ARTS
Poetry
Slam
Young
poets perform their impressions of urban life for packed art-infused
venue
By
Mark Folkman and Lubna Takruri
Guardsman
Staff
The
Canvas cafe, bar and lounge features poetry slams once a month
in addition
to art space and nightly live events. Photos
by Lubna
Takruri |
A girl with a pixie haircut invoking the image of a petite Barbara
Streisand, save for her metal studded belt, approached the microphone
opposite a young crowd of wine and coffee-sipping urban loungers.
The audience's smiles turned to laughter as the girl delivered
an ode to self-pleasure with her pulsating shower head, which
she lovingly christened "Delta."
"No
one to screw / let's face it guys, it's time for something new,"
Aubrey Melissa Fisher recited into the microphone.
The
recurring themes of the night sexual frustration, poverty,
family and socio-political commentary resonated among the
walls of The Canvas in the Inner Sunset. For the fifth time at
The Canvas, it was Slam night. The Golden Gate Poetry Slam, held
every third Monday, attracted its largest crowd yet on Jan. 19.
An
innovative venue mixing a cafe, wireless Internet, and progressive
art with an equally eye-pleasing crowd, The Canvas also serves
as a nightly performance space where DJ's, musicians and spoken
word artists showcase their talents in an intimate setting.
Vadim
Litvak, the former Silicon Valley Poetry Slam Master and the event's
organizer, brought the Slam to The Canvas in August. "It's a venue
devoted to the arts, visibly engrained in the arts," he said "but
they also serve food, drinks, and everything an artist needs."
DJ
Chulada started the evening with a short set, mixing down tempo
funk (think Jackson Five) and subdued hip-hop. The anticipatory
crowd relaxed and settled down with their coffees and beers. Slam
Master Litvak then welcomed the crowd of about 50 people to the
"only free slam in the Bay Area."
Slam
Poetry is a competitive art, and contestants must follow certain
guidelines as they battle it out for the winning score. Poems
must be under three minutes and ten seconds long. No props or
costumes are allowed.
Litvak
performed the first poem of the night, explaining that a "sacrifice"
poet traditionally goes first to get the room warmed up and to
provide the judges with a measuring stick for the night.
"Although
there isn't a lot of money for prizes, there are prizes," Litvak
said, showing off some blank journals and music for slammers who
earned the highest points from random audience judges.
"If
you like the poem, cheer and throw stuff that doesn't break,"
Litvak said, encouraging the audience to vocalize their reactions
to each poem in the participatory spirit of Slams. "If you don't
like the poem, boo and throw stuff that does break - just not
at the windows," he joked.
But
no boos were heard as the Slam kicked off with the first round
of poems performed by seven contestants. A few nervously read
their poems off of cheat sheets; others rapidly recited their
well-rehearsed missives with passion and self-assurance.
All
readings clearly came straight from the soul, and some were infused
with humor. Chesko, an audience favorite, aired a fiery grievance
against girls who always lead him on but end up just wanting to
be friends. Offering his services to the ladies, he shouted: "My
tongue is Vlad the Impaler!" to laughter and rousing applause.
Some performances were more sober. Jason Bayani delved deep into
his Filipino roots to deliver a haunting poem that paid tribute
to a close relative who died of cancer.
"What
we are seeing tonight is a microcosm of what is going on in the
Bay Area," which hosts 12 or 13 different slams, Litvak said.
D.
Silence, the night's featured slammer, is a regular at Berkeley
slams and a rising star in the scene. A thin, self-possessed 20-something
clad in loose attire and black gloves with the fingers cut out,
he radiated warm smiles and jokes in his relaxed mode. But in
the heat of performances about being black, his mother and the
juxtaposition of rich and poor in San Francisco's Financial District,
D. Silence's fury and lyrical flow were chilling.
D.
Silence demonstrated the interactive nature of the poetry slam,
maneuvering through the cluttered tables to rap straight in some
audience members' faces.
All
of the slammers were young - most were college students - and
their optimism, exuberance and enthusiasm for the craft was infectious
and invigorating to watch.
