sweeter than our Carolina T my English
grandmother never allowed pastor lives a
single bite of spaghetti or other
foreign monk some people make over a
racist for the buzzards may point out
the hypocrisy in shining Italian food
while simultaneously embracing what the
English call pub curry but my
grandmother my grandmother never forgot
her Rosie the Riveter years in the
shekel munitions factory or my
grandfather’s post in Cairo that left
him death for the birth of her first
child and a shell-shocked hospital with
no doctor and no electricity she never
forgot the sounds of the bombs on laptop
streets so she manifested her anger she
took her revenge for a rabid city in the
only way she could I hate for all things
German and Italian right down to the
you may have realized that I’m an anchor
baby a first-generation American I am
native born raised in Carolina learned
the ways of color green cornbread and
grits who’s it tied the cultures of the
South together seven or blackboard tip
style mill white and bond over a shared
food tradition a tradition a fat back in
pickle hot pepper play ring shared
proper staples a tradition born from
never having enough get it this new
South some southerners may have the lure
of PC vocabulary but the generational
racism has not been erased from their
hearts southern cultures raised in the
isolation of slavery then segregation
have developed their own flavors a quilt
stone of diverse traditions to develop
your own flavors with Indigo’s sumac wet
walnuts our cultural differences what
makes the American South great not a
reason
meanwhile friends of a darker hue are
refused service on regal supposedly
welcoming Main Street how shocking that
American citizen is treated as if he
meanwhile that same Main Street I like
business partner and I are harassed by a
30-something in a time for the crime of
walking shoulder to shoulder from coffee
to know the square
my grandmother was alive today I would
tell her to forgive the terrifying 1940s
and the undernourished 1950 and take a
twirl with a plate of Mussolini linguine
and saffron today I say to you we must
stop smothering our young gifted and
cultured many a hideous hooded history
instead let’s celebrate a rich god-given
diversity they can make our Carolina
for giving such a wonderful history I
think the most important thing for me as
i entered the police anything I was like
the little sister back then you know I
was morning I was a baby I was running
my first tour to slam when I was 19
years old six teachers would shot would
be like wait what time is running the
sitting up its me they were like like a
kid and I did come up here to granville
I’m from regal I came up to them to
furman in 1996 and joined up with my
older sisters bearing lettuce who took
me under their wings and taught me a lot
of great stuff it was a really amazing
experience because the really most
important thing that you know to poetry
slam is that it gives people a community
it’s a place where people can get to
know other people with shared interests
I do have a few things that I prepared
prepared i would like to say white TED
Talks poetry slam does have a strong
connection to creating an open forum for
ideas worth spreading
coursing today provides a safe space
where people not only have diverse
racial backgrounds but people from
different age groups varying
socio-economic backgrounds poets with
only a high school diploma all the way
up to a doctorate degree can come
together on an even playing field anyone
can sign up to participate in a poetry
since the low cost of only five dollars
oh there is no audition it doesn’t
matter who you know it doesn’t matter if
it’s your first lamp for your tips lamb
all are welcome pony’s name is a
platform for both emerging poets as well
as veteran performers where else can a
newbie share the stage with their poetic
heroes often the perception of Portus
land is that it caters only to
marginalized voices but if that
courtesan continues to be one of the
most diverse art forms in America today
with voices from both the mainstream and
marg wives together on one stage and in
one audience this Democratic model
creates an open discursive space where
anyone can feel heard the poetry slam
is a sounding board it is a soapbox it
is free therapy over the years we have
poet from all walks of life employees of
Walmart Michelin and BMW students of
Greenville tech Clemson and Furman
teenagers retired engineers yff
newscasters trained actors professional
wrestlers and US veterans our flavors
have gone on to Def Poetry Jam verses
and flow they can be centered mfa’s
national tours and doctorates but Horace
Mann is not just about the poets on
stage with construction work of Mark
Smith so when construction worker Mark
Smith’s created the social and literary
arts movement he not only rescued poetry
from obscurity but he gave it back to
the people back to the audience
poetry is by design a proud inclusive
events and encourages active listeners
it comes from the folk tradition
audience then we’ll hear you’re both new
ideas from marginalized perspectives
taking them outside your own experiences
but they will also find their own
products their own trials their deepest
feelings expressed articulately and
figuratively on stage too often in
today’s world we are played by feelings
of isolation and loneliness but poetry
slam connects people to our shared
humanity our shared values are shared
stories the core g slam can be as a
cathartic experience but performers and
listeners and as it’s so often
