The Root Slam

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The Root Slam

The Root Slam is a FREE open mic & poetry slam for folks ages 18+ at MLK Cafe every 3rd Friday. It also offers a writing workshop every 2nd & 4th Saturday.

The Root Slam is a biweekly open mic & poetry slam in Oakland, CA located at MLK Cafe. Our mission is to create an inclusive, socially just space to promote the artistic growth of the Bay Area poetry community. The Root Slam happens every 2nd & 4th Friday and offers a writing workshop every 1st & 3rd Saturday for new and experienced writers alike. The Root Slam is FREE and open to all folks ages 1

8+. MLK Cafe is located in North Oakland two blocks from MacArthur BART. The cafe offers food, drinks and music. The venue is wheelchair accessible. For folks who need other accommodations, please contact us at [email protected].

06/03/2022

Our co-founder wrote a whole book, and now we get to gather to honor the gift that is. 🌚 Oh to hold bound pages of Janae Johnson’s poems in our hands. Come through. 📖 ⁣⁣⁣
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Gilman Brewery in Berkeley. Thursday June 9th 7-10PM. 😷 COVID and accessibility guidelines will be posted Monday at link in bio! ⁣⁣⁣
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[ID: Flyer with red background and orange text at the top that reads, "Bay Area Book Launch" with the words, "Janae Johnson" in the background in large light red letters. Orange text at the bottom reads, "Lessons on Being Tenderheaded." Orange text on the sides reads, "Gilman Brewery Berkeley" and "Thursday, June 9th 7-10pm." 6 rectangles in the center feature 4 photos of Janae with orange backgrounds and 2 centered photos of the book, "Lessons on Being Tenderheaded."] ⁣⁣⁣
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[ID: Flyer with red background and orange text at the top that reads, "Janae Johnson Bay Area Book Launch 'Lessons on Being Tenderheaded'" and at the bottom that reads, "Featuring performances by: Jada Imani, Asia Bryant-Wilkerson, Ciera Jevae, Imani Cezanne, Gabriel Cortez, Isa Borgeson, Natasha Huey, Darius Simpson." Orange text on the sides reads, "Gilman Brewery Berkeley" and "Thursday, June 9th 7-10pm." 8 orange rectangles in the center feature photos of each of the performers listed.]

06/10/2021

Greetings community!

As things begin to open up again in some of our communities, our organizers want to take time to pause and rest. So The Root Slam is going on hiatus.

Even though we are going away for now, there are plenty of other free events and workshops going on in community. Click the links below for more info:

Til We Meet Again: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdeaD-LeawMxBhAYiDoOi83Z15frsqnCluH-WvM7_C8YTzEZw/viewform
Blooming in the Whirlwind: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoVtvdY-2znifpOK0WhXk023aWoDRch4ixPXPrttEMZC4y9w/viewform
Bay Poets Unite: https://linktr.ee/richoakevents
BIPOC Writing Community: https://bipocwritingcommunity.wordpress.com/

Thank you to friends and fam, new and old, for all your support throughout this last year and long before!

Love,
The Root Slam

Image description: white words atop green ferns. On the left, it says "2021" with the Root Slam logo. On the right, it says the following: Hiatus comes from "hiare," a Latin verb meaning "to gape" or "to yawn." Originally, the word referred to a gap or opening in something, such as a cave opening in a cliff. These days, "hiatus" is usually used in a temporal sense to refer to a pause or interruption (as in a song), or a period during which an activity is temporarily suspended (such as a hiatus from teaching). – a dictionary, on the internet.

05/06/2021

One of our favorite people will be facilitating our All Black writing workshop this Saturday 10AM - 12 noon PT. Black community, come through. Let us write with Yeva and experience this soul’s healing magic.⁣
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Register: bit.ly/RootSlamWorkshop

Accessibility info: bit.ly/WorkshopAccessibility ⁣
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[id: Portrait of Yeva in a bright blue blouse smiling with glasses. Aqua blue stripes surround her in the background. At the top in yellow reads “WRITE WITH” and at her left side reads “Yeva”.] ⁣
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03/10/2021

This Saturday's All Black workshop will be facilitated by the legendary Alán Pelaez Lopez and Ariana Brown as part of The Kindred Tour!! Their tour echoes Brown’s sentiment that “I have never needed heaven, just Black people,” and Pelaez Lopez’s notion that “we create abundance where we thought there was none.” On the theme of this workshop, in the words of Ariana and Alán, "Gender and s*xuality inform not only how we see ourselves, but how we experience the world. In this workshop, we explore how gender and s*xual orientation affect our relationships to power and freedom."

Register for workshops at: bit.ly/RootSlamWorkshop⁣
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Accessibility information at: bit.ly/WorkshopAccessibility ⁣

02/11/2021

Happy Black History Month family! To celebrate, both our 2nd AND 4th Saturday workshops will be All Black spaces this month. This Saturday's workshop will be facilitated by Ciera-Jevae Gordon and February 27th's workshop will be guest facilitated by Sarai Bordeaux! Looking forward to writing together with our Black community this month + March 13th and writing with everyone again on March 27th.

