The weeks following SPIT are almost a blur. Francois asked David Romero, Matt Sedillo, KasiTeYana and I to spit at his fundraiser for Our Baby’s Gone Missing at Cypress College, and it was definitely a different vibe than any of us were used to. Still, not only was it for a good cause, but we had loads of fun. Spitting amongst these poetry geniuses again was an honor. Afterwards Matt and David and I headed down to Orange to spit at The Ugly Mug Cafe, which was yet another completely different vibe, but really an incredible experience. The poets there were very different and diverse in their delivery and content, which was eye opening for me personally. Honestly, the most fun part might have been talking poetry with Matt between each performance, but performing there was great too.
The next weeks we found ourselves at LionLike Mindstate and A Mic and Dim Lights in Pomona, among not only nationally renown slam poets, but also incredibly brilliant youth emerging into the poetry scene. Those poems were probably the most enjoyable; no lie. I'm a big believer in that our generation's youth have the most important things to say.
David made it his lot in life to secretly sign me up on performance lists even when I was going just to sit back and listen. Yes, it was quite embarrassing being called up without informed that I’d be spitting. But although we gave each other a hard time about it, I was glad to have the chance to perform so many times in just a few short months, especially with Matt and David. Whether it was between shows in Orange County, or at Denny’s at 1 in the morning, talking poetry, politics, and life with these poets was definitely worth every off-guard performance.
My best friend Kasey and I were discussing where it was along this journey that I got the nickname the Girl with the Boots. My best guess is that it happened somewhere around here. There was an emcee in Beverly Hills who called me it, right after a performance of Vintage Boots, but it wasn’t until after SPIT in Long Beach that people began to recognize me by that name, particularly people I didn’t know. In fact, I think it was in Pomona that an emcee introduced me as the Girl with the Boots, even though I was doing a different piece that night. So, we’re not 100% sure who started it. But I figured, there are a lot worse nicknames you could get.
Photos by Trish Goodman & Tyree Vance
Haha That's funny. You wanna know somein? Back at my Battalion in the ARMY, you know how we got our last names on our Uniform? Well I requested they put "II" at the end of my name (You know me grl. Gotta have the Deuces at the end) but these fools Hosanna? These fools didn't put a space between my last name and the roman numeral 2!!! So on my name tag it's "BENTONII" And people read it as (Ben-Tone-ie) Hahaha Story of my freaken life!! So from that day on grl, My Whhooollleee BAttalion (40 ppl +) Call me Bentonii a.k.a. The Black Italian. Hahhaa Story of my life. But hey, like you said, it could be worse. Great story grl
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