2006 Ken Huffman
Sacramento County
2007
Karen Hong Sonoma County
2008
Roshawnda Bettencourt Placer County
2009 Spencer Klaven
Santa Barbara County
2010 Morgan Brown
Monterey County
2011
Robert Marchand Monterey County
2012
Corbin Gomez El Dorado County
2013
Arwa Arwan Monterey County
2014
Shayna Maci Warner Marin County
March 15
Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento
1:00 Check-in at registration table at the Sheraton Grand Hotel
2:00 Tofanelli Room: County Champions’ welcome, warm-ups,
information session
4:00 Magnolia Ballroom: Welcome and Presentation of
Certificates
4:30 California Poetry Out Loud Competition Round One
6:45 Hero Award Presentation
7:00 Banquet for County Champions and special guests
March 16
Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento
7:15 Falor Room: County Champions’ warm-ups
7:30 Champions escorted to the Capitol
Assembly Committee Room 4202, State Capitol
8:00 California Poetry Out Loud Competition Round Two
10:30 Intermission (approximate)
Address: Dana Gioia, former Chairman of the National
Endowment for the Arts and founder of Poetry Out Loud
Group Photo
11:15 California Poetry Out Loud Competition Round Three
12:15 Presentation of Awards
Welcome to the 10th Annual California Poetry Out
Loud Recitation Contest!
California Poetry Out Loud is the largest Poetry Out Loud competition in the nation, and 2015 is our largest contest yet. Forty California counties participated in Poetry Out Loud this year. One of the county champions here today will be chosen to represent California in the national finals and be flown to Washington D.C. next month, courtesy of the National Endowment for the Arts, to compete against winners from all the other states and U.S. territories. It’s an exciting and tense couple of days for us here at the California Arts Council—our favorite two days of the year! We couldn’t be prouder of the exceptional young people we honor today in Sacramento.
The students whose competition you are about to witness are all outstanding. At this level, the judges have the toughest job in the room.
We are grateful to the generous friends who enable us to enrich the experience of the state finalists who have worked so diligently to excel. This year, California Arts Council Member Christopher Coppola, California Poets in the Schools, California Arts Council Chair Donn K. Harris, and California Arts Council Vice Chair Susan Steinhauser have donated additional funds for travel, hotel rooms, a celebratory dinner, awards, and a priceless opportunity for the county champions to get to know each other. It is these sponsors who help us transform the state finals into the celebratory event the finalists deserve. And we are delighted to welcome, as our special guest this year, the legendary Dana Gioia, who founded Poetry Out Loud when he served as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The California Arts Council is pleased to partner with the National Endowment for the Arts in producing California Poetry Out Loud. We greatly appreciate the dedication and hard work of the local arts councils, district offices of education, high school teachers, California Poets in the Schools, parents, and—most of all—the tens of thousands of participating students. We thank our sponsors, our expert panel of judges, all those who made Poetry Out Loud possible, and California Arts Council staff members, who have enthusiastically gone “above and beyond” to make #POL15 special.
Welcome to this extraordinary event.
Craig Watson Director California Arts Council
I am delighted to speak at the tenth annual California Poetry Out Loud finals.
Of all the fine programs we helped create or expand during my years in Washington, D.C. as Chairman of the National
Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Out Loud is the one closest to my heart. It has been a pleasure and privilege to witness the transformative power of poetry on the young men and women who compete. I've been moved, dazzled, impressed, and humbled by the power and presence they bring to their recitations.
DANA GIOIA
Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and critic.
He is the author of four collections of poetry, including
Interrogations at Noon (2001), which won the American
Book Award, and Pity the Beautiful (2012). He has also
published three collections of criticism, most notably Can
Poetry Matter? (1992), which was a finalist for the National
Book Critics Award.
A best-selling literary anthologist, Gioia has edited or co-
edited over two dozen collections of poetry, fiction, and
drama. He has also written two opera libretti and has
collaborated with composers in genres ranging from classical
to jazz and rock.
