History of Spoken Word in Toyon
2008 In becoming a multimedia journal, one avenue Toyon has explored in recent years has been spoken word. In 2008, the 54th issue of Toyon included a CD with 24 spoken word pieces from a variety of artists, including local poet and english teacher David Holper, WJ Ray, and Sandra Wade, a past Poet Laureate of Lake County, California. The CD was supported through fundraisers and sales by local artist Jen McCollum.
2016 It wasn’t until 2016 that the category of spoken word was re-established and open for submissions to be published online with the digital copy of Toyon.
2017 The spoken word section of Toyon’s 2017 issue can be found in the Toyon archive. It was in 2017 that the Fuerza Award in Spoken Word, Audio, and Multimedia was established, with the first winner named in 2018. This award is funded by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, and named from their slogan: En la unión está la fuerza (In unity there is strength).
Today Spoken word events are growing in popularity on campus and in the community, with open mic nights, poetry slams and oratorical contests taking place often. In 2017 these included:
-Noelle Peterson, 2018-19 Toyon Visual Arts Editor
2016 It wasn’t until 2016 that the category of spoken word was re-established and open for submissions to be published online with the digital copy of Toyon.
2017 The spoken word section of Toyon’s 2017 issue can be found in the Toyon archive. It was in 2017 that the Fuerza Award in Spoken Word, Audio, and Multimedia was established, with the first winner named in 2018. This award is funded by Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, and named from their slogan: En la unión está la fuerza (In unity there is strength).
Today Spoken word events are growing in popularity on campus and in the community, with open mic nights, poetry slams and oratorical contests taking place often. In 2017 these included:
- Martin Luther King Oratorical/Spoken Word Contest
- Poetry Open Mic Nights in the Library
- First Friday Soul Sessions Open Mic & Artist Showcase
- De-compression Open Mic at the 23rd annual Social Justice Summit
-Noelle Peterson, 2018-19 Toyon Visual Arts Editor
