By Jenuine Poetess

April is many things to many people. For some, April is about Autism Awareness & Advocacy. For others April shines a light on the presence of Child Abuse and how to prevent violence against youth in their homes. Some people celebrate their pets in April, other people honor the Earth, still others may go fly a kite. Here at the Arts & Culture blog, we’re celebrating Poetry! Among the myriad of causes, April is National Poetry Month. Established in 1996 by the American Academy of Poets, National Poetry Month strives to not only draw attention to poets and their works but also to inspire others to try their hand at writing verse. Poet Maureen Thorson is credited with initiating the NaPoWriMo challenge in 2003 in which participants endeavor to write 30 poems in 30 days throughout the month of April. If you are feeling ambitious, it’s not too late in the month to begin; check out the NaPoWriMo website for daily prompts and tips!

As a poet, sometimes I forget that for many people, poetry serves little to no purpose in their daily lives. Actually, this is quite a shocking realization for me to remember. I’ve been writing poems, in some form, since I was a little girl. I was a non-committal open mic attendee for many years after college and wrote every now and then when I was so moved. It wasn’t until I began attending weekly open mics and womyn’s writing circle at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural in Sylmar, CA in 2009 that I finally claimed my identity as Poet and began seriously practicing the written and spoken-word arts. I quickly found poetry to be my new way of life. I relished the rebellion of breaking grammar rules to arrange words on the page, without a care for punctuation or use of articles. Words themselves became the adornments of my expressions. Pure. Undiluted. Raw. Within this realm of reckless, wild, word-play, I found my own voice. I have known no other liberation so exhilarating as beholding the reflection of myself in the words I have poured upon my pages. I am certainly not the first, no the last to embark on this journey of self-knowing via pen and paper. Science fiction author, Octavia Estelle Butler affirms, “Every story I write, creates me. I write to create myself.”

Poet W. B. Yeats asserts, “out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” It is from within that quarrel with one’s self, that the truest aspects of our soul remain refined, after everything else has burned away. For most poets I know and by whom I am inspired, we write to shed light on truth with very little interest in keeping ourselves or others comfortable. The visceral art of poetry is to be unsilent, to provoke, to protest, to be—unflinching and unapologetic. It is up to the reader to divine meaning, to interpret call to action, to take away value.

Without hesitation or embellishment I candidly admit that poetry has saved my life on countless occasions. Whether it is the catharsis of purging my turmoil, heartache, outrage, or euphoria onto the page; or the validation of listening or reading others’ words putting into language thoughts, feelings, moments I too have experienced; or the deep joy of witnessing another come into bloom, finding their own voice and raising the volume to speak, with authority, their truths; writing has saved and changed my life. Mine is not the only testament to this fact. From youth and adults in correctional facilities, to those doing the work in therapy sessions, to cancer patients working through their mortality, to the grieving remembering their loved ones lost, to hearts pounding in love and desire, to joyful wonder captured spontaneous, people world-wide speak fluently the language of poetry.

Historically, poetry has been a dangerous occupation getting writers excommunicated at best and executed at worst. We have been outcast and exiled, tortured and isolated, we have been misunderstood and hated since the dawn of poetry. I promise you, it is not for the faint-of-heart. Poetry is born out of marrow and mire. It is a Phoenix rising again and again out of the ashes of our souls, the glowing remnants of what has been destroyed. Poetry is our rebirth. We write to know ourselves and we share to know each other. This is how we build community, through our creative expressions. Through speaking our truths. Through listening, with intention, to what each other is saying—deep within our words.

I do not write because it is nice or fun.   Poetry is not a hobby or leisure activity. Poetry is among my personal hierarchy of needs. I must write. When my words are quiet, I feel it; I know it is a grave vital sign of my distress. Poetry is my compass and my map. Poetry is my truest mirror showing me unedited reflections of myself. Poetry is my measure and my portion. Poetry is both a part of me, and something entirely beyond me, all at once.

Get Involved!

• Waco Poets Society hosts an open mic every 2nd & 4th Saturday at the Art Forum of Waco, 7pm and welcomes the sharing of poems, songs, stories, spoken-word, reflections, jokes, and more!
• Challenge yourself to write 30 poems in 30 days—yes! haiku count! J
• Attend readings at the Austin International Poetry Festival featuring Nikki Giovanni April 9th-12th
• Attend Waco’s Annual WordFest, a part of the Waco Cultural Arts Festival in September 2015
• Stop by the Waco Poets Society booth any 2nd Saturday at the Waco Downtown Farmers’ Market to try your hand on our vintage typewriter or to play with magnetic words

Resources:

These are some of my go-to resources for practicing, contemplating, and exploring the written & spoken-word arts.

