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Michael Lee is a writer, performer and youth worker. He is a recipient of a 2014 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant as well as a VERVE Grant. Michael ranked ninth at the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam and was named the 2011 “Best Individual Poet” of Collegiate Nationals (CUPSI). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rattle, Indiana Review and Criminal Class Press. He lives in Minneapolis where he works as a youth counselor at Avenues for Homeless Youth and drinks entirely too much coffee.

An open mic entirely dedicated to new work! Bring in your first drafts and test them out in the Soul Sounds community; a space for constructive feedback and good insight!

Raised in New Jersey and currently living in Minneapolis, Clara Younge works in Saint Paul as a math tutor and a pastry chef. Her work has been published in the Feminist Wire and in 2010 she won Macalester College’s Cultural House poetry slam. Clara is an alumn of the Voices at VONA writing workshop. Her poetry is obsessed with sound, seeks truth through themes of identity and ancestry.

Marisa Carr is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, composer, and performer. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she now lives in Minneapolis. Marisa believes in art as a vital tool to engage, challenge, and mobilize by intersecting the personal, political, and spiritual. Her work is situated physically, emotionally, and intellectually within the various communities of which she is part. Marisa especially enjoys facilitating projects with youth, and helping young people learn to use art as a tool to speak back to power and explore their hopes and visions for themselves and their communities. She is Turtle Mountain Ojibwe from the turtle clan.

Being that Soul Sounds is a community event we feel it important to create a space for dialogue around issues facing our community. Rooted in the arts, this evening will focus on addressing HIV/AIDS in our various communities. Perhaps you have written a piece paying homage to a loved one who lost their battle with HIV/AIDS? Maybe you have a poem of encouragement, a song that educates, or more? Tonight is the night for us to address a major issue in the Twin Cities community, through art and creative expression, while maintaining our sense of mutual love, adoration and respect.

Chia ‘Chilli’ Lor graduated from Saint Paul Central High School as an active participant in the social justice performing arts program, Synergy, and is currently attending St. Catherine University. Her poems have been published in local literary journal, Paj Ntaub Voice (“Storycloth Voice”) and the 2012 edition of the Saint Paul Almanac. Chilli has been invited to perform at open mics, reading series, conferences, racial equity trainings, the Minnesota State Capitol, and a variety of community events. Chilli is part of an APIA spoken word group, Speakers of the Sun (SOS). Her work has taken her into schools, nonprofits, and district planning councils. As an emerging community organizer, poet, and hip-hop artist, Chilli has a vision of impacting the lives of youth, communities of color, and women through the performing arts.

Hieu Minh Nguyen was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, by a Vietnamese-American single mother. He is the author of This Way to the Sugar (Write Bloody Press, 2014) and co-coached the 2011 University of Minnesota poetry slam team, which placed fourth at the College National Poetry Slam. In 2011, Hieu was also a member of the 5th-ranked Minneapolis adult National Poetry Slam team. Today, Hieu is a member of the Good News Poetry Tour, which travels across the country performing at colleges and universities. He is a proud alumni of the Central Touring Theatre and also works at a haberdashery.