For six years (2003-2009) Gioia served as Chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts where he gained strong
bipartisan support for the previously imperiled agency and helped launch the largest literary programs in federal
history, including The Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, and
Shakespeare in American Communities. He was twice
unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
During the NEA years Gioia also led the U.S. cultural
delegation to UNESCO. For two years he directed the arts
and culture programs for the Aspen Institute in Washington,
D.C. and Colorado. In 2011 Gioia became the Judge Widney
Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of
Southern California. He has been awarded eleven honorary
doctorates and many awards, including the Laetare Medal
from Notre Dame, the Presidential Civilian Medal, and the
Aiken-Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry. He divides
his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County,
California.
Alameda County champion
California Poetry Out Loud 2015
Page 8
Contra Costa County champion
"[poetry is] No punctuation, no narrative required, just an idea, unadulterated and expressed beautifully.”
“Poems are the antidote for a world that doesn't rhyme."
Arielle Herman
School: Monte Vista High School
Teacher: Brendan Nelson
Poem 1: Prayer by Jorie Graham (25 lines)
Poem 2: Experience by Edith Wharton (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: The Children of the Poor by Gwendolyn Brooks
School: Berkeley High School
Teacher: Madalyn Theodore
Poem 1: Ecology by Jack Collom (25 lines)
Poem 2: [My prime of youth is but a frost of cares] by Chidiock Tichbourne (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 3: Meditation at Lagunitas by Robert Hass
Avi Simon
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 9
Butte County champion
El Dorado County champion
Benjamin Brazzel
Ashley Patteson
"Poetry has always been a remarkable outlet for my imaginations and feelings, and has gotten me through a lot of life issues."
“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immova-ble, those that are movable, and those that move.” The arts are the continuation of this quote by Benjamin Franklin that involve man’s creative nature in combination with the mind, body, and soul. Poetry Out Loud has been such a positive experience in helping me truly bring out the creative aspect of myself and thus allow me to explore my reflective and contemplative side.”
School: Gridley High School
Teacher: Cindy Scott
Poem 1: To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: It was not Death, for I stood up, (355) by Emily Dickinson (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
School: Oak Ridge High School
Teacher: Mark Coovelis
Poem 1: El Olvido by Judith Ortiz Cofer (25 lines)
Poem 2: Novel by Arthur Rimbaud (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Flies Buzzing by Mark Turcotte
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 10
Fresno County champion
Inyo County champion
Shyann Padilla
"For me, poetry is a way to express myself in an effective, different and
more creative way."
"Writing is more than just expressing thoughts. It is a way of connect-ing to others across history and different background. Poetry is like a photograph in words, and brings us together through Poetry out Loud."
Lara Tadios
School: San Joaquin Memorial
Teacher: Lisa Cameron
Poem 1: When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be by John Keats (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
Poem 3: The Star by Ann Taylor, Jane
Taylor
School: Owens Valley High School
Teacher: Jessica Libbee
Poem 1: Actaeon by A. E. Stallings (25 lines)
Poem 2: I Am Offering this Poem by Jim-my Santiago Baca
Poem 3: There's Been a Death, in the Opposite House by Emily Dickinson (Pre-
20c)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 11
Humboldt County champion
Kings County champion
"Every new poem I learn is now an exciting challenge as I connect to the emotions captured within the words on the page. I love to perform poetry because it has helped me express my emotions in a way I never thought I could."
"For me, poetry is a means of self expression, a way to put down and articulate feelings. Poetry and the arts are so fantastic because each work is unique and resonates with every individual differently."
Myah Daniels
School: Eureka High School
Teacher: Mauro Staiano and Nanette Voss
Poem 1: A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky by Lewis Carroll (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: Apollo by Elizabeth Alexander
Poem 3: The Truly Great by Stephen Spender (25 lines)
Mellissa Raylene Carpentieri
School: Hanford West High School
Teacher: Elizabeth Kamerin
Poem 1: We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence
Dunbar
Poem 2: The Charge of the Light Brigade by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted
Kooser (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 12
Lake County champion
Los Angeles County champion
Jenny Landeta
"Performing arts, including poetry, have given me a fun opportunity to express myself."
"Poetry allows me to understand the feelings and experiences of others; to me, poetry is empathy."
