TIGERTV ONLINE REPORTER
The poetry slam held in the Live Oak Lounge Thursday night allowed students to express themselves to an audience of their peers with the chance of making the regional poetry slam team.
The Student Activities Board hosted the slam in conjunction with host Latasha Weatherspoon, president of the Baton Rouge Poetry Alliance. The organization sends its own team to the adult poetry slam every year, which will be tentatively hosted in Texas during February. Out of the 13 participants five were chosen to possibly represent LSU at this regional competition if funds allow.
“I think the popularity of this event was high because students felt there was something to attain by participating,” Ideas and Issues chair for SAB Sheela Chockalingam said. “It’s a chance for poets to go beyond the college scene to higher areas.”
Five judges were randomly chosen from the audience to rate each poet and his or her poetry on a scale from zero to ten. Chockalingam said random judges are preferable to experts in poetry slams because of the contemporary style and individual approach to poetry slamming.
“Performers try to hit the heart and soul of the audience with their poetry because that’s what it’s all about,” Chockalingam said. “A non-expert will judge by feelings and intuition.”
Audience members were encouraged to express their opinion of the scores when the judges held them up with claps and cheers or booing and hissing. Weatherspoon also encouraged the audience to keep the energy high and interact with the participants while they were performing by cheering when they heard a part of the performance that they appreciated. The dynamic delivery of the poetry was marked with rhythm similar to that of hip-hop.
“My favorite part is sharing what I wrote,” Theo Williams, biological sciences junior and one of the five chosen for the team, said. “There’s no point in writing it if you don’t share it.”
As an active member of the poetry scene in Baton Rouge, Weatherspoon agrees.
“When you’re in college you have the most to say at this time in your life,” Weatherspoon said. “Slamming is a creative channel to express yourself about issues you’re passionate about; it’s a chance to find your voice.”
Topics of the poetry included self-introspection, current issues, conflict and all types of emotion. Chockalingam said Ideas and Issues hosts poetry slams for that expression of current ideas and issues and to give students a chance to let those views be heard.
“It’s a contemporary, fresh way to present current ideas and issues,” Chockalingam said. “Poetry slamming is a chance for students to open up and show another side of themselves that isn’t seen in class or in everyday college life…this way students can see what their fellow tigers are thinking about.”