• NaPoWriMo – prompts and tips for writing 30 poems in 30 days of April
• Poem Crazy: freeing your life with words – by Susan G. Wooldridge
• Poetry as Spiritual Practice: using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions – by Robert McDowell
• Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry – by Sage Cohen
• Skipping Stones is a rich multicultural literary and arts magazine for children and youth
  

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  Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice.HOT~ITWOW writing circle meets Mondays from 6-7:45pm at the Art Forum of Waco beginning February 2, 2015.  Jenuine also founded Waco Poets Society which sponsors a local open mic venue in Sanger Heights.  Meeting every 2nd & 4th Saturday at the Art Forum of Waco Nuestra Voz Open Mic invites community to share poems, songs, stories, spoken-word, and other creative expressions!  In 2015, Jenuine along with a number of other artists creating and residing in Waco, co-founded the Central Texas Artist Collective (click link to learn more and get involved).  You can contact her at: [email protected].

by Jenuine Poetess

Since 2011, East Waco has partnered with NeighborWorks Waco to host an annual block party complete with music, visual art exhibit, artisan booths, and food vendors known as, Art on Elm. This celebration of community and creative expression was born out of a question of how to rekindle the sparks from a once-thriving area of Waco’s Downtown. Consultants were brought in to evaluate the neighborhood, its history, and the needs of the community. Out of those conversations and brainstorms, Art on Elm was born.

Art on Elm features an exhibit of visual arts submitted by artists across many disciplines who are living and creating in Waco. On an outdoor stage musicians from around Central Texas set the tone for community celebration as the street, closed to vehicle traffic, fills with neighbors dancing, laughing, and singing together. The aroma of fresh food cooking wafts across the blocks from local food vendors creating a feast for all senses! (The last day to submit artwork, musical feature, food or artisan vendor is TODAY, March 11, 2015! Click here for details).

A key component of Art on Elm is empowering youth.  You people get involved both as volunteers…and as artists.  This event is an opportunity for neighbors from all across McLennan county, Central Texas, and even out-of-state to gather, celebrate the talent and value of creative expression and to be reminded of what rich resources Wacoans have to offer one another.

This year’s event will be held on Saturday April 11, 2015 from 10am-3pm. The event is FREE and open to the public of all ages. You will want to bring cash for food and art purchases. If you’re interested in a sneak peek at the art exhibit, join Art On Elm on Friday April 10th for the Splash of Color Preview Party. Click here for ticket information.

Get Involved in Art on Elm!

• Calling volunteers of all ages for Art On Elm! Jobs could include children’s activities, directing traffic, handing out flyers, working in the exhibition or helping with music. If you would like more information about being a volunteer please contact us at [email protected].
• Call for submissions (visual arts, vendors, musicians) ends TODAY MARCH 11, 2015!! Click here for guidelines to submit.
• Come to the event on April 11, 2015 and bring your friends, family, and neighbors!

Upcoming Arts & Culture Events:

• Waco Poets Society’s Nuestra Voz/Our Voice hosts an Abilities & Mental Health Awareness and Solidarity Open Mic on Saturday March 14, 2015 at 7pm at the Art Forum of Waco (1826 Morrow Ave). This event is FREE ($3 suggested donation) and open to people of all ages, abilities, genres, languages, styles, identities, and cultures.
• Waco Poets Society will host a Pop-up Writing Circle before open mic on the 14th, beginning at 6pm at the Art Forum. Prompt, paper, and pens will be available—come ready to write and discuss! This is a casual, affirming, collaborative, creative space.
• In the Words of Womyn weekly writing circle continues on Mondays from 6-7:30pm at the Art Forum of Waco—open to all who live as and identify as womyn. This space is for the practice, discussion, and exploration of the written & spoken-word arts. All genre writers welcome!
• BIRDS Exhibit will begin accepting submissions of art works across any discipline on March 27, 2015 for exhibit at the Art Forum of Waco from April 25th through June 13th. All ages, all media welcome! For more information please click here.
• Waco McLennan Library is holding a Writing & Art Contest for young artists ages 5-17. Deadline March 20, 2015. Please click here for full submission guidelines. (every hero)

Have an arts and/or cultural event you’d like to share with the community or a project we should know about? Please contact Jenuine Poetess at [email protected].

(Photo credits: All photos courtesy of NeighborWorks Waco, used with permission)

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice.HOT~ITWOW writing circle meets Mondays from 6-7:45pm at the Art Forum of Waco beginning February 2, 2015.  Jenuine also founded Waco Poets Society which sponsors a local open mic venue in Sanger Heights.  Meeting every 2nd & 4th Saturday at the Art Forum of Waco Nuestra Voz Open Mic invites community to share poems, songs, stories, spoken-word, and other creative expressions!  In 2015, Jenuine along with a number of other artists creating and residing in Waco, co-founded the Central Texas Artist Collective (click link to learn more and get involved).  You can contact her at: [email protected].

