News Magazine of the UW Department of Communication
By Katie McVicker
Wooden chairs screeched along the tile floor of Café Allegro as the poets tried to create more seating for the steady flow of latecomers filing in through the backdoor. Before the Youth Speaks open-mic night began, two young performers sat huddled together on a corner bench, scanning the zealous crowd for their mentor.
Finally, the boy asked, “Is Angela coming tonight?”
The girl look at him with a puzzled expression, then laughed at her confusion.
“You mean Angel,” the girl said. “I always forget she has another name.”
It's common for Angela Dy's peers and students to refer to her as Angel. They think the name better captures her personality and eagerly offer justification for their claim.
Fueled by her passion for poetry, spoken word artist Angela Dy, '05, has created a safe haven for adolescents to speak out about their hardships and to write about their emotions. She founded a Seattle chapter of Youth Speaks, a literary arts organization designed to help kids develop their speaking and writing skills. Her desire to empower youth stems from the cultural and poetic experiences she had growing up.
Dy began performing poetry in Chinatown with the Isangmahal Filipino-American Art Collective when she was 14. During competitions, Dy's teammates were eager to show off their youngest member.
“It was there I realized how important it was for the youth to have a voice,” Dy said. She felt like a revolutionary artist working to create social change.
As a second-generation Filipino American, Dy wrote about the culture she felt she lost through immigration. She believes people come to understand human equality and their societies through poetry. As people search for writing prompts and discuss their individual experiences, they begin to see how similar they are to one another.
Dy began working as a youth mentor when she was 19. She participated in poetry slams with various teams from Auburn but wished she could find a dependable team closer to Seattle . After returning from a national competition in 2001, Dy was determined to create a poetry organization in her hometown. Poets Jojo Gaon and Maya Santos helped Dy and a few other students of color, officially open a Youth Speaks Seattle chapter in 2002.
Youth Speaks is a nonprofit literary arts program that started in San Francisco . The organization offers writing circles, performance training, open-mic nights and educational workshops in cities nationwide for youth. Dy started a Seattle chapter to provide young people with a community where they wouldn't feel pressured or judged.
Too often kids are told they have to act one way or another based on their race or gender, Dy said.
Youth Speaks Seattle started as an informal writing group. It had no set times for meetings, and the feel was casual.
The group had a “fly by the seat of your pants” mentality in the beginning, said Dy, but as the chapter expands, events are getting planned in advance.
Currently, Dy meets with four adult mentors and about 10 to 15 youth Tuesday nights at the Hidmo restaurant in Seattle 's Central District. They plan the group's event schedule. Kids can join the program by showing up to a meeting or event.
Word of mouth has helped us recruit new members, Dy said. At least 40 people come to the hip-hop shows each month.
Dy's mission is “to help young folks empower themselves by asserting their own voices and believing that what they say has an impact.” She encourages young people to examine themselves to overcome their personal fears and build confidence. Everybody has a story to tell, said Dy, and poetry is an accessible and powerful means of self-expression.
That was true for Michael Pestano, 18, who has been a member since 2007.
“I got involved with Youth Speaks, because I needed an outlet,” he said. “I had all these feelings I couldn't express because I couldn't find youth to relate to.”
Participant Susy Sobel, 19, also found benefits in the program.
“Youth Speaks really put me in touch with a lot of different people who come from extremely varied backgrounds,” she said. “It helped me first become aware of and secondly to break down the barriers with which our society labels people. It's really helped me to stay real with myself, too, and helped me strive in being comfortable with who I am and what I believe in.”
Dy became the program director for Youth Speaks Seattle in 2005, but doesn't see herself as an authority figure. “The youth and I discuss things together,” Dy said. “It's very democratic.”
However, many members see Dy as a leader.
“Angel is Mama Youth Speaks,” poet Mary Lambert, 19, said. “She changed not only my life but hundreds of others. She's reshaping the youth community with her heart.”
More information about Seattle Youth Speaks and competitions can be found here:
