Angela - we will keep your words with us.

I remember Angela first from Seattle - my first NPS ever.

the next year, I was hired to coordinate NPS2002 in Minneapolis. It was difficult trying to explain to my parents what it was I was doing and why it was cool enough to quit my full time job with benefits at the university to take it on.

So for like 8 months I am having the same discussion with mom and dad. Going over it again and again..."it's kind of like the superbowl for performance poetry" "what is performance poetry" "um..."

Then the Sacramento Bee does this big article about the Sacramento Slam team having finals and about Angela and about how they are coming to Minneapolis.

My mom...the cutter and sender of articles about everything...sends it to me in a card with a note something like this, "this was in the paper this week. you should check this out next time you're home. maybe this would be something you'd be interested in doing."

MOM! It is what I'm doing! That festival they're talking about...the one that they're sending poets to??? I'm in charge of organizing that!!!

I might not have fallen far from the tree...but I think, sometimes, that the tree was one of those crazy spliced trees where apples grow on one side and coconuts grow on the other. Yeah. I know.

So Angela is responsible for my parents understanding my life as a poet - well, what parts they do understand.

I put my video in that I filmed from semi-final individuals in Seattle and watched Angela this afternoon. So beautiful - her words. Thank you.