School: Lower Lake High School
Teacher: Gina Dickson
Poem 1: Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy (Pre-20c)
Poem 2: Under Stars by Tess Gallagher (25 lines)
Poem 3: What You Have to Get Over by Dick Allen
Aaron Rubanowitz
School: Granada Hills High School
Teacher: Karl Cyr
Poem 1: In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr. by June Jordan
Poem 2: Queen's Cemetery, Setting Sun by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Poem 3: Early Affection by George Moses Horton (Pre-20c/25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 13
Lassen County champion
Madera County champion
Michaela Hammond
"The way words work to influence our emotions, and work in harmony to create a beautiful portrayal of all that happens within our minds, is truly amazing. Potery Out Loud has allowed me to explore such a place, and further grasp onto this realization."
Christine McPhetridge
School: Lassen High School
Teacher: Tom Ready
Poem 1: The American Soldier by Philip Freneau (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: The Maid's Lament by Walter Savage Landor (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: The Ocean by Nathaniel Haw-thorne (Pre-20c/25 lines)
"Programs like Poetry Out Loud keep the presence of the Arts alive for those who need creative outlets to thrive and live their everyday life with purpose."
School: Liberty High School
Teacher: Rebecca Harp-Sligh
Poem 1: Piano by D. H. Lawrence (25 lines)
Poem 2: The moon now rises to her absolute rule by Henry David Thoreau (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: Insomnia by Dana Gioia (25
lines)
Modoc County champion
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 14
Marin County champion
"I’m really excited to participate in the Poetry Out Loud competition. This process has helped me better understand the depth, meaning, and beauty of poetry in general. While I’ve studied theater at my school, I’ve learned that reciting poetry is different from performing monologues. In poetry, my primary focus is the literature itself, and I have to capture the language and rhythm as it was intended by the author, as well as share my own interpretation."
School: Novato High / Marin School of the Arts
Teacher: Kathryn Korff
Poem 1: Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes by William Shakespeare (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: A History Without Suffering by E. A. Markham
Poem 3: The Hospital Window by James L. Dickey
"You are a walking metaphor for death and decay. Everything you are and were is already crumbling into the earth." - David Jones from "Love and Space Dust"
Cambria Elise Weaver
Annalise Schulman
School: Tulelake High School
Teacher: Rick Fakhre
Poem 1: The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe (Pre-20c)
Poem 2: Bright Copper Kettles by Vijay Seshadri (25 lines)
Poem 3: Author's Prayer by Ilya Kaminsky (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 15
Mendocino County champion
Mono County champion
Katherine Wilson
Quincy Boyle
"I'm really looking forward to this experience not just for the competition but also for the chance to meet fellow poets. It's rare that such high class teenage writers and reciters are able to gather in one place for the sole purpose of enjoying poetry and it's something I greatly look forward to."
"Poetry Out Loud is a lovely artistic venue that allows students to read, learn, understand, and express complex ideas and thoughts in a way that conveys raw emotion directly to an audience -- it allows everyone, from all kinds of backgrounds, races, genders, ages, and beliefs to be vulnerable and real."
School: Ukiah High School
Teacher: Michael Riedell
Poem 1: The Cities Inside Us by Alberto Rios
Poem 2: Nude Descending a Staircase by X.J. Kennedy (25 lines)
Poem 3: The Paradox by Paul Laurence Dunbar (Pre-20c)
School: Mammoth Academy High School
Teacher: Shira Dubrovner
Poem 1: The Sun Rising by John Donne (Pre-20c)
Poem 2: Monet Refuses the Operation by Lisel Mueller
Poem 3: Broken Promises by David Kirby (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 16
Monterey County champion
Nevada County champion
Falyn Lazarus
"If art and poetry have taught me anything, it's that there is no such thing as a note-worthy conformist."
Sharmaine Sun
"I am perpetually consumed by Poetry Out Loud because I believe in the power of the spoken word. It’s exhilarating to know that one can create subtle nuances with inflections of tone and pacing of breath to give meaning to every word."
School: Santa Catalina School
Teacher: Simon Hunt
Poem 1: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats (Pre-20c)
Poem 2: Virtuosi by Lisel Mueller
Poem 3: A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown by Walt Whitman (Pre-20c/25 lines)
School: Nevada Union High School
Teacher: Alicia Lacoste
Poem 1: For the young who want to by Marge Piercy
Poem 2: In the Desert by Stephen Crane (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: One Hundred Love Sonnets:XVII by Pablo Neruda (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 17
Orange County champion
Napa County champion
"Theatre has impacted my life in many positive ways. It introduced me to the world of poetry, it taught me poise and public speaking skills, and it instilled me with a sense of confidence. From my past three years in the competition, I learned the powerful impact of language and poetry."
