Spoken word competitors close out MLK celebrations

The concluding event of last week's Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations was the spoken arts competition "Speaking Justice: Where do we go from here?"

Students, staff and Corvallis community members were invited to the Memorial Union lounge to share their spoken word performances inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1967 speech "Where do we go from here?"

Each speaker was judged on numerous aspects, including engagement with the audience, body language, clarity and relevance. After the competing participants presented, a short intermission took place as the judges deliberated on the winning three.

In third place came Franklin Soares with his reading of William Ernest Henley's "Invictus." Second place was an original composition by Alexis West, a discussion of the week's issues through the eyes of a student. The first place award was Brandi Douglas's "Power for Love," an original poem.

Once the winners were announced, the second phase of the night's events began, guest performances by spoken word artists Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Natasha Carrizosa.

Joaquin Zihuatanejo is both a teacher and an award-winning slam poet who draws themes for his work from his experiences growing up in the barrio of east Dallas, according to his website. He has recited his work all over the country, as well as internationally.

At one point between performances, he shared his writing process before reciting a poem he wrote inspired by an incident in which he was insulted by a stranger at a shopping mall for speaking Spanish. His first impulse, he explained, was to write a revenge poem, perhaps titled "How much I hate the man at the mall." But when his initial anger died down, he explained, he ended up with a piece on how he and the man are more connected than supposed. The resulting poem, "Speaking in Tongues," discussed the fact that today's English language is full of borrowed Spanish words and that both languages share roots in Latin.

On the influence of multiple cultures on the evolution of modern language, Zihuatanejo retorts to the man at the mall, "Your tongue is as black as Eminem's and Elvis Presley's lyrics."

Zihuatanejo has frequently collaborated with poet Natasha Carrizosa, with whom he shared most of the readings Saturday night, though both presented solo pieces as well. Through her subject matter, Carrizosa is more than a single poet standing before an audience—in her work, she claims to speak for many. At one point, she delivered an empathetic solo poem as the people of the horn of Africa: "I am your child; you watched me die." In conclusion of "Horn of Africa," she paused to catch her breath for the next piece. "This is a hard one for me," she said.

After the performances, Wynton Davis, a high school student at the event, commented on the power of Zihuatanejo and Carrizosa's work. "I was impressed," he said, "with how well the audience responded, even when they weren't snapping."

The audience was invited at the beginning of the event to snap their fingers when a poem resonated with them, classic poetry slam style. "I could feel it," Davis said.

The reading's host, Anderson DuBoise, was looking for an activity for the week that was "a more artistic, creative event than a talk or lecture" that still made people think during the planning process of the MLK celebrations. Spoken word art immediately came to mind.

DuBoise himself presented "Where do we go from here?" with the competing readers. "This is not my first time doing poetry," he said. "But the first event like this in a long time. There used to be a spoken word club on campus, but that ended before I got there." There is, however, interest in restarting the group.

For those who missed presenting or who were inspired to write their own poems, the opportunities may have just begun with Saturday's event.

Annecy Beauchemin, staff reporter

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