NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS ^m POETRY FOUNDATION present NATIONAL RECITATION CONTEST ■ ♦t.y 2006 National Finals t£\; .Si^Kf" WR' ■ Eflw V'", Saws May 16 -7:30 pm Lincoln Theatre - Washington, DC NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest annual funder of the arts in the United States. An independent federal agency, the NEA is the official arts organization of the United States government, dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts — both new and established — bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. POETRY The Poetry Foundation is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. The Foundation publishes Poetry magazine, sponsors a variety of public programs, and supports creative projects in literature. m "arts ^'L™. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation celebrates, promotes, and supports the richness and diversity of the region's arts resources and works to increase access to the arts and cultures of the region and the world. Welcome to the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest finals. This exciting new program invites the dynamic elements of theatre and spoken word to poetry instruction in high school classrooms. Poetry Out Loud helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Poetry Out Loud began as a pilot program two years ago in Chicago and Washington, DC. This year all 50 states and the District of Columbia held recitation contests, thanks to the tremendous efforts of State Arts Agencies, schools, and teachers across the country. Tens of thousands of students — from Alaska to Florida, from Maine to Hawai'i — competed to be here today. This event presents the State Champions. Congratulations to everyone who participated, particularly to the students who vied in regional semi-finals earlier today for the twelve finalist slots this evening. Competitive recitation has its roots in ancient Greece. And while all contests divide winners from losers, the oldest function of poetry is to unite a culture by sharing its common stories. Recitation of the best classic and contemporary poems is an art that continues to create and deepen communities. C^Et^^'< Dana Gioia Chairman National Endowment for the Arts cu£a Sxj^ I John Barr President Poetry Foundation Host and Judges for National Finals Host Scott Simon, a Chicago native, brings a well- traveled perspective to his role as Host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. During his career, he has covered ten wars from El Salvador to Iraq, and he has won every major award in broadcasting, including the Peabody, the Emmy, and the Columbia-Dupont. Simon also accepted the Presidential End Hunger Award for his series of reports on the 1987-88 Ethiopian civil war and drought. He hosts the quarterly PBS series, State of Mind, and the public television series, Voices of Vision. His books include the memoir Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan, Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball, and a novel, Pretty Birds. Judges Michael Dirda, a longtime reviewer and essayist for The Washington Post Book World, received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. His books include two collections of essays, Readings and Bound to Please, the memoir An Open Book, and Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life. He holds a BA in English from Oberlin College and a PhD in comparative literature from Cornell University. Caroline Kennedy serves as Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools, the nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York City Department of Education. An attorney and the author or editor of six best-selling books, includ- ing A Family of Poems, In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action, and Profiles in Courage for Our Time, she is the President of the John F. Kennedy Library. Azar Nafisi is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. She taught literature at the University of Tehran in Iran, where she was expelled from her position in 1981 for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil. Her bestselling memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, chronicles her teaching of the forbidden works of Western literature to a book club of former students. She left Iran for America in 1997 and lives in Washington, DC, with her family. Curtis Sittenfeld is a graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her first novel, Prep, was a national bestseller and was chosen as one of the Ten Best Books of 2005 by The New York Times. An English teacher at St. Albans School in Washington, DC, for three years, she now lives in Philadelphia. Her second novel, The Man of My Dreams, has just been released. A. B. Spellman is an author, poet, critic, and lecturer. From 1975 to 2005, Spellman worked at the