Lesley Aguirre
Delia Bisconer
School: Justin-Siena High School
Teacher: Laura Kelly-Weakley
Poem 1: Romance by Claude McKay (25 lines)
Poem 2: Revenge by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Adam's Curse by William Butler Yeats
"It's human connection. It's reaching across time, through space, and breathing through and with someone else. It's amazing."
School: Western High School
Teacher: Brandon Leighton
Poem 1: Requests For Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
Poem 2: Father by Edgar Albert Guest
Poem 3: I Find no Peace by Thomas Wy-att (Pre-20c/25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 18
Placer County champion
Sacramento County champion
"A lot of people feel insignificant and are afraid to speak, but Poetry Out Loud has proven that if you are given the opportunity and are brave enough to take it, people will listen."
Sarah Farrel
Ithalia Price
"Poetry Out Loud is an outlet for me to utilize different works of art for creative expression, being comfortable and confident in my own skin."
School: Placer High School
Teacher: Brittany Haydon
Poem 1: Wife's Disaster Manual by Deborah Paredez (25 lines)
Poem 2: The Universe as Primal Scream by Tracy K. Smith
Poem 3: Early Affection by George Moses Horton (Pre-20c/25 lines)
School: Pleasant Grove High School
Teacher: Russell Young
Poem 1: The Applicant by Sylvia Plath
Poem 2: On Monsieur’s Departure by Queen Elizabeth I (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: Onions by William Matthews
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 19
Riverside County champion
San Bernardino County champion
Christopher Rivas
"I am truly honored and blessed to be a part of this wonderful program, and look forward to making new friends and hearing lots of great poetry."
"Having the opportunity to be involved in California Poetry Out Loud and compete with many other talented students has been an exciting experience. It is an honor to present poems of our history legends who wrote such inspiring words in their time. Being able to continue to remember their message by reciting with admiration has been my pleasure."
Kristinely Afable
School: Xavier College Preparatory High School
Teacher: Lori Davis
Poem 1: Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15) by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Poem 2: Love (III) by George Herbert (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with
fortune and men's eyes by William Shakespeare (Pre-20c/25 lines)
School: Center For Learning and Unlimited Educational Success
Teacher: Sierra Pannabecker
Poem 1: I, Too by Langston Hughes (25 lines)
Poem 2: Dirge in Woods by George Meredith (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee
by N. Scott Momaday (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 20
San Diego County champion
San Luis Obispo County champion
"The competition aside, Poetry Out Loud is amazing in what it does for us students; we get to be exposed to new poetry and new ideas, and hear our old favorites recited in new ways. It's both challenging and eye opening."
"Poetry Out Loud has allowed me the wonderful opportunity to see, feel and experience beautiful masterpieces painted, not with paint, but with words intricately placed allowing the author to tell his/her story by a baring of the soul."
Shelby Becker
Ethan McSwain
School: Valley Center High School
Teacher: Crystal Rienick
Poem 1: Xenophobia by Rae Armantrout
Poem 2: Up-Hill by Christina Rossetti (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: The Empty Dance Shoes by Cornelius Eady
School: San Luis Obispo High School
Teacher: James Bruce
Poem 1: They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine
Poem 2: Novel by Arthur Rimbaud (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Under the Vulture-Tree by David Bottoms (25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 21
San Francisco County champion
Santa Barbara County champion
Aldrin Allen Ysip
"You take a room full of strangers, give them poetry, and by the end of the day they will be best friends. That is what the arts are about."
"The Arts allow you to have the freedom to express your thinking through words, a brush, movement or even an instrument. There are infinite pieces of art that you can connect to. There is bigger meaning to the simple words on a piece of paper or the figures on a canvas and finding those little secrets sends you in awe and makes the work of art ten times more worthwhile."
