I was interviewed by the Outside the Loop show on WGN radio about the blog I wrote Lessons I Learned in Englewood.
I got to talk about some of my favorite things; teaching, race, and the brilliance of Englewood students. I am the first interview of the show.
A little over 8 years ago when I took my first job in CPS at a high school in Englewood, people of all races would look at me like I was crazy when I told them where I would be working. During my time teaching in Englewood I had people make assumptions about me, such as, that I must not be a very good teacher if I teach in Englewood , because surely, if I was a good teacher I would be working somewhere else.
Obviously if people were making assumptions about me working in Englewood, they were surely making assumptions about my students who lived in the community. I have written previously about when a random stranger on the bus called my kids animals and how I responded.
Through all of assumptions and stereotypes I realized that the students I taught were all that mattered. But I also very recently came to a point in my professional career that I needed a change of schools. Leaving the students was and is still hard. I didn’t officially make the decision until August so I told my students through email and text messages. That was the hardest thing by far about leaving. But the beauty of the students was they wanted me to be happy. Yes, they were upset and hurt, but every single student (I even messaged kids who graduated awhile ago to let them know) really just wanted me to be happy. So I write this dedicated to every single student I taught in Englewood which is close to 1,000 students.
So here is some of what I learned from my time in Englewood:
1. Teachers know that kids can detect a good teacher in the first few minutes of meeting us. Well my Englewood students could detect a good teacher in seconds
When we hired teachers at our school we would always have students sit on the interview and ask questions. Once the interview ended, if our students had doubts then that person wasn’t hired.
2. The kids knew the stereotypes about them, but more importantly with guidance knew also how to beat those stereotypes.
3. That most of the kids I taught could make better politicians than many of the people who are in power in this city.
4. That Englewood produces genius. Yup, you read that right. Still doubting? Then watch this.
5. I learned that having open and honest conversations about race wasn’t always easy, but was always very necessary.
Lisa Delpit an acclaimed scholar on race once came to our school and observed me teach and talked to students that I taught. Because of my openness to talk about race and the stories my students shared with her, she was inspired enough to write about me in her 2nd book.
6. That 4 Englewood high school students can stand up and poetically dissect every terrible policy Rahm Emanuel has put in place.
7. That when I experienced the worst loss of my life it was the students that I taught who knew how best to support me.
8. That when the first student that attended our school was murdered students and staff came together.
It was in my fourth year of teaching that I got a phone call at 6am on a cold January Saturday morning from our assistant principal who told me Travell had been killed. Travell was a very likable kid and a kid who had turned his life around from early in his high school career to just get accepted into college. His loss rocked our school. Everyone dreaded going to school that Monday after his death. But it was everyone at the school, students and staff that kept us all together so we could grieve and overcome this tragedy.
9. That when one of our staff members passed away the students and staff came together.
One of the most happy and upbeat people at our school, passed away last year. He was loved by students and staff alike. No matter what, he was always smiling and was one of those people that truly made school a better place. It was at his funeral that students stood up and spoke and shared stories of love for Stokes that helped us all overcome this loss.
10. That there are some amazing organizations, people, and teachers working in the Englewood neighborhood. If you never heard of RAGE then you need to.
11. That a public high school in Englewood had over 90% college acceptance rate, but the Mayor never came to congratulate us.
12. I learned that being white and bald would automatically lead me to be nicknamed Caillou.
13. That every student deserves so much more than this city’s government and poorly run school system is giving them.
14. That everywhere parents and students want to succeed.
While I was growing up and going to school, I have some teachers who still stick in my mind. The teachers who really helped guide, coach, teach, and inspire me. Well the thing that most people who aren’t teachers don’t know is teachers have kids who stick in their minds the same way. While there are way too many students to name individually who stick and will continue to stick with me, I know that I have become a better person, because of the “dangerous” Englewood students that I taught.
