"Got Diva˜tude?" Thank you all for a phenomenal, spiritual event!

Thank you all women slammers who participated! First prize winner was Mallory Kaczmarek; Second prize winner was Tai Cunningham

The Milky Way Lounge was filled to capacity, about 200 people, all night from 7pm until past midnight; it was an incredibly diverse group of people, full of enthusiasm and very supportive of all the poets, and of New Orleans.

The evening opened with an invocation of the spirit of the evening by Ifé Franklin, and brought the audience into that spirit with the call and response of Ashe!. She was followed by Rajdulari Barnes speaking on her recent trip to New Orleans, and what NOWAC is trying to do to help the women artists of New Orleans.

The slam contest was incredibly lively, from both sides of the stage, and congratulations to all who spoke, and particularly to Mallory and Tai.

The featured poets simply held the audience mesmerized. Asali DeVan spoke on the current conditions in New Orleans, and what life is like for artists there today, and performed some familiar and unfamiliar works of hers. Sunni Patterson's poems ranged over life, spirit, politics and the future. Staceyann Chin spoke to politics and life, feminism and womanism, growing up as a lesbian in Jamaica, and what needs to be done. Everyone wanted all to just keep going, but the night was too short.

The evening closed with a performance by Zili Misik, which brought the audience out to the stage turned into a dance floor, and a wonderful close to the evening. Thank you all!