InsideOut News
Thanks to Sherry Ulery, Deputy Chief of Academic Affairs for Detroit Public Schools, InsideOut received an invitation to provide children with literary arts enrichment in the following 10 schools. We are grateful to the following schools and their writers who participated: Bagley Elementary (Sara Williams); Bennett Elementary (Blair; Nandi Comer); Bow Elementary (Rachel Harkai; Rhonda Welsh); Clippert Academy (Beth Divis; Ami Mattison); Edison Elementary (George Ramos); Gardner Elementary (Lara Hamza); Golightly Elementary (Stephan Johnson); Hanstein Elementary (Anna West); Logan Elementary (Norene Smith); and Mann Elementary (Sherina Sharpe). The classes met daily from 12:30 to 2 p.m for six weeks and feedback from teachers, principals and parents has been very positive. Scheherazade Parrish also conducted summer programming for InsideOut at the Matrix Human Services Center in Northeast Detroit through the Skillman-funded Osborn Arts Collaborative led by College for Creative Studies.
Article# 1009, Created Jul. 28, 2010
After three months of rehearsal, a flight across the stretch of the country, and a week of competition and community in Los Angeles, the four person team of Joseph Verge, Andrew Barnhill, Myra Robertson, and Jasmine Broadnax showed the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival what Detroit is all about. Now in its 13th year sponsored by Youth Speaks, BNV is the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world, with 600 youth from 50 cities in the US and abroad participating. According to coach Ben Alfaro, “the beautiful part of Brave New Voices in comparison to other national slams is that the slam is the least important event of the week. Our students engaged in workshops led by world-class artists, participated in serious dialogue about the state of arts and arts funding in our country, and befriended hundreds of their peers from Hawaii to England as they traveled the wide avenues of southern California from Glendale to Beverly Hills. The competition was steep, and only by a slim margin (literally tenths of a point) did we miss advancement by taking tough losses to Albuquerque and Denver, both of whom made it to the final stage. In the competition, we saw eight poems from Detroit that relied on their intimacy with the audience, holding them captive. Our youth recited poem after poem with an electricity that neither I nor Jamaal had seen before. It was truly a monumental performance in these young writers' careers. It was a gift to share with them and an experience to remember for our lifetimes.”
Article# 1008, Created Jul. 28, 2010
Dear friends,
Since InsideOut’s wonderful Coming Up Taller Award, presented at the White House last November, our Citywide Poets’ (CWP) recognition as one of the premier after school youth arts programs in the country continues to soar. We are currently savoring the “just-in” news that four ‘Citywides’ were awarded Certificates of Merit in Poetry from the Michigan Youth Arts Festival, thanks to poems with such intriguing titles as “A Phrase About the Rain” (Paige Alston); “Around the Cotton Club” (Shennice Gossett); “Sacrifice of the Ordinary” (Robyn Arnett), and “Grip” (Olaposi Omishope). Their awards earned invitations to participate in the MYAF festival at Western Michigan University and meet other ‘best of’ student poets and artists from around the state.
In addition to the MYAF awards, InsideOut won a first ever Sun Life Financial Rising Star Award (including a $5,000 student scholarship) and have received many invitations for our youth to perform locally. The first months of 2010 saw CWP opening for Wayne State University’s Martin Luther King Day Tribute, WSU’s College of Education Summit and the Detroit Declaration’s State of the City town hall forum. Audiences frequently jump to their feet to applaud the courage and clarity of our students’ words. Whether riffing on love or confronting social injustice or personal loss, our young people give voice to what matters most in their lives. Truly, courage is what it takes to plumb one’s soul and send words out to the wider world.
Classroom teachers report that students walk taller, speak more comfortably in class, learn more about their classmates, and feel more confident as writers thanks to InsideOut. A recent evaluation found significantly improved reading and writing skills, deeper understanding of poetry, and improved attendance and achievement as well as strong indications of “mental health benefits” thanks to InsideOut. Administrators have reported dramatically improved test scores and fewer incidents of undesirable behavior when InsideOut is a part of their school.
I hope that you, dear reader, as a valued supporter, will also applaud and join the growing number of friends who appreciate the power of language and creative expression of young people. It has been over a year and a half since we sent out an annual appeal, but we are facing a critical cash flow shortage now. Let the springtime’s new growth bring an upsurge of support and love for the young poets whose words InsideOut is committed to nurturing and bringing to the world. Become an active part of our community of supporters. Celebrate and support our youth with your generous donation to InsideOut!
Sincerely yours,
Terry M. Blackhawk, Ph.D.