National Endowment for the Arts, for the last decade of his term as a Deputy Chairman. In recognition of his service to jazz, the NEA named one of its prestigious awards the A.B. Spellman NEAJazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. His numerous books and articles on the arts include Art Tatum:A Critical Biography and Four Jazz Lives. Spellman is a graduate of Howard University. Scholarship Prizes National Finals 1st place $20,000 college scholarship prize 2nd place $10,000 college scholarship prize 3rd place $5,000 college scholarship prize 4th- 12th place $1,000 college scholarship prize The schools of the top 12 finalists will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books. State Finals 1st place 2nd pi; ace Student received $200 award and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC School received $500 for the purchase of poetry books Student received $100 award School received $200 for the purchase of poetry books National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Out LoudTeam Sally Gifford Carrie Gilkey Carrie Holbo Campbell Irving Kate Kaiser Mela Kirkpatrick Erika Koss Andi Mathis Hope O'Keeffe John Ostrout Liz Stark Dan Stone Personnel Poetry Out Loud Project Directors Dan Stone National Endowment for the Arts Stephen Young Poetry Foundation Administrative Partners for National Finals Alan W. Cooper Karen Newell Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Johanna Misey Boyer JMBArts Management Poetry Foundation Poetry OutLoudTeam Beth Allen Caren Skoulas Anne Halsey Elizabeth Stigler Michal Percival Stephen Young Judges for Semi-Finals Program Mark Dawson holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama, where he won an Academy of American Poets Prize and was Poetry Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Black Warrior Review. A former Associate Professor at Faulkner University, he is currendy Legislative Director for U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt. He lives in Washington, DC. Suzanne Fields has been writing a twice-weekly column for The Washington Times since 1984 and is nationally syndicated. The author of Like Father, Like Daughter: How Father Shapes the Woman His Daughter Becomes, she was a regular commentator for the CNN show CAW & Co. Her PhD is from Catholic University, where she also taught English literature. She lives in her native Washington, DC, with her husband and three children. Sunil Iyengar is a contributing editor for Contemporary Poetry Review (www.cprw.com), an online journal. A former board member of the American Poetry & Literacy Project, his reviews and essays have appeared in publications including The Washington Post and The American Scholar. Iyengar works for a health industry trade newsletter in Washington, DC, and resides in Baltimore. E. Ethelbert Miller has been the Director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University since 1974. He is currently the board chair of the Institute for Policy Studies, and a Commissioner for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. His poetry collections include The Migrant Worker and Whispers, Secrets, and Promises. Miller received his BA from Howard University and an honorary doctorate of literature from Emory 8c Henry College. Jennifer L. Nelson is the Producing Artistic Director of the African Continuum Theatre Company and President of the League of Washington Theatres. A past recipient of an NEA/TCG Early Career Director Fellowship, she is also an award-winning playwright. Her play Torn from the Headlines won the 1996 Helen Hayes Award for Most Outstanding New Play. Nelson has taught in the theatre departments of George Washington University, American University, George Mason University, and UCLA. Dominique Raccah is the founder and CEO of Sourcebooks, Inc., an independent trade publishing house. Formerly employeed by the Leo Burnett advertising firm in Chicago, Raccah left the agency 15 years ago to start Sourcebooks, which has been recognized as the fastest-growing publisher in the industry. Born in Paris, France, she earned her MA in quantitative psychology from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Semi-Finals Program Semi-Final One 10:30 am Semi-Final Two 12:45pm Semi-Final Three ":00 pm ome and Introductions Dan Stone Stephen Young Hosts David Kipen r elicia Knight First Round Second Round Awards Presentation Announcement of Finalists 2006 State Alabama Idaho Keturah Nix • Jessica Lodal Loveless Academic Magnet Program Borah High School High School Illinois Alaska Ariela Morgan Rotenberg Naphtali Leyland Fields Walter Pay ton College Prep Kodiak High School ■ -i- Indiana Arizona Kathryn Brunton Jordan McAlpin University High School Cactus High School Iowa Arkansas Ashley Baccam Roshundalyn J. Scribner East High School Hall Senior High School Kansas California Andrew Toburen