 

by Jenuine Poetess

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Khira Hailey, Artistic Director of Mission Waco’s Jubilee Theater and supervisor of “Urban Expressions” in North Waco at the corner of 15th and Colcord. Over gourmet hot cocoas from Dichotomy Coffee & Spirits she shared with me her personal history at, present work with, and vibrant vision for Jubilee Theater. After our conversation, I had the pleasure of attending Hailey’s production of A Woman Called Truth in remembrance and celebration of Black History Month.

From her earliest years, Hailey recalls having an insatiable hunger for theater arts, yet lack of programming in her later elementary and middle school years left her without any outlet for her theater arts creativity. In high school her passion was rekindled by a teacher, Von Gretchen Shepherd, who ignited Hailey’s spark and provided opportunity and direction. After high school, Hailey attended the University of North Texas where she studied Radio, Television, and Film and participated in such groups as Poetic Justice and CAST. The founder of CAST was a Wacoan who initially revived the Jubilee Theater under Mission Waco’s wing in 1995 until his departure in 2012 at which point he called upon Hailey to take the baton and continue shaping the theater arts programming at Jubilee Theater.

In an area with a sordid history, Mission Waco’s Jubilee Theater thrives into its name by offering replenishing respite and redemption while revitalizing a struggling neighborhood. Poverty is not a simple matter of lack of money, poverty occurs when individuals and communities are sapped of resilience, resources, and outlets for creative and cultural expression. When agency is removed and voices are silenced — poverty is a symptom. In the heart of an area of Waco which had been long stripped bare of identity, vibrancy, and thriving, Jubilee Theater has grown into an oasis cultivating and resuscitating a pulsing life into its neighborhood.

Through after school programming, Hailey empowers students in Mission Waco’s theater arts classes to learn and strengthen verbal communication skills, acting techniques, emotion expression, reading and literacy, courage and confidence and the ability to carry and present themselves publicly. In addition to after school opportunities there is an annual musical production open to young actors and theater artists in 3rd- 8th grades and a summer theater camp experience.

Not just for youth, Jubilee Theater presents three to four performances a year with auditions open to all community members. Jubilee kicked off 2015 with several showings of A Woman Called Truth: the story of Sojourner Truth. On February 15th, Waco Civic Theater will be performing their show, Crowns, at Jubilee Theater as a benefit fund-raiser for both Jubilee Theater and the Doris Miller Memorial. Coming up in March, the theater presents its annual youth musical, on the stage this year, Alice in Wonderland. Wrapping up the season will be a production of Amen Corner, a gospel musical open to actors of all ages coming in April.

Khira Hailey is a woman of many talents and powerful vision. She has exciting hopes and plans for the future of the theater and its programming—we even cooked up ideas for collaborations with Waco Poets Society & poetry/spoken-word events! Hailey is continuing to strengthen relationships with community members to grow and enrich the after school program offerings, to increase funding for the theater to bring a riveting selection of shows in 2016 and beyond, and to have consistently abundant attendance at Jubilee productions.

One of the concerns Hailey has had during her tenure at Jubilee Theater is shifting the perceptions of the greater Waco community regarding the North Waco area. Because of its coarse past, she says many folks shy away from seeing the theater’s productions and attendance and ticket sales have suffered as a result. In reality, the area is safe and returning to thriving. Hailey shared that it is most discouraging to know how much time, energy, talent, and passion goes into each production, poured out of every person involved from actors, producers, directors, to costume design, stage craft, lighting, and sound, only to have handfuls of people show up in support. Waco is rich with extraordinarily talented artists across every age, gender, ethnicity, experience, belief, culture, and identity. Our community misses out on the benefits of such wealth when we don’t show up to be present for our neighbors, friends, and leaders who are transforming our city one creative expression at a time.

I loved my time with Khira Hailey and left our conversation inspired and excited to share her work with Waco. Hailey is motivated in her work by watching others flourishing in their craft—be it theater, poetry/spoken-word, visual arts, dance, performance; she is nourished by the mentoring of others in her field, and is deeply passionate about holding space for others to become themselves through the creative process, from audition to final curtain!

