The first describes a youth poetry slam group, the Sacrificial Poets, and their trip this week to the 12th annual Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam Festival in Chicago. The young poets talk about what words have meant to them and how they've enriched their lives. They've seen tragedy too young -- one of the founders of the group, Irina Yarmolenko, was brutally and senselessly murdered last year. The group was renamed Sacrificial Poets to honor her but you'll have to read the story to learn why.
At the other end of the age scale is the story of Betsy Harris who goes to local music shows and -- well here's the gist of it:
Revealing only that she's in her "fifties" and graduated from UNC in 1973, Harris is old enough to be the musicians' mother. Instead, she's their friend, recording their art for posterity. Harris is Chapel Hill's superfan, attending two or three shows a night, five to six nights a week. Since retiring in 2003 after 30 years in the human resources department at Chapel Hill Town Hall, Harris has snapped hundreds of thousands of photos, wearing out a dozen cameras.
[Okay, she's not at the "other end of the age scale" -- she's about my age. ;-) So let's say the poets are April and we're July.]
Go check out her Myspace page where she goes by Temples of Grey. Not only does she have tons of vids and music, but she also has a damn comprehensive list of local shows.
Find her photos here and vids here. Check 'em out.
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