Ann Arbor Poetry Slam

iWPS was originally slated to have a total of 60 poets competing. The demand was so high that the EC decided to open it up to 72!

The Executive Director of PSi:

The list of iWPS 2006 competitors as of this date:

1. Zork Indie White Plains NY
2. Tiffani Smith Columbus OH
3. Bobby Gibbs Worcester MA
4. Eric Darby Cantab Boston MA
5. Lawrence Green Jr Indie Statesboro GA
6. TBD Omaha NE
7. Robert Moyer Winston-Salem NC
8. Chris August Washington DC
9. Sonya Renee Taylor Baltimore MD
10. Buddy Wakefield Indie Seattle WA
11. Ashley Mack Mesa AZ
12. Matthew Hernandez Indie Ponte Verde Beach FL
13. Ryler Dustin, Seattle WA
14. Thorkil Jacobsen Indie Copenhagen Denmark
15. Molly Meacham Mental Graffiti Chicago IL
16. Xero Skidmore Baton Rouge LA
17. Mike McGee San Jose CA
18. Iyeoka Okoawo Lizard Lounge Boston MA
19. Evelyn Gildre-Voyles Madison, WI
20. Steve Murray Indie Galway Ireland
21. Andrea Gibson Denver CO
22. Jonida Gypsee-Yo Beqo, Indi Kennesay GA nee Tirana Albania
23. Rives LouderArts NY NY
24. TBD Urbana NY NY
25. Bryan Patillo, American in Tokyo, Japan
26. Adriana Ramirez, Corpus Christi TX
27. Jamaal May, Ann Arbor MI
28. Marcelus Wisler, Indie Tallahassee FL
29. Doug Shields, Ozarks Fayetteville AR
30. Aaron Cuffee, Albuquerque, NM
31. Alishun Langston, Indie Tallahassee FL
32. Darrell Payne, Delray Beach FL
33. Adam Henze, Indie Bowling Green KY
34. Marcell Murphy, Houston TX
35. Jesse Dyllan Grace, Indie, Mesa AZ
36. Stephanie Williams, St. Louis MO
37. TBD, Montevallo AL
38. Jim Levine, Indie, Oronoco MN
39. Joaquin Zihuatanejo, Dallas TX
40. Cynthia French, Minneapolis MN
41. Matthew Rucker, Indie, Minneapolis MN
42. Kahn Davison, Indie, Detroit MI
43. George Miller, Indi, Bollingbrook IL
44. Hakim Bellamy, Indie, Sicklerville NJ
45. Corbet Dean, Indie, Phoenix AZ
46. Christa Bell, Indie, Seattle WA
47. Ansel Appleton, Indie, Montague City MA
48. Katie Wirsing, Indie, Denver CO
49. TBD, San Antonio TX
50. Isaac Miller, Indie, Chico CA
51. Pilote le Hot, Paris France
52. Lee Knight Jr. Palo Alto CA
53. TBD Milwaukee WI
54. Antwaun Davis Indie, Irving TX
55. Patrick Swan, Vancouver, BC, Canada
56. Thomas Reeves, Indie Cleveland OH
57. Rachel McKibbens, Indie, Brooklyn NY
58. TBD, Austin TX
59. Cassie Poe, Indie, Detroit MI
60. Logic, Ann Arbor
61. Antwon McNair, Charlotte NC
62. Jared Paul, Providence RI
63. Gerald Hersh, Northampton MA
64. TBA, Newark (Worddancing) DE
65. Second Poet, Delray Beach FL
66. Michael Guinn, Ft. Worth TX
67. Liam Coughlin, Wilmington DE
68. Tavis Da Minista Brunson, Columbia SC
69. Carlos Robson, Charlotte NC
70. Alex Charalambides, Worcester MA

The list may actually be full again. I had chased a Phoenix poet off the waiting list before it was known we would be opening the contest up to 72 poets. I have attempted to contact that poet to offer right of first refusal to slot #71. If he accepts it, we are full again. No one will be permitted into the contest without a withdrawal off the list first.

We must hold the #72 slot for the last chance slam in Charlotte.

That’s it. We are probably full again. But at 72 instead of 60.

Mike Henry and the folks at Slamchannel.com made thelselves a real, live documentary about Teams Austin and NYC Urbana during the National Poetry Slam 2004. Tragedy stuck when their work space was destroyed by fire, but thankfully, it looks like they are pulling it out. The trailer has been released and it looks pretty damn cool.

Check it Out HERE!

What follows is from the PSi Forums. I re-post it here for my own record and convenience. -hellslam

POST-INVESTIGATION RESULTS OF FINALS NIGHT EVENT

August 13, 2005
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Compiled by Scott Woods, October 15, 2005 with oversight by Steve Marsh

All debates had by and issues voted on by the officers of PSI’s Executive Council:
Scott Woods, Delrica Andrews, Taneka Stotts, Kimberly Simms, Henry Sampson, Taylor Mali
(Phil West recused himself from the voting process)

Remaining EC involved in discussion only:
Mike Henry, Bill MacMillan, Steve Marsh, Don McIver
(Terry Creech recused himself from discussion)

INTRODUCTION

Everything about this issue and this process is practically new, so we spent a lot of time and energy trying to cover as many bases as possible for this issue, and any future issues like it.

The process looked like this:

1) Upon arriving home from NPS, I mobilized the EC to address this issue with almost 100% focus. So we’ve not spent our time on much else except necessary day-to-day.
2) The EC went about discussing how we should collect evidence and information regarding the event. It was determined that I, with Steve Marsh as back-up, would contact any necessary participants and collect written reports from them. Also if footage was available I was to gather that as well. I was then to compile all of that information into a report for the EC to discuss, debate and vote on.
3) Video footage was obtained from Gabrielle Boulianne, who streamed four angles of video online of what happened onstage. This video was scrutinized heavily, and was the basis for determining who in fact did what, and when they did it (save for what happened afterwards backstage).
4) We agreed on a process to determine who should be voting, how we should be voting and on what we should be voting. We spent a great deal of time crafting an infrastructure that seems to have worked, and constantly looked for the loopholes in the process.
5) We voted, discussed, and in one case, re-voted.
6) We weighed any possible mitigating circumstances, which led to the design of community service options for most of the participants.
7) I compiled post-investigation information into this report.
8 ) We have released this report to the members, thus completing our efforts in regard to the events described.
9) We compiled a list of resultant considerations (further rules, changes to the Code of Honour, etc.) that we’ll work on for the future.

What you have here are the results. The EC has all 20+ reports from individuals on file and have opted to keep that information on an EC need-to-know basis due to its sensitive nature. Also, of the original investigation I compiled from these reports and all available evidence (video), I have culled from it the chain of events that occurred.

Scott Woods
President, PSI
October 15, 2005