You can register for workshops at bit.ly/RootSlamWorkshop

Flyer design by Isabella Borgeson

02/08/2021

Happy ! Today we are so excited to highlight Terry Taplin - poet, purveyor of Truth, Beauty, Grace, and Glory, lifetime scholar, and recently elected Berkeley City Council member! You can find Terry deep in a Latin text, championing West Berkeley, vanquishing enemies with dragon fire, bringing glamour to the gardens, and laughing at philosophical memes. Terry has coached several of the Root Slam co-founders and mentored many young poets across the Bay. Please support this pillar in our community!⁣
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Instead of personal donations, Terry is collecting donations for the Women's Daytime Drop In Center in Berkeley. All funds donated to -Cat via venmo for will go to the Drop In Center.⁣
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Graphic by Isabella Borgeson, inspired by @ broobs.
[ID: Royal blue graphic featuring a photo of Terry Taplin wearing a burgundy button up. Behind Terry is a gold crown surrounded by orange marigolds, a protruding snake plant, and tiny white sampaguita flowers. There are orange spotted lilies at Terry's shoulders, and prayer plants on chest.]

01/12/2021

Happy ! Today we celebrate an incredible organizer and poet - one of the first to ever rep Root Slam on a national stage. Cece Jordan is an educator, artist, activist, fighter and defender of Black q***r community everywhere. Catch them facilitating an RJ circle for Oakland youth, humming joy into guitar strings, and planting stories into this earth.
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DONATE TO CECE’S ARTISTRY! Venmo: @ Cecelia-Jordan
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⁣⁣⁣⁣Read more about our Mutual Aid Series in our statement here: bit.ly/rootslammutualaid⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Flyer art by Isabella Borgeson
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[ID: Headshot of Cece wearing a white tee with both fists out, knuckes tatted: GUERRERA. The graphic is a deep marigold background with yellow and purple flowers surrounding their golden crown, and more flowers at the bottom including three white sampaguitas.]

11/28/2020

Read our accessibility information for Root Slam’s virtual writing workshops at: bit.ly/WorkshopAccessibility (link in bio). For folks who need other accommodations, please contact us at [email protected]. ⁣
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We apologize for not making this access information available when Root Slam FIRST moved our writing workshops online back in March. In the words of .mingus’ 11/18 post - “Not having accessible events is ableism. Not communicating about the accessibility of your event contributes to a culture of ableism.” ⁣
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We commit to posting accessibility information for all our events. We commit to continuously sustaining and expanding the accessibility of our space. We understand this work is the bare minimum. We welcome feedback on the access information we provided (screenshots here) and on how to make our Root Slam spaces accessible to everyone. ⁣
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For guidelines on how you can prioritize information about accessibility for your community events/spaces and other basic access actions you can take today, check out the Access is Love project: https://www.disabilityintersectionalitysummit.com/places-to-start⁣
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Our next writing workshop is today 11/28 10AM - 12PM PT. You can still register at bit.ly/rootslamworkshop (link in bio)!⁣
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[ID1: Teal flyer that reads Virtual Writing Workshops in black cursive at top center. The first image on the left is of a person with two hair puffs and a laptop with a large “1” signifying the first step of signing up for our workshops. To the right it reads: “Register for your first workshop, at least 2 hours before! Link to Register .ly/rootslamworkshop. The second image is of a pink envelope with a large “2” signifying the second step. To the right it reads: “Check your email for the link & password! Zoom info sent 30 min before each workshop.” The third image is of two notebooks and a pencil, with a large “3” signifying the third step. It reads: “Login & write with us! 2nd Saturdays: All Black Workshop / 4th Saturdays: Workshop Open to All / 10:00AM - 12:00PM PT / 18+ years old”. There is a white Root Slam logo at bottom right.]⁣
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[ID 2 & 3: Screenshots of Accessibility Guidelines: bit.ly/WorkshopAccess]

11/16/2020

For this post, we are highlighting the one and only Nick Lovett!

⁣Nick is a brilliant artist from West Oakland who has graced The Root Slam stage many times and taken our breath away each time. Poet, singer, memer, illustrator, and advocate for nothing less than liberation - Nick unfolds the layers of their experiences and cultural analysis with precision, humor, bright colors, style, and ever-expanding skill. You can find them doodling, loving on Black q***r s*x workers, and listening to Sarah Vaughan.

DONATE TO NICK’S ARTISTRY TODAY⁣
Venmo: blckgirlsaregod
CashApp: $blackgirlsaregod
Paypal: paypal.me/blackgirlsaregod

Read more about our Mutual Aid Series in our statement here: bit.ly/rootslammutualaid⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣Note: Please read Nick's Transparency Statement and Community Guidelines (both linked in bio of on IG and Twitter) before following.

Graphic by

[ID: Headshot of Nick with gray sweater, wearing a pink face mask that says Be Present. They are surrounded by red plants and roses and white Samoa guitars, behind them is a gold crown. At the left is a smaller image of Nick with glasses and a pink top, at the right another image of Nick with jeans and a face mask holding a red umbrella. The background is light red with words repeating NICK LOVETT.]

10/26/2020

Today for our Mutual Aid Monday we are asking you all to support No New SF Jail Coalition!

Address

3860 M. L. K. Jr Way
Oakland, CA
94609

Website

http://rootslam.org/

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Our Story

The Root Slam is a monthly open mic & poetry slam in Oakland, CA located at MLK Cafe. Our mission is to create an inclusive, socially just space to promote the artistic growth of the Bay Area poetry community. The Root Slam happens every 3rd Friday and offers a writing workshop every 2nd & 4th Saturday for new and experienced writers alike. The Root Slam is FREE and open to all folks ages 18+. MLK Cafe is located in North Oakland two blocks from MacArthur BART. The cafe offers food, drinks and music. The venue is wheelchair accessible. For folks who need other accommodations, please contact us at [email protected].