So this one is supposed to be about something that I'm excited about, and I put a great deal of thought into it and figured there was really one specific project on my mind that is almost done, and I am very thrilled to debut.  Last fall my very good friend and fellow poet, Jamie DeWolf proposed we collaborate on a very large scale project.  He has spent the last many years making a lot of films.  Many of them have been commissioned by Youthspeaks, a youth poetry slam organization out of San Francisco.  He takes their kids, and makes films of their poetry.

When we talked in the fall, he wanted us to start doing some touring together.  He recognized that I would end up doing all the work in terms of booking and organization, so he offered his expertise and contribution in a different way.  He decided to make several films of my poetry and a duet that we wrote to use in press kits and for general awesomeness.  I flew out there in January, and we spent a nerve-wracking ten days with a jam packed schedule of filming, live shows and photo shoots.

Note from Word Sprout. We are pleased to announce a new blog series: Resident of the Week. Each week there will be a storyteller or poet Resident that is writing some guest blogs for us. Everybody has been tasked with the same three challenges:
A: Why I Am: An entry on why they do this. How did they get here? Why do they slam or not? Why they do the things they do.
B: Tricks of the Trade.
C: Check this out! 
This is Thadra's 2nd Blog with us!

As I mentioned in my last article, I have done a lot of teaching.  This has taken many forms and spanned many ages and abilities.  My specialty is performance.  I have a theater degree.  I like to perform, like the eye contact and the milking of the pregnant pause.  You have an instrument up there on stage that a lot of poets neglect.  Many feel that their words are enough, but this is definitely not the case.  If you want me to merely glory in the brilliance of your written word, then hand me a piece of paper and let me read it myself.  If you're on a microphone in front of me, you are presenting your words, and it would do you a great deal of good to use the opportunity to your advantage.

So where to start?  I goes we start with body language.  People are animals.  They read each other without saying a word.  We can't help it.  So the way you carry yourself and the way you move while you are on stage will be interpreted right along with what you actually say.  If you get up there all slump shouldered and looking at your feet, if you fidget and shuffle nervously while you read, we will see that you are not a confident person and not really believe that you believe what you are saying.  Right off the bat, you want the audience to get the message, "get a load of me!"  Get up there with confidence.  Stand up straight.  Throw back your shoulders.  Look us dead in the eye fearlessly.  Then we will believe in your conviction.  We will think you know what you're talking about, and we will listen.

I have been writing poetry since I was a small child.  Does every poet say that?  Well it's true.  My family would drive up to the city every weekend to visit my great grandmother.  The grownups would sit in the kitchen playing cards, and my brother and I would be left to play in the living room.  There was a cabinet full of toys for us, but I spent a great deal of the time writing little poems.  They usually rhymed, if I remember correctly.  I didn't save any of them, except for the one I wrote to my great grandmother when her husband and son died in the same year.  I was around eight at the time, and I wrote her a sympathetic poem, which became quite famous in my family, if I do say so myself.  There is still a framed copy of it on a wall at my mother's house.  I will not reproduce this masterpiece here, but I will say that it started with the line, "The ones that you loved the best have all gone to silent rest."

Hi All! I'm so glad that you found us here. I am so excited to announce the next step for myself as an event producer and performer. The formation of Word Sprout is something that I have been plotting out for almost a year now and it's finally time to jump right on in! Of course, all of us involved will still be bringing you the same great events and programming that you are used to from SlamMN! a Mumble Mumble Production and the other shows that have become sort of 'housed' under SlamMN!. Mumble Mumble is momentarily no more after it's creation in 2006. This opens us up to really embracing the different genres and kind of shows we have started doing in a better organized way for all of us and will hopefully create some better branding for us over all.

Come back here often. Share the news! We will have some exciting updates in the upcoming months that you will not want to miss. 

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