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Many “Toolkits” Are Comprised of Compartmentalized Do-It-Yourself Contents

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Many “toolkits” are comprised of compartmentalized do-it-yourself contents. Young Chicago Authors’ toolbox takes a participatory and immersive approach with LOUDER our resources. Here, collaboration and engagement bring materials to life as we co- create workshops, professional development opportunities, and the festival locally with students, teachers, educators, activists, THAN organizers, and poets. Through an interactive three-phase process— “Getting Ready to Get Ready”, “Getting Ready”, and “Ready”—our stakeholders will A participate in cyclical methods of planning, taking action, observing, evaluating, and critical reflection prior to moving to the next phase. The contents in our toolbox are dynamic and involve direct sharing which BOMB is mutually beneficial to both YCA and our partners. TOOLBOX Let’s build together! 1180 N. Milwaukee Ave. 2nd Floor Chicago, IL 60642 773.486.4331 [email protected] 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION LTAB Philosophy 6 - 7 Getting ReadY TO GET ReadY Check the Viewpoint by Kevin Coval 8 - 14 Walking and Asking: Towards Praxis in 15 - 25 Youth Spoken Word Poetry by Anna West Critical Reflection Part I 26 - 27 Next Steps 28 Action Steps 29 - 34 Getting Ready to Get Ready Checklist 35 LTAB Methodology 37 - 39 Getting ReadY Next Steps Part I 40 Organizing Tulsa by Kent Martin 41 - 45 Critical Reflection Part II 46 - 47 Next Steps Part II 48 Action Steps 49 - 55 Getting Ready Checklist 56 LTAB Pedagogy 58 - 59 readY Next Steps Part I 60 Teaching Chicago by Peter Kahn 61 - 63 Critical Reflection Part III 64 - 65 Next Steps Part II 66 Action Steps 67 - 76 Ready Checklist 77 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Professional Development 78 TOOLBOX extras LTAB Rules 79 – 82 Letter To School Administration 83 Press Release Example 84 – 85 Venue Set Up 86 About Bouts 87 Hosts Guide 88 – 90 Score Sheet 91 – 92 DJ Guide 93 – 94 Slam Award 95 Glossary 96 – 100 Bibliography 101 3 GETTING STARTED “Knowledge emerges [through praxis] -- invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” - Paulo Freire You are probably reading this toolkit because you saw the Louder Than a Bomb documentary film, are a poet with a vested interest in the art of spoken word poetry, are a teacher who is looking for a way to integrate writing into the lives of your students in a deeper and more meaningful way, or maybe some other reason entirely. Whatever the reason may be, you are interested in the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival. Since the release of the LTAB documentary film in 2011, Young Chicago Authors has received hundreds of emails and phone calls, and has had individual meetings with folks who showed interest in starting a LTAB in their city. This toolbox is a response to interested and valued stakeholders. In producing this guide, we at Young Chicago Authors wrestled with our approaches. Luckily we see these materials as malleable, flexible, and open to ongoing additions and changes. And as Kevin Coval put it the other day, “creating the toolkit is like creating a type of Bible-- it has contributions from tons of people and takes a hell of a long time to write.” In this, Kevin is absolutely right: the LTAB toolbox is a sort of living document and we would love to have your contributions, too. Some of the questions we asked ourselves in generating the framework of the toolkit are: Why are we creating a toolbox? How does YCA use the momentum of film to organically and healthfully grow participation in LTAB? How can we guard against merely creating a “how-to” guide that can be forceful, passive, and heavily layered in top down approaches? Can we create materials that will bring about localized dependency around organizing the festival so as to not foster a ubiquitous slam that will ultimately be unsustainable? What would participation in LTAB “name of other city” look like? We realized in order to create a toolbox addressing these questions we needed to develop a porous and thought-provoking guide situated around both critical pedagogy and immersive participation. So, here are the beginning workings of the LTAB toolbox. We welcome your thoughts and contributions! 