Sunday, January 16, 2011

Speaking the Spoken the Art of Verse - Vortex - January 17, 2011

From the dream department... Celebrate M.L.K. Day with Speaking the Spoken the Art of Verse @ Vortex tomorrow, Jan 17th!

“We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.” -Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.

Come celebrate M.L.K. Day and expressing your right of free speech at “Speaking the Spoken the Art of Verse” the annual open mic hosted by award-winning “interdisciplinary theater artist” Zell Miller, III. Doors open at 7 pm, and we will be expressing the art of verse till 9:30pm. Come early, seats fill quickly for this super hot open mic with members of the Cipher, Xenogia Spoken Word Collective, Slam poets, and anyone else who has something to say. Featuring the amazing Ebony Stewart, one of the lead voices of the Neo Slam team that took 4th at the National Poetry Slam this year. That’s right, two-time slam champ, actress, singer, author, and recording artist Ebony Stewart is a feature you really don’t want to miss.

So end your day of celebrating the legacy of one of the greatest orators in our history by doing what he fought so hard for us to be able to do: speak our minds, our spirits, and our hearts.





More info:

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement.[1] He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.[2] King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.[3]

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career.[4] He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.

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