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Jayton Okada is the founder of the Guam Musicians Initiative and a computer science major at the University of Guam. He is a huge supporter of the various local art mediums from music to film. He also works as a computer and musical equipment technician. An avid guitarist and fan of music and comic books, you can find him reading or writing songs and poetry in his spare time.

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Help the Sinangan-ta Youth Team Get to Brave New Voices 2009

June 9th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

The following message is from the Sinangan-ta Outreach organizing team of Kie Susuico, Melvin Won Pat-Borja, and Fanai Castro.

We would like to say Saina Ma’åse and Thank You for supporting Sinangån-ta Outreach and our efforts to inspire and empower our island’s youth through poetry over the past year. Our youth and our outreach program have come a long way since we started, but we still need some help.

The Brave New Voices International Teen Poetry Slam takes place in July and teams from every state in the u.s. will be represented. This year, BNV will be held in Chicago. We are trying to send a team from Guahan to represent our island. Not only would our youth be represented, but the experience that our young poets will gain from this trip will be passed on through writing workshops and poetry slams to the rest of our island’s youth.

Over the next few weeks we will be hosting a series of fundraisers. Our goal is to raise $5,000 by July 6th (BNV begins on July 14). We would greatly appreciate any support; from coins in the ashtray to 250,000 frequent flyer miles. Ti cha’cha’ ham!

For more INFO or TICKETS call Kie @ 777-8497 or you can reply to this email.

Saina Ma’åse

Kie Susuico. Melvin Won Pat-Borja. Fanai Castro
Sinangån-ta Outreach

Proceeds from the slams will go towards our Guåhan Slam Team trip to BNV.

JUNE 6
Carwash @ SHELL Mangilao
from 9am - 3pm
$5 dollar donation

JUNE 19
BNV or/TO BUST Poetry SLAM
@ The VENUE in Hagatna
from 6pm -9pm. SLAM starts at 7pm
featuring youth poets from Sinangan-ta Outreach’s writing workshops
plus “$20 POET AND YOU DIDN’T KNOW IT!”
(sign up your boss, co-worker, friend, family, or significant other to be a part of the SLAM. We will have poems to choose from)
$20 (comes with 1 FREE drink (domestic beer or selected wines) + food)
** 18 & Over only **

JULY 4
Carwash @ TO BE ANNOUNCED
from 9am - 3pm
$5 donation

Don’t forget to check out POWER TO THE POET Youth Slam on JUNE 13TH and the SECOND SATURDAY of EVERY MONTH @ The Buzz Cafe and our 18 & Over Slam on JUNE 27th and the LAST SATURDAY of EVERY MONTH.

There Are 5 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Don Muna on 14 July 2009:

    Congratulations to the Sinangan-ta crew for making their trip out to Chicago! Keep up the great work!

  2. Comment by Michael Lujan Bevacqua on 14 July 2009:

    Congratulations lokkue’ ginnen Guahu. I look forward to hearing the new pieces you guys came up with to represent Guam.

  3. Comment by Joseph Certeza on 15 July 2009:

    Let me know the dates, I would like to gather a group to check out the event. This is way to cool to hear now!

  4. Comment by Sam Diener on 21 July 2009:

    Hello,
    I’m the editor of Peacework Magazine, and was in Chicago for the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth conference (www.nnomy.org). I had the privilege of attending the Brave New Voices Final. One of the highlights of the night for me, and certainly one of the crowd’s favorite performances, was the Guam team’s version of “Knock Knock.” (I don’t know what you use for the title.)
    It was funny, outraged, vivid, politically incisive, and heartfelt. Your performance soared. I’d be interested in publishing an excerpt of the poem in Peacework. I also hope you get a version of it up on YouTube (or non-corporate equivalent) soon.
    I especially appreciated the anti-militarist and anti-colonial messages. Just two days before I had posted a blog entry about the expansion of JROTC programs nationwide, and illustrated it with a clip from a JROTC unit in Guam which showed students being trained to fire guns in school. See http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/blog/alert-list-schools-jrotc-target-lists-jrotc-costly-discriminatory-biased-deadly.

    The next day at the conference, you could hear in the halls, in the meeting rooms, and at the concluding gathering,
    “Did you hear the performers from Guam?”
    “Wow! They rocked.”
    “I’ve got to find out more about the struggles on Guam.”
    “With their focus on opposing the poverty draft, too bad they’re not at this conference.”
    “Let’s figure out how we can act in solidarity.”
    etc.

    In Peace,
    Sam Diener

  5. Comment by Michael Lujan Bevacqua on 24 July 2009:

    Its so exciting to hear that the Guam team made such a strong impact.

    Thanks Sam for your comment, I saw the post on your blog with the video of the GW training. Its always disturbing when those things become normalized in schools. When I was in San Diego last year I was helping a group called Project YANO, and they were resisting the JROTC setting up those programs in a number of high schools. One of the biggest points of concern there was that students of color were being taken out of other classes, such as college prep classes and placed without parental consent in JROTC.

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