Get Involved:

• To purchase tickets for upcoming shows or to find out information about renting the theater for a special event please visit Jubilee Theater online.
• To make a donation to the theater and/or after school youth programs, please visit Mission Waco’s donation page and complete your transaction via secure credit/debit card (be sure to note in the comments that you want your contribution to go toward Jubilee Theater programming).
• If you would like to contribute your time and talents in any of the following ways, please call or text Khira Hailey at (469) 471-1969
• Auditioning for an upcoming show, or leading a workshop in the after school program (looking for volunteers who can make a semester or school-year commitment 1 afternoon a week in any of the following categories: Theater, Speech & Debate, Dance, Fine Arts, other creative disciplines)
• LIKE and SHARE the Mission Waco Jubilee Theater Facebook page to stay tuned about the rich array of events throughout the year. Information about the youth summer theater camp will be rolling out in March/April 2015.
• Save the date to come hear Khira Hailey perform as featured artist at Waco Poets Society’s Nuestra Voz open mic on Saturday March 28, 2015, 7pm, in celebration of Womyn’s Herstory Month.

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice.HOT~ITWOW writing circle meets Mondays from 6-7:45pm at the Art Forum of Waco beginning February 2, 2015.  Jenuine also founded Waco Poets Society which sponsors a local open mic venue in Sanger Heights.  Meeting every 2nd & 4th Saturday at the Art Forum of Waco Nuestra Voz Open Mic invites community to share poems, songs, stories, spoken-word, and other creative expressions!  In 2015, Jenuine along with a number of other artists creating and residing in Waco, co-founded the Central Texas Artist Collective (click link to learn more and get involved).  You can contact her at: [email protected].

 

by Jenuine Poetess

One Friday evening late in May 2009, I ventured to a place I had never been before, yet a place I had known for years: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural. This independent bookstore and non-profit community center for arts and culture is nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in California. Intentionally planted in the heart of an area known for steel mills, gang violence, and the pornography industry, Tia Chucha’s is a catalyst for revolutionary healing and urban transformation, “where art and minds meet, for a change.”

I came for open mic and found limitless wealth of community, creativity, and inspiration. I also began to notice the imbalance of voices. While there were many womyn in attendance each week, not very many of them stepped up to the mic. I was curious. Many womyn shared with me about how they wrote, yet, they never read aloud. Ever.

Some told me they were shy. Others anxious. Some confided that they didn’t feel welcome at the mic. We talked about what it might be like to have a gathering of womyn writers, to build courage and confidence together.

In the fall of 2009, I offered the suggestion to several of the Centro staff, Stacy, Karina, and Luz as well as the Director of Operations and co-founder, Trini. They loved the idea and asked when I would like to start it. I laughed, clarifying that I did not want to lead it, I just wanted to attend. I thought someone else should lead it. Someone legit. I mean, I wasn’t even published. I had never taken a class on writing. I didn’t know anything. I just rambled on the page and sometimes it came out as poetry. I didn’t even call myself a writer or poet then. No. No way. I was definitely not qualified. With a gentle guiding hand on my shoulder, Trini said, “we have a belief here at the centro, that if someone comes to us with a vision for something, then it is intended for them to accomplish. Take your time, and when you are ready, we are here and will support you all the way.” This was one of the top three transformative moments of my life.

I pondered the weight and wisdom of Trini’s words all the way home. I wrestled with doubt, insecurities, and fears over the next four weeks until I came to a liberating and joyful conclusion: none of us need someone to tell us how or what to write. What we need is space held for our becoming. We needed to gather in a circle to teach and learn from each other. We didn’t need red pen massacres on our pages. We didn’t need others’ authority over our work, our words. We needed the chance to claim authority over our own truths. We needed to, “give sound to our story and volume to our voice.”

So I created a proposal. Settled on a name. Bought a domain name (then learned how to build a website). I went back to Trini and with a quiver in my voice I said, “I’m in!” On January 15, 2010 In the Words of Womyn writing circle met for the very first time. Strategically scheduled right before open mic on Fridays, my hope was that as we wrote and shared and grew in our identities as writers, we would also show up en masse to read, perform, and cheer one another on at open mic. And that is exactly what happened!

I haven’t quite found the words to articulate the singular joy that is witnessing a woman finding her voice, standing up, and speaking her truth for the very first time. All these years later, many of the womyn who began in ITWOW with shaking voices and trembling hearts are now hosting their own open mic venues and writing circles. They are celebrating publications, compiling and editing anthologies, and featuring at venues far and wide. I look on in awe and wonder, overflowing with pride and joy and profound respect for each of my sisters.

When I moved from Los Angeles to Texas in 2012, it was my deepest hope that ITWOW would continue at Tia Chucha’s and that I would have an opportunity to gather a circle of womyn in Waco. To my eternal joy, Alex Hohmann stepped up to carry on the vision of ITWOW~San Fernando Valley. In 2013, In the Words of Womyn~Heart of Texas launched. We met weekly on Mondays first at Croft Art Gallery, then at Barnes & Noble. In 2015 the circle will begin on Monday, February 2, at the Art Forum of Waco.

