Saturday, April 14, 2001
I slammed last night for the first time in...well a while. That's my excuse for not writing last night. We attended Clebo's Dallas Slam at Club Clearview and had a great time. It's a cozy slam that is very high energy. It still maintains the old school slam style where there is an audience that has payed to see the slam that is listening. But, the challenge is grabbing the others simply wandering through the Red Room to get to another room in the club and convince them that they really want to stop and listen to some poetry on a Friday night. I also gave myself the challenge of competing with a brand new poem that i'd never performed before. It was good enough to tie me for the last spot in the second round, but due to time constraints i was cut from the round. Still Clebo was kind enough to let me open the second round with a poem that i've done many times to pull the audience back together after the feature.
Funny thing was, the feature poet was the same poet we'd seen feature the last time in town. However, it was Jason Carney's last feature as a Dallas poet since he's moving to Seattle next month. Watch out Seattle! I first met Jason at the 1997 National Poetry Slam in Connecticut where he was competing with the Dallas team. He's one of the "Super Heroes" of Dallas slam fame. At nationals, teams can use a team piece to replace a solo spot in their rotation. Jason Carney, Jason Edwards, and GNO were the redneck, gay, and black super heroes (respectively) in a piece that blew the audience away at the 1998 Nationals in Austin, Texas. Yeah, that's right, they won the team competition and to commemorate it they all have "super hero" tattoos. I know that Dallas will miss Jason as he moves on, but it was great to see his last performance for his home crowd that made him the slam poet he is today.
As Dallas gets ready for it's slam off to create a team for the 2001 Nationals this July in Seattle it looks like there will be some new faces on the team. Contact won the slam last night with his "straight to the heart of it" poetry that delivers new promise to old troubles in a style that somehow reminded me of the new Outkast album. Amy, a close second in the slam, proves that soft spoken, heart felt poetry can beat out the loud male energy typically associated with Dallas. Amy is not the militant feminist with an ax to grind that so many women become when they are trying to "beat the men," but a true woman who speaks her heart in a softer but resonant voice. I would expect to see both Contact and Amy on the team that goes to Seattle this year.
We got back late an i crashed after the slam, but tonight i think we might just hang out with Clebo and his lovely wife Noemi (who makes you realize that even though Clebo looks and sounds tough, she's the one who "wears the pants in the family" so to speak). Anyway more later.~w
wendi's 2:27 PM ravings
Thursday, April 12, 2001
We said goodbye to Elsik High and the lovely Hilton today. Not for long though, Ms. Aufill liked us so much she wants us back for another day if we can squeeze it in our schedule. It looks like we have just the day for her in a few weeks, so hopefully we'll be returning. We really had a great time doing shows there (and not just because they put us up in the Hilton, but well rested performers probably make for better performances).
I asked the guy at the front desk where they get their matresses. They order them from a Texas matress manufacturer, so it'd probably be too expensive to ship one to North Carolina. He said he bought a king bed for his home through the hotel and only paid $300, an employee benefit. Lucky dog. Maybe that's why everyone at the hotel was so nice, they're all sleeping on great beds at night.
Once the shows were done, the only exercise i got today was hauling luggage. We packed out of the Hilton, checked into a Super 8 in Dallas, then (after hauling our luggage upstairs) checked out again. It was scary. I know we've been spoiled this week, but this was bad. They had a coupon advertising as "new," but by that they meant they'd only been a Super 8 for 2 years. The area was creepy and the rooms were dismal, dank, dark, dreary and looked liked they'd seen too many post football game beer binges and one night stands. So we hauled our luggage out of there as fast as we could and made our way to a nice clean Wellesley up the road that was only $10 more. It's light, clean, roomy and has a full fridge, microwave, stove top and dishwasher to boot. I feel much safer in this neighborhood and i'm sure i'll sleep better here for the next three days. Tomorrow is Good Friday and schools are closed in Texas so we have the day off. Ah, sleep...perchance to dream.~w
wendi's 10:43 PM ravings
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Today went much better. I don't know if the students were more attentive, or if i was, or what, but it just seemed to flow well today. The library had a great poetry section, so between shows we browsed through poems and looked for some of our favorites, and read a few new ones too. One of the groups asked us if they could find our own personal poetry on the internet...we said maybe. So, if you're from Elsik, a big howdy! You are an excellent internet researcher since i didn't mention this site.
I'm watching American High on PBS and am stuck by the depth of sharing that these students are doing for a live camera. They seem so much more honest than the little diaries on Survivor or Real World. Perhaps its because of the fear of the future that is involved. Also, these are real people documenting they're everyday life, not some fantasy manufactured to be interesting television. When the filming is done their lives don't stop or change, they keep on moving from this point forward. Granted it's a private school in Chicago that has a dance department that holds auditions for a senior dance show, but still their experiences in many ways are universal. It makes a lot more sense than watching the people on CNN analyze exactly what the words "very sorry" mean.
