This is the official blog of Northern Arizona slam poet Christopher Fox Graham. Begun in 2002, and transferred to blogspot in 2006, FoxTheBlog has recorded more than 670,000 hits since 2009. This blog cover's Graham's poetry, the Arizona poetry slam community and offers tips for slam poets from sources around the Internet. Read CFG's full biography here. Looking for just that one poem? You know the one ... click here to find it.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman at the 2021 presidential inauguration


"The Hill We Climb"
By Amanda Gorman
Poem recited at Joseph R. Biden's Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2021

When day comes, we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade?

We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice

And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished

We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one

And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division

Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made

That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare it
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free

We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright

So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West,
We will rise from the windswept Northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked South
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful

When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it


Amanda Gorman is a 22-year-old American poet and activist from Los Angeles. Gorman's work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman is the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book "The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough" in 2015.

This is good wordplay:
"And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice" 
Gorman used the finger quotes and slowed down at "just is" so the non-poets listening could see what she was doing with "just is"/"justice". (0:32)
It's a serious and sincere take on the word that reminds me of the far less serious, satirical wordplay of Taylot Mali's "How to Write a Political Poem": "Injustice isn't injustice it's just in us as we are just in ice."
I'm glad Gorman wasn't subtle; politicians aren't poets and need the help.


This is also a great section:
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
It acknowledges the historical significance of the moment, but has a subtle dig that a Black girl, which could arguably be read as Harris or simply herself is not president.
But it also plays off the end of the previous stanza 
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
 i.e., for a Black girl only reciting for a president and not being sworn in as president, the American dream of equality, personified as a Black woman becoming president, therefore remains "unfinished."
This "falling short" line, though, sets up the next portion: 
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
All in all, great structure.

I liked Gorman more than both of Obama's poets (Richard Blanco and Elizabeth Alexander) and Clinton's second, Miller Williams. Maya Angelou in 1993 is still my favorite because it was a great performance and she was freakin' Maya Angelou.
I hope there were a lot of little girls who saw Gorman read and want to be up on that dais as either a poet or one of the two people getting sworn in.

Other Inauguration Poets:



"The Gift Outright"
by Robert Frost
Poem recited at John F. Kennedy's Inauguration, Jan. 20, 1961
(Frost had intended to read "Dedication: For John F. Kennedy's Inauguration," but couldn't read the paper due to the glare from the snow, so 2:40 into, gave up and switched to "The Gift Outright," which he had memorized. At age 86 in 1961, he was the oldest poet to read at in inauguration)

The land was ours before we were the land’s 
She was our land more than a hundred years 
Before we were her people. She was ours 
In Massachusetts, in Virginia, 
But we were England’s, still colonials, 
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, 
Possessed by what we now no more possessed. 
Something we were withholding made us weak 
Until we found out that it was ourselves 
We were withholding from our land of living, 
And forthwith found salvation in surrender. 
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright 
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war) 
To the land vaguely realizing westward, 
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, 
Such as she was, such as she will become.


"On the Pulse of Morning"
by Maya Angelou
Poem recited at Bill Clinton's Inauguration, Jan. 20, 1993

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon,
The dinosaur, who left dried tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.
Your mouths spilling words

Armed for slaughter.
The Rock cries out to us today, you may stand upon me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song. It says,
Come, rest here by my side.

Each of you, a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,
Clad in peace, and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the rock were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.
The River sang and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.
So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African, the Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

They hear the first and last of every Tree
Speak to humankind today. Come to me, here beside the River.
Plant yourself beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name, you,
Pawnee, Apache, Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of
Other seekers—desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Arab, the Swede, the German, the Eskimo, the Scot,
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought,
Sold, stolen, arriving on the nightmare
Praying for a dream.
Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am that Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.
I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours—your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
This day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands,
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, and into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning.


"Of History and Hope"
by Miller Williams
Poem recited at Bill Clinton’s Inauguration, Jan. 20, 1997

We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.

But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands—oh, rarely in a row—
and flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer allow.

Who were many people coming together
cannot become one people falling apart.
Who dreamed for every child an even chance
cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.
Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.
We know what we have done and what we have said,
and how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become—
just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.

All this in the hands of children, eyes already set
on a land we never can visit—it isn’t there yet—
but looking through their eyes, we can see
what our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.

"Praise Song for the Day"
by Elizabeth Alexander
Poem recited at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2009

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what's on the other side.

I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.


"One Today"
by Richard Blanco
Poem recited at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2013
 [At age 44, he was the younger poet to read at inauguration until 22-year-old Amanda Gorman read in 2021]

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.

My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper—
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives—
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.

All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.

The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.

Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello / shalom,
buon giorno / howdy / namaste / or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.

One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us—
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it—together

Monday, December 31, 2012

My Biggest Events of 2012

The year 2012 was busy, with both highs and lows. These are neither the best nor worst the biggest events of my year:

Confirming ballistics from double murder outside Sedona

The morning of Friday, Jan. 6, James Johnson, 63, from Jaffrey, N.H., and Carol Raynsford, 63, from Nelson, N.H., were found shot to death in an idling late-model red Subaru wagon around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 6, at an overlook between Sedona and Cottonwood. There hasn't been a murder inside Sedona city limits since 2003.

Photo by ABC15 News
On Sunday, Jan. 8, a shootout in Anthem resulted in the death of Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputy William Coleman, a 20-year veteran of MCSO and father of two.

The suspect, Drew Ryan Maras, 30, fired 29 rounds at police, two of which killed Coleman. Deputies fired 41 rounds, killing Maras.

The weapons that killed Jaffrey, Raynsford and Coleman were all .223-caliber rounds.

We, at the Sedona Red Rock News, were trying to get confirmation of a ballistics match between the two shootings, but the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office couldn't confirm it.