**I am still a CPS public high school south side teacher, just at a different school now**
Published in HuffingtonPost Chicago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/lessons-learned-in-englew_b_5876554.html?utm_hp_ref=chicago&ir=Chicago
Published on Gapers Block
This post is written by my father, Arnold Stieber who was infantry in the Army stationed in Vietnam from 1970-1971. He is currently the coordinator of the Chicago chapter of Veterans for Peace. I’m proud to share his writings and to be his son.
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War – conflict resolution by violence. Memorial day – a day to remember those killed in wars. More than remembering, Memorial Day is reality for me. That reality began in 2003 and was amplified in 2013.
In 2003 my military experience burst into my consciousness after 32 years. Late one night I turned on the TV. The movie “Platoon” was playing. I had never watched any violent shows nor read anything about war or Viet Nam since I left there and my role as an Army infantryman in March of 1971. The scene was a U.S. patrol entering a village. I saw the dark skinned children with their big dark eyes, skinny bodies and ragged clothes – and it all came back like a lightening bolt. The sights, the sounds, the smells. Stunned, I turned off the TV and sat in a darkened room.
The next day began a frenzy of activity. Unstructured for the first few months, I consumed a world of information. At 57 years of age with an MBA and an active business career, I was almost totally ignorant of many aspects of life. Information on war, peace, politics, world affairs, religion, organizations, books, magazines, videos, DVDs, radio and TV shows – and the list grew with each passing day. I needed structure.
I finally formulated two questions: Why war? Why do we so proudly send our children to kill other children?
Why war?
Howard Zinn helped with his book, “The Peoples History of the United States“. Marine Major General Smedley Butler, a two time Medal of Honor recipient, helped with his booklet, “War is a Racket“. Many other authors and people and programs moved me along the path.
My studies revealed that the main causes of war are money and markets. There is always plenty of flag waving and bluster about the “evil ones”, but every war I’ve studied, once you begin peeling back the layers, has the same core.
War is the best business in the world.
High profits, little competition, products rapidly used, and the price is seldom questioned. Weapons are the number one export product of the USA. Hundreds of thousands of people are employed in the death and destruction industry. Thousands more spend their lives teaching at war colleges and military schools. Other thousands plan wars and “covert actions”. Mercenary companies and CIA operations are a major part of U.S. “foreign policy”. But the war business depends on conflict. That leads to the second question.
Why do we so proudly send our children to kill other children?
A country cannot have a war, and those in the war business cannot sell their products, unless we the people are willing to sacrifice our children.
How can we be convinced to sacrifice our children?
There are many ways.
The first is to generate fear.
The second is to continually present the military model for conflict resolution – violence – as the solution.
Go into any park and you’ll probably see a military statue or a canon. Veterans’ memorials are everywhere. Parades are lead by weapons carrying veterans and the military. The military carries the flag into sporting events. Many in the military now ware Combat Battle Dress (CBDs) when they are in public. Everyone in the military is now called a “hero”. POW-MIA flags fly from Post Offices and other buildings. Highways are named after wars, war veterans, and generals. Battleships are named after Presidents. We have civil war re-enactments. Our language is violent – ” I could just kill my kids”, “bullet points”, and sports announcers inject “kill”, “beat”, “destroyed” into their descriptions. There are also video games, weapon toys, paintball parks and TV and movie violence. All of these lower the barrier to hurting others. They are an ever-present message that violence – the military model – is the solution to conflict.
In 2013 I watched the Chicago Memorial Day parade. Thousands of children of color, dressed in military uniforms, passed by. It stunned me. I’ve learned that Chicago Public Schools are the most militarized in the nation. Over 10,000 children are learning the military model of taking orders and solving conflicts with violence. The parade, for me, was not about remembering those who died. The main message was convincing the children and their parents that the military model is the “American way”.
This year I’ll be back at the parade – holding a sign of peace. Please join me and members of the Chicago chapter of Veterans for Peace. If we can influence just one child or just one parent that the military model is not the answer, that’s one child who will not have to suffer the physical or mental pain of legalized death and destruction.
Memorial Day.
Remember the dead, all of them, from all countries, civilians and military.