Founding Director
Article# 1003, Created May. 5, 2010
On the night of November 18th, the Museum of Contemporary Art was transformed into a house of words.
That night, 150 of our dearest and closest friends gathered together with us to celebrate and share in the joy of InsideOut receiving a 2009 Coming Up Taller Award from the President's Commission on Arts and Humanities.
In the words of First Lady Michelle Obama, Honorary Chairman of the Coming Up Taller committee, "The Coming Up Taller Award is the Nation's highest honor for after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs that serve young people. The President and I strongly believe that arts and humanities education is essential for nurturing creative thinkers who will be our Nation's future leaders."
MC'd by former Free Press columnist/local word-builder and InsideOut Board Member Desiree Cooper, youth poets from our nationally-acclaimed Citywide Poets program kicked out the spoken word jams and seized all of our attentions with poems about cultural rites of passage and birthday songs sung to the tune of elegies.
Events like this are testimony to the fact that although poetry is a solitary act that begins with one poet putting one pencil to paper, in the end the poem itself, in its final and spoken form, moves beyond the self and reaches out into the larger community. As InsideOut Board Member Marc K. Shaye pointed out in comments left to us on our five-foot wide message board hung up at MOCAD that night, "Moving us to new heights with your exciting words. Moving us to hidden emotions with your passion."
Yes, this is what happens when poetry comes to town, when InsideOut is welcomed into the White House. It welcomes us all. And in the words of the great Sufi poet Hafiz, in words written some 600 years ago, "Our words become the house we live in."
Ours is a house, and a community-ship, built to last.
To see event photos taken by InsideOut's favorite photographer, Elayne Gross, visit
http://www.elaynegrossphotography.com/.
Article# 1001, Created Dec. 14, 2009
Join the InsideOut Literary Arts Project in celebrating the selection of its Citywide Poets program as one of just 15 National Winners of the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award, an honor bestowed annually by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
Citywide Poet Myriha Burton and 2009 CWP alumna Lena Cintrón accompanied InsideOut Founder Dr. Terry Blackhawk to the White House where she is accepting the award November 4, 2009. Lena Cintrón received a standing ovation for her award-winning poem at an evening reception for CUT awardees hosted by the PCAH at the Kennedy Center on Nov. 3rd. Learn more about the Coming Up Taller Awards
InsideOut's selection rewards the tireless commitment of our students and professional writers, all of it made possible by the investment of countless supporters like you. As this award proves, poetry does pay after all.
See Desiree Cooper's Blog.
See Pete Markus' Blog (
http://petermarkus.com)
Article# 994, Created Nov. 4, 2009 :: Last Update: Dec. 2, 2009
Sterling C. Jones, Jr. was a founding member of the InsideOut Board of Directors. He served several terms as board president and remained active until only very recently. While director of Detroit Public Schools Gifted and Talented Education, he oversaw fine programs such as chess, debate, and oratory, and supported the literary efforts that became InsideOut. Sterling brought his passion for young people and his extraordinary integrity to bear on many decisions, helping to set the course of InsideOut. He donated generously of his time and resources and of himself. We will miss his great stories, his impeccable demeanor, his humor, his heart and his enthusiasm for our students as they write their worlds. Rest in Peace, dear Sterling.
Article# 980, Created Aug. 17, 2009
Dear Friends,
The InsideOut Literary Arts Project is looking for your help.
For the past 15 years, InsideOut has placed creative writersâ€â€
Article# 979, Created Aug. 11, 2009 :: Last Update: Aug. 11, 2009
Performances, Readings and Competitions
Join us
Friday, May 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm at the Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River, Detroit.
The Citywide Poets will be competing for four spots on Detroit's Youth Slam Team.
The winners will travel to Los Angeles, CA to represent Detroit in the Brave New Voices National Poetry Festival. Come out to support our youth! Admission $5 - to help support our Slam Team.
Article# 1004, Created May. 5, 2010
In partnership with the Detroit Artists Market, the 5th annual Writers Reading Series will again feature five fantastic readings this year bringing the talents of InsideOut's 2009-2010 team of writers to the community. All readings take place at the Detroit Artist Market, located at 4719 Woodward Ave., (at Forest) from 7-9 pm. This year's schedule is as follows:
Fri. Oct. 16th - Matthew Olzmann, Aricka Foreman, Sara Williams, Anthony Baber and Special Guest: Ken Meisel.
Friday, Jan. 29 - Rachel Harkai, Norene Smith, Stefanie Wielkopolan, Joy Gaines-Freidler and Special Guest: Lynn Crawford.
