And he needed to find her And though her cypher and embrace had been replaced by his father’s other woman He knew the difference He knew the difference because he wasn’t as significant as her other children And they bore a stronger resemblance to his father So it bothered him when his father would beat him because he looked too much like his mother It bothered him when is Aunty Liberty took him as her lover Nightmares of her hovering over him in the middle of the night He knew it wasn’t right All them trips up state When she would take and rape him She would take and rape him so much that his family trust turned to hate But she would make him keep silent or be whipped So she whipped like his father whipped him to get on that ship With lies on his lips And false pretenses that his mother had dipped and left him behind So he punished and fined her with child support checks and international debts for his father’s crimes Crimes like the crimes he committed when his dimes were short And he walked out the house broke He pushed a little dope Got his hustle on he learned from Uncle Sam It’s “all good” as long as you keep it in the “fam” That’s how system always works and at least he got it honestly Because his honesty only ended him up in the penitentiary And Uncle Sam, nor Aunty Liberty, nor Father America would bail him out He started to doubt whether he could make it He had thoughts of going back, because maybe he could take it He wrote to his father’s family, but they never wrote him back He wrote to his mother’s family, but they couldn’t get over the fact that he was his father’s child He reminded them too much of the wild uncivilized man who raped and left their mother Even national sisters of color became his lover yet fell victim to the danger of hating each other So he was still alone And though biologically he was fully-grown Mentally and emotionally he was still a kid Looking for the love and protection that his father never did Seeking justice, freedom and affection that he never fully lived While he sat in that jail, sat in that jail growing tired and sick Sick and tired of serving time for his father’s crime Flashbacks crowded his mind Of being lost in the red, white, and blue metamorphosis Praying for an international social services Aunty Liberty’s molestation Estranged sisters and brothers in foreign nations Father America beating out his breath And Uncle Sam corrupting anything honest left of his self And all he had left of his self Was the need to find freedom, his mother, and death He wept on the way back to his father My country tis of thee Found peace in the memories of his mother Sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing In hopes of futures for his sons and daughters Land where my father died Land of the pilgrim’s pride Made amends with his sisters and brothers From every mountain side Found freedom in the slaughter of his father Let Freedom ring All you could hear coming from his father’s house was screaming And glass breaking And somebody taking hit after hit And little Quadri crying, “that’s it, that’s it, that’s it” Father America Author The Original Woman Nitche Ward Current Mood: stressed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 17th, 2005
4:29 am	The Original Woman Ranks as one of the Top Ten Poets in the Country! So the slam team had been practicing for about three months. In between practices the Carolina slam teams were competing in the Carolina slam tour. I was really excited about the Carolina slam tour because it brought a lot of the Carolina poets a lot closer. Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Durham, and Columbia had all come together to do the Damn thing! It was an great opportunity to prepare for Nationals and build together and by the end of the tour we were all rooting for each other. It was real cool. Haiti Heritage had also really held it down for the Bull City slam team. We were ready for Nationals. By the time we got to New Mexico we were hype! As soon as I got New Mexico you could see poets everywhere! You could generally point out the poets because they just looked different! I can’t exactly explain how, but they were definitely different. Our first bout at the National Poetry Slam was tense. We were up against Winterpark, Montevello, Palentine, and LA Green. We weren’t really worried about Winterpark because we had already gotten the scoop on them. Montevello was the Alabama team that we competed against at Southern Fried so we knew what they were coming with. We didn’t know anything about Palentine, but just based on the name we figured they couldn’t be much of a threat. Our primary concern was LA Green. They had a decent team in the years past so we kept an eye out for them. We pulled a good draw so in the first round we went last. A cat name JT Bullock represented for the Montevello team. He did this off the hook piece about being queer. It reminded me that I really need to work on my own pieces about the LGBT community. It also made me question our slam strategy for a moment. JT scored a 27.1. Dasan came as our front liner with moving poem about his grandma, It scored a 27.1. It didn’t score as high as we thought it would, but it was the second highest score of the night. The judges were scoring really low. LA Green had gone right before us and scored a 27.5. Round two – we had singled out LA Green. They came with a male/female duo – I think it was about hip hop – but the poem was really too random for me to remember. They scored another 27.5. We came behind them with Langston Fuze and his infamous Now Boarding Peace – an awesome peace that uses the metaphor of a train to talk about some of our history's greatest heroes. He scored a 27.7. It put us a little ahead of LA Green and ended up being the highest score of the round. The Storm poet (another word for individual competitor) for the bout was Supreme – an awesome cat representing