Earlier in 2014 Nagham Wehbe, a writer, activist, and film-maker from the ITWOW~SFV circle approached me with a proposal about beginning a circle chapter overseas in her home place of Lebanon. I was elated! From the beginning, my dream was that ITWOW would become a global project with organic circles popping up everywhere womyn gather from schools to prisons, community centers to front porches, book stores to employee break rooms. In the summer of 2014 a staggering 70 womyn of all ages attended the kick-off of ITWOW-Lebanon!

This year ITWOW celebrates its fifth birthday. What these five years have taught me is that when I go boldly into that which overwhelms or intimidates me, I find extraordinary treasure in my own becoming.  It is my utmost joy to do this work.

Come celebrate with us January 17, 2015. Attend the “She did it anyway” Womyn’s Writing Retreat from 10a-5pm. The retreat will be followed by evening events open to the public. (Full schedule available online). We all have a story to tell, and when we are given permission to take up space, to turn up our volume, we find immeasurable beauty in the reflection shining back at us from our pages.

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice. HOT~ITWOW writing circle meets Mondays from 6-7:45pm at the Art Forum of Waco beginning February 2, 2015.  Jenuine also founded Waco Poets Society which sponsors a local open mic venue in Sanger Heights.  Meeting every 2nd & 4th Saturday at the Art Forum of Waco Nuestra Voz Open Mic invites community to share poems, songs, stories, spoken-word, and other creative expressions! You can contact her at: [email protected].

 

By Jenuine Poetess

Recently I was asked a series of questions all circling around this central notion of, Why poetry? Why art? What purpose does it serve society? Below I share my reflections as I have experienced them. As art is a universal experience with each person giving and receiving into that experience from their own particular filters, there are countless ways to engage these questions. My thoughts are by no means the only ones; please, in the comments, join the dialogue.

Across all of time, art has served as a platform from which to launch ideas, movements, tectonic shifts in collective consciousness.

Personally, I write, I create, because I must. Poetry is my pulse. My breath. A truth that must be written, spilled onto pages between tears, between swoons, between heart-racing becoming. Because I cannot stay quiet.

I write to know myself. I write in protest of injustice—both personal and global. I write to heal. I write to remain compassionate and conscious. I share to remember I am not alone and in doing so, give others permission to be exactly who they are, without shame. I share to bear witness to my stories, to grow with others, to build community, and to forge relationships.

Publicly, poetry—and all art really —is a catalyst. For healing. For change. For protest. For validation. For transformation. Art holds space for what must be said. Art invites sensual experience; and opportunity to feel with another. Art has the potential to condense moments, events, truth into a universally accessible dialogue.

Regarding poetry particularly, I see it making a return to the esteem it once held in past societies. It has a long way to go. There are a myriad of iterations to poetry—from the academic and technically sharp to the raw, provocative spoken-word; from the beauty of strict form to the wilds of free-verse flows all of it serves the artistry of poetry.

On Sunday November 30th, Waco Poets Society and In the Words of Womyn—two local, grass-roots programs—held an open mic and sharing circle in solidarity with Ferguson and to hold space for dialogue about the systemic issues of racism, especially regarding the experience of Black persons of color in the US, and police brutality. We held this space so that we could give sound to our story and volume to our voice. Because in an open mic circle, all people have authority to speak their truth. The circle is a neutral gathering space for dialogue, for grieving, for thrashing out pain, meaning, and transformation.

i poem
i create
i gather with others
sharing
thinking
speaking
wailing
trembling
organizing
aching
shouting
loving
for change
for justice
for sustained thriving
because it is the only way i know how
to navigate
this broken world
to counteract
the hate
to understand
how to keep going
to remember
why we do this work
so that every time
i look into the curious eyes
of the next generation
i know i have done
my part
even if in vain
to know that i have been diligent
to fight
with everything in me
to make it safe
for them to be
to play
to walk
to breathe
to dance
to speak
to rage
to become
to live

As I am working, with intention, my way out of blindness to my white privilege, I remember how my community has and continues to guide and love me into consciousness with fierce truth and relentless compassion.

I don’t have all the answers for how to fix or even reconstruct our system—nationally and within our community. It is not my responsibility to have them all or come up with them. It is my job to recognize what is broken, shed light, speak this truth—which I do most frequently through art, do my own work to be conscious, to be change, to hold space for the expressions of others, and to keep listening to and working along side sisters and brothers for an end to violence, to injustice, to racism, to classism, to patriarchy, to hate crimes, to selfish greedy privilege.

