back from sacramento, cd recording, podcast interview

back from sacramento
ladies and gentlemen, i survived that ridiculously long flight to sacramento. no offense to all my west coast people, but i'm good if i don't fly west for awhile, unless i can be completely knocked out for the whole trip! LOL on the way there, kimpossible and i took some tylenol pm (thanks for the suggestion on that phil) in hopes of being knocked out for the duration of the flight. um wrong answer. a cute lil boy in front of us found a way to make the most piercing noise to express his dissatisfaction for THE ENTIRE first leg of our flight. now seeing as how his parents were having a hard time handling him, i have to be truthful. i normally don't try to handle other people's children, but the thought of pinching that lil boy like your mama used to do in church crossed my mind more than once as it became apparent that there would be no sleeping on this flight.

while i'm venting let me say that all this charging some airlines are doing now is getting out of hand. charge to check your bag, charge to eat, charge to drink. i'm wondering if we're gonna have to start paying to go through security too! (end of rant)

on a more positive note, been back from sacramento for a couple of weeks and now it's time to get geared up for nywc pittsburgh. gotta give some sacramento shoutouts!...to kimpossible, my manager, sister, and friend, thank you for your insight, the laughs, and your encouraging words. i appreciate you! to my sacramento volunteers destiny and ashlee', thanks for helping a sista's merch table to run smoothly. to clete and the bigstuf crew thanks for the great video behind the poem. looking forward to doing it again in pittsburgh. to spencer...not even sure if you're on myspace but thank you sir for that run dmc shirt! you get mad respect for naming those run dmc songs on demand! and to phil and natalie thanks for letting a sista utilize your studio to record the new poem i wrote for nywc "seriously ridiculous" which can be downloaded on my myspace.

podcast interview
thanks to kevin gibson from worshipodcast.com who interviewed me a few weeks ago. we talked poetry, writing, worship, and i'm sure i told an ignorant story or two! :) check out the interview in it's entirety at www.worshippodcast.com

new cd recording
at the beginning of this year, i had the chance to be a part of a live recording for sublime, the high school ministry at north metro church in kennesaw, ga. well the cd is complete and you can get a hold of it at www.isublime.com. you'll find poems "you," "to worship you," and a scripture piece called "inside out" on the cd along with some songs you'll recognize plus some things written specifically for the project. shoutout to rob greene (got the cd in the mail. thank you!), the sublime staff and students, and the band from the live recording.

ignt youtube video
ok so between my tries at video blogging and the things i've typed here, you have probably figured out that my airplane adventures can get kinda ignorant. lol well courtesy of kimpossible, you can now experience for yourself what's it's like to sit next to me on a flight. this footage was shot on the second leg of our flight, after the no sleep debacle during the first leg. enjoy! lol

national slam day 2

it was nearly 2am here in WI when we got back to the hotel and a sista is drag down tired. we won our first bout against cincinnati, Detroit, and Philadelphia. henzbo went up in round 1 with “shake the world,” a piece about turning world leaders and the status quo topsy turvy for the greater good.

bryan came in round 2 with “spiritual band,” a piece about a sick with it band whose players just happen to be jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad, to name a few. gypsee yo and I did my poem “Margaret” as a group piece, which is an ode to judy blume’s book are you there God it’s me Margaret and all the womanhood lessons that came along with it. and gypsee yo closed out the bout with ema’s poem, a dedication to her young daughter, telling the story of motherhood, and the hope of raising a child in the way she should go.

Detroit gave us a run for our money, they came in second to us by only tenths of a point, following by Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. we went and had celebratory pizza and most of all a sista enjoyed some celebratory sleep. ☺

next up…our next prelim bout is Thursday. I won’t be here for that one because I’ll be scooting down to Jacksonville, fl for the lit conference. but as promised the blogging won’t stop. I’ll keep you posted on the goings on in WI and you’ll get to follow me down to FL as I meet with kim p, steve fee, and a bunch of high school students at lit.

slam nationals is like a relay race where you play your part and hand off the baton to someone on your team to make sure the job gets done and that it gets done right. winning this first bout was like the first leg of the race for us, but of course the ultimate goal is to win the whole shebang.

I’m gonna go catch the last of this continental breakfast and get ready to run through some pieces. ttys

Check here for constant bout updates!

national slam day 1

I arrived in Madison, wi for the national poetry slam yesterday. the java monkey team and I will be spending the week up here competing and meeting other poets from around the country. right now, I’m in the lobby of the hotel about to jump on the free continental breakfast. ☺ (check out the pic of me and the crew: bryan, chas, gypsee yo, and henzbo)

those of you who tuned in to my challenge 08 blog are well aware of how I feel about the jet plane. made for a great American song, not for a good stomach experience. ☹ but the little bitty jet from Milwaukee to Madison turned out to be a 15 minute flight. not enough time for a sista to get nauseous. lol couple of things to note:

1. I still stand by Midwest airlines and those freshly baked cookies. you need to fly Midwest at least once in your lifetime. and instead of having first class and coach, they have equally divided the seat space so that every passenger gets some leg room. no more walking by the first class cats as they look down at their newspaper and try not to pity you. equal opportunity leg room and chocolate chip cookies for all!

2. first thing I saw after I grabbed my bag full of too many clothes from the claim carousel was isthmus. madison’s version of creative loafing or the village voice. found out there is definitely more to do in Madison than eat cheese and read poetry which for some reason sounds like a bad combination. in fact, boyz II men and midnight star will be performing in town this week. if I come up on some free tickets I’ll let you know. ☺

3. after a day full of travelling and shuttling between hotel and airport, our team is present and accounted for. bryan and chas arrived yesterday morning, I picked up the afternoon shift and gypsee yo and henzbo arrived last night. our first bout is tonight.

I’ll keep you posted as fast as my fingers can type.