A tragedy, like this, means something different to a journalist. While we feel compassion for the victims of violent crimes or bank frauds and assaults and identify as fellow humans to those in feature stories or obituaries, reporting the news is our job. Reporting this story, and doing it before anyone else in the Verde Valley means I was doing my job for my community.We went to press suggesting there might be a relation, but 15 minutes to deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 10, I happened across a Twitter post from a New Jersey news site confirming the connection. My editor was out of the office, so the onus fell on me. I shouted "stop the presses!" had my photojournalist Tom Hood checking my email every 20 seconds while I called MCSO over and over until I got verbal confirmation and Hood got a press release from MCSO verifying the ballistics. I rewrote the lead with just a minute to spare and sent the plate the press, effectively breaking the story locally connecting the two shootings.

There is still no motive in the two deaths near Sedona.




May photo shoot

In May, following a Sedona Poetry Slam, a got a group of my best poets to stay overnight.

Photo by Tara Graeber
Josh Wiss, Spencer Troth, me, Brian Walker, Azami, Nodalone, Valence and
Lauren Hanss, left to right, helped encapsulate Arizona's Wild West and sci-fi
motifs.
The next morning, we went out to Fay Canyon and shot a series of photos blending Firefly imagery with the Old West, with images shot by Tara Graeber.

Hikers to the site came across a dozen armed poets and artists adjacent to the trailhead. Seeing there reaction to poets like Josh Wiss with three pistols and Valence wearing heterochromic sunglasses, my trenchcoat and a wielding a rusty shotgun must have been terrifying, then hilarious.

Of course, readers of my blog have seen the results of these pics as they are my favorites.



Publishing my first bound book, "The Opposite of Camouflage"

In late May, I started working on my first bound book of poetry, publishing it through Lulu.com, a print on demand service.

I hadn't printed a new book of my poems since 2006 and I've become a much better poet since then. It has 16 poems in a 52-page bound book, available for $9.99.

Poems included:
  • Welcome to the Church of the Word
  • Manifesto of an Addict
  • We Call Him Papa
  • Spinal Language
  • Ragnarok
  • The Peach
  • Breakfast Cereal
  • In the Corners of This Room
  • Three Minutes for Dylan
  • Do You Have a Baseball Bat?
  • My Hands are in the Mail
  • The Devil’s Gardens
  • Revolution 2.0
  • Staring at the Milky Way with One Eye Closed
  • Dear Pluto
  • They Held Hands
Special thanks to Big Pappa E for suggesting the title.




Winning the FlagSlam Grand Slam in May

Photo by Tara Graeber
The FlagSlam Grand Poetry Slam competitors: Tara Pollock, Ryan Brown,
Spencer Troth, me, Valence, Dan Rivera, Evan Dissinger, Josh Wiss, Nancy,
Nodalone, Vincent Vega and Jackson Morris. Pollock, Brown, I, Nodalone and
Morris made the team.

The last time I was legitimately on a team was 2006.

In 2010, I was added to my fifth Flagstaff team because I had competed and happened to be going to Nationals as a volunteer and the team's fourth poet bailed.

But in 2012, after a year of competing every week, despite living 40 minutes away in Sedona, I won the FlagSlam Grand Slam, making the team with Ryan Brown, Tara Pollock and Nodalone, and our alternate Jackson Morris, who we almost immediately made a fifth member of the team, as permitted by Poetry Slam Inc. rules.

The team was super supportive and incredibly talented, probably the strongest team of poets since the inaugural team in 2001.




First Sedona Grand Slam in June; performing with Azami

In 2011, The Klute suggested I send a team from Sedona to the National Poetry Slam.
I scrambled in to get in six poetry slams between December and May, meeting the threshold to qualify for inclusion in the National Poetry Slam, paid venue registration and certification for Studio Live and set up a point system to encourage poets to participate. 

Members of the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, left to right, Frank O'Brien, Spencer
Troth, Evan Dissinger, Tyler “Valence” Sirvinskas and Josh Wiss stand on stage
after their first National Poetry Slam bout at the McGlohon Theatre in Charlotte,
N.C. The team came in third, losing to Portland, Ore., and Oklahoma City, but
defeating Springfield, Mo.
In June, I hosted the first ever Sedona Poetry Grand Slam, featuring in alphabetical order:
  • Evan Dissinger is one of the preeminent voices in the Flagstaff poetry scene. A skateboard rat in Flagstaff, Dissinger is one of the most sincere poets in Arizona with a knack for making conventional experiences sublime.
  • Lauren Hanss is one of the strong female voices in Flagstaff. An early education and creative writing student at NAU, Hanss is respected for her honest, confessional poetry.
  • Known for his political savvy and humorous poetry, The Klute performs all over the United States and Canada and featured at the Poetry Slam and the Sedona Public Library. A seasoned veteran, The Klute has been to the National Poetry Slam seven times, for the Mesa Slam Team in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006, and the Phoenix Slam Team in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He also won the grand slams in 2005 and 2010.
  • A poet’s poet, Frank O’Brien writes with a profound simplicity. O’Brien won the 2008 and 2009 Flagstaff Grand Slams, and competed at three national poetry slams from 2008 to 2010.
  • A veteran national competitor, Lauren Perry competed at the National Poetry Slam with the Mesa Poetry Slam Team in 2006, 2009 and 2010. She also proudly represented Sedona at the 2012 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Denver.
  • Austin Reeves is an up-and-coming voice in both Sedona and Flagstaff. A coffee-loving creative writing student at NAU, Reeves has already made an impact, taking second at the last Sedona Poetry Slam in May.
  • Beginning in Flagstaff in 2005, Rowie Shebala has slammed all over Arizona. After graduating from NAU with a Bachelors of Science in Theater and a minor in English, she hosted the poetry slam in Gallup, N.M. On the national level, she competed at the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit and as a member of the Mesa Slam Team in 2011.
  • Tyler Sirvinskas aka Valence, was a member of the 2011 Flagstaff National Poetry Slam team. He is the top-ranked poet competing in the Sedona grand slam.
  • A political science student at NAU, Spencer Troth’s introspective work brings compassion to his views of current events, such as a poem touching on the double murder outside Sedona in January. Troth will be taking his poetic voice overseas as a political science student in France next year.
  • Mikel Weisser is a school teacher from Kingman, an Occupy activist and a 2012 candidate for Arizona’s Congressional District 4. In conjunction with his congressional campaign and activist activities, Weisser schedules poetry performances all over the state.
  • Part of the performance included a duo poem featuring me
    performing "[The Dust] In the Corners of this Room" with my
    then-girlfriend Azami dancing to the piece.
  • Joshua Wiss’ infectious enthusiasm for life is evident in his energetic performances. A recent graduate of NAU with a degree in creative writing, Wiss performed at every Sedona Poetry Slam this season and is currently ranked No. 2.
Part of the performance included a duo poem featuring me performing "[The Dust] In the Corners of this Room" with my then-girlfriend Azami dancing to the piece.