Florida since the Florida Slam team didn’t come down for Nationals. Third round was in play. We had to hold it down because we were still about 0.1 points behind LA Green. We were a tad bit worried (not too much, but a tad bit), because we thought we were going first and LA Green was going last. This could have hurt us because generally a competitor who goes last automatically gets a higher score, because they have the benefit of score creep. Fortunately, we had miscalculated and we were actually 4th and LA Green was 3rd. Montevello went up first in this round. They sent up Jerry, which is a really cool white chick I met at LEAF this year. I was really excited to know we were competing together. She did a piece about incest and abuse. The judges thought it was hot and gave her a 27.8, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to pull them up. To our surprise Winter Park sent up a really awesome poet named Veronica Smith. I was surprised to see that they had a person of color on their team, because everyone else we saw was a non- person of color. Winter park was trying to come back so she performed a really emotional piece about abortion. It scored a 26.6. LA sent up a guy name Baboo who did another awesome piece – I personally thought he was the best of the LA Green Team. He scored a 28.1. This made my heart jump a little. All night the judges had been scoring from 23 – 27. Normally I wouldn’t think that a 28.1 was a not so good score, but given the judges track record I was concerned. We had to really come hard. I wasn’t sure what piece to do. Everyone always likes the Barbie piece, but I wasn’t sure if we needed to use such a strong piece in the first bout. We couldn’t risk it – so I blew up the stage with Barie and scored a 29.5 – the highest score of the night! Bull City Slam Team walked away with a #1 rank that night. By the end of the first night out of the 2000 people that were at the National Poetry slam I was ranked #5. I was like Wow, stop playing! I had done some traveling on tours around the country and I knew a lot of the poets that were competing. I knew they were packing fire – and I just couldn’t understand it. In bout II we were competing against Delaware, Milwakee, Detroit, and Miami. I didn’t know much about Delaware or Milwakee, but I knew that Detroit had some hot poets. I met a few of their poets, Casey and Versiz at a few Word Up Poetry Festivals in the past. I also knew Miami had some fire because I competed against Asia and Will the Real One before. I was glad to have a bout with Miami – they really represented at Southern Fried – and Will has always made me feel really comfortable – something about his persona. Our coach didn’t think that Miami was a threat. They had scored a 5 in their previous bout – which is the lowest rank in a bout, so they had no chance of making it to the finals stage. We knew that everything they would do would be an individual piece, because their only way to make it to Semi’s was as individual poets. We had been working on some really tight group pieces and we were eager to use them. We pulled a bad draw this bout. We were scheduled to go first. This hurt us because the judges always score the lowest for the first poet – it generally takes them a few poets to develop their calibration. The first poet we sent up was Rhonda. Rhonda was a little nervous that night. She did a truth piece Sekoya Gunn (spelling?) It is a piece about a 15 year old girl who was murdered for being a lesbian. She scored a 27.4. Had this been the previous night it would have been decent, but unfortunately this night it was the second lowest score of the round. Everybody did very serious pieces the first round and the judges weren’t going for it. Most teams decided to switch up their game and hit round II with something amusing. Our coach felt that we should stay with our plan so Mona and I hit round two with a group piece called You Know You Want Me. It’s a cool piece that everybody thinks is about being a lesbian, but it has a surprise ending. The judges didn’t want to hear another serious piece so they scored it at 28.2 – the lowest score of the round. After more thought about that piece I realized that when writing it – the volume and dynamics were a little off – and we probably could have done a better job. Round three we were going last. I knew that we should try to come back with I Want to be a Cow. I originally thought that we should come with the Cow piece in the second round and do a team piece in the last round. I felt this way because I knew that no matter where you place Cow in a bout it normally scores high. We had really good team pieces – but they were audience specific and since we were going last in the last round, I knew that score creep would push our team piece score up if we needed it. Unfortunately, things didn’t go that way – and we ended up using Cow in the last round. The piece ended up scoring at 29.1, which again was the highest score of the night, but it just wasn’t enough to push our team up. Our cumulative score was 84.7. We came in 4th for the night. The team that came in 3rd scored a 84.8. Had we scored only 0.1 higher we would tied with them and as a result placed on the Semi-finals stage – unfortunately, our slamming spree at Nationals ended here and that 0.1 point kept us away from Semi-Finals. On the brighter side of things I had scored #1 in both my bouts, which by the second night ranked me as the 2nd highest individual poet in the entire competition. I was a little upset because they got my name wrong, but I was still blown by the fact that I was the second top poet in the entire competition! Out of 75 teams and over 400 poets I was #2. I was feeling really good about myself and at the same time I just knew they had made a mistake, but I was wrong. I had made it to that top ten individual stage. I was competing against a lot of really hot poets, and on