4 The first objective in unpacking the toolbox is knowledge generation about Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB). Gaining an understanding of the philosophy behind the work is the first GETTING step to planning. The LTAB toolbox will help you get started. The “Getting Ready to Get Ready” portion of the toolbox is made up of text-based READY materials. Take some time to read through and critically think about what is included and how you might uniquely take ownership of the TO materials. GET READY 5 LTAB PHILOSOPHY WHY & HOW “Slam is a paradoxical game. The paradox, or “the joke” of the slam is that it mimics the values of competition- the bloodlust to win at all costs, and hierarchies based on pecking orders of winners and losers. However, the real aim of the slam has nothing to do with these values.” – Anna West WHY Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB) was founded in 2001 after the Twin Towers fell and during a time when young people of color in Chicago were being targeted by an anti-gang loitering law which aimed to take away their right to assemble in groups of more than two. In the midst of political and cultural unrest, two Chicago- based poets—Kevin Coval and Anna West—and a group of educators including Peter Kahn created a space for youth to congregate and express themselves through the writing and performing of spoken word poetry. Although hesitant to appropriate the public platform known as “the poetry slam”, which was created by Chicagoan Mark Smith, Coval and West saw his model as a way to galvanize publics to listen to the stories being told by young people. More than a decade has passed since LTAB began, and the purpose and focus of the slam has not changed. The slam is not about the competition. It is a vehicle to engage young people and audiences in creating counter-narratives —new narratives to re-imagine the self and one another. HOW LTAB is based on realist portraiture and the telling of authentic stories through the vehicle of the slam. Here the points earned in the slam are not about the points at all, but rather about the poetry. LTAB believes the process of writing poetry about one’s own life generates greater personal confidence, an improved sense of agency, a broader understanding about who one is as an individual and as part of a collective of writers located in a particular neighborhood and city. LTAB’s artistic process is about students imagining and re- imagining who they are in the world they inhabit. LTAB is founded on a student-centered critical and public pedagogy geared toward young people ages 13 – 19. LTAB believes the slam is just the beginning or culminating event of year-round meaningful instruction. Here students partner with their teachers, and teachers with students, in order to create and facilitate a safe space for individual and collective expression-- everything finds its way back to the students’ own lives. LTAB provides a variety of year-round public platforms for students to perform their work. LTAB’s teaching develops an individual’s and collective’s ability to critically read, write, and think about the world they inhabit. LTAB is rooted in intentional grassroots community organizing that brings together all neighborhoods within a city. LTAB’s belief in actively engaging young cultural citizens from all highways and byways of our city results in a more integrated and understanding society. Young people learn about folks they might not have otherwise ever met and, as a result of cultural grounding, they develop mutual respect and tolerance for 6 LTAB PHILOSOPHY WHY & HOW difference. After more than a decade of intentional work in the city of Chicago, LTAB has become the largest youth poetry slam in the world. One could measure success by counting the number of participants and audience members who attend the slam—which as of 2012 was 10,000. However we evaluate our impact in relation to student development, program design, and short and long term partnerships all of which are founded in the areas of artistry, teaching, and activism. Taking a holistic approach, we strive to help grow the field of youth spoken word poetry in general—this can only be done through the joint efforts of risk- taking partners. 7 LTAB PHILOSOPHY CHECK THE VIEW POINT BY KEVIN COVAL “The trick of the poetry slam is to use the guise of competition to attract interest in [the telling of stories through the written word]. The slam builds a natural drama in a short time span while showcasing the multiplicity of stories and voices in a given venue or classroom.” – Kevin Coval, Co-founder of Louder Than a Bomb In the winter of 2001 a group of writers, educators, writing/educators, and courageous young poets, working with the not-for-profit organization Young Chicago Authors, responded to this historic and hostile moment by creating a public pedagogy, a cultural space, a radically democratic forum to air and profess and spit and kick what was on their mind. Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Slam formed and gathered in the basement of a storefront theater. Since 2001, the festival has grown, attracting over 6,000 people during the course of the three-week festival to hear 650 young poets from more than 50 high schools and community organizations read poems.
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