Social Damnation

Social Damnation

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Social Damnation is a team piece performed by the poets of Epic Sound, the Kenwood Academy Slam Poetry Team: seniors Kristen Turner, 17, Rachel Smith, 18, Eunice Onyelobi, 17, and Slayton Goodman, 18. This was the first year in the competition for Eunice, the second year for Kristen and Rachel, and the four year for Slayton (who can also be heard performing here, and you can hear him and Rachel together here).  

This piece gives an insightful and haunting commentary of the effect social networks are having on today’s teens.

Though everyone knows “the points are not the point, the point is the poetry” – congratulations to Epic Sound, who successfully advanced to the Final round of competition, one of the top four teams in the 2012 Festival, out of a field of over 90 schools and community organizations who participated. 

The largest of its kind in the world, Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) is Chicago’s rapidly-growing teen poetry festival, taking place February 18 - March 10, 2012, at various venues around Chicago. Aiming to bring teens together across racial, gang, and socio-economic lines, LTAB is a friendly competition that emphasizes self-expression and community via poetry, oral story-telling, and hip-hop spoken word.

Click here to hear all the other 2012 recordings, alongside nearly 200 Louder Than a Bomb Finalist pieces recorded by Chicago Public Media (WBEZ-Chicago) over the past eight years.