Friday, Feb. 12 - Dr. Terry Blackhawk, George Henry, Rhonda Welsh and Special Guest: Stacy Parker Aab
Friday, March 19 - Civitas Writers: Russell Brakefield, Joseph Horton, Ashley Pankratz, Franke Varca and Special Guests: Keith Taylor (U of M) and Vievee Francis.
Friday, April 23 - Cindy Frenkel, Tom Laverty, Jamaal May, and Cheri Taylor. and special guest: Lolita Hernandez.
Article# 989, Created Sep. 23, 2009 :: Last Update: Feb. 8, 2010
Six Citywide Poets will represent Detroit in the 2009 Brave New Voices National Poetry Festival in Chicago this summer. Please show your support by attending one or more of the following readings:
"Work/6"
Wednesday, June 17
6pm
Oak Park Public Library
14200 Oak Park Boulevard
Oak Park , MI 48237
"Act Three Mid Year Poetry Reading"
Friday, June 26
7pm
New Prosperity Missionary Baptist Church
8540 Second Ave (@Pingree)
Detroit, MI
"Byte This!"
Monday, June 29
8pm
Cliff Bells
2030 Park Ave
Detroit, MI 4822
"Hip Hop Night"
Tuesday, June 30
6pm
Elements Gallery
2125 Michigan Ave
Detroit, MI 48216
"Creative Juices"
Saturday, July 11
9pm
Artist Village Detroit
17340 Lahser (@Grand River)
Detroit, MI 48219
We are trying to raise $1,500 for the slam team's transportation, lodging and registration costs.
We appreciate any and all donations to this worthy venture. Article# 972, Created Jun. 10, 2009 :: Last Update: Jun. 10, 2009
Come join us in our celebration of this year's Citywide Poet Anthology "Groundwork." Saturday, June 13th, 6pm-9pm at University of Michigan Detroit Center 3663 Woodward Ave (@Martin Luther King Blvd./Mack)
Along with the book release, there will be a special presentation by the Living the Arts Project, a collaboration between University of Michigan and CWP Northeast. Light refreshments served.
For more information, please contact Nandi Comer at 313-965-5332.
Article# 971, Created Jun. 4, 2009
Citywide Poets Present 2009 Scratch the Page Visiting Writer Series. Through Scratch the Page, InsideOut brings together students from all of the CWP sites to meet some of the best and most exciting poets working today. This year's poets are
Patrick Rosal (January 31st),
Tyehimba Jess (February 28) and
Karyna McGlynn (March 28). The first Scratch the Page will be held at the Boll Family YMCA. at 7pm.
Donation: $5 adults, $3 students
For more info phone: 313.965.5332
email:
citywidepoets@insideoutdetroit.org
Patrick Rosal is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive, which won the Members' Choice Award from the Asian American Writers' Workshop and was a finalist for the organization's literary awards. His second collection, My American Kundiman, won the Association of Asian American Studies 2006 Book Award in Poetry and the 2007 Global Filipino Literary Award. His chapbook Uncommon Denominators won the Palanquin Poetry Series Award from the University of South Carolina, Aiken. His poems and essays have been published widely in journals and anthologies including Harvard Review, Crab Orchard Review, Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, North American Review, The Literary Review, Pindledyboz, Black Renaissance Noire, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Non-Fiction, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art , The Beacon Best and Language for a New Century.
Article# 965, Created Jan. 16, 2009 :: Last Update: Jan. 22, 2009
In partnership with the
Detroit Artist’s Market, the 4th annual Writers Reading Series will again feature five fantastic readings this year bringing the talents of InsideOut’s 2008-2009 team of writers to the community. All readings take place at the Detroit Artist’s Market, located at 4719 Woodward Ave., (at Forest) from 7-9 pm. This year’s schedule is as follows:
Thurs. Sept. 18th - George Ramos, Beth Divis, Darrel Holnes, Elisa McCool and special guest Keith Taylor.
Fri. Oct. 10th - Pete Markus, Aricka Foreman, Thomas Park, Matthew Olzmann and special guest David Hassler.
Fri. Jan. 23rd - Rhonda Welsh, Alise Alousi, Vievee Francis, Jamaal May, francine j. harris.
Fri. Feb. 20th - Stefanie Wielkopolan, Ben Alfaro, Steve Johnson, Anita Schmaltz, Nandi Comer.
Fri. Apr. 3rd - Rachel Harkai, Alia Harvey-Quinn, Sherina Sharpe, Anna West, Suzanne Scarfone.