I cannot see any other way. I can’t imagine any other response. If I say that LOVE matters above all else, and am not outraged, am not bereft, am not moving to action, am not speaking out on all of this, am not pouring every ounce of breath into this work, then I haven’t the first clue what is love.

i will never know
the depth of the kind of fear
that is deep in the bones
of my black sisters and brothers

i will never presume to know
first hand
the agony they endure
as a result of the injustice
this nation
this society
this system
continues to mete out upon them

i will never fully comprehend
the scope of the privilege
my white skin affords me

and

i will never stop learning
listening
working in my own way
to be change
to be conscious
to be relentlessly compassionate
to stand up for
and out against injustice
to never stay silent
when i should speak
to use what privilege is mine
to make movements
until
my
last
breath
expires

there is no option
this is the only reasonable response i can muster
anything else
would be a farce
an insult
a hypocrisy
of
love

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice. Jenuine also co-hosts Nuestra Voz & Word Gallery, monthly open mic venues for poetry, music, spoken-word, story-telling, and more! You can contact her at: [email protected].

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

 

by Jenuine Poetess  

In June of this year, I was met with an opportunity to submit a proposal to present at the 10th Annual Strengthening Youth and Families Conference in San Marcos, Texas. I eagerly perused the prompts for possible workshops and break-out sessions and began to formulate an outline. Within several weeks I submitted my proposal for consideration. It was a brave move on my part; this conference looked like a pretty big deal and I have never presented in such a setting before. For better or worse I decided that at the very least, the process would be informative and shaping for me. I was thrilled when I received word two months later that my proposal had been accepted and I was invited to be among the talented and dynamic conference presenters.

Earlier this month I made the trip to San Marcos and with my “First Timer” name badge I boldly went where I had never gone before with confidence and courage. My workshop? How Art Transforms Youth and Their Communities. My attendees? Counselors, teachers, social workers, mentors, therapists, pastors, probation officers, foster parents, principals, juvenile justice professionals, case managers, and parents. I relished the opportunity to share my passion, experience, and resources with professional colleagues to inspire and affirm ideas for engaging youth in creative practices.

Across the span of my life I have served the generations next in a myriad of roles including: camp counselor, mentor, church youth leader, foster mother, supervisor/manager, teacher, trainer, therapist (mental health), sister, artist, poet, community organizer, and collaborator. I have worked with youth within systems and institutions such as education, corrections, and churches. I have built relationships through community spaces and projects. I have sat in the deepest dark of night to comfort young ones in the throes of nightmares—both imagined and real. I have walked with the vulnerable through their most harrowing traumas and have witnessed the profound liberation of their healing victories. I have wept over my own limitations and the haunting questions of, “have I done/am I doing enough?” In every setting and role, art has played a vital role in fostering the powerfully transformative relationships I have had the honor and privilege of building with so many extraordinary youth over the last two decades.

I came across the infographic to the right along with a corresponding article in the Washington Post as I was doing research for my presentation. I used this as a foundation and categorized the 10 skills into four key components of empowered youth development:

• Coping Skills
• Self-Awareness
• Resilience Training
• Empathy Building

The Top 10 Skills and my four categories fall in line with a guide released in the 1990s by the Search Institute on the 40 Developmental Assets which they found vital to nurturing a thriving youth. These 40 components are comprised of both internal and external qualities necessary to shape a young person into an individual who has a strong sense of self, a vision for their purpose, and a desire to contribute in meaningful ways to their communities and the world beyond them. Again and again, research and practice has shown that youth who engage in consistent creative outlets through school or community arts programming have greater opportunity to cultivate the skills that will foster their flourishing.

This past summer, I was invited to facilitate a writing circle workshop with students at La Vega High School during their after-summer-school program. Four young women and I met weekly for four weeks writing and sharing together. Inside the circle they were given prompts to write about—any genre—and every week I was humbled and awe-struck at the strength, courage, and creativity of these brave young voices. Whether through poetry, sci-fi fan fiction, personal reflections, or stories, these girls worked through issues of identity, self-esteem, healing, peer pressure, future goals, relationships, loss, and struggle. They learned how to find their own voice, amidst the cacophony of voices in their lives—parents, teachers, friends, media—and how to turn up the volume truly listening to who they are becoming.

I watched as these young women became more confident in their own words. I relished seeing a light glow from within as they began to trust that they have a story to tell the world and that their unique story matters so much. Though our time together this summer was short, it is my deepest hope that the seeds of creative expression through the written and spoken-word arts continue to grow and bloom within them, for an individual empowered to know and share their story is an unstoppable force for transformation.

“I’m inspired!…now what?”

