"Young, Gifted and Black" in The Spectrum ...

I was invited by Ewart Walters to be a columnist for The Spectrum, Ottawa's Black community newspaper in 2003 to write a new op-ed from the perspective of a young person living in Ottawa during the paper's 20th year. The column, called "Young, Gifted and Black", ran for the first time with the title "Dreamweaving" in the December 2003 edition of The Spectrum.

To view the most recent edition available online, please visit Black Ottawa 411.

Capital Slam

Since October 2004, Capital Slam has been running in downtown Ottawa on a monthly basis.  It is Ottawa's slam-tastic monthly poetry seriesseries – now the second longest running poetry slam series in Canada.

Every month, local poets come to the show to participate in two rounds of no-holds-barred slam poetry with a featured artist and a short open mic session rounding out the schedule.  Fantastic local poets such as Kevin Matthews, John Akpata, th elate Steve Sauvé, DJ Morales, Matt Peake, Festrell, Q the Romantic Revolutionary, Doretta Charles, Poetic Speed, Marcus Jameel and Elissa Molino have performed their work on stage at Capital Slam.

For more information about showtimes, admission, featured artists and more, please visit the Capital Slam website.

AAMH Canada

Using his art to educate and inform people, as well as to project the voices of people dealing with mental health issues in a way that is respectful to the dignity of survivors, Ritallin has posted important info about mental health on his page. Look out for more information on this in the coming months ...

Are you an artist? Then join the movement to create the Artists' Alliance for Mental Health Canada by adding your name to the Facebook group.

You're not an artist but you know one? Then let them know - spread the word!

Bill Brown's 1-2-3 Slam

Held on the second Thursday of every month in Ottawa, BB123 Slam is Canada's only regularly running poetry slam series that uses the unique 1-2-3 format. Poets slam in 1-minute, 2-minute and 3-minute rounds, with the winner claiming a $100 bank note (Bill Brown) as the prize.

MASC

MASC brings the arts and culture alive for nearly 150,000 children and youth each year in eastern Ontario and West Québec. Professional artists, working out of diverse cultural traditions, deliver workshops and performances and Artist-in-Residence Programs (Extended Projects) in music, dance, drama, literary, visual and media arts to children and youth in school and community settings. MASC, a registered charity, has been in operation since 1988.

Ritallin has been a member of the MASC artists’ roster since 2006. Click here to book today!

Spoken Word Canada

Spoken Word Canada, also known as SpoCan, is our national organization of poetry organizers and spoken word / poetry slam artists from coast to coast. SpoCan is responsible for the annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. The SpoCan website is under construction, but in the meantime you can keep up to date by checking out their Facebook group.