articulated poetry slam is community
poetry slam saves my
love then here in rainbow we sent our 15
slam team into the world to compete
against teams of poets from across the
country these poets so much like the
hero’s journey of Joseph Campbell go out
into an unknown world where they meet a
new community learn from their
experience shared I did and then bring
those experiences back to greenville
south carolina just as our poet senator
from the experiences experiences us
visiting big cities lambs and meeting
poets from across the country the
National Poetry Slam scene has benefited
from needing us our Sunday night is a
tourist destination for Portland fans
probe in 2004 the very first ever World
Court is pentagon city like Vancouver
Detroit Chicago the first tech city in
the entire world to post that with brief
alarm yeah actually also the first
others poet to be on the Executive
they never had a governor who all the
entire region has never been on air
we also have posited a lot of new events
at the Carolina slam tour we started
here in 2005 that still haven’t across
the southeast we’re basically four
different teams with coeds get together
and slam in a city we also probably the
first ever all women championship slam
we came up with that idea here in grid
one 2006 and that went on to become what
is now called the living of the world
portraits man would start in 2008 and
lose from city to city around the United
States in 2014 on the directorship of
moody black and can be the goddess we
had the wisdom course it does this past
year are sending my open mic was
Carly this past year not saying that we
went out to the world to learn from the
world but the world did learn from
Greenville South 10 we took things to
them in 2016 our Greenville planting
came in for that 75 for this clam and I
was very lucky this year to be deducted
as a legend of the south at the National
Forest I am son foundry mom proud of Pat
I grew up here with a high school here I
went to college here when the furman
what Oh town girl slanty over the years
of extensive just always been so proud
everything was accomplished here but it
is time we’re going to do which I’ve
been waiting for are you all ready for
poetry slam slam is that it’s not about
the codes it’s about three groups of
people the audience which is the
my judgment doesn’t wear you out crave
your hand I got five randomly selected
members I can make that mrs. H I still
have five get the negative five randomly
chosen members on and i would tell y’all
even at the National courtesan we’re
here competing for five thousand dollars
they still select five randomly chosen
members of the audience to judge the
finals and all the preliminary bouts of
the National Board slam I got pretty
lucky this year excited about men if I
got to pick the five people that’s
always pretty fun to get to do that at
every national court sim event I may not
realize this because there’s a brutha
basically has codified everything that
happens at a point in time so that it’s
uniform no matter what time you go to
anywhere in American support especially
primos tank welcome everyone today is
October the 11 and this is then
poetry slam coming to you live from
Greenville South Carolina my name is
Cara Lee films and I will be your emcee
for the evening the cord clamp is a
competition invented in the nineteen
eighty by Chicago construction worker
named Mark Smith in wait for poetry is
judge by five randomly chose members who
may or may not know anything about
poetry but they know what their hearts
out how is have a limited time frame of
three minutes they cannot use any
musical covenant upcoming oven they can
I use any costume that cannot use any
cross the judges will score their pieces
on a scale of zero to ten using one
decimal place 0 being a poem that is so
bad that it’s not bad enough that you
wrote it but don’t they need to come
here tonight in the sheriff 0 i’ll plan
on up to attend now to the audience is
going crazy they throwing out their arms
and going into the heck speaking in
tongues are so excited 10gen now the
high and the low score of each
performance are tossed and the middle
three are added together for total
possible score of 30 points are deducted
for violin and tumblr but nobody don’t
have to worry about that we do have a
timekeeper now judges we do beseech you
thanks for the poets on the same
criteria ignoring whatever boisterous
reaction your judgment of lizards I let
the judges and poets know how you feel
about the job that they’re doing but do
be respectful now are you got a baby
started poetry slam you are not all
right start the court said it has a
sacrificial blood is not it still on the
stage so every gots demands a sacrifice
now what’s going to happen is we’re
going to bring up what we call at
clearing poet sometimes called a sorbet
poet al capone hey Zack official poet
and the National for selection do people
like bond that might be making goat
noises in the audience and what
the basically this is a calibration poet
it’s a chance for the judges to practice
because they’ve never been to a poetry
slam before right and then that one
point they hear first we’re going to act
as kind of a person to them to take back
to it they get the scores to the rest of
the night so I’m dead if you feel
prepared you can get going to write down
a number axis pulling your knees one
decimal place so like eight point nine
nine point two nine point four and then
we’re going to write it all down and add
up for your eyes they’re begging y’all
ready Sam [Applause]