The Spring 2006 Poetry Workshop at CAC@SJB.. Continues to Impress.. and Be Blessed!

Teen poet to look out for, Shaunetta (standing)

shares a laugh with the group at the poetry workshop..


..while Cynthia "Betty Boop" shared some of her old-school moves and poetry, too!

After starting at JHS 292 in East New York, the Spring 2006 Poetry Workshop, given by Luis Bernard of The In Progress Group, has continued at the Center for the Arts & Culture @SJB for the past 2 weeks, and has been nothing less than wonderful!

Teacher and mentor, Luis Bernard, shares a light moment with the group

SUNY Purchase student, Andrew, traveled far to take part while
sharing his poetry at the workshop, and we are so grateful that he did!

The participating teens and adult poets have been coming from all over.. Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, New Jersey, and even students from as far as SUNY Purchase College near Connecticut, have made the long trip to take part, learn, and share their poetry at the workshop!

The truly gifted and generous, guest poet, Falu, has been present,

and sharing her amazing poetry with us at all 3 workshops so far..


..Way to represent, girl! We really appreciate it.

The last two Saturday poetry workshops at the Center have covered an array of writing exercises for the participants to test and expand on their creativity.

Participants take turns recording one another's
poetry as the rest of the group listens in

The workshop has also utilized role play to help strengthen each participants performance capabilities, and to help some of the shyer ones in the group overcome their fear of performing in front of an audience.

Young teens, Efraim and Wendy, take part in a little role play exercise,
and wow the crowd

Super sweet, talented teen, Meera, does her best role play performance yet..



..while Karen is just having a ball!
This past Saturday, she also decided to take us a little deeper
with some of her hard-hitting poetry as well.. Wow!

The participation of all our young teens, our adults, and guest poets have made this poetry workshop one to truly remember. We are so thankful and grateful to them for getting up early on Saturday mornings to be a part of this special workshop.. but we're not done yet!

Already a winner of a recent Nuyorican Poet's Cafe Poetry Slam Competition,
14 year-old, Kiara, shares her amazing poetry at the workshop


Talented musician and poet, Eric, shares some of his poetry and music
at the workshop while his partner, Ivan, listens on with approval

The final poetry workshop session will take place this coming Saturday, April 8th from 1 - 5 pm. at the Center, and promises to be full of fun, amazing poetry performances, and even a few surprises.

Luis Bernard lends a few pointers on performance..


.. and then shows us all how it should be done!

After taking a week off for Spring Break and Easter Week.. we are looking to host a special Poetry Event at the Center on Saturday, April 22nd from 1 - 5 pm. for all the teen and adult poets who took part in the workshops to take turns blazing their poetry. It'll be our way of officially closing the Spring 2006 Poetry Workshop with a serious bang!

One of our special teen participants, Wendy, blows out the candles of her birthday cake at the workshop. We're gonna miss you at the last workshops, Wendy.. but we know we'll be seeing each other again!

But as "one of a kind", Richie Robles, would say.. the show must go on!

With a total of over 25 teen and adult participants who took part in this Spring 2006 Poetry Workshop, we look for our open-mic poetry event to be a full afternoon, overflowing with hot poetry performances! So, all of you better be there.. ready to represent.. or the Poetry Dogs are gonna come and get you!!

Luis Bernard and Glenn Angel.. the Poetry Dogs ready to hunt you down!

We look forward to seeing all of you at our next poetry workshop, and at our workshop ending Poetry Event on Saturday, April 22nd. As always, this poetry event will be free, and is open to all who would like to attend this special offering of spoken word and poetry by our very own talented teen and adult poets who took part in our workshop, and whom represent our community with a lot of passion. Without you all, we wouldn't even be doing this! So, invite your family and friends. You are all welcome.. because the Center is indeed your place to shine!

Just a few of the poetry teens and adults who participated in our workshop..
and whom look forward to seeing all of you at the Center again very soon!

For directions to the Center, please, link into "Direction to CAC@SJB" on the right side of this post. For more info on the In Progress Group Poetry Workshops, contact Mr. Luis Bernard at (347)623-2547 or via e-mail at InProgress@verizon.net

For more info on CAC@SJB, call and leave a message for Mr. Glenn Angel Echevarria at (718)455-6864 ext. 152, or via e-mail at GlennAngel@Gmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you.. and seeing you at the Center soon!