Dead because of the military model.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/a-vietnam-veteran-reflect_b_5376989.html
For more from my father, the Chicago Veterans for Peace, and their actions to De-Militarize Chicago Public Schools like their Facebook page , view his blog War is Slavery, and check out the Chicago Veterans for Peace website.
Last week I wrote a piece in support of the idea proposed by Karen Lewis to place a small tax on the Mercantile Exchange to generate revenue for schools (since the Merc gets millions in tax breaks).
I was interviewed on Outside the Loop Radio this week about school funding and how the lack of funding impacts schools in Chicago, but specifically my school in Englewood.
The interview is about the first twelve minutes of the show.
Karen Lewis (former CPS teacher) elected President of the Chicago Teachers Union proposed an idea to generate funding, to improve Chicago Public Schools and our city. Her idea is to place a small tax on shares bought and sold at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In an interview published in the Sun Times Lewis said, “This is an opportunity to actually make heroes out of these (wealthy) people. Instead of everybody being angry at them about their money and their greed and all these other things. This is an opportunity for them to say, ‘You know what, we’re part of the city. We love this city. We’d like to see the city work. We’d like to be a part of the process and this isn’t going to be enough to make us want to go.’”
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange issued a statement in response to Lewis saying in part, “…we do not believe the way to accomplish a strong public school system is through singling out futures traders with a tax more than 200 percent higher than what the average trader pays to buy or sell a futures contract…”
For those non-math people like myself 200 percent higher sounds like a lot of money, but in reality if shares were currently being taxed 33 cents they would now be taxed about 67 cents more to make it a dollar tax. Saying something is 200 percent more is just a fancy way of saying something is tripled.
Sixty seven cents more to improve our schools which in turn improves our whole city.
In the same interview where the Chicago Mercantile Exchange claimed it basically couldn’t afford to pay 67 cents more the Mercantile Exchange spokesperson said, “The CME Group absolutely believes that our hometown of Chicago should have a strong, world-class public education system.”
So the Chicago Mercantile Exchange wants a world class education system yet will not give a minute fraction of its wealth and revenue to actually make this a reality?
Please keep in mind that the Mercantile Exchange gets millions of dollars per year in tax breaks. Meaning that all the money that they are not paying in taxes that would go to improving our city and in part our schools stays in their pockets making them even more wealthy.
This my friends is what maintaining the status quo looks like in plain sight.
Teachers and schools are blamed for anything and everything wrong with education. Yet, when teachers demand more money for our schools and our students we are labeled as greedy and the ideas we have to improve education are dismissed.
As an educator in CPS for the past seven years working in the Englewood neighborhood it is painfully obvious that schools need more funding.
Schools need support (i.e. financial resources) for our city to truly give ALL of our students a “world class” education.
Last year Chicago Public Schools reduced the budgets by about $2,000 per student. In a small school like mine that translates to about $400,000 that we lost just last year. In larger schools that number is in the millions of dollars that schools once had that they no longer have to use for school staff, supplies, field trips, and the overall functioning of a school.
In my school cutting $400,000 translated into supplies being cut, technology not being repaired and seven people who no longer work in our building. That means there are seven less adults (teachers, security, tech coordinator, and a teacher coach) that can no longer work with students and help make their education and safety better.
So the Chicago Mercantile Exchange claims it wants a “world class education” for the students of Chicago, but in the same press release basically says it can’t find 67 more cents to invest per transaction for the youth of Chicago to better our city.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is just following the lead of our mayor who claims he wants what is best for the kids, yet steals TIF money that is supposed to go to our schools and neighborhoods and builds stadiums, parks, roads that benefit downtown while also sending his kids to a private school that has everything that ALL our schools should have.
Like Rahm Emanuel the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is just providing lip service claiming it cares about kids, while maintaining the status quo of Chicago and keeping this city a tale of two Chicago’s—One for the rich and one for everyone else.
Or as I like to interpret the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s quote, it just comes down to (millions of) dollars for the rich and pennies for our kids.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/the-chicago-mercantile-ex_b_5282766.html
Chicago Public Schools just announced that they will build a new high school and name it after our current president Barack Obama.
This announcement of building a new high school is about a year after the announcement by the unelected mayorally appointed CPS Board of Education to close the most schools in the history of the United States amidst massive community protests.
This announcement comes about one month after this same board of education agreed to give themselves $5 million to buy brand new furniture for their new offices.
This announcement comes one day after the puppets, I mean the handpicked school board by Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed to fire every adult (teachers, principals, engineers, lunch workers, security, and custodians) in three elementary schools amidst community protests.
The new selective enrollment high school will be located on the north side of the city, which is nowhere close to where nearly all the 53 closed or “turn around” schools are located.
Kevin Coval one of Chicago’s great poets wrote an article for CNN.com titled “Chicago A Tale of Two Cities” and in it he stated, “One white (city), one black (city). One for the rich, one for the poor. One for private schools, one for closed schools. A new Chicago for the saved and the damned. Gold coast heavens and low-end hells. It’s biblical, binary.”
This is not an exaggeration by Kevin Coval we all are watching this mayor blatantly create two cities. Rahm and his pal Barbara Byrd-Bennett attempt to use fancy buzz words like “rigor”, “quality seats”, “world class”, and “21st century” to make their actions seem justified, but be real they do not care about kids.
I do not care if Barbara Byrd-Bennett happens to be black she does not care about lower income black kids in this city no matter what she claims and neither does our mayor. How can the students at the high school I work at in Englewood be receiving a “world class” education when we went without basic sanitary necessities like soap in the boy’s bathroom for five weeks? How are my kids getting a “world class” education when we lost three teaching, one administrative, and three security positions this year due to budget cuts?
All Rahm and Barbara Byrd-Bennett care about is how to make profit off of lower income brown and black children while giving more opportunities to affluent mostly white families. They build charters (that perform no better than public schools) on the south and west sides, but build new public schools or find money for public schools like Jones downtown and Payton on the north side.
Rahm and BBB are firing every adult three schools and then turning those schools over to privately run AUSL to re-staff the very same buildings. AUSL who not at all coincidentally the president of the unelected school board David Vitale served as the chairman for until 2011.
What Rahm Emanuel, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, and prominent members of the appointed school board Andrea Zopp, David Vitale, Jesse Ruiz are doing to our city is a attempting to maximize their profits at the expense of lower income people of color. Even though some of these school board members are Black and Latino and represent organizations such as the Urban League they have sold out their own people and everyone in this city that values transparency and Democracy.
I’m well aware of the fact that me being white and calling out prominent Black and Latino leaders is problematic, but damn what they are doing is downright criminal and I hope one day that all the “leaders”of CPS and especially Rahm Emanuel are found to be guilty of crimes against humanity.
My Englewood students wrote about Mr. Wreck It Rahm and the blueprint that these “leaders” are unleashing on our city in their now famous poem with nearly 60,000 views,
“Step one: Take away our schools
Step Two: Put them out their home
Lastly: Destroy it all and
Deny Deny Deny
But remember, to always keep a straight face when you lie!
Try to pour the cheap paint over our eyes while stealing dollars from under our mattresses
There’s not enough? Close their schools
But he’s building a new DePaul stadium
Using our TIF funds to Transform the South Loop into the Promised Land of redevelopment
and some river walk
of course downtown
The paint is starting to streak.
Building a new Chicago or extending a new lie!
How can a city so in debt blueprint something so expensive?”
Rahm’s plan is simple. Create a new Chicago one well resourced and another Chicago underfunded to be experimented on with charters and privatization schemes. One Chicago safe with lowering crime rates and another Chicago that is not even safe on Easter Sunday.
