( TONIGHT’S FEATURED STORYTELLERS AND POETS (in order of appearance) (
FAITH PASCUA
Faith is this year’s Youth Slam Hawai‘i Grand Slam Champion. She has been on the two-time defending High School State Champion Farrington Slam Team and this summer represented the state in international competition in Los Angeles at the Brave New Voices Youth Festival (as seen on HBO).
DARLENE RODRIGUES
Darlene is a poet, writer and performer. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Amerasia, disOrient, Katipunan and in the anthologies, Babaylan: Writings by Filipina and Filipina American Writers and Words Matter: Conversations with Asian American Writers. She has read her poetry at venues such as the Honolulu Academy of the Arts, StudioBe’s Rant and Rave, and re:VERSES at Arts at Mark’s Garage. Darlene has also produced several shows on ‘Olelo Community Television.
SERENA SIMMONS
Sixteen year old Serena Simmons discovered Youth Speaks Hawai‘i only two months ago, but this Hawai‘i born poet has been filling the atmosphere with her emotion soaked poetry since 2008. A supporter of the local slam scene, Serena also loves communes, beards, long hair, music, and getting the lead out. Inspired by the feminist movement, music, and psychedelia, she currently hangs at Waikiki’s largest hippie compound and is not a lesbian!
PATRICIA A. BROWN
Patricia is the author of Kula San Maui’s Healing Place, a pictorial history that chronicles the legacy of Kula Sanatorium and reveals the poignant and personal stories of the hospital’s patients, employees and supporters. An educator, psychologist and researcher, Patricia was the Internship Director of School Counseling, Counseling Psychology graduate studies program at Chaminade University and past president of the Filipino Association of University Women. She is president of the Filipino American Historical Society of Hawai‘i and a board member of the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training. She is active in promoting awareness of youth, women’s and educational issues.
SAMSON TAFOLO
Surrendering attentive ears to the sirens and art of spoken word—rather than to patrol cars—17 year old Samson Tafolo has since dreamed of the day he was ready to get down with the infamous Youth Speaks talent. He is honored to be part of such an amazing group of people and seeks to satisfy the poetic needs of any audience that makes time to listen. Samson hopes to make an impact on the next generation as big as Youth Speaks has done for him.
AMALIA BUENO
Amalia was born in Manila and raised in Hawai‘i. Her poetry and stories have been featured in various local and national publications, most recently in Growing Up Filipino II and Walang Hiya: Literature Taking Risks Toward a Liberatory Practice. She is the author of the poetry chapbook On King, You Go Left (2010) and has work forthcoming in Tinfish and Bamboo Ridge. In 2006 she co-produced a cultural adaptation of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and was the publicity coordinator for FLIP OUT!, which played to sold-out audiences in 2009. She is pursuing graduate studies at the University of Hawai‘i and is president of Bueno MediaWorks, a strategic marketing and media relations consulting firm. Amalia smiles whenever she encounters
her favorite Ps: poetry, politics and the Puki Liberation Front.
ELLEN-RAE CACHOLA
Ellen-Rae is an Ilocana born and raised on Maui. She is currently a doctoral student at UCLA’s Information Studies department. She is studying how Manifest Destiny over California led to Manifest Destiny over the Pacific Islands, and how information organization of grassroots women’s movements can manifest different futures. She has published “Gender and U.S. Bases in the Asia-Pacific” and “Resistance, Resilience and Respect for Human Rights: Women Working Across Borders for Peace and Genuine Security,” both in Peace Review. Also, she contributed writings to “Archives imagined elsewhere and otherwise: Asian American community-based archival organizations” in Society of American Archivist Diversity Reader. Her short story, “Romanticized Past,” is included in Walang Hiya: Literature Taking Risks Toward a Liberatory Practice. She is passionate about building alliances among diverse communities across oceans and lands.
TRAVIS T aka TRAVIS KA‘ULULA‘AU THOMPSON
A student, activist, artist, educator, poet, mentor, coach and co-founder of the internationally recognized, award-winning Youth Speaks Hawai‘i, TravisT is a six-time member of the Hawai‘i Slam Team, 2007 Hawai‘i Slam Grand Slam Champ, and winner of the 2003 Red Shark Slam Jam “People’s Choice” Award. His poetry has been featured on National Public Radio, WBAI Radio in New York City, Pacifica Radio in California, Hawaii Public Radio and ‘Olelo TV. He has recorded one CD, “The TrapperKeeperT Files” (2007) and authored two chapbooks: Serving LIFE SENTENCES (2003) and The Politics of Lips (2004). A former co-host of Words @ Ward Rafters & LASTuesdays re:VERSES, he is currently the events coordinator for Youth Speaks Hawai‘i, a creative writing teacher at Palama ICTP (an in-community treatment program for adjudicated teens) and a part-time raw vegan chef.