top of that I picked #4. This was not a good place to be in the top ten poets in a round based on elimination. The first five poets always get the lowest score. I had to politic with Sonya Renee, NPS 2004 Slam Champ for a minute. I wanted her blessings and her strategy! I didn’t really know what poems to do. We had collectively decided that I should do The Statute of Liberty is a Prostitute and Matthews 5:5. The Statute of Liberty is one of my favorites. It’s a political piece comparing the personification of liberty to a hooker. I knew this piece was a risk. It was not very emotional. It was a very fast piece, and very focused on word play. I knew that most of the competitors would be doing emotional pieces and judges always eat that up – but my heart was still going for The Statute of Liberty. I did Statute of Liberty the first Round. I had been practicing the piece the entire time I was at Nationals. While practicing it had never gone past 2:59 in time. I made the mistake of adding an extra line in the beginning of the poem. I guess I got so excited by the crowd. This was the first round that would be in front of everyone at the competition. I couldn’t see the crowd while I was on stage, but I could definitely hear them. I ended up going over time by 4 seconds, so I got a time penalty. I was like…. “Shit! I can’t believe I did that!” I still had the second round to make it up. I decided to do Matthews 5:5. Side Note….This was an emotional piece about domestic violence. I started writing this piece May of 2004. I was trying to write it for a show I was doing with SisterFire –Incite women of color against violence. I didn’t have many pieces about women and violence so I was trying to tailor it to their event. I remember pulling Queen Sheba in the Bathroom at SisterFire while we were cutting up T-shirts and trying to spit the half unfinished portion of the poem that I had. I know she had to think that I was crazy at the time. But at the time I really needed some feedback on the poem because I couldn’t finish it. In the beginning it was suppose to be a poem about my own struggle with abusive relationships. I try to always have a recommendation for people to live by in my pieces – but in this particular piece I couldn’t come up with one. As I was going through the abuse I couldn’t come up with a recommendation for myself – so I felt like a hypocrite. How could I tell somebody else how to get out of an abusive relationship when I couldn’t myself. I don’t think that me and Sheba every came up with a solution or even talked about it in detail. I continued working on it for months. I think I probably added about a line to the poem a month. By that November I was still working on it. At the time I was working on the election campaigns in Charlottesville, VA. Mekkah came down to hang out with me and help organize in the community. I remember sitting in the car one day just spitting new pieces that we had wrote to each other and critiquing them. Through talking with her about my current relationship at the time she helped me to get through the poem a little bit more. It wasn’t until June 2005 that I actually finished it. The ending to the poem actually came through a conversation between me and Sonya Renee. We had just come back from a show in Henderson, NC and we were sitting in the car building about poetry. I believe we were in Baltimore, MD by this time. Sonya gave me wisdom that day and she told m that some poems don’t need a message, some poems are written just to have their story told. At that point the entire dynamics of the poem changed. Although the first ¾ of the poem was about me – the last portion changed the entire poem to a piece about a dauther and her relationship with her mother as the mother goes through domestic abuse. Ironicly, since then the poem has changed its dynamics all over again. Since then my grandmother – who has always been the mother in my life – passed away very suddenly. It was very emotional for me. I stayed in the hospital with her 24 hours a day during the last week of her life. All I could think about was that I really just wish I could pass wit her. I didn’t want her to leave me. Amazingly the same poem that I originally wrote about myself, that turned into a fictional relationship between a mother an her child, then turned to a spiritual story about my grandmother – without the intention of doing so. (talk about a cycle of abuse) To say the least I was very attached to this piece. I knew that this piece as well would be a risk to perform on stage with the other top ten individual poets in the country. The piece was a story, a different type of slam piece, and it didn’t have the punch line, comedy, or sarcasm that judges tend to like – but again it was on my heart that night. I performed it with everything I had. I felt really god when I walked off stage, only to find out minutes later that I had gone over by 1 second. I was heart broken. The second time penalty completely eliminated me from competing for the #1 spot at Nationals – but believe me I will be back for the #1 spot next year! I really loved my experience at National – and I think that I have really grown as a poet. I felt really inspired and blessed just to rank as one of the top 10 individual poets in the country. Of all the poets there, I was the only poet to rank in the individual semifinals out of North Carolina – making me the #1 ranked individual poet out of North Carolina – Wow! That is a lot of responsibility! The next day I went to support Slam Charlotte on the Finals stage. Slam Charlotte rocked it and they still hold the #1 spot in my heart. I am a firm believer in family supports family regardless of the situation – that’s what my mother always taught me. I’m really surprised to believe that anyone thought any differently. And I definelty looking forward to next year! 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