"This
is our fifth one and this one is the best ever. I definitely feel
that there is a surge," DJ Chulada said, indicating the unique
San Francisco event is growing in popularity.
The
next Golden Gate Poetry Slam will be on Monday, Feb. 16 at The
Canvas, 1200 9th Avenue at Lincoln in San Francisco.
Admission is free but donations are encouraged.
Wi-Fi
: Why Not?
Break
the student routine: Wireless Internet is fast, cheap, and easy
By
Lubna Takruri
Arts Editor
There's
a new way to hook up at a coffee shop. No partner required.
|  Cafe
Connection: Java on Ocean customers browse the wireless
waves. Photo
by Lubna Takruri
|
Many
cafes in San Francisco neighborhoods now offer free wi-fi (wireless
fidelity) access to high-speed Internet. With the right equipment,
a laptop computer can be connected instantly and browse the web
or check email for the price of a latte or sandwich.
Both
Starbucks and McDonald's have made recent headlines with their
additions of wireless Internet networks to some locations. Starbucks
gets its Internet connection through T-Mobile, and customers can
either pay by the hour use their T-Mobile plan if they have service
with the company. McDonald's also provides Internet access for
an hourly charge, and recently publicized a promotion for free
service with purchase of a combo meal.
Proponents
of public high-speed Internet argue that access should be free,
and many local café owners in San Francisco agree. Java
on Ocean is just a few blocks from the City College Ocean campus
and has cozy window-side tables and couches in addition to cheap
wi-fi access for its customers.
"It's
only fair that if you already have the equipment, you should offer
it to your customers," Java on Ocean Manager Nohad Kaddoura said
of the wireless waves.
"People
come in at six in the morning when I open," Kaddoura said. Although
these early birds are usually following their stocks online with
their morning latte, he also sees computer programmers, writers,
researchers, and people who work from their home office
or in this case, a mobile office.
It's
a perfect arrangement for busy students, who may often not have
DSL or cable Internet connections at home. They can bring their
laptops to Java on Ocean for last-minute schoolwork or leisurely
surfing when they're not in classes, which are just a hop down
the street.
Free
or cheap Internet makes sense; after all, it is a mutually beneficial
relationship. Kaddoura has seen the effect the wireless access
has had on business. "Word spreads pretty fast, and people hang
around," he said. They also eat, drink, and spend. "It adds up,"
Kaddoura said.
Java
on Ocean currently puts a price tag of five dollars a day or fifteen
dollars a month on internet access a deal for even the
most frugal students but plans to switch back to free service.
For
laptop-laden students, getting connected only involves one extra
piece of hardware. The wireless
Internet signals at cafes come from a device called an access
point, and the laptop must have the equivalent of an antenna to
receive this signal. Most laptops manufactured within the last
year or so already have the technology built-in, and the first
step would be to determine if a computer already has the correct
hardware internally.
If
not, the addition of a wireless notebook adapter will outfit the
laptop for free high-speed browsing. The device, a card the size
of a driver's license, is either called a network adapter or an
802.11b card, which is the technology that runs the signal. While
802.11b is currently the most commonly used, the new 802.11g is
faster and compatible with the older 802.11b systems. For email
or web-browsing, though, 802.11b is completely adequate and that's
what most cafes are using anyway.
Retailers
like Best Buy and Fry's sell the basic wireless cards for anywhere
between $40.00 and $60.00. Linksys and Netgear make the most highly-rated
network cards for PC consumers, and Apple makes AirPort for Macs,
reputed among technology pundits to be nearly flawless and trouble
free.
Once
the adapter is in the laptop, it's ready to go. The card is made
to fit into the computer's PCMCIA slot. This translates to the
little space for the card to fit snugly somewhere in the laptop.
For Windows XP and users of newer Macs, the installation is pretty
straightforward and hassle free. Push the card in, answer a few
setup questions on the screen, and the laptop is ready to receive
an internet signal transmitted by a nearby access point. Installation
on other versions of Windows involves only a few additional steps
and is fairly basic.
Hermit-prone
students can now actually look forward to their next big research
paper. Once they slip the card into the slot, they can get to
work in the company of a nice turkey sandwich with a side of email.