Ken Huffman Cair Paravel Latin School Elk Grove High School Kentucky Colorado Kendra Holloway Passion Lyons Christian County High School Gateway High School Louisiana Connecticut Shelby Leigh Taylor Mary Falkowski Baton Rouge Magnet High School Rockville High School Maine Delaware Riva Y. Dumont Simone Aziza Seal Erskine Academy Padua Academy Maryland District of Columbia Natalie R Green Katherine Feliz Broadneck High School Bell Multicultural High School Massachusetts Florida Vinh Hua Craig B. Williams Boston Latin School Atlantic Technical Center and Magnet High School Michigan Travis B.J. Walter Georgia Holt High School Michelle Arielle Mclntyre Centennial High School Minnesota Tottiana Adams Hawai'i Central High School Kellie Taulia Anae Mid Pacific Institute Mississippi Ryan Breeland Brookhaven High School Missouri Aislinn Lowry Jefferson City High School Montana Cassin LaFountaine Helena High School Nebraska Shuqiao Song Lincoln East High School Nevada Gibran Baydoun Green Valley High School New Hampshire Teal Van Dyck Bow High School New Jersey Teika Monai Chapman Trenton Central High School New Mexico Fantasia Lonjose Santa Fe Indian School New York Danielle N. Lehman Shaker High North Carolina Courtney Temple Ross Raleigh Charter High School North Dakota Ryan Arthur Berry Shanley High School Ohio Jackson Hille Columbus Alternative High School Oklahoma Alexzandria Ward Putnam City West High School Oregon Michael Santiago The Center for Advanced Learning Pennsylvania Chris Estevez West Scranton High School Rhode Island Kris Aponte William M. Davies Career and Technical Institute South Carolina Elizabeth Stepp Richland Northeast High School South Dakota Kaylajackmon Washington High School Tennessee R. Leo Moucka II Christ Presbyterian Academy Texas Jacqueline C. Pirtle Spring Woods Senior High School Utah Madison Niermeyer Skyline High School Vermont Anna Catherine Svagzdys Montpelier High School Virginia Johnny Coyle St. Christophers School Washington Mollie Anne McComb Ranier High School West Virginia Brook Johnson Sissonville Senior High School Wisconsin Anjuli Joshi Brekke James Madison Memorial High School Wyoming Kamaria Stephens Cheyenne East Semi-Finals One, 10:30 am Connecticut Mary Falkowski "Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold Delaware Simone Aziza Seal "Bitch" by Carolyn Kizer "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall District of Columbia Katherine Feliz "Song" by Edmund Waller "Let It Be Forgotten" by Sara Teasdale Maine Riva Y. Dumont "La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" by John Keats "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland Maryland Natalie P. Green "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt "No Coward Soul Is Mine" by Emily Bronte Massachusetts Vinh Hua "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg "Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100" by Martin Espada New Hampshire Teal Van Dyck "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood New Jersey Teika Monai Chapman "Bitch" by Carolyn Kizer "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo New York Danielle N. Lehman "In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr." by June Jordan "Ma Rainey" by Sterling A. Brown ^ ^ ^^^^^^ North Carolina Courtney Temple Ross "In the Basement of the Goodwill Store" by Ted Kooser "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Ohio Jackson Hille "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" by Jonathan Swift "Altruism" by Molly Peacock Pennsylvania Chris Estevez "Bilingual/Bilingiie" by Rhina P. Espaillat "Salome" by Ai Rhode Island Kris Aponte "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar "Romance" by Claude McKay South Carolina Elizabeth Stepp "Conversation" by Ai "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg Vermont Anna Catherine Svagzdys "Lunar Baedeker" by Mina Loy "Sentimental" by Albert Goldbarth Virginia Johnny Coyle "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold "Meditation at Lagunitas" by Robert Hass West Virginia Brook Johnson "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar "The Tyger" by William Blake Semi-Finals Two, 12:45 Alabama Keturah Nix "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost Sonnet 116, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" by William Shakespeare Arkansas Roshundalyn J. Scribner "Learning to Love America" by Shirley Geok-lin Lim "Bilingual/Bilingue" by Rhina P. Espaillat Florida Craig B. Williams "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes "I Knew a Woman" by Theodore Roethke Georgia Michelle Arielle Mclntyre "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold Illinois Ariela Morgan Rotenberg "I Go Back to May 1937" by Sharon Olds "The Secret Garden" by Rita Dove Indiana Kathryn Brunton "I think I should have loved you presendy" by