Yael Vainberg
School: Lowell High School
Teacher: Susan Terence
Poem 1: The Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: Ode for the American Dead in Asia by Thomas McGrath
Poem 3: Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen
School: Pioneer Valley High School
Teacher: Ben Rothstein
Poem 1: A Display of Mackerel by Mark Doty
Poem 2: The Seekers of Lice by Arthur Rimbaud (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats (Pre-20c)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 22
Santa Clara County champion
Siskiyou County champion
Trey Bradford
"Viewing the world through poetry gives me the ability to learn more about the life I live. This window through words gives me the opportunity to challenge myself in a meaningful and creative way that unfolds a story in a marvelous expression."
“Poetry Out Loud is one of the few programs that emphasizes the most powerful tool humans have, the power of the spoken word."
Joshua Bjurman
School: Live Oak Academy
Teacher: Holly Coty
Poem 1: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney (25 lines)
Poem 2: Requests for Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
Poem 3: The Man with the Hoe by Edwin Markham (Pre-20c)
School: Etna High School
Teacher: Lynn Karpinski
Poem 1: Cartoon Physics, part 1 by Nick Flynn
Poem 2: The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: The Listeners by Walter de La
Mare
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 23
Santa Cruz County champion
Solano County champion
Virginia Ontiveros
"Spoken word poetry is an art I’ve longed to explore. Poetry Out Loud has provided me with an opportunity to do so."
"To me, poetry is an outlet to express your ideas or experiences to others as you wished you could express yourself every time you spoke. To transfer emotion from poet to paper to reader."
Mirelle Sandoval
School: Aptos High School
Teacher: Kerri Barrick
Poem 1: The Applicant by Sylvia Plath
Poem 2: A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 3: Cartoon Physics, part 1 by Nick Flynn
School: Dixon High School
Teacher: Jed Miller
Poem 1: Cartoon Physics, part 1 by Nick Flynn
Poem 2: American Smooth by Rita Dove
Poem 3: Echo by Christina Rossetti (Pre-20c/25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 24
Sonoma County champion
Sutter County champion
Alexandra Gonzalez
"Poetry Out Loud allows me to connect with my inner self and feel inspired by the freedom and strength that poetry portrays."
School: Roseland University Prep
Teacher: Chelsea Johnson
Poem 1: The Layers by Stanley Kunitz
Poem 2: At the New Year by Kenneth Patchen
Poem 3: A Birthday by Christina Rossetti (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Karina Topete
"The arts are a way of expressing how you feel with or without words."
School: River Valley High School
Teacher: Nicole van Brocklin
Poem 1: Eating Poetry by Mark Strand (25 lines)
Poem 2: Before the Birth of One of Her Children by Anne Bradstreet (Pre-20c)
Poem 3: Speak by Phillip B. Williams
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 25
Stanislaus County champion
Tehama County champion
"Poetry Out Loud has introduced me to the realization that poetry has hundreds of different interpretations that only the person reading can discover, and how beautiful and comforting that realization can be."
Hasna El-Nounou
School: John H. Pitman High School
Teacher: Cole Humphres
Poem 1: Happiness by Jane Kenyon
Poem 2: A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown by Walt Whitman (Pre-20c/ 25 lines)
Poem 3: Happiness by Paisley Rekdal
Madeline Flynn
"The arts are a way of expressing how you feel with or without words."
School: Mercy High School
Teacher: Helen Arbini
Poem 1: The Darker Sooner by Catherine Wing (25 lines)
Poem 2: Immortal Sails by Alfred Noyes (25 lines)
Poem 3: She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron (George Gordon) (Pre-20c/25 lines)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 26
Tuolumne County champion
Yolo County champion
Levi Lowe
Alfonso Casares
"As a Poet whose meter measures advances, the Awaiting World is my canvas, and its color will come in Stanzas."
"My favorite part of Poetry Out Loud is being able to step into the shoes of a different character, really study and become it, and be able to execute it in a way that others see a whole different person reading the poem."
