Textstrom Rocks!

The bar was located in an underground archway. I was momentarily transported back to New York... the roar of the train passing overhead, the smoke filled room, the sound of beer glasses clinking and loud laughter.

The woman on stage (Diana) spotted me immediately (I was the girl with the "What the hell is going on?!" look on her face, so I must've been easy to pick out). She waved me over excitedly and pulled aside a waitress and ordered me a beer. She introduced me to her co-host, MiezeMedusa (stage name... obviously). They both spoke beautiful lilting english, and were so excited and dynamic I was immediately hooked. They showed me where I could set up my camera and as I turned to leave the stage, they started giggleing nervously and said they had a present for me. Out of her bag, Diana pulled a t-shirt with the logo of the poetry collective on it. It was so cool! I thanked them and set up my camera.

Seeing as we were in Vienna, the slam was in German. But it was such a cool experience, sitting there in the corner watching a poetry slam in a language I can't even remotely understand. The most interesting aspect was, of course, that even though it was in German, and even though I coulnd't understand the words, much of the sentiment (from the poet and the audience) was easily understood from gestures and intonation.

I had the priviledge of catching up with MiezeMedusa and Diana again last night at a book launch. We got to talking about the rarity of women in poetry slams, an issue which seems to be pretty universal around the globe. For whatever reason, women are aways in the minority when it comes to competing in poetry slams, although their presence in the audience is evenly split with men. It was really interesting talking to MiezeMedusa about it, because in addition to being a poet (Diana is just a slammistress, not a poet), she is also an MC in a hip-hop group. As rare as female slam poets are, female MCs are even more rare. We theorized about it for a good hour or so, and just couldn't come up with a reason for this gender divide.

Afterwards, I wandered to a nearby cafe and encountered a friend from Hamilton (who was visiting Vienna with her boyfriend), He introduced me to a group of university students, one of whom lives with a collective of MCs, and another who knows the slammaster of the other spoken word collective in Vienna. I took down numbers, tried my first bit of Schnapps (not my favorite) and then wandered home. It was on this walk home, accompanied by my friend and her partner, that I realized how fast my year has gone by. And yet, when I think about how things were when I was just starting in Canada, I laugh to myself. I truly had no idea. And although this trip has been full of its ups and downs, it's been an experience for sure- one I will never ever forget.