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OFTEN IGNORED/NEVER SILENT

Youth Voices from South L.A.
Original Poetry and Theater of Hope
Saturday, August 20, 2005

It was an incredible day of creativity, inspiration, and learning all around as young people from South L.A. presented original poetry and theater to an audience of more than 50 at the Southern California Library in our "Often Ignored/Never Silent" event. The youth had previously participated in one of two workshops, one on poetry attended by middle-school-aged youth, and another on Theater of Hope, attended by middle-school and high-school-aged youth.

The poetry workshop resulted in a booklet Our Voice, Our World of Love Language, with some truly amazing poems, including the one below. For more poems...

See also more photos from the day

Our Voice, Our World

Feelings, life, your world,
their world, love, hate,
create, mediate
I'm in a world wit Danger
were can't trust a stranger
So I pick up my pen
and release my anger
I think it's alright
and on top of that
Cool
I think it's okay
Said shay shay
It's a slow rap
The flower looks
and smells beautiful
and sweet
But it is slowly dying
by police
and the streets

The event was presented by the Southern California Library with support from the Council for the Humanities and the California Community Foundation.

For more information, download the flyer or read the press release.