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Janae Johnson

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Janae Johnson is a writer, cultural worker, and DJ from Sacramento, California.[1]She is the co-founder of nationally ranked poetry venues, including The House Slam in Boston, and The Root Slam in the Bay Area. Both venues center the voices of women of color.[2][3]

In 2015, Johnson won the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Albuquerque, New Mexico, beating 71 other poets.[4]

Poetry career

Johnson started her poetry slam career performing at the Lizard Lounge and Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. She has been the grand slam champion at both venues.[4][5]

Coaching

While living in Boston, Johnson was the coach and advisor for the Simmons College Poetry Slam team.[6]

While living in Oakland, Johnson, coached UC Berkeley’s poetry team.[3]

Creation of new venues

The House Slam

In an effort to create a free poetry slam space that centered the voices of Black poets, Johnson co-founded The House Slam with Porsha Olayiwola in October 2014 at the Haley House Bakery Café in Roxbury.[7][8]

Johnson and Olayiwola were allowed to host at the Haley House Bakery Café on a two-night trial basis. When the venue saw both nights had so much interest, they had to turn people away at the door due to the snug 60-person capacity, Haley House agreed to permanently host The House Slam.[9]

In August 2015, Johnson competed with The House Slam at the National Poetry Slam (Oakland) where they beat 71 other teams to become champions in their first year. The House Slam was the first Boston poetry slam team to compete at NPS, and thus, was the first Boston poetry slam team to win nationals. In its founding year, House Slam also became “the first venue in history to simultaneously hold the country’s three major slam titles,” according to the event's host, Poetry Slam Inc.[2][7]

The Root Slam

In 2016, Johnson co-founded The Root Slam in the Bay Area, along with Terisa Siagatonu, Natasha Huey, Isa Borgeson, Gabriel Cortez, and Jade Cho.[10] In its first year Root Slam sent an all-women-of-color team to represent Oakland at the 2017 National Poetry Slam, and placed fifth in the nation out of 80 teams. [3]

In creating both The House Slam and The Root Slam, Johnson has emphasized the importance of making spaces for longtime residents, especially residents of color, and not perpetuating gentrification. She has said, “It's very important to us to be connected to the neighborhood.” [3]

Activism

At the 2017 TEDxLSU Chain Reaction event featuring former Secretary of State John Kerry and Global Zero Campaign Director Meredith Horowski, Terisa Siagatonu and Johnson delivered a poetry recital based on their experiences living in a time of nuclear weapons and climate change.[11]

DJ-ing

Johnson is a disc jockey, using the name DJ Summer Soft. Johnson's DJ name is derived from Stevie Wonder's song, "Summer Soft". Johnson grew up listening to Wonder and often features him in her poems. Johnson has DJ-ed for Pride on Capitol Hill with KEXP, at SoDo nightclub for Sapphic Seattle, on New Year's Eve in Downtown Tacoma, and various other big parties.[12][13][14][15]

Written Work

Books

Notable poems

  • "Nash Say", Write About Now, 2021[17]
  • “Stevie”, Button Poetry, 2021[18]
  • "Fragments", Write About Now, 2020[19]
  • "Hold Me (After Ernest Gibson III)", Write About Now, 2020[20]
  • "Archie aka Ode to my Father", Button Poetry, 2019[21]
  • "On Emotional Labor", Button Poetry, 2018[22]
  • "Personal Protest (after Robbie Dunning)", Women of the World Poetry Slam, 2017[23]
  • "Ode to My Ripped Pants", Individual World Poetry Slam, 2017[24]
  • "What we are made of -- an ode to women's basketball", ESPN, 2016[25]
  • "Black Rage", Button Poetry, 2016[26]
  • "An Unapologetic Celebration of the Self. Villanelle after Kendrick Lamar", National Poetry Slam, 2015[27]
  • "Black Butch Woman", House Slam, 2015[28]
  • "My Court", Da Poetry Lounge, 2015[29]
  • "Black Girl Magic", SlamFind, 2015[30]
  • "Grinding", National Poetry Slam, 2015[31]
  • "Volume 1", Kinfolks: a journal of black expression, 2015[32]
  • "And here’s why I didn’t fuck with love & basketball when it came out in theaters", FreezeRay, 2013[33]

References

  1. ^ Edwards, Louise. "Johnson Converts Insults to Compliments in Poetry". The Oberlin Review. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  2. ^ a b "With Win Last Weekend, Boston Poetry Slam Team Sweeps All 3 National Titles". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  3. ^ a b c d admin (2017-10-27). "The Root Slam hands mic to Oakland poets". The Citizen. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  4. ^ a b "How slam 'breaks the silence' for marginalized voices". PBS NewsHour. 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  5. ^ "Massachusetts Poet in the Spotlight: Janae Johnson". us7.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  6. ^ "Featured Artist of the Week: Janae Johnson, Assistant Athletic Director". The Simmons Voice. 2013-10-08. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  7. ^ a b "House Slam Is Boston's First Slam Poetry Team To Head To National Competition". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  8. ^ "Haley House". Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  9. ^ CHAPLIN, PAIGE. "SNAP TO IT". Dig Bos. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  10. ^ "About | The Root Slam". Root Slam. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  11. ^ "Terisa Siagatonu and Janae Johnson". Ploughshares Fund. 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  12. ^ "KEXP Celebrates Pride". www.kexp.org. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  13. ^ Keimig, Jas. "Sapphic Seattle Makes Space for Queer Women and Non-Binary People to Meet and Get Freaky". The Stranger. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  14. ^ "Celebrating NYE in Downtown Tacoma – Downtown Tacoma Partnership". downtowntacomapartnership.com. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  15. ^ "stevie wonder's "summer soft" for the winter blues". AFROPUNK. 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  16. ^ Johnson, Janae (2022). Lessons on being tenderheaded. Los Angeles, CA. ISBN 978-1-949342-41-3. OCLC 1311535912.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ Janae Johnson - "Nash Say" @WANPOETRY, retrieved 2023-01-24
  18. ^ Hanson, Patrick (2021-09-06). "Janae Johnson - "Stevie"". Button Poetry. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  19. ^ Janae Johnson - "Fragments" @WANPOETRY, retrieved 2023-01-24
  20. ^ Janae Johnson - "Hold Me (After Ernest Gibson III)" @WANPOETRY, retrieved 2023-01-24
  21. ^ Janae Johnson - Archie aka Ode to my Father, retrieved 2023-01-24
  22. ^ Janae Johnson - On Emotional Labor, retrieved 2023-01-24
  23. ^ 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam - Janae Johnson "Personal Protