In a world where the reoccurrence of evil is persistent, where even so-called progressives oscillate between doing the right thing and failing to act, where even those on the Left may not be on the same channel, we need the arts to help us find some frequency through which we can resonate in our efforts to transform society!
Let's come together in a poetry/spoken word open mic of justice, conscious thought, spirituality, fam, real life—whatever advances the village! In the tradition of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth magazine, come drop some rad “fiyah” on us, or contribute just with your presence and energy! By the way: it’s a non-erotic poetry, non-“Love Jones” type of evening, so we ask that you not go there. (And, almost needless to say, leave the misogyny, homophobia and other unnecessary ish outside!)
Giving us the artistic, liberatory vibrations this evening will be FreeQuency!
FreeQuency is a Kenyan, Immigrant, Shoga/Queer storyteller, speaker & feeler. The 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, a 2017 TEDWomen speaker and the 3rd-ranked poet at the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam, FreeQuency is a highly sought after performer, host, social justice teaching artist and workshop leader. Rooted in various global communities and having spent their life at the intersection of arts, education and activism, they and/or their work in Reproductive Justice, #BlackLivesMatter organizing & activism, LGBTQ+ advocacy and writing have been featured on The Independent, the New York Times, OkayAfrica, Upworthy, TEDx, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, & other outlets.
FreeQuency is the founder of A Gate is Leaning: A Black Poetry Series, and EMERGENT: A Storytellers Retreat at Foxfire Ranch (2018), and is a co-founder of the Afro-Fashion & Culture blog Noirlinians. They are a recipient of the Louisiana’s Worldmakers Grant (2021), The Poets & Writers Project Grants for BIPOC Writers (2020) and The Platforms Fund (2018). FreeQuency has also received the Newcomb Alumni Association Young Alumni Award (2020) and the Black Out LOUD Excellence in Arts Activism Conference Award (2018), and was named one of Gambit's 40 under 40 (2018), an Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight Health Scholar (2018), and a Yerba Buena Center for the Arts YBCA 100 Honoree (2018). A dissertation, “Slam Poetry vs. Racism: Awakening Awareness and Social Change in FreeQuency’s 'Dear White People' and 'The Gospel of Colonization'” (2016), was written about their social justice spoken word poetry.
open_in_newhttps://www.freequencyspeaks.com/
Holdin’ it down for the evening is Analysis—poet/spoken word artist, author, rad minister and bookseller, educator, justice & human rights person… Y’all know what’s up!
open_in_newhttps://www.liberationandpoetry.com
CashApp to support the artists:
The mic list will be ready for you at Emma’s so you can get on the mic and share something with us! Additionally, we will pass the bucket—physically and electronically—to give something to our featured poet and to help build for the future. Please support independent artists!
The evening is brought to you by Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, a worker-owned and collectively operated restaurant, bookstore, and community events space in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland that is dedicated to putting principles of solidarity and sustainability into practice in a democratic workplace!
Remember: PEACE, JUSTICE, POETRY! Will we see you there?