That was awesome.


The 2012 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team members were chosen: Valence, Evan Dissinger, Josh Wiss, Frank O'Brien and Spenser Troth




Desert Rocks Music Festival

The Apocalypse Slam, The Dust and Whiskey Slam,The Hunger Slam, whatever the 12 poets who participated wanted to call it, it was a struggle but awesome when all was said and done.

Notice the lack of green on the underlying map. The festival was dust, just
dust.
The slam itself was great, the camaraderie between those of us who went will last for years, because performing slam poems in the face of 50-mile-an-hour dusty gusts will make you tight with each other. Misery loves company.

Hanging out with Seth Walker, Solomon Schneider and some of the best slam poets in the country was worth all the heartache of going and competing:
  • Karen Neverland was a member of the Salt City Slam Team in 2010 and has featured at many venues around the Salt Lake area with her poetry and motivational speaking. She has been featured on KRCL’s RadioActive and City Weekly’s Zionized and has recently completed a full-length philosophy book (unpublished). Karen has also self-published three chapbooks of poetry and often performs under the nickname “Karo”. In her free time she runs Salt Lake City’s most successful open microphone at Greenhouse Effect and enjoys creating music. 
  • Amy Everhart has been called one of "America's most refreshing Poetic Voices", a whirling-dervish of a performer whose voice sucker punched itself into the National Consciousness when she made history in Berkley California on October 10th, 2009 by being the first Woman to ever win the Individual World Poetry Slam, the most highly coveted title in United States performance poetry.
  •  Will Stanford is co-founder of Sparrow Ghost Publishing and Collective, a hair-stylist in training, hst of Portland Poetry Slam, Word-Out and Broetry. I write poems and do hoodrat stuff with my friends. Also, he performed a poem naked.
  • Slam scores posted during the Desert Rock Music Festival.
  • Jackhammer Serenade is composed of Dre Johnson and Patrick Ohslund and was born of fire and incalculable odds as these two poets converged from vastly different backgrounds on the 2009 poetry team Life Sentence. Since then they have given themselves entirely to multi voice work in order to further the human experiment of melding consciousness.
    Their work is at once tongue and cheek combined with a biting no-nonsense social commentary on the unseen suffering going on in the urban world.
  • Jesse Parent is a poet, an improviser, a former mixed martial arts fighter, a computer nerd, a husband, a father, and, above all, a human being. According to the results of the 2010 and 2011 Individual World Poetry Slams, he is also the 2nd ranked slam poet in the world.
  • Jordan Ranft loves poetry. He loves writing it, and he loves performing it. In the few years he has been practicing his craft he has taken the scene by storm. First starting performance career out in Colorado Jordan placed several times at the Mercury Cafe Slam in Denver. Now residing in northern California he has performed all over the bay area, won multiple slams, and has featured at several big name events including the Northbay Poetry Slam and the San Francisco How Weird Street Fair.
  • Lauren Zuniga is a nationally touring poet, teaching artist and activist. She is one of the top 5 ranked female poets in the world, the 2012 Activist-in-Residence at the OU Center for Social Justice and the founder of Oklahoma Young Writers. MoveOn.org, called her poem "The most riveting message on the war on women in under three minutes." Her work has also featured in On the Issues Magazine, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Being Liberal, RH Reality Check, Muzzle Magazine, The Good Things About America and The Gayly.
  • Gray Brian Thomas is a performance poet born and raised in Salt Lake City Utah. Graduating cum laude with a B.A. in English in 2012 from the University of Utah where he was editor of enormous rooms, the undergraduate literary journal, Gray has been writing and performing poetry for several years. He was a member of the 2007, and 2011 Salt City Slam teams, and is a current member of the 2012 Salt City Slam team. He helped found the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational team for the University of Utah, which sent it's first ever representatives to the 2012 CUPSI tournament. Gray is also the 2012 Individual World Poetry Slam representative for Salt Lake City, which will take place later this year in Fayettville, Ark.
  • Lacey Roop is a nationally recognized and touring poet placing 6th in the 2011 Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS), was the Austin, TX Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) representative, and has been a two-time member of the renowned Austin Poetry Slam.
    What is far more interesting about Lacey, however, is that she has an uncanny ability to get hit by cars while biking, finds the fact that we are all made of stars both fascinating and comforting, and wears a key around her neck that unlocks the bottom of the ocean. Really, it does.
  • The rapper Progress.
  • Lilly Fangz
  • Me 
And we got to see Beats Antique, Brother Ali, and the winners, Jackhammer Serenade, opened for the Wailers.




    Copperstate Poetry Slam

    Valence, Josh Wiss, Evan Dissinger, and
    Frank O'Brien show off the 2012 Copperstate
    Poetry Slam trophy they won as the Sedona
    National Poetry Slam Team.
    The Copperstate Poetry Slam brought together poetry slam teams from all over Arizona. Flagstaff was rocking it, but Nodalone and I dropped our duo "Babies" and effectively threw the slam.