School: Sonora Union High School
Teacher: Maggie Hodson
Poem 1: A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown by Walt Whitman (Pre-20c/25 lines)
Poem 2: The Nail by C. K. Williams (25 lines)
Poem 3: The Blues Don’t Change by Al
Young (25 lines)
School: Esparto High School
Teacher: Sophia Hoang
Poem 1: Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser (25 lines)
Poem 2: And Soul by Eavan Boland
Poem 3: A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky by Lewis Carroll (Pre-20c)
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 27
Ventura County champion
Yuba County champion
Jessie Sulka
Charlie Diamond
“Poetry Out Loud is not a competition, it is a moment in which the writer can be heard, where both the reciter and audience experi-ence the gift that the author has created. I see Poetry Out Loud is an abstract art gallery were we can visualize the writer’s master-piece through the voice of another individual, it is far from the definition of what a competition implies.”
"The arts are a fun way to relieve stress, and express yourself. Whether it’s singing, dancing, acting, poetry, painting, or writing, the arts tend to bring out the best in everyone."
School: High School at Moorpark College
Teacher: Jacqueline Powell
Poem 1: For Love by Robert Creely
Poem 2: For the young who want to by Marge Piercy
Poem 3: Life in a Love by Robert Browning (Pre-20c/25 lines)
School: Marysville Charter Academy of the Arts
Teacher: Ruth Atkins
Poem 1: It was not Death, for I stood up, (355) by Emily Dickinson (Pre-20c)
Poem 2: El Olvido by Judith Ortiz Cofer (25 lines)
Poem 3: Advice to a Prophet by Richard
Wilbur
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 28
Judges
Her first love is poetry, but
Lewis also writes fiction, essays, and children’s literature, pub-lished in numerous journals and anthologies. Since 1995, Lewis has been creating curriculum with California Poets in the
Schools and bringing hands-on imaginative workshops to K-12 students, often as a CAC Artists-in-Schools awardee. She was born in San Jose, grew up in Southern California and earned an MFA from Antioch - Los Angeles. Now living in Mendocino Coun-ty, Lewis is the Executive Director of the Mendocino Coast Writ-ers Conference.
published her first poem
in the Palo Alto Times when she was in the fifth grade. She completed her Master of Liberal Arts at Stanford University in 2012, with a thesis on the domestic poetry of Eavan Boland. Jennifer has been a poet/teacher with California Poets in the Schools since 2001 and joined their Board of Directors in March 2013. Her poems have been published in multiple local journals, including Caesura and The DQM Review. In October 2013, Jen-
nifer became the second Poet Laureate of the City of Cupertino. You can follow her Poem-A-Day project “A Lane of Yellow” on Tumblr (http://laneofyellow.tumblr.com/) and other Cupertino Poet Laureate news at http://cupertinopoetlaureate.org.
, award-winning Chicano poet and educa-
tor, is the author of 13 volumes of poetry, including,
Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010), From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), Snake Poems: An Aztec In-
vocation (Chronicle Books 1992), and Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes (Creative Arts Book Company 2001). His most recent books are Canto hondo / Deep Song (University of Arizona Press 2015) and Borderless Butterflies / Mariposas sin
fronteras (Poetic Matrix Press 2014). He has published six books for children available through Lee & Low Books, including Animal Poems of the Iguazú (2008) and Poems to Dream Together (2005). He teaches at the University of California, Davis, where he directs the Spanish for Native Speakers Program. He is the creator of the Facebook page POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070.
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 29
Judges
is a recently-reappointed Council Mem-
ber of the California Arts Council, where he has served since 2013. Coppola has been head of the film program at the San Francisco Art Institute since 2013. He has been owner and exec-
utive producer for his companies Plaster City Productions Inc.
and Christopher Coppola Enterprises since 1994,and has been a Directors Guild of America film and television director since 1987. Coppola is president of Project Accessible Hollywood (PAH), a non-profit organization he founded in 2006 to bring digital technology education to underserved communities.
has been the Executive and Artistic Director of
the Oakland School for the Arts since 2007. Earlier, Harris served as the Principal of the San Francisco School of the Arts, where he created a sister school, The Academy of Arts and Sci-ences, offering the arts to students without prior experience. Harris received his BA and MA in Theatre Arts from CSULA, and
holds teaching credentials in English and Special Education. Governor Jerry Brown appointed Mr. Harris to the California Arts Council in January 2014. He also serves as the Vice President of the National Arts Schools Network and is on the board of the Engineers Alliance for the Arts. On January 28, 2015, Mr. Harris was voted in as the 20th Chairman of the California Arts Council.
