San Antonio Regional at Ruta Maya

What do you get when you pile 11 people, 2 baby strollers, a crib, and a cooler for an 11 day trip?

You get the 2006 National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX!!!

There's something distinctly familial about this slam thing.

One of the organizers of this year's NPS is from New Mexico. She's also 7 months pregnant, and her parents trying, to save them time/money dropped off a high chair, two stroller, and a crib so that we could take them too her. So, the first challenge, a sort of tetris challenge was to get everyone's personal gear in a 15 passenger Chevy Van:

which, despite having room for 15 passengers, does not have any luggage/trunk space, so the big comfy sleeping seat in the back became our luggage/trunk space.

Let's just say the ride is uncomfortable, but we made it, driving across central/west Texas in the early morning where conversations descend into just random stories that the navigator tells so that I stayed awake as dawn crept up over Abilene and I saw windmills on the horizon, smelled gas and feedlots, and listened to somebody snoring in one of the cramped back seats.

And yes, Texas is hot. And humid.

The first stop on the trip is a small 8 team event at Ruta Maya in San Antonio. Featuring teams from San Antonio, Austin, Boston-Cantab, Berkeley, Bowling Green, Corpus Christy, a pick up team, and Albuquerque. Split into two 4 team bouts, with the top two teams moving to a final round (with a one poem slam-off between the two 3rd place finisher to round out the 3 round, 5 team bout), the bouts were competitive and engaging.

Using the amazing duet between Damien and Jessica, ABQ jumped out to a quick lead and cruised into the final bout. In that bout, ABQ had to work but pulled out the win in the last rotation with a great solo piece by Damien. Good work Damien, and good call Kenn with hopes of doing well tonight in Dallas, which I'm not going to because I'm in Austin helping out with the last minute preparations.

So, blogging from the road and ready to listen, this is Don McIver, signing off.

Comments

Peregrinating the Albuquerque Bosque

The Map. Overview: Starting in the San Juans in Colorado, the Rio Grande "is the twenty-second longest river in the world and the fourth or fifth longest in North America" ( Texas State Historical Society ). While the river is characterized by the area it flows through, the river from Elephant Butte Dam to the south to Cochiti Dam in the north is called the Middle Rio Grande. And in the middle of the middle Rio Grande is the roughly 20 plus miles that flows through Albuquerque. From an airplane, the Rio Grande is a brown ribbon bordered a green ribbon. That green ribbon is the Bosque . I've always been fascinated really exploring an area, getting a sort of overview of an area then drilling down to really get it. It's led to me hiking the Sandias from end to end and then hiking outlying trails multiple times, biking all the trails in the Cedro Peak area because someone put them on a map, trying different routes to get to ...

Peregrinating the Albuquerque Bosque-the Autumnal Equinox edition

Overview: In June, around the Summer Solstice, my wife, my dog, and I set out to hike the Albuquerque Bosque from end to end over two days . It was well over a hundred degrees and after starting later than expected we didn't make it as far the first day as we hoped. But we did make it. Now, three months later, around the Autumnal Equinox, we set out to do it again. Our route was slightly different and, with the weather being a lot more pleasant, broke the day into a thirteen mile day and a five mile day: eighteen total miles from Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge to the Alameda Bridge right on the border between Albuquerque and Corrales. The things we wanted to do differently this time were pretty straightforward: 1) don't get lost at the south terminus and get into the bosque sooner, and 2) walk even more on the westside. So, the route was a follows: we'd walk on the east side from Valle de Oro to the Rio Bravo Bridge, cro...

Top 10 Jazz Albums

So, Mindy and I have been on a Jazz kick for the better part of 3 months now. At first, it was just listening to what we knew and then it moved into just kinda cherry picking, but finally, it was just too overwhelming, so I broke down and bought The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . So, after using the book and listening, I assigned a homework assignment. What are your Top 10 Jazz Albums of all time (so far)? As much as possible try and pick albums and avoid picking compilations or "best of" albums because they are more often than not just compilations of singles and not complete works of art on their own like a good album tries to be. So here's my list: 1. In a Special Way -Miles Davis. There really is no words to describe how awesome this album is. Though the critics define it as "Fusion," it really was "Fusion" before people knew what that was. And while it was recorded ensemble (unlike a lot recording whe...

Confessions of a Human Nerve Ending

Search This Blog