Street Poets in Big Bear

[Street Poets, Inc.]

Street Poets' Teaching Artists and Mentors just returned from a 3-day long weekend up in the Big Bear Mountains, where they helped lead two separate retreats: a Boys Initiation Retreat and a Girls Initiation Retreat: Healing the Sacred Feminine. Street Poets helped facilitate various workshops at the retreat (which was hosted by Youth Mentoring Connection), and worked with boys and girls ages 14 to 20.

Boys were separated into four clans: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. The boys engaged in various activities, such as African Drumming, a Poetry Workshop, and a Mask Making Workshop. Street Poet youth Carlos Goméz, (from the Fire Clan,) recalls the ropes course where he participated in the Leap of Faith. "The Leap of Faith is an activity where you climb up a telephone pole and then you have to jump off. It was hard; it's kind of scary for a second, because you're up so high. But when I jumped, I felt like I overcame that fear. It was really exciting."

Girls were separated into three different groups: Mind, Body, and Soul. Each day of the retreat had activities that focused on those three concepts. Girls participated in a Poetry Workshop, a Self-Defense Workshop, went on morning and night hikes, and bonded during a Talent Show. Jaynese, (from the Mind Cabin,) remembers the ropes course activities: "We all had to work together for the team-building activities. It was nice to do the activities in groups because it felt like there was a lot of support."

After the retreat, boys and girls met up and greeted each other at A Place Called Home. They look forward to seeing each other again at a Street Poets' Open Mic this Sunday (10.24.2010) at the Eco-Logical Art Gallery, where they will share the poetry they wrote during the retreat with the rest of the community.