Yet for the Mayor to continue make this plan a reality he has to make everyone believe that certain neighborhoods or areas of the city are better than other areas. He has to convince people on the North Side that people in Englewood (or insert any other South or West side neighborhood) are lazy, dangerous, and don’t want to improve their neighborhood. By getting people to believe the stereotypes about huge areas in this city it allows him to keep doing what he has been doing, which like Kevin Coval said is creating two Chicago’s.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/the-new-president-obama-s_b_5208120.html
I’m interviewed on Outside the Loop radio about the TEAM Englewood Spoken Word group piece from Louder Than A Bomb 2014 in which our poets wrote the piece “Hide Your Schools, Hide Your Children, Hide Your Homes, Cause He’s Wrecking it All“. This is a poem written entirely by four Englewood public high school students about all Rahm Emanuel is doing to harm this city.
The interview is from 12:00-22:00
A poem written by 4 TEAM Englewood Public High School students about all that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is doing wrong in Chicago. These students wrote this piece and took part in the Louder Than A Bomb spoken word competition put on yearly by Young Chicago Authors here in Chicago.
Hammer in one hand paint brush in the other
Rahm Emanuel is single handedly destroying our city
Mr. wreck it Rahm
look what Chicago is becoming
bending the rules to fit in the lie of building a new chicago
building new streets
when his own plan got some pot holes
Tearing down our dreams
its getting really windy in these streets
Red X’s mark the spots where his wrecking balls are next to drop
We are not included in the Blue Print of the New Chicago: we’re being pushed out
our buildings transformed into condos – and we know those AINT FOR US
Thermal shock is setting in from the whipping wind of the heartless sins
of the mayor
Norfolk Railroads is pushing us southern folk out
Homes replaced with tracks
that will be laid
where our heads used to
If dry wall could talk
it would speak many prayers to keep our homes
now vacant lots that hold lots of remnants
of 60 years of backyard barbeques
baby showers
and when electric sliding was the super power of the summer
55th and Normal
we are losing all of this
Torturing, tormenting us as we choke on the ashes of our memories
*Cough Cough*
Let’s hope we don’t get sick
Because he’s closing all our clinics
He needs to get treated
And then maybe we can sew back on the other half of the middle finger
that he has been giving us
Its almost as if he’s E Manuel of E-Limination
Exportation!
Extermination!
Eradication!
Step one: Take away our schools
Step Two: Put them out their home
Lastly: Destroy it all and
Deny Deny Deny
But remember, to always keep a straight face when you lie!
Try to pour the cheap paint over our eyes while stealing dollars from under our mattresses
There’s not enough? Close their schools
But he’s building a new DePaul stadium
Using our TIF funds to Transform the South Loop into the Promised Land of redevelopment
and some river walk
of course downtown
The paint is starting to streak.
Building a new Chicago or extending a new lie!
How can a city so in debt blueprint something so expensive?
Banneker Elementary – Closed
Woods Elementary – Closed
Yale Elementary – Closed
The paint is cracking:
From every west side basketball brotherhood
To south side sisterhood bonds through pom-poms
And every poetry team that had dreamed of being on this very stage
has been ripped apart,
Goodbye
Bad foundation for our future generations
struggling with 40 students in one class
so they learn from the streets
There’s not money for our schools, but, there’s enough to build a New Chicago
But that New Chicago is NOT for us.
The paint is wearing thin and so was our patience
Irreparable damage has already been done
Time to stop the destruction of OUR city
Prevent the further corruption of our already twisted politics of Chicago
25% of Chicago school children won’t amount to anything
25
50
75
100% sure that we will be something
See Rahm we are mathematicians
your lies are adding up
and this new Chicago is just another one of them
Our poets featured in the HuffingtonPost Chicago:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/team-englewood-spoken-word_n_4941587.html?utm_hp_ref=chicago&ir=Chicago
Our poets featured in the Chicago Reader:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/03/12/englewoods-message-to-mayor-wreck-it-rahm
Featured & interviewed on CBS Chicago:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/14/youth-poetry-team-obliterates-mayor-wreck-it-rahm-in-viral-youtube-video/
Our poets discussed on Outside the Loop Radio show:(14:45-20:40)
http://www.outsidetheloopradio.com/2014/03/13/otl-episode-387-louder-than-a-bomb-poetry-slam-mayor-emanuel-needs-to-hear-from-the-kids-story-club-chicago/
Like & Follow our Spoken Word Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TeamEnglewoodSpokenWord
We teachers teach, because we love the kids we work with. Yes, we may complain about the kids at times, but they are the reason we stay late, bring work home, and get up early. Thousands of teachers in Chicago put up with bad administrators or broken copy machines, because we love the students that we work with so much that we try to block out all the things that “leadership” of Chicago Public Schools does wrong.