has been published in English, Spanish &
Spanglish in the USA, Mexico & Europe. She’s an award-winning poet & multi-instrumentalist. She’s a popular Bay Area DJ, radio personality and leader of the group “Avotcja & Modúpue” (The
Bay Area Blues Society’s Jazz Group of the Year in 2005 & 2010). She received two Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2014. Avotcja teaches Creative Writing, Drama & Music & is a proud member of DAMO (Disability Advocates Of Minorities Org.), PEN Oakland, a former member of California Poets In The Schools, IWWG & is an ASCAP recording artist. Her latest Book is With
Every Step I Take (Taurean Horn Press 2013 available at Small Press Distribution &/or Amazon).
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 30
Judges
is a native San Francisco poet, playwright and per-
former. A noted jazz poet, she has performed at numerous jazz festivals and venues in the country and has been featured at the SF Jazz Poetry Festival and World Poetry Festivals in Caracas,
Venezuela and Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina. Her poetry and vocals can be heard on Asian Improv Arts recordings with Fran-cis Wong, Devotee and Child of Peace; and on Jon Jang’s, Immi-grant Suite. She is the author of the award-winning play, Paper Angels, a prison drama about Chinese immigrants held on Angel Island. The play has been produced throughout the U.S. and received a San Francisco Fringe Festival Award in 2010. Lim has
written three poetry books, Child of War, Winter Place, and Pa-per Gods and Rebels and is co-author of Island: Poetry and His-tory of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, a recipient of the American Book Award.
is program director for arts and the Crea-
tive Work Fund at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund in San Fran-cisco. Prior to her foundation work, Phillips was executive direc-tor of Intersection for the Arts (1986-94), which had a long-running literary reading series, and director of the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University (1983-86). She teaches Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. She also is the author of three small press books of
poetry from Kelsey Street Press and Hanging Loose Press, is co-editor of the Grantmakers in the Arts Reader, and is the former poetry review editor for The Hungry Mind Review. Her book re-views have appeared in Hungry Mind Review, Montemora, Poet-ry Flash, Ruminator Review, The San Jose Mercury News, The
Washington Post, and other publications. With Stan Hutton, she
co-authored The Nonprofit Kit for Dummies (fourth edition pub-lished in 2013).
Musicians Seth Dorran (banquet)
Doug Pauly
Photographer Jay R. Hart
California Poetry Out Loud 2015 Page 31
Judges
was born in Manila in 1968. He is an award-winning
writer/performer and an internationally recognized trailblazer in connecting arts with social justice, public health, and community development. Tan has published three volumes of poetry, edited
three fiction anthologies, and his various poems, plays, essays,
and short fiction on race, power and identity have appeared in numerous academic and commercial venues. Since 2004, Tan has served as the Director of Community Engagement at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where his work in the field of arts leadership has been recognized globally. Prior, he worked in Public Health for 16+ years, co-founding LA’s Asian Pacific AIDS
Intervention Team Health Center.
is California’s 2014 Poetry Out Loud
Champion, and she is honored to be back in Sacramento on the other side of the microphone. She currently studies World Arts and Cultures/Film as a first year at UCLA, where she is a mem-
ber of the Shakespeare Company at UCLA as well as a media columnist for OutWrite Newsmagazine. She most recently per-
formed in the Shakespeare Company’s Henry IV part I and An-tony and Cleopatra, and UCLA Residential Life’s The Vagina Monologues. She’d like to thank the inspiring community of po-etry aficionados and reciters who sustain poetry and turn Poetry Out Loud into a celebration, not just a competition.
Widely translated, Young’s many books include poet-
ry, fiction, essays, anthologies, and musical memoirs. From 2005 through 2008 he served as California’s poet laureate. Oth-
er honors include NEA, Fulbright, and Guggenheim Fellowships,
The Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence and, most re-cently, the 2011 Thomas Wolfe Award. On the first Friday of each month in 2012 he presented an original poem at KQED Radio’s The California Report Magazine. As its Visiting Scholar, Young currently teaches imaginative writing and creativity at
California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Offline Love, a new poem collection, sits almost press-ready. Detailed information about this versatile Berkeley-based author and his work may be found at www.AlYoung.org.
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