"Poetry Out Loud" at LSHS

Poetry Out Loud is a spoken word competition where students recite famous poems in front of an audience. The competition goes all the way to the National level, with state finalists getting an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC! What a great way to hone memory and public speaking skills! The spoken word tradition goes back at least 3,000 years when ancient epics were recited around a campfire, becoming the core stories of our culture. These days, our poetry comes to us through earbuds, alive and well as ever.

At LSHS we will give our entire student body the chance to compete, in their classes or by auditioning with one of the following teachers:

  - 9th Grade: Ms. Shirk (except for Mr. Plaster's students)
  - 10th Grade: Ms. Lyons
  - 11th Grade: Ms. Goodson
  - 12th Grade: Ms. Poole
  - JROTC: Col. Padial and Sgt. Dumas

Within the next few weeks, students should prepare for the competition. Finalists from each of the above categories will progress to the Our school-wide competition on December 13. At the school-level contest, students need to be ready to recite TWO poems.

An interest meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 1 after school in Ms. Shirk's room (for 9th and 10th graders), and Ms. Poole's room (for 11th and 12th graders). Other practice sessions will be held as we proceed.

Students pick poems from this approved list -- >> http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/find-poems. More information about the competition can also be found at this site.

Please see Mr. Plaster for more information.

Here is a study guide to assist with the project: CLICK HERE

Story About Racism

This is a true story it actually happened I was there. On British Airways flight FR112 from Johannesburg, a rich, middle-aged white woman from South Africa was on the plane. She was running up and down the aisles she was that rich, and if people said stop she would give them money and say "now do I have to stop?" and then she'd keep on doing it. When the plane was about to take off she sat down in her seat and was immediately disgusted because she was sitting next to a black man.

"Stewardess, bleeeuurrrgghh," she wailed to the stewardess. "Stewardess there's a black man, bleeeuuurgh I'm going to be sick, this is repulsive euuurrrggghhh." She kept making vomiting noises and pointing at the black man though she wasn't vomiting. The black man was getting a bit embarrassed. The stewardess came over to the woman and asked what was wrong.

"You put me next to a black man, bleeeuuuurrghhh, that is so euuurrrghhhhh. I can't believe this," she complained and complained.

"Oh, I'll see what I can do!" enthused the stewardess as she scurried up the plane and behind a curtain. After a moment she came back and said, "I'm soooooo sorry, but there are no more seats in economy, but there's a seat in first class." The rich woman's eyes lit up. First class was her kind of thing. The stewardess continued talking, "it's really rare that we allow this sort of thing, but we think it's completely unfair that you have to sit next to such an obnoxious human being."

"So that is why," the stewardess went on, "WE ARE GIVING THE SEAT TO THE BLACK MANbecause you (the woman) are the obnoxious human being I was talking about."

The black man stood up and bowed to the rest of the plane, who were now giving a standing ovation to the black man. "Three cheers!" they shouted. "Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray!" And with that the black man went to first class, and on his seat there was a gift. He opened it. It was a letter. It said "SORRY ABOUT RACISM."

The End.