    My Sedona boys, however, rocked it and took home the trophy.

    Spenser Troth was in Los Angeles getting visa from the French consulate for a future study abroad course and coun't attend. The rest of the 2012 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team Valence, Evan Dissinger, Josh Wiss, Frank O'Brien

    After Nationals, the team chose to give me the trophy as the Sedona SlamMaster, which now sits on my entertainment unit, proudly overlooking all the slams of the 2012-2013 slam poetry season.

    Whatever team I'm on in 2013 will be gunning for the next trophy.




    The FlagSlam Team at Nationals in August and peforming nothing but duo poems.

    I have always loved Ryan Brown's poetry.

    Being able to perform a duo poem with him at the National Poetry Slam was awesome. We had performed my poem "Dear Pluto" flawlessly at the Copperstate Poetry Slam and I was looking forward to slamming it at Nationals.

    FlagSlam 2012: nodalone, Ryan Brown, Jackson Morris, myself and Tara
    Pollock outside our venue at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.
    I wrote the poem and Ryan did the edits to transform it into a duo.

    We killed it in the first and second rounds of the National Poetry Slam and gave the powerhouse Nuyorican Poets' Cafe a run for its money, leading them for two rounds before they and Hawaii slam pushed out some great poems and pushed us to third place.

    Slamming with such a talented team was a great experience.

    Having been to nationals as a solo performer so many times, I looked forward to an odd anomaly this year; I perform on the nationals stage three times, none of which were solo. My first poem was with Ryan, my second was "Babies" with nodalone, and my third was a duo poem with Tara Pollock dancing.

    I also got trashed at nationals, no surprise there, and handed out nearly every copy of


    My newest poetry book "The Opposite of Camouflage"

    GumptionFest VII

    Yep, seven years of providing free art for the community.

    This was the first year without our founders Dylan Jung and Danielle Gervasio. There was some complaints about shifting the location of the venue from Coffee Pot Drive to the Old Marketplace and a lot of headaches between organizers who had some difficulty getting along. There were also complaints about so many out of town acts and so few locals on the stages. But the economy has been weak, and there are fewer full-tme and amateur performers in Sedona,

    Splitting sites was admittedly troublesome as a lot of people didn't realize the festival was as large as it was. The stage at Sun Signs suffered the most, which is real shame because Mark Jacobson has been one of biggest, longest supporters.

    GumptionFest is always an experiement and we learned from this one. As we say every GumptionFest, next year will be better.

    On the plus side, I fought for my poets to be treated as equals on the programs, website and promotional materials. Poets The Klute, Tara Pollock, Evan Dissinger, Josh Wiss, Taylor Hayes, John Q, Batman (Biance Luedecker) and Geoff Jackson all had a turn on the microphone with The Klute winning the annual GumptionFest Haiku Death Match, reclaiming the title from his 2010 victory.

    Get ready for GumptionFest VIII in September.




    Death of Chris Lane in August

    Ever since Christopher Lane's death, people have asked me my reaction, or been afraid to. This is as near as I get to an official statement.

    The reason I moved to Sedona in March 2004 was to help Chris Lane run NORAZ Poets.

    Despite being friends from the 2001 Flagstaff National Poetry Slam Team through our years living together as slam poets in Sedona, he kicked me off the 2006 NORAZ Poets Slam Team after Meghan Jones had a temper tantrum over some angry emails and quit in a tizzy about two weeks before the National Poetry Slam.

    The fact Lane created a previously nonexistent "ethics of email correspondence" rule and tried to send me a certified letter telling me I was off the rather then call me or stop by -- we lived in the same small town after all -- was a bullshit move on his part I felt and I never forgave him for the coldness with which he behaved toward his friendly rival and one of his oldest in Northern Arizona.

    This staged photo of Chris Lane in Jerome in 2004 and me would later prove
    to be our de facto relationship from 2006 until his death in Aug. 2012.
    Thus began the Sedona Poetry Civil War, as one of our mutual friends called it in 2010. For the first year, I was "banned" from competing in NORAZ slams, but still went to a few in Flagstaff while avoiding those in my own town. I still co-ran a relatively popular open mic with Greg Nix at the Szechuan Martini Bar.

    In February 2007, Sedona Monthly ran an article of Lane's franchise of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project and accidently ran my name in the story and photo captions, to which I took great delight. The reporter had never met me.

    On March 12, 2007, he called for a truce and we met in a neutral location at a restaurant to discuss the terms. We negotiated a code of conduct for NORAZ, the terms of which he changed when he sent a final draft on March 27, 2007, adding in a whole series of rules about drug and alcohol use, which in a poetry scene or any civil setting were superfluous and unnecessary for a simple nonprofit. After all, I held a poetry open mic at a Sedona bar and banning minors from entering was the job of the bar and the bouncers, not Nix and myself.

    At the same time, Nix and I were hosting the Sedona Poetry Open Mic, an event which Lane wanted to put the NORAZ Poets logo, but which Nix and I declined as long as the alcohol portion of the code of conduct was still in question. In any case the dialogue fell apart by mid-April.

    In 2007-2008, Aaron Johnson stepped down as FlagSlam Slam Master. NORAZ. The new FlagSlam had little to do with NORAZ afterward, and in late 2008, the FlagSlam poets asked me to feature. That marked the end of Lane's involvement with the adult slam as he turned to Brave New Voices, the youth slam teams, and one for which there was more grant money to be had to run the nonprofit. I made a point to fill the void for all ages slams in the Verde Valley, first hosting a team slam at the Old Town Center for the Arts in Cottonwood, then later starting the Sedona Poetry Slam in 2009.

    By 2009, the civil war had become a cold one; he didn't attend or support any of my events and I didn't attend or support any of his; the exception being one Sedona Poetry Slam featuring a former 2001 teammate, Josh Fleming, which he attended but did not speak to me.

