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For the benefit of our community at large,
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The Poetry
Grind, its Slam Master Bob “Whoopeecat” Stephenson, and co-slam master
“Konnichiwa” Zach Schrotter would like to take this opportunity to address our
constituency about issues that have been brought to light by recent events over
the past few weeks.
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Issue 1:
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On Monday, Sept. 14th, We were contacted by Ronny
Smeink, the owner of Rembrandt’s Dutch Pub.
He has advised us that he has ceased operations at Rembrandt’s.
Therefore, we have no venue at this time.
Our season is put on hiatus. Current
point totals earned remain intact. We
are maintaining our certification with Poetry Slam, Inc. The win & ....ur....
in verification slams scheduled to be hosted by ....Dallas....
on October 24th, have been placed on hold for the time being. Plans for relocating our slam will be
addressed shortly.
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We wish to thank Ronnie, his amazing wife, and the entire
staff of Rembrandt’s for providing us such a wonderful home. You’ve done incredible things for our
audience, our scene, and for us personally, and we’re forever in your
gratitude. We wish you luck in all you
do from this point forward.
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Issue 2:
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On Thursday, Sept. 3rd, we held our slam-off to
qualify the representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam for The Poetry
Grind. The winner of this slam-off was
Joaquin Zihuatanejo. We congratulate him
on his well-deserved victory, however, he has advised us of his personal
decision not to represent our venue in this competition. We wish him only the best of luck with all his
future endeavors. We will announce our
venue’s representative shortly.
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Issue 3:
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On Thursday, Sept. 3rd, an altercation occurred
during the competition and continued afterwards outside on the patio of the
venue. Remarks made by Jason Carney from
our stage in the final round of competition were deemed to be in violation of
the Poetry Slam, Inc. Code of Honor, a set of basic tenets we hold all slam
competitors to. We believe in the
practice of freedom of speech, but what was stated from our stage by Jason, we
deemed unacceptable, and uncalled for under any circumstance.
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Following this, Jason was confronted by Joaquin Zihuatanejo
regarding the above mentioned remarks. Actions
during this confrontation were again, viewed as violations of the code of
honor, by both poets, and again unacceptable by our standards.
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In an effort to protect all parties involved, details
regarding both Jason’s remarks from stage and their aftermath will not be
mentioned here. We have issued
reprimands to both poets, and advised them of the consequences for said actions,
including suspension. The timeframes of
said reprimands will run concurrent with our hiatus. We cannot tolerate what occurred, nor a
repeat of said actions in the future.
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As per the terms of Jason’s reprimand, he has issued the
following statement.
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I’m
writing to apologize for my actions on Thursday night. It was absolutely
inexcusable for me to physically threaten a fellow poet in our scene, Joaquin.
It was also inexcusable that other poets had to physically restrain me from
making good on those threats. In addition, it was poor judgment for me to use a
stage built for artistic expression into a place to air personal concerns.
I’m also writing because I’m willing to take full responsibility for my actions
with you, poets and organizers, with our scene as a whole, and with Joaquin. To
that end, I’ve already reached out to Joaquin in order to schedule a mediated
meeting in which hopefully he and I can come to some resolve with regard to our
differences. In addition, I’m open to discussing with any and all of you what
impact my behavior is having on you and our scene. Or what you might need from
me now.
I know that many of you love me, and I want to thank you for that. Right now, I
want that love to come in the form of calling me on my bullshit when I act like
an ass. Finally, I want you all to know that I’m reaching out to get the
support I need in order to not act like an ass in the future, and for this you
can count on me.
Yours in art and with love,
Jason Carney”
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We appreciate Jason’s response to this matter. Said mediated discussion has taken place, and
we are grateful to all for their participation in the discussion.
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We too, must state our deep embarrassment over the events
which took place. The incidents of
September 3rd are not what we wish to display as representation of
our reading, our poets, or our community. We apologize to you all for this, as the close
to our chapter at Rembrandt’s, a sour note on an otherwise amazing time.
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When we began the grind, our goal was to create new opportunities
for all performers to express themselves openly, to challenge them to create
work that would excite and amaze an audience, and to provide our city with
artistic expressions that they would find nowhere else.
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Today though, we find ourselves at a point where we take a
look at what we have come to, and come away with the conclusion that changes
must occur in order for what we do to continue, and to emerge from this
experience smarter, better, and stronger.
In other words, better than we were.
Those changes however, will not come at our hands. Those changes will have to come from you, our
scene. Our poets, our audience, our
friends. For this to succeed…we have to
know what it will take…and what you can do to help us make that happen. In the coming weeks, we’ll be turning to you
for input. Thank you for your time.