Louder Than a Bomb

Hi Everyone! Liane here with another post.

On Saturday March 15th, the entire ACM Chicago Program had tickets to one of the hottest shows of the weekend, Louder Than a Bomb Finals.
Prior to attending this event, we watched the documentary Louder Than a Bomb. I highly recommend this film to anyone!!! http://www.louderthanabombfilm.com/

Louder than a Bomb at the Cadillac Theater.

Louder Than a Bomb is an annual youth poetry slam in Chicago sponsored by the organization Young Chicago Authors. You can visit this website to learn more about the program:
http://youngchicagoauthors.org/blog/?page_id=1872

Four schools from throughout Chicago participated in the finals, and all of the talent gracing the stage was mind blowing. A few of the slam poems even moved me to tears. A lot of the student's poems explore topics of gang violence, racism and inequality, and other difficult life experiences. Their work leaves you wondering just how old they are, for what they convey in their pieces displays such wisdom and maturity. I was deeply moved by these students, as was the rest of the audience.

This years Finals were hosted in the Cadillac Theater, such a beautiful building!

Welcome to the Cadillac Theater.
 

On my ride home from the show the bus was filled with young children who had also been at the show. For the entire trip they could not stop gushing about how cool the performers were.The event handed out foam microphones to the kids, so naturally some of them were using the microphones do slam poems of their own on the bus ride home. As I watched them, it really hit me that Louder Than a Bomb is so much more than a slam poetry event; it is an powerful outlet for Chicago youth to explore and try to make sense of the crazy world that they are surrounded by. These students have such a unique situation which exposes them to topics most American youth only see on TV or in movies.