    I stylized the Sedona Poetry Slam to be what NORAZ Poets had began as, and opposite of what it evolved into. I wanted Sedona Poetry Slam to be open to all without regard to poets' personal lives, democratic, supportive both artistically and financially, and I set the ground rule that under no circumstances would I make any profit from poetry slams. All money from the slam returns to the poets via prize money, feature poets' pay, or team registration. In the intervening years, I heard stories from other poets and arts organizers about questionable financial and personal behavior; money or support for programs promised, then retracted, then promised again, then retracted or renegotiated, and various poets in Northern Arizona had falling outs over projects he supported then backed off from.

    Lane also began to refer to himself as Ya'ir, a Hebrew word meaning "he who enlightens," and putting "Christopher" into quotes. Lane was raised Catholic, but had become a Buddhist by the time I met him in Sedona. He converted to Judiasm before marrying his wife, but the name change was a bit much. I mean, we used to make fun of poets with stage names, going so far as suggesting he starting slamming under the stage name "Moniker" and I start slamming as "Pre-10-Shus" (pretentious). Toward the end, I suppose someone in the scene should have seen the decline, but his charisma just made him seem like he was getting more and more eccentric.

    On Aug. 19, 2012, at 7:05 a.m., Lane was pronounced dead at his home from benzodiazepine and narcotic intoxication, according to the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office. I received word from a mutual friend later that morning and got a copy of the autopsy in September. Reading an autopsy is a odd experience -- an antiseptic description of a person's body you once used to share conversation and meals.

    I always expected that at some point, Lane would have apologized and our years of enmity would have come to an abrupt end. I'm not vindictive without cause and I'm quick to forgive when I believe in the sincerity of an apology. With his accidental overdose, we never had the luxury of repairing our friendship, but deep down I always thought it was inevitable.

    The civil war -- a melodramatic title but one I like, being a poet -- did make me into a better organizer and public figure simply because I tried to be his opposite. In the end, knowing him longer than nearly anyone outside of his family, and seeing both his light side and dark side, I feel like I knew him better than most and I hope in the end, he respected me as only a rival could. Coming to terms with his death was difficult because few people understood what having a sincere arch-rival or arch-nemesis is like. One mutual friend asked if I felt like Superman, Batman, or Obi-wan Kenobi hearing Lex Luthor, the Joker or Anakin Skywalker had died, but another said it was more like Iron Man and Captain America: we were rivals and didn't get along, but in the end, we were on the same side, promoting poetry and inspiring other poets to take the stage.

    That poem will one day be written.




    Saul Williams on November

    There are a few Greats in poetry slam every slammer should see in the flesh at least once. Marc Smith. Mike McGee. Derrick Brown. Shane Koyczan. Patricia Smith. Marty McConnell. Rachel McKibbons. Beau Sia. Taylor Mali. and Saul Williams.

    Considering Saul Williams lives in Paris now, I figured the nearest I would ever get would be some book tour in the late 2030s when I could afford the airfare and time off to hop a suborbital shuttle and catch him at some little theater in the Sorbonne.

    Instead, he came to Phoenix and performed a feature at Lawn Gnome, the bookstore performance space owned by my old friend and FlagSlam teammate Aaron Johnson.

    He performed new poems as well as his signature poems, ", said the Shotgun to the Head," "Sha-Clack-Clack," "Black Stacey" "S/he" and a big portion of "The Dead Emcee Scrolls."

    I got all my books signed, too.




    November Election

    As a news junkie, I was obsessed with the 2012 elections, both on the state and national levels. I interviewed Congressional District 1 Democratic primary candidate Wenona Benally Baldenegro, Republican primary candidate Doug Wade and the eventual winner, Ann Kirkpatrick.

    I installed Nate Silver's 535 app so I could watch the daily poll changes as they came across every morning.

    The reelection of Barack Obama seemed more or less inevitable as the opposition put forth only mediocre candidates unloved by the party running on an anti-Obama campaign rather than putting forth a real plan for any worthwhile changes.

    Gay marriage was approved in four states and recreational marijuana use was approved in two states, and while I have no vested personal interest in either, I am happy to see American move to sanity on progressive social issues.

    The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell means we're moving toward an America where I can one day go to a gay friend's wedding which will have the same legal standing a straight one. “The arc of the moral universe Is long, but it bends toward justice,” minister Theodore Parker said in an 1853 sermon. One day I will, with great difficulty, attempt to explain to my children how their country could think one group of people could be denied their civil rights based on whom they love.

    I expect puzzled looks at the absurdity during that conversation.




    Winning the Dylan Thomas Award in December


    Mary Heyborne won the Christopher Lane Memorial Award. I won the Dylan
    Thomas Award for Excellence in the Written and Spoken Word, Eric Haury
    and Barbara tied for third and Josh Wiss won second place.
    On Dec. 14, Pumphouse Poets and Prose in Ken's Creekside Plaza and Cocopah Bead Shop North, awarded me the Dylan Thomas for Excellence in the Written and Spoken Word. Poet Joshua Wiss won the second place Dylan Thomas award and debuted his first book of poetry "Wonder: Full Bloom." Author and poet Barbara Mayer and author Eric Haury tied for third.

    Poet and playwright Mary Heyborne won the Christopher Lane Memorial Award.

    The Pumphouse Prose and Poetry Project is sponsored by Gary Every, author of 11 books who acted as presenter at the readings, Dr. Elizabeth Oakes, award winning poet and former Shakespeare professor, Cynthia Tuck, owner of Ageless Pages Bookstore and Ann Fabricant, owner of Cocopah North. The project will resume reading in the spring.





    Necessary Publishing

    The last two days of the year, I spent in Flagstaff with Ryan Brown, Robert Gonzales, Verbal Kensington, Josh Wiss and his girlfriend Katie, Maya Hall, Evan Dissinger, working on our newest project, NecessaryPublishing, from which plan to have a 100+ page book by early-2013.

