Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=157900
Story Retrieval Date: 7/30/2010 11:20:21 AM CST
Taras E. Berezowsky/MEDILL
Teens from Chicago, rural Illinois and even Gary, Ind., participate in Louder Than a Bomb.
Eight groups of teens battled just south of the Loop on Monday.
They traded blows. They yelled. They screamed. And the crowd watching cheered when it was all over.
These teens were sparring with words.
They were the first teams to perform their original slam poetry pieces at this year’s Louder Than a Bomb 2010: The Real Chicago Renaissance. Run by Young Chicago Authors, the festival, organizers say, is the largest teen poetry slam in the world. Columbia College is hosting the preliminary bouts.
“One day, I hope to gain as much courage as a bulldozer,” slammed a member from the Lake View High School team.
“I don’t see failures, only room to grow and improve,” said a member from another team, One Voice.
LTAB brings together 60 teams of more than 650 teens from the Chicago area, rural Illinois and even Gary, Ind., to compete for a spot at the finals March 6. In a city rife with teen violence on the streets and in public schools, the festival creates a safe space for students to confront their own identity through poetry.
LTAB recently implemented its slam poetry curriculum in English classes and after-school programs within 11 public schools, said Will Caref, student services coordinator at Youth Connection Charter Schools. The idea is to help the most troubled kids in the school system express themselves.
“We treat the writers as people, not criminals,” said Kevin Coval, LTAB’s artistic director. “We don’t have metal detectors.”
Although the main goals of the festival are artistic creation and expression, one positive outcome is less violence among teens. In its 10 years of existence, LTAB has not recorded a single violent incident, Coval said.
Many participants don’t display violent behavior, but that doesn’t mean they’re not exposed to it. As many as one out of every five youths killed by gunfire in Chicago was an innocent bystander and not the intended target of the shooter, according to data collected by the University of Chicago Crime Lab from 2006 to 2008.
That may be the best reason for events such as LTAB, where large numbers of teens can gather, meet and befriend one another.
“Positive development gives youth a better sense of themselves,” said Suzanne Connor, senior program officer for arts and culture at the Chicago Community Trust. “They’re not as likely to turn to violence.”
Law enforcement, although effective, doesn’t get to the root of violence prevention, she said. The key is training local teaching artists how to infuse their instruction with conflict resolution skills.
“[Police are] pulling drowning kids out of the river,” Connor said, “while we’re trying to get upstream and find out why they’re getting in.”
LTAB’s unique competition setup helps defuse hard feelings. Five randomly selected judges rate the poems from 1 to 10, and if students in the audience don’t agree with a score, they can yell “Listen to the poem!” at the judge.
“They’re competing against the favor of the judge, not between each other,” said Robbie Telfer, LTAB’s festival director. “Competing does not necessarily equal conflict.”
For past and present LTAB participants, the lessons of the art form stick with them.
“You’re not writing just to write poetry,” said Joshua Harrison, a student at Roosevelt University and former captain of Lyrikally Xplicit, another team that performed at the first bout Monday. “You’re writing to put your heart on pages.”
Taras E. Berezowsky/MEDILL
Lyrikally Xplicit, one of 60 teams competing this year, performs "I Blame the Pool Boy."
Listen to Lyrikally Xplicit perform Monday at Louder Than a Bomb
Eight groups of teens battled just south of the Loop on Monday.
They traded blows. They yelled. They screamed. And the crowd watching cheered when it was all over.
These teens were sparring with words.
They were the first teams to perform their original slam poetry pieces at this year’s Louder Than a Bomb 2010: The Real Chicago Renaissance. Run by Young Chicago Authors, the festival, organizers say, is the largest teen poetry slam in the world. Columbia College is hosting the preliminary bouts.
“One day, I hope to gain as much courage as a bulldozer,” slammed a member from the Lake View High School team.
“I don’t see failures, only room to grow and improve,” said a member from another team, One Voice.
LTAB brings together 60 teams of more than 650 teens from the Chicago area, rural Illinois and even Gary, Ind., to compete for a spot at the finals March 6. In a city rife with teen violence on the streets and in public schools, the festival creates a safe space for students to confront their own identity through poetry.
LTAB recently implemented its slam poetry curriculum in English classes and after-school programs within 11 public schools, said Will Caref, student services coordinator at Youth Connection Charter Schools. The idea is to help the most troubled kids in the school system express themselves.
“We treat the writers as people, not criminals,” said Kevin Coval, LTAB’s artistic director. “We don’t have metal detectors.”
Although the main goals of the festival are artistic creation and expression, one positive outcome is less violence among teens. In its 10 years of existence, LTAB has not recorded a single violent incident, Coval said.
Many participants don’t display violent behavior, but that doesn’t mean they’re not exposed to it. As many as one out of every five youths killed by gunfire in Chicago was an innocent bystander and not the intended target of the shooter, according to data collected by the University of Chicago Crime Lab from 2006 to 2008.
That may be the best reason for events such as LTAB, where large numbers of teens can gather, meet and befriend one another.
“Positive development gives youth a better sense of themselves,” said Suzanne Connor, senior program officer for arts and culture at the Chicago Community Trust. “They’re not as likely to turn to violence.”
Law enforcement, although effective, doesn’t get to the root of violence prevention, she said. The key is training local teaching artists how to infuse their instruction with conflict resolution skills.
“[Police are] pulling drowning kids out of the river,” Connor said, “while we’re trying to get upstream and find out why they’re getting in.”
LTAB’s unique competition setup helps defuse hard feelings. Five randomly selected judges rate the poems from 1 to 10, and if students in the audience don’t agree with a score, they can yell “Listen to the poem!” at the judge.
“They’re competing against the favor of the judge, not between each other,” said Robbie Telfer, LTAB’s festival director. “Competing does not necessarily equal conflict.”
For past and present LTAB participants, the lessons of the art form stick with them.
“You’re not writing just to write poetry,” said Joshua Harrison, a student at Roosevelt University and former captain of Lyrikally Xplicit, another team that performed at the first bout Monday. “You’re writing to put your heart on pages.”
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