It doesn’t matter where in the city you teach or the “types” of kids that you work with, teachers come to school to enrich the lives of our city’s children.
It is with this love at the absolute forefront, that what the teachers at Saucedo, Drummond, and many other schools are doing truly proves the love teachers have for their students.
The teachers that are refusing to give the ISAT have been threatened to have their Illinois Teaching Licenses revoked. There is no worse threat than that. The threat of taking away the thing we have dedicated our lives to….the ability to teach our students.
Yet, the love that these elementary teachers have for their students is so deep that they realize their refusal to give a pointless test, used for nothing, counting for nothing, and wasting ten days of real teaching and learning is worth that risk.
In your profession how often do you just do things because you are told you have to do, even though you don’t agree with the directive? Why do you do it? Likely because you have bills to pay, a family to support, want a promotion one day, and want a job now. So you follow this directive because even though it is a waste of time and pointless you don’t want to rock the boat. You want the “American Dream” so you most often do what you are told.
Teachers in Chicago have realized for years that the “American Dream” is not a reality for most of our students to reach. This inability to reach the ‘American Dream” is because of the barriers put in place by this city, such as an appointed (not elected) school board, mayoral control over our schools, the stealing of TIF funds from our schools and neighborhoods that really need them amongst a litany of others.
The “American Dream” is much tougher to acquire if you are black or brown living on the South or West sides.
So teachers at Saucedo and Drummond have stood up, not for themselves, but for their students. They want to remake a new Chicago. They want to remake a new educational system in this city. They want their children to question, reflect, and think. They don’t want ten lost days of mindless bubbling for their students. They want ten days to continue the amazing curriculums they have created and put in place for their students.
They want these same students twenty-thirty years from now to not have to do something because they are told to. They want these students to be people who lead not be followers. In this country we talk about children being the future of our country, yet we know that by “children being the future” those children really mean the elite, often times rich, often times white children whose families have led this country in some way or another since its founding.
Teachers believe and demand that ALL children are the future of this country; it just takes brave teachers to really show us what making that possible really looks like.
Thank you Saucedo and Drummond teachers for doing what you do best….Teaching!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/what-it-means-to-love-you_b_4920637.html
http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2014/03/11/what-it-means-to-love-your-students/
Growing up I never had a love much less an appreciation for poetry. In high school and college there was nothing that drew me to admire, care for, or even really even respect the words from the typical canon of poets. It wasn’t until a few years into my teaching career when I went to a Louder Than A Bomb poetry event and heard students from all across our city and the Chicago land region putting their words out there for everyone to hear, that I realized the true power that spoken word possessed.
For the many of us fortunate enough to already know about Louder Than A Bomb or more commonly LTAB we know that it is one of the best things that Chicago has going for it.
You see, LTAB is put on by Young Chicago Authors which brings over 1,000 kids from nearly every neighborhood of our city, the suburbs, Indiana, and the greater Chicago land area together. As we know Chicago is one of the most racially and economically segregated cities in the United States. LTAB one of the few events that actually works to desegregate our students and our city. This “competition” of poetry gives students from every possible neighborhood, suburb, or region a chance for kids to listen, share, and build a community with each other through the simple ancient act of sharing their stories.