    It's the culmination of all the art we're created over the last few months coming to life thanks to Verbal Kensington's motivation and organization.

    That's my focus for 2013.

    "2012: What Brought Us Together" A compilation video by Jean-Louis Nguyen




    A video by Jean-Louis Nguyen



    Rundown of all the scenes:
    TimeTitle / DescriptionLink to original clip
    0:00
    New Year’s Eve in Londonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1yLRK2M8YQ
    0:10
    Sandy Hook Elementary Schoolhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epJo_ic_wds
    0:14
    Christian Bale visits Aurora COhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyB9rjIRx4k
    0:17
    Hurricane Sandy hits East Coasthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeutC1WN6dc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyohW9rYEKc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhMaMczd1qQ
    0:29
    Floods in Manilahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2JiJ5AQIc
    0:34
    Syria violence raw videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGmcfro1wrQ
    0:38
    Tear gas fired at Egyptian protestershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E-ZFGrskFg
    0:42
    Kony 2012 Part IIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Ue6REkeTA
    0:45
    Sinking of Costa Concordia in Italyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydKlChe6jjo
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QInuFYRZwPw
    0:49
    Gay marine homecoming kiss goes viral (Sgt Morgan)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t2AVHSYj9s
    0:53
    Suicide of Amanda Todd
    Teens react to bullying
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF6cmddWOgU
    1:02
    Anti-bullying,, CBS news anchor
    Norwich Free Academy R-Word
    Cypress Ranch Anti-bullying lip dub
    Anti-bullying flash mob (Richmond)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUOpqd0rQSo
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ5oIdSduh4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waAqJ6727Hk
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiixPxVq_uc
    1:16
    YouTube as a resource (footage)
    audio from Ellen DeGeneres show
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6RDpOGqeCg
    1:20
    Shaun Wilson-Miller’s goodbye message (chronic heart disease)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAaEw_EB7Ws
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLeFN9E-wMc
    1:30
    We Won’t Be Defeated (Jen Burgess Thompson, cancer survivor)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVcImSOztw
    1:32
    Sunset (from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s The Most Astounding Fact)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU
    1:36
    Felix Baumgartner’s space jumphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I
    1:38
    Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls, Ontariohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_oW62-zrc
    1:40
    Stephanie Decker lost legs saving her kids during Indiana tornado; takes first stepshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-olwtu4w9k
    1:43
    6 year old boy with cerebral palsy surprises returning US Marine dad by walking; first time seeing his son walkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqPlBy2-abA
    1:47
    Big brother and returning Marine Bailey Leonard surprises Meyers Leonard at basketball practicehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiFh9DJJpPM
    1:50
    Marines carry 11 year old Ben (with prosthetic leg) across triathlon finish line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UQWh-xXlOs
    1:53
    Marine proposes upon homecominghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUanCKvZ_rY
    1:54
    Proposal (Brad & Emily lip dub)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz_s8ThT6oc
    1:55
    Surprise flash mob proposal in Bryant Parkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uCP1bkpe9o
    1:57
    Proposal in Singapore (Naresh & Clement)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_QIiAvO5TI
    1:58
    Proposal on a plane (Ryan Thompson)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxTAjVGN4CE
    1:59
    Flash mob proposal in Las Vegashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C-lstrggoQ
    2:00
    Same as 1:55 (dancing part)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uCP1bkpe9o
    2:01
    Proposal (Isaac’s lip dub)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_v7QrIW0zY
    2:03
    Proposal (Venice Italy)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy-md08UUlk
    2:06
    John Unger carries his sick dog of 19 years in Lake Superior to ease arthritic painhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    2:08
    Baby elephant is saved and reunited with motherhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOHw7lX3Gu4
    2:14
    Mars Curiosity Rover leaves Earthhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4YqNoLkmxE
    2:18
    Higgs Boson discovery (CERN)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbGHsj2SWc
    2:22
    London 2012 Opening/Closing Ceremonieshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    2:27
    Marathon near Big Ben (London 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    2:30
    Michael Phelps wins most Olympic medals in historyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fJmxIXij-8
    2:31
    Oscar Pistorius, first double amputee Olympianhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaXwioLpXcc
    2:34
    BBC staff cheers for Mo Farah in 10,000m eventhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW7J4J4Bh5I
    2:35
    Ussain Bolt (Jamaica) and Mo Farrah (UK) trade poses on the final day of athletics in London 2012http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5P4ZQCCHN8
    2:37
    Ellie Simmonds (UK) at the Paralympicshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    2:38
    Blind Paralympic runner Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil wins the Women’s 100m T11 final in Londonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvwuAGHJP24
    2:40
    Impaired UK table tennis player William Bayley cries after losing in London 2012http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    2:41
    Oscar Pistorius hugs Jonnie Peacock who won gold in T44 100mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fiyqEGddk
    2:42
    London 2012 Closing Ceremonieshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    2:46
    Spain wins Euro 2012 Cuphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv-fwz89yGo
    2:49
    Aung San Suu Kyi hosts Barack Obama at her home in Burmahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ai6AZfUcSM
    2:50
    Tourist gives his shoes to homeless girl in Rio de Janeirohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    2:50
    NYPD officer Lawrence DePrimo buys a pair of new shoes for homelesshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    2:51
    Meghan Vogel helps opponent runner cross the finish line in Ohiohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    2:52
    The hugging cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6g_Io4DltE
    2:53
    Drunk guy serenades his cat with rendition of Kiss From A Rosehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scczP4z9xr4
    2:53
    Guy lip syncs Black Hole holding cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El8ew2v2zrw
    2:54
    Henri the sad black cat (won best cat internet video award)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiYUzYozsAQ
    2:55
    Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That memehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFEoMO0pc7k
    2:55
    Gotye cover by Walk off the Earth (Somebody That I Used To Know)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M
    2:56
    Gangnam Style (Psy)
    Minecraft Style
    Nelly Furtado
    Novak Djokovic
    Daily Grace (Youtuber)
    Army (West Point)
    Farmer style
    NASA Johnson Style
    Asian mom and son: Mike Song
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9emjalsOsE
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmYhbNZ5Zac
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmYhbNZ5Zac
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFkXT49dKz0
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4RLoG9234
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX153eYcVrY
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sar5WT76kE
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJXgiUe_EM
    3:02
    Boy escapes problems and clears mind by dancing
    Short Film “With a Piece of Chalk”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZAFJ-Q6Mw
    3:03
    2012 USA Olympic Swimming Team
    (Call Me Maybe parody)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIA7mpm1wU
    3:04
    Twin babies dance to dad’s guitarhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to7uIG8KYhg
    3:05
    Project Glass demo with baby in Hangout (Bebe Gayno)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZDirHMEmXk
    3:05
    Catch the ice dudehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7c5tQCs1I
    3:06
    Color Me Rad (fundraising race)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHR3XwIZS_o
    3:06
    Footballers carrying victim
    (TNT: A Dramatic Surprise on A Quiet Square)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316AzLYfAzw
    3:07
    Disabled Gulf War veteran Arthur runs again (Arthur’s transformation)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
    3:08
    Mom who survived ovarian cancer runs with 2 sons (Jen Burgess)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVcImSOztw
    3:09
    Paralympic runners at the 100m T44 T43 final in London (Jonnie Peacock won gold for UK)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fiyqEGddk
    3:09
    Children running (from Winston Fiore’s walk across Southeast Asia)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvnml6Z1H0
    3:10
    Crowd runs towards camera (Kony 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
    3:11
    Glee flash mob proposal (Seattle)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqsVk4XYKk
    3:12
    Blind man, Steve Mahan, rides the Google self-driving carhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE
    3:13
    Felix Baumgartner jumps from podhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I
    3:17
    NASA reacts to Curiosity landinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svUJdzMHwmM
    3:27
    1969 footage from Moon landinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4
    3:31
    IN MEMORIAM
    Neil Armstrong - astronaut
    Whitney Houston - singer/actor
    Michael Clarke Duncan - actor
    Dick Clark - TV personality
    Gore Vidal - author
    Donna Summer - singer
    Andy Griffith - actor/producer
    Andy Williams - singer (Moon River)
    Sally Ride - first US women in space
    Mike Wallace - TV personality
    Sarah Burke - Canadian freestyle skier