If you or an organization with which you are affiliated is interested in starting or strengthening arts programming, I would be delighted to collaborate and consult with you. I have starter kits for writing circles and open mic venues as well as heaps of resources for visual, written, and spoken-word arts projects. I love engaging directly with youth as well as providing adults the tools and support to cultivate creative practice in youth. From printable color sheets to art therapy activities to event planning I am always eager to share what I have and know to expand the impact of arts and culture in and around Waco. Please contact me at: [email protected].

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice. Jenuine also co-hosts Nuestra Voz & Word Gallery, monthly open mic venues for poetry, music, spoken-word, story-telling, and more! You can contact her at: [email protected]. 

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

 

 

 

 

by Jenuine Poetess

This month I had the pleasure of sitting down with Arturo Huron and Jesus Rivera the co-owner/directors of the Art Forum of Waco located in the heart of the Sanger Heights Neighborhood at 19th and Morrow.

A gallery, artist studios, and event venue, this beautiful space serves as a multi-purpose community centro for creative collaborations. Local ceramics artist, Doreen Plotts, of Mammoth Creek Pottery has an ongoing gallery/shop space within the Art Forum and Shawn Knuckles is the featured artist exhibiting now through October 17th. Art Forum of Waco has exhibited works from local artists, including a Waco ISD Student Exhibition, and from artists across North, Central, and South America.

During our conversation Jesus Rivera, resident artist, gallery curator, and maestro of the Art Forum’s Saturday Art Classes shared about the importance of a community holding space for artists of all media to gather to create, exhibit, and inspire art works. He said that when he was in college he saw the need for artists in the community to have studios, for there to be a gallery for showing work, and for there to be space for performances of music, poetry, dance, theater, and story-telling. As the creative visionary, he teamed up with Arturo who manages the administrative components of the venue and the two have committed to maintaining the Art Forum of Waco. Arturo Huron, who is a teacher and organizer with the American Federation of Teachers, spoke with passion, “it is vital to have thriving arts programs here in Waco. This city is just waiting to come alive!”

Every two years the Art Forum of Waco hosts a multi-media Dia De Los Muertos extravaganza event showcasing artwork depicting this season of remembrance of those loved ones lost, and creating a community altar to give honor to deceased ancestors. With more financial support from the city and private donors, Rivera and Huron both agreed, that they could make this important event an annual tradition in addition to growing countless other programs they envision for the space.

“This neighborhood, Sanger Heights, has been very good to us. The people who live across the street and around the block, they come, they volunteer, they support our events and programs. Those with already thin-stretched budgets are donating because they know how much arts y cultura matter to the health of a community.”

As a teacher, Arturo sees the correlation between the access his students have to creative outlets and their academic performance in areas of math, science, English, and social studies, “the less we engage in art, the less educated are we. Art allows us to celebrate our uniqueness and diversity as well as understand and honor our commonalities.” Art also provides opportunity for us to know ourselves, the greatest education after which we can ever endeavor.

Among the diverse offerings of the Art Forum is a monthly open mic, “Nuestra Voz”—Our Voice, co-hosted by Sanger Heights community leader Fernando Arroyo and your columnist truly, me! Every second Saturday evening around 6:45pm people gather–elders and youngers, poets and musicians, people across all cultures, genders, beliefs, abilities, practices, and experiences–to share poems, songs, stories, reflections—bits of ourselves, with each other. We build community together. We co-create art works and nourish inspiration.

When I asked, Why Waco? Why invest here? both gentlemen smiled wide, “Waco is a romantic city with its gorgeous river, its diversity, and beautiful artists,” Rivera said,

“Waco is in need of more spaces for artists, more public art, more beauty where people can pause and enjoy a moment of looking at something created for aesthetic pleasure. We have a saying, in Spanish, ‘la cultura empieza por la limpieza,’ ‘culture begins with cleanliness.’ Where there is public art, people respect it, they honor it. They will be motivated to keep the area clean, it cultivates a sense of pride in the neighborhood, in the city.”

Public art gives everyone a chance to be a part of something outside of ourselves and by taking part we cultivate agency and identity organically. We are creating the culture of Waco in each painting, story, song, dance, play, poem, and artistic expression we share.

To learn more about Saturday Art Classes, Nuestra Voz Open Mic, renting a studio space, attending an exhibit’s opening reception, please click here to visit The Art Forum of Waco’s Facebook page. To sign-up for Saturday Art Classes or find out more information, please call: (254) 652-5119 or email: [email protected].

The majority of Art Forum programming is free and open to all ages; donations are always welcome to support the efforts of Jesus Rivera and Arturo Huron and this rich centro of arts y cultura en Waco!

