What is it like teaching spoken word to high-school students?
Well, I think that they, like a lot of people in this MTV culture, think that it is the norm to be numb. For queer kids especially there is this emphasis on being cool. We are trying to teach them that it is OK to be passionate. And we have the art come to them, so they see themselves as important, legitimate artists. And they see that their voices are valid. Art is so commodified in this culture that it is important that it becomes accessible for these kids. So they know it can be sitting down and writing a poem; it doesn’t have to be hung on a museum wall. You are performing, along with the Butchies, in Raleigh at a benefit for the Revolutionary Association for the Women of Afghanistan? Yeah, it is interesting. RAWA has been along for such a long time, and all of a sudden they are getting this attention and funding, and they have deserved the money all along. It just goes to show that you have to have a crisis to get people to pay attention. Has Sept. 11 and the resulting crisis affe