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkqxfpc_Ido
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWTaaS7LdU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MetAxxA1H6E
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqPO5gMU1hA
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWODMla3IWk
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cPIT_T3mYU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjfIn_7erK8
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi0UUP7g-0M
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK6H3SE0pl4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hX9UpCuTvo
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI7AbA3NmPc
    3:59
    Sarah Burke on ski coursehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI7AbA3NmPc
    4:00
    Sky divers footage (3 clips)http://vimeo.com/44658040
    4:03
    Sky-divers wearing Google Glass jump towards conference center in San Franciscohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7TB8b2t3QE
    4:04
    Project Glass concept videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4
    4:05
    Space Shuttle Endeavour in the streets of LAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc
    4:06
    Celebrations in Egypt as Morsi declared winner of electionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWGPvdf3ufQ
    4:07
    Preacher Phil Snider stuns a city council with gay rights speechhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8JsRx2lois
    4:08
    Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard addresses end of the worldhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtj3gDaE64
    4:09
    UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, chatting on Google+http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtj3gDaE64
    4:10
    Pussy Riot controversy in Russiahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCasuaAczKY
    4:11
    Sebastian Vettel is F1 Championhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMWQeHz_moQ
    4:12
    Bradley Wigging wins the Tour de France for UKhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpSuw95_r_8
    4:13
    Tearful Andy Murray after losing Wimbledon against Roger Federerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0o3BYK6uc
    4:14
    Obama tearfully addresses his staff after campaignhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBK2rfZt32g
    4:15
    Diana Nyad attempts to swim from Cuba to Floridahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4cbZOSv7-c
    4:16
    Tom Daley (UK Olympic diver)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lDfCSO_nGQ
    4:18
    Rescues of Hurricane Sandy victimshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZCTYLCYZ9Y
    4:19
    Bullied bus monitor, Karen Kleinhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93wAqnPQwk
    4:20
    Blind vietnamese contestant Christine Ha wins MasterChefhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7gxiKeOAss
    4:21
    Ross Cappioni survives gang shooting at 17, tells storyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KAkAgNb-R8
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KAkAgNb-R8
    4:22
    Malala Yousufzai, 14, survives Taliban assassination attempt in Pakistan, country rallies for herhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F5yeW6XFZk
    4:23
    Caine’s Arcade: 9 year old uses cardboard to build his own arcade in his dad’s used auto parts storehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U
    4:24
    Marine reunites with dog after 7 months deployedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBOibiisqdQ
    4:25
    Two Norwegian guys rescue a baby lamb drowning in oceanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    4:26
    Raden Soemawinata rescues Bibi the dog, blown into water by force winds in Melbournehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    4:27
    Parkdale firefighter rescues cat from a house fire (2009 but re-surfaced in 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    4:28
    Firefighter rescues unconscious cat, who is later revivedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    4:29
    Pat the cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fwXeBCMrT4
    4:30
    The original Grumpy cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INscMGmhmX4
    4:31
    Girls dancing with boy:
    Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen) parody by MattyBRaps
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM7nlIsBLoc
    4:32
    YouTube Rewind (RPG, zebra, etc)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCkYw3cRwLo
    4:33
    Dragon Babyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHWvFrpocY
    4:35
    Why You Asking All Them Questions (SpokenReasons)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwUX4cSwrRk
    4:35
    Breaking up with overly attached girlfriend (Life According to Jimmy)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg6iMDfOl9E
    4:37
    End of the World (Ryan Higa)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4QQfK6Q4UQ
    4:39
    Cinnamon challenge (Glozell)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyk7utV_D2I
    4:39
    2 billion views (Ray William Johnson)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f-z_hFpwQk
    4:40
    Philip DeFranco (sxephil)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmQjdsHiKp8
    4:41
    Cooper River Bridge Run’s Ridiculously Photogenic Guyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVezRCVuEsE
    4:42
    Mohawk guy (NASA)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32p02ckfwA
    4:43
    McKayla Maroney is not impressedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twBq1KiCX9M
    4:44
    Spice Girls reunite at London 2012 Closinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhiY4LE4Z6M
    4:45
    Ball drop in Time Square (starting 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XplfOVLv_gk
    4:46
    400 million Android activationshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UhGM2us8eA
    4:47
    Real life Nyan Cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82GvW2bm6Nc
    4:48
    Death of Marty, the real cat who inspired Nyan Cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GNepioKxM
    4:49
    Cinematic Homage to the Twinkiehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVtmtq1O9M
    4:50