I was a good girl and didn't play any railroad games today and got all my work and exercise done. I'm planning on getting in bed early to fully enjoy my last night in the big comfy nest-like bed they have in this Hilton. If i could pack it up and take it with me i would. I don't know how long it's been since i've slept this well.~w
wendi's 10:42 PM ravings
Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Aaaack! I got sucked into playing this game on my computer that stole hours from my evening. I meant to sit down for a bit to digest my early dinner before swimming, but i never made it to the pool. Video games are evil!! (but fun) Unfortunately i didn't win. I kinda gave up after a while cuz it didn't seem possible, but i couldn't stop until it told me i had officially lost. Now i know why that game has sat dormant for so long on my computer. It's steals time and leaves my back sore from sitting at the computer watching the little trains go by. From now on, no games until after food and working out and all things good for my body have been taken care of first.
The shows were a bit wild today. The seniors are starting to get to that "biding time" stage just before graduation where everything else is more interesting than anything related to school. Add to that we're doing the first 3 periods of the day ranging from still asleep students to hungry students and i'm surprised they were listening at all. I did feel like overall we got some very good response from them once we were just talking with them after the show. Their questions let me know that despite appearances many of them were listening and their applause was sincere. I guess the toughest thing we're fighting is the whole image thing in a school of 3,800 students that don't really know each other. Image is everything and we're performing only for 3-4 classes at a time, too large for them to know each other, too small to feel anonymous.
Now i must sleep so i can be more awake than the students in the morning.~w
wendi's 11:56 PM ravings
Monday, April 09, 2001
I was trying to be clear and forthright today and came off as negative and controlling. Urg! Why is it so hard for me to make my ideas heard without stepping on toes and annoying people? It makes me want to scream, but that would just alarm people. I'm great when i have lines to say, or putting words on paper, but my mouth seems to betray me when my heart and brain are both sending messages at once. Burble...
Today was our first day at the Alief ISD mega-school complex. They have 3 high schools, 2 9th grade centers, a middle school or so, and administration offices taking up several blocks in West Houston. It's rather intimidating. The high school we are performing at has 3,800 students alone. We worked with the K-6 language specialists all morning and then performed for high school students in the afternoon and after a nap, working out, filling out paperwork, and dinner i'm ready to crash hard.~w
wendi's 10:07 PM ravings
Sunday, April 08, 2001
Oooh la la, a week in a fancy Hilton. The best part is it seems our meals are being covered, so free food! I feel a little guilty though with the prices around here. The brunch buffet was $12.95, not exactly reasonable. They did have plenty of fresh fruit and berries, eggs to order, waffles, pancake, eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, etc, etc. It's just i couldn't possibly eat all of that at one time so it would be cheaper if i could just order one plate of food. The next best part that's free and healthy is they have an excellent fitness room with working equipment for a full body workout, sauna, heated swimming pool and spa that are as nice as most gyms that people pay to visit. A good week of shows and exercise should help solidify the work the chiropractor did on my back. Yeah! The worst part is the little bar in your room with cans of soda for $2.00 and that's the cheapest thing in there. The giradelli chocolate is sitting out welcoming you to take a bite until you notice that it costs $4.50 and is not complimentary. I decided my best move was to just cover up the $54 "gift basket" so it wouldn't torment me every time i walk past it coming in or going out of the room. I wonder how many corporations reimburse executive expenses for $2 sodas and $4.50 candy bars.
I plan to get a good night's sleep because we have teachers to perform for and workshop with eeeearrrly in the morning.~w
wendi's 10:16 PM ravings
We saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? tonight. We'd wanted to see some live theatre, but our first choice was sold out and we didn't want to pay $20 for standing room and then our second choice turned out to be dinner theatre that started at $38.95. But, i'm very happy with the movie for $7. The Cohen brothers took the Odyssey and put it in 1930 with a twist. Whoo hoo! Oodles of fun! It must be a epic kinda night. The tv tonight has Xena battling Grendel with Beowulf in tow. Not quite the same, but it's fun to have on while i'm typing. Figures, it's "to be continued..."
What is it about the old epics that is so powerful? It's seems like it's very difficult to create anything entirely new that doesn't reflect back to something that has already been written. It seems like the stories that survive the test of time are those that inform us of what it is to be human. Stories of love and fear, joy and anger, faith and jealousy. To create something new it seem like one would have to define some emotion new to the human experience. Is there anything new under the sun? Perhaps the speed at which events happen in our lives. Granted people have felt for a long time that their lives move faster the older they get, but it seems like childhood vanishes faster these days too. Or is that just my own age creeping up on me? So what's new? We ask each other that question all the time. Nothing much? That's a standard answer, kinda like "How are you?...Fine." At times it can almost seem rude if you come up with something more to say and try to extend the conversation beyond a polite greeting of standard proportions. But even that is old news. You knew that already you say.
I'll have to try to come up with something new to write (or maybe just a re-write of something old with a new twist...that seems to work well for others).~w
wendi's 12:49 AM ravings
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