Edna St. Vincent Millay "Fierce Girl Playing Hopscotch" by Alice Fulton Iowa Ashley Baccam "Deliberate" by Amy Uyematsu "Conversation" by Ai Kansas Andrew Toburen "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll Kentucky Kendra Holloway "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall "To the Ladies" by Lady Mary Chudleigh Louisiana Shelby Leigh Taylor "Why I Am Not a Painter" by Frank O'Hara "So This Is Nebraska" by Ted Kooser Michigan Travis B.J.Walter "Analysis of Baseball" by May Swenson "Beat! Beat! Drums!" by Walt Whitman Mississippi Ryan Breeland "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins Missouri Aislinn Lowry "When I consider how my light is spent" by John Milton "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt Nebraska Shuqiao Song "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge "Fever 103°" by Sylvia Plath Oklahoma Alexzandria Ward "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll Tennessee R. Leo Moucka II Sonnet 116, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" by William Shakespeare "England in 1819" by Percy Bysshe Shelley Wisconsin Anjuli Joshi Brekke "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll "I Am Learning To Abandon the World" by Linda Pastan Semi-Finals Three, 3:00 pm Alaska Naphtali Leyland Fields "Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward" by Anne Sexton "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood Arizona Jordan McAlpin "Litany" by Billy Collins "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland California Ken Huffman "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman "Detroit, Tomorrow" by Philip Levine Colorado Passion Lyons "Beautiful Black Men" by Nikki Giovanni "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou Hawai'i Kellie Taulia Anae "Hysteria" by Dionisio D. Martinez "Bitch" by Carolyn Kizer Idaho Jessica Lodal "If" by Rudyard Kipling "Bilingual/Bilingiie" by Rhina P. Espaillat Minnesota Tottiana Adams "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes Montana Cassin LaFountaine "Danse Russe" by William Carlos Williams "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Buder Yeats Nevada Gibran Baydoun "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas New Mexico Fantasia Lonjose "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo "The Powwow at the End of the World" by Sherman Alexie North Dakota Ryan Arthur Berry "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll Oregon Michael Santiago "Why I Am Not a Painter" by Frank O'Hara "The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare South Dakota Kayla Jackmon "The Poet" by Yone Noguchi "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou Texas Jacqueline C. Pirtle "[if mama/could see]" by Lucille Clifton "Beautiful Black Men" by Nikki Giovanni Utah Madison Niermeyer "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg Washington MoUie Anne McComb "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou Wyoming Kamaria Stephens "Poetry" by Marianne Moore "Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward" by Anne Sexton ■ Acknowledgements When the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation decided to launch Poetry Out Loud nationally, we needed to find the perfect partners. Since Poetry Out Loud exists in so many layers, from the classroom to the state to the national level, organizing and running the program is no small task. We found those perfect partners in the State Arts Agencies and their collaborators. Their expertise and candor helped us shape the expansion of Poetry Out Loud. Our deepest thanks to this intelligent and passionate group of folks. We also applaud the thousands of teachers who integrated Poetry Out Loud into their classrooms on short notice, and we thank the supportive parents of our State Champions. Without them, none of us would be here. Thanks to the Mid Adantic Arts Foundation, particularly Karen Newell and Johanna Misey Boyer, for helping to manage and coordinate all the labyrinthine logistics of the National Finals. The Poetry Foundation is grateful for the following gifts to each State Champion: ■ Sourcebooks, Inc., for the donation of Poetry Speaks ■ Copper Canyon Press, for the donation of Delights and Shadows ■ Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, for personally signing Delights and Shadows The Joe McCarthy Quartet Joe McCarthy, Drums Max Murray, Bass Gary Malvaso, Guitar Steve Williams, Alto Saxophone In Memoriam Cliff Becker Former NEA Director of Literature and Co-Founder of Poetry Out Loud July 22, 1964 -May 17, 2005 We dedicate our efforts to you. A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. -Ralph Waldo Emerson A Great Nation Deserves Great Art www.poetryoutloud.org ^ 1 POETRY MID ATLANTIC ARTS FOUNDATION NATIONAL fi& ENDOWMENT ■H^H >q pr FOR THE ARTS FOUNDATION