Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Spoken Word Poetry, Project V.O.I.C.E. and Sarah Kay at #tedxokc

Today at the TEDxOKC conference, I had an opportunity to briefly meet our amazing MC for the day, Sarah Kay. She’s staying through Monday, and my top culinary recommendation to her was to go eat at Big Truck Tacos while she’s in the city! This is a photo of Tammy Parks (an amazing broadcast journalism teacher from Howe Public Schools, in Oklahoma) and I with Sarah after the conference.

Tammy Parks, Sarah Kay and Wesley Fryer at TEDxOKC

Sarah is the co-founder of Project V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression) described as:

… a national movement that celebrates and inspires youth self-expression through Spoken Word Poetry. Conceived in 2004, Project V.O.I.C.E. encourages young people to engage with the world around them and use Spoken Word Poetry as an instrument through which they can explore and better understand their culture, their society, and ultimately themselves. Project V.O.I.C.E. brings together performance, writing, and a supportive environment to inspire youth to recognize that their views are significant, valid, and necessary.

Sarah was born and raised in New York City, and this was her first trip to Oklahoma City. She shared some of her own, powerful poetry to kick off our TEDxOKC conference today with an inspirational and touching flourish. She was a speaker at the February – March 2011 TED “Rediscovery of Wonder” conference in Long Beach, California. Her talk was titled, “If I Should Have a Daughter…” The description was:

If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she’s gonna call me Point B … ” began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis — from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. — and gives two breathtaking performances of “B” and “Hiroshima.

I can’t wait for the videos from our TEDxOKC conference to be put online so I can see them again and share many of them with you. Enjoy Sarah’s powerful message from TED earlier this year. Her full profile is available on the TED website. Behold: The power of spoken word poetry, passionate people and inspirational ideas!

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One response to “Spoken Word Poetry, Project V.O.I.C.E. and Sarah Kay at #tedxokc”

  1. Dane Conrad Avatar
    Dane Conrad

    Ironically, I had just stumbled across her previous TED talk and was amazed. Bet you had a great time!