I could go on and explain the profound impact this event has had on me and my co-coach Missy Hughes for the past six years, but just read what students from TEAM Englewood High School feel about the importance of LTAB ,two years after they last took part in the event. All of the quotes are from graduated former students of ours who are nearly all in their second year of college. (By clicking on the students names below you will see their spoken word performances from their senior year in high school)
From left to right: Melana Bass, Myara Robinson, Jeremey Johnson and Keith Warfield performing in the 2012 National Grudge Match Poetry Slam at Young Chicago Authors
Jonathan Nesbitt (Western Illinois University)- “What it means to me to be a part of TEAM Englewood spoken word is like being a part of a big family. We bumped heads, we argued, we loved and we always came together at the end of the day. Spoken word has changed my life around. You get to hear what people/ friends are going through and it makes me feel so blessed because you never know what people have been through until they spit their piece. Spoken word brought out a very very important skill which is writing and rewriting and editing. And then the adrenaline rush you get when you step out on stage and tell to your story to the world, the feeling is just amazing. I wish I could just go back to high school for one day to compete in LTAB!!! “
Jeremey Johnson (Columbia College-Chicago)- “Poetry gave me a positive outlet for some of my anger. It taught me that I not only had a voice, but that it was one worth listening to. I didn’t need to run from my problems because I could write them down. I could master them. Spoken word gave me courage to face the world and myself. I never would’ve gotten that if it weren’t for the Team Englewood spoken word team.”
Myara Robinson(St. Xavier University)- “Being on the poetry team has helped me to find my voice. I’ve made amazing friends and professional connections through spoken word performances. I have a better appreciation for literary devices because of it. By being engulfed in the world of poetry my ear has become a magnet to metaphors and deeper meanings. If my teachers had never seen something in me and my writing I would still be oblivious to the artistic and creative part of life. Also, being a member of the poetry team and being apart of the LTAB Festival was one of the reasons high school was so fun for me, very memorable. My writing has changed, gotten better thanks to spoken word. It’s kinda like I’ve been freed or saved in a way. Writing liberates me and gives me yet another artful way to express myself. It’s something that will forever be apart of me.”
Montrel Marks (Harold Washington College)- “Being on the Team Englewood spoken word team helped me realize what I can be and push me past my limits. I was lazy with school and I always used to pick the easy way out of things. The coaches pushed me to pull my grades up. I built a love for poetry. My team(Englewood) showed me how to truly love someone that didn’t come from the same parents. They showed me how to understand and relate to people. Now today my bonds and connection that I made are strong. I love poetry so much that I’m becoming a teacher to give back, what was given to me.”
Keith Warfield (Proud father-returning to college soon)- “Being apart of “NO DOUBT BABY!” (A.K.A. TEAM Englewood) was one of the best things that ever happened to me. We were able to build relationships aside from just being students and teachers and I honestly feel like that was the most important part. To all of my former teammates, I appreciate and respect you guys even more after watching you open your hearts up to complete strangers and showing them how valuable our voices are. To the coaches I just really want to thank you guys for doing more than just coaching and teaching because you actually became our best friends and I’ve NEVER been legitimate friends with any of my teachers. I love you all and every single one of you has played a very important and inspirational role in my life contributing to the man I am today!”
Melana Bass (University of Wisconsin-Madison)- “Being on this team was everything to me. I learned so many social skills that I didn’t have. I learned how to articulate everything through a creative lens. I was able to develop spoken word into a craft that helped me attain an online reputation, job opportunities, and connections to other great gigs. I created lifetime bonds with my coaches and teammates and even others that I met through the slam. Being on the team also taught me a great deal of creative discipline and how to hustle artistically and how to use resources to create shows or other artistic endeavors. This was at first a team I ran from and now this gift of spoken is paying for my college education!! I couldn’t be more grateful.”
The amazing thing is I guarantee of all the kids who have taken part and “competed” in LTAB there are thousands of stories just like these.
So if you have never seen this event before do yourself a favor and go watch and listen. The youth of Chicago are speaking and they have spent days, weeks, and months preparing their messages to be heard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/the-power-of-spoken-word-_b_4763981.html
http://gapersblock.com/ac/2014/02/12/the-power-of-spoken-word-poetry/#.Uvvf6V71vOg
I Teach 