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice. Jenuine also co-hosts Nuestra Voz & Word Gallery, monthly open mic venues for poetry, music, spoken-word, story-telling, and more! You can contact her at: [email protected].

 

 

by Jenuine Poetess

“The first move from chaos isn’t order—it’s creativity. In murals, music, theaters, cafes, and poetry. It comes from within people, within families, within community. It rises from the hunger people have for knowledge, ideas, and stories.” ~ Luis J. Rodriguez

There is a need, within all of us, to be known. A longing to be seen, be heard, be understood.   Across all of time, arts and culture have served as a catalyst for this most fundamental aspect of our beings, of our becomings.

Join me as I explore Waco’s rich community of visionary artists transforming, awakening, and inspiring individuals and their neighborhoods. My mission, as facilitator of Act Locally Waco’s newest blog series on Arts & Culture, is to show you—in such a myriad of vibrant hues—the thrilling work being done here and the extraordinary individuals giving their time and talents to our city!

Last week I sat down with Doreen Ravenscroft, founder and director of Cultural Arts of Waco . I have the utmost respect and admiration for her vision, her creativity, and her unwavering dedication to making arts, cultural, and opportunities for creative expression accessible to individuals of every age, ability, gender, culture, belief, class, and language.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Doreen moved to Waco in 1978 when her late husband Bill, was transferred to the M & M Mars US division. Here she became a part of the Open Door Arts Festival and when that project come to a close, she founded the Cultural Arts of Waco believing in the importance of continuing free, community arts opportunities. This vision gave birth to the Waco Cultural Arts Festival which is now celebrating it’s 11^th year and has grown into five flourishing festivals in one.

In her own practice, Doreen most enjoys painting in a large scale such as murals and faux finishing walls in addition to taking in theater, gallery shows, and live music. She is constantly nourishing her creative aspects and brainstorming ways to enrich Waco’s arts and culture offerings.

The Cultural Arts of Waco was granted the only Texas award from the Mid-America Arts Alliance in June 2013. This award funded the creation of the mural on the East Waco branch of the McLennan County Library. For several weeks leading up to the painting, artists gathered with community members to dialogue and draft the vision for this mural. Doreen organized the team of artists as well as the collaboration with neighborhood residents remembering, “It was so fabulous to learn so much more about everyone who lives in East Waco and all those little special anecdotes that only they could give to this project.”

I took a drive by that mural again after I met with Doreen; a visit I like to make pretty regularly. There are so many facets and stories within the mural I relish each time I spend with it.

As I was enjoying this gorgeous canvas, a man also paused to take it in. We chatted for a moment and agreed how lovely it is. I asked if he helped paint it, with a spark of pride and honor he said, “No, I didn’t. But I know people who painted this, they’re my neighbors and friends. I take this street to the bus stop, just so I can walk by here and look at it.”

This is the power of art. In community, for community, by the community. Accessible collaborations for all. I was moved, deeply, by this man’s pride and ownership of this public artwork. It means so much more than a brightly colored building in his neighborhood.

Doreen has an number of dynamic projects on her easel at the moment the grandest of which is the Waco Cultural Arts Festival happening September 26-28^th at Indian Spring Park and Waco Convention Center. This free, three-day, community event for all ages offers art activities, concerts, performances, workshops, panel discussions, open mics, poetry slam, and film screenings from across the five festivals which include {254}DanceFest, ScienceFest, Celebration Africa FilmFest, WordFest, and the Main Stage MusicFest . Kicking off the festival weekend is the Annual White Linen pARTy featuring music by Guy Forsyth and the Hot Nut Riveters, a sneak peek at the {254}Dance-Fest, and ScienceFest Chair and visual artist, Erica Wickett. The White Linen pARTy is one of the key fundraising events for the Cultural Arts of Waco.

Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Doreen what her hopes are for Waco. I listened as she dreamed,

“I hope for Waco to heal wounds of its past, between its different communities. Arts help express what can’t always be said, it reveals our hurts, and provides space for understanding. I long to see more safe spaces where children and elders and individuals across every generation and ethnicity can gather around creative projects fostering curiosity, without barriers. And through that curiosity, begin to share and to listen to each other’s stories.”

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Jenuine Poetess is an artist, visionary, and community organizer. In 2010, she founded In the Words of Womyn (ITWOW), an international, grass-roots, written and spoken-word arts project with chapters throughout Los Angeles; Waco, TX; and Lebanon. ITWOW empowers womyn of all ages to give sound to our story and volume to our voice. Jenuine also co-hosts Nuestra Voz & Word Gallery, monthly open mic venues for poetry, music, spoken-word, story-telling, and more! You can contact her at: [email protected].