    Trololo Man 37 years later (died in 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ANfJskbmY
    4:51
    Call Me Maybe parody (by gloveandboots)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hX7g91s2jY
    4:52
    Vancouver Canucks player Kevin Bieksa attacked by cute kidshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omAuumMgcYg
    4:53
    The Athlete Machine - Red Bullhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0jmSsQ5ptw
    4:54
    Niantic Project (Ingress), augmented reality gamehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Vaor0PZYg
    4:55
    Underwater Google+ Hangout with the Catlin Seaview Surveyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLud5QpfRs
    4:57
    Call Me Maybe (Chatroulette version) by Steve Kardynalhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAQhG59zqZc
    4:59
    Beach proposal (video message)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz_s8ThT6oc
    5:00
    Singer Daria Musk gives a live concert in a Google+ Hangouthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blN7M39yh0I
    5:01
    Major websites participate in Stop-SOPA movement
    (Black out day: January 18, 2012)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCimMmuYTnc
    5:02
    Google+ button counthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCimMmuYTnc
    5:03
    IPv6 launch across the worldhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uwjt32NvVA
    5:04
    Stephen Hawking appears at London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremonyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBmmA7rfliw
    5:05
    Peace March in Ugandahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
    5:06
    Peace crowd at San Diego campus (Kony)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
    5:07
    Tibetan brothershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU
    5:08
    Former US Marine Winston Fiore’s ‘Smile Trek’, 5000 miles across Southeast Asia for children living with cleftshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvnml6Z1H0
    5:09
    Kids show peace sign in Libyahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXTHm_7Nfjw
    5:11
    Women celebrate first vote in Egypthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC-pZIEYGp0
    5:11
    Spoken Word (Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY
    5:13
    Terminally ill man receives letter from all over the webhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hYNRpdU2No
    5:13
    Spain team comes home from Euro 2012 victoryhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naKIzCh3L_E
    5:15
    Dad holds girl on beach (after proposing to mom)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0WrPy_cSn4
    5:16
    Stop cancerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVcImSOztw
    5:17
    First man cured of HIV, Timothy Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xdK-00aVss
    5:18
    Disabled athletes from Rio de Janeiro celebrate at London 2012 Paralympic Closing Ceremonyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    5:19
    Injured soldier reunited with familyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6bCaWb053k
    5:20
    Dad makes ice cream truck Halloween costume for son in wheelchairhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwSZHmzHElM
    5:21
    Alessandro Zanardi, former Formula One driver who lost his legs in 2001, wins paracycling gold for Italy at London 2012http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    5:22
    Paralympian swimmer shows heart sign (London 2012)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    5:23
    Young Guatemalan girl gives flower bouquet to a tourist she just methttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4g2nnuD1E
    5:24
    Proposal kiss (Glee flash mob)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqsVk4XYKk
    5:25
    Proposal kiss (Bruno Mars lip dub)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_v7QrIW0zY
    5:26
    Som Sabadell flash mob orchestra (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg
    5:27
    Star Wars flash mob in Cologne Germanyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTHXIzHPyqE
    5:28
    Cast of Big Bang Theory does Call Me Maybe flash mob http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dql26ssMcVI
    5:29
    One Direction flash mob in Sydneyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1xxiOT27ds
    5:30
    Cornell University does Gangnam Style flash mob on campushttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWetGqX9uFc
    5:31
    Friends sing for couple about to proposehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz_s8ThT6oc
    5:32
    Sunset flash mob in Perthhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRJs7zY7gzQ
    5:33
    Color Me Rad (fundraising race)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHR3XwIZS_o
    5:34
    New Year’s Eve fireworks in Sydneyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-qgkiqiGkE
    5:36
    Eiffel Tower fireworks on July 14 (Bastille Day)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXsbxWa8gEw
    5:37
    Fireworks shot (person in foreground)http://vimeo.com/44658040
    5:38
    Disabled pilot flies over London at 20:12 local time to start the Paralympic Opening Ceremonyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBoI08tSMU
    5:42
    Freedom Tower becomes highest building in NYC / WTC commemorative time lapsehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5_oQfhHLYY
    5:44
    Launch of SpaceX CRS-1 (first civilian spacecraft commissioned by NASA)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgpMKdQDjw4
    5:46
    China’s first female astronaut leaves Earth aboard Shenzhou 9http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf48i8GcEiI
    5:49
    Space Shuttle Endeavour, last flyover in San Franciscohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7wpiKz5cD8
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edX3FkQrSCk
    5:53
    Felix Baumgartner lands back on Earthhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I
    5:56
    Curiosity Rover starts its mission on Marshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4YqNoLkmxE
    5:59
    Chinese lanterns released into sky Grand Rapids, Michiganhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y4fPIYlMMo
    6:03
    Earth from space (International Space Station)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhIGoq9tow