Article# 963, Created Oct. 1, 2008 :: Last Update: Jan. 14, 2009
Citywide Poets News
Coming soon!
Article# 1007, Created May. 12, 2010
The Citywide Poets will be celebrating their 2009 Anthology "Groundwork" on Saturday, June 13, 6-9pm at University of Michigan Detroit Center 3663 Woodward Ave. @ Martin Luther King Blvd./Mack)
Article# 970, Created Jun. 3, 2009
Article# 950, Created Apr. 12, 2008 :: Last Update: Apr. 12, 2008
Dayna Reid, a Citywide Poet who attends Old Redford Academy, has been selected to perform as part of the
History of the Word, a theatrical production taking place on February 16, 2008 at the Music Hall Center for Performing Arts. She was selected from about 25 youth poets who each read 2-3 poems during a November audition. As a winner, one of her poems will be featured in the performance, and Dayna will also perform before the show.
Article# 929, Created Dec. 11, 2007 :: Last Update: Dec. 11, 2007
For the third consecutive year, the Citywide Poets program will feature prominent poets in the newly-named
Scratch the Page Visiting Writers Series. The series brings together students from all four CWP sites to meet some of the best and most exciting poets working today. All Scratch the Page performances are open to the public and will be held at 1515 Broadway. Doors open at 6:30pm and the program starts promptly at 7pm. Donation for each performance: $5 adults, $3 students.
For more info, call: 313.965.5332 or email:
citywidepoets@insideoutdetroit.org
2008 SCRATCH THE PAGE VISITING WRITERS SERIES
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2008
BLAIR and
CASSIE POE
Cassie Poe is a local Detroit artist who loves spoken word and the art of writing. Once upon a time, she was host of the highly successful open mic series at Camillian Cafe in downtown Detroit. Cassie was on the Detroit Slam Team in 2003, 2004 & 2005 and was coach for the 2006 Picnap Detroit team. Currently, she is Slammaster for the Beans n' Bytes cafe, a weekly series hosted by LaShaun phoenix Moore and managed by Christina Archer, and it is their goal to send a winning team to national competition in 2008. Her other ambitions include becoming a published novelist and interior decorator. Check her out at myspace/mscassiepoet.
Blair is a poet / singer-songwriter / performer and spoken word artist who has performed in venues nationally and internationally. Blair’s poetry has been published in a myriad of journals and newspapers around the country including Alabama State University's
Punch and in Black Renaissance Noire (NYU Press). In 2004, Blair was a writer-in-residence with Inside Out Literary Arts Project. In 2005 he was the featured artist on the HBO Def Poetry Jam website. Blair is a National Poetry Slam Champion (2002 Team Detroit) and Detroit Grand Slam Champion (2003). His new one-man show
Burying the Evidence has intrigued and amazed sold-out audiences around the country. Blair is the recipient of the 2007 Bent Mentor Award, a Poets & Writers Grant and a member of the 2008 Detroit Poetry Slam Team.
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008
ROSS GAY, author of
Against Which.
Ross Gay's first book,
Against Which (CavanKerry, 2006), was a finalist for the ForeWord poetry book of the year. His poems have appeared in
American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and
>Fishouse, an online audio archive of emerging poets. Ross is currently a professor of poetry at Indiana University and in the low-residency MFA program at New England College. He has also been a demolition man, an art mover and installer, a high school teacher, a house painter. Lately, though, he's been dancing.
SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2008
JEN CHANG and
GABRIELLE CALVOCORESSI
Jennifer Chang's first book of poems,
The History of Anonymity, will be published by University of Georgia Press/VQR Poetry Series in Spring 2008. Her poems are forthcoming in
Boston Review and
The Kenyon Review, and have recently appeared in
Black Warrior Review, New England Review, The New Republic, and Poetry Daily. She has received fellowships and scholarships from Asian American Writers' Workshop, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo. Currently a PhD candidate in English at the University of Virginia, she co-chairs the advisory board of Kundiman, an Asian American poetry organization based in NYC.
Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, a Jones Lectureship in Poetry at Stanford University and a Rona Jaffe Woman Writers' Award. Her first collection,
The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea Books, 2005), was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award and won the 2006 Connecticut Book Award in Poetry. She lives in Los Angeles and currently teaches in the MFA program at California College of Arts in San Francisco and in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College.
** Don’t miss the Citywide Poets Slam April 18th, 2007 @ The Boll Family YMCA***
Article# 928, Created Dec. 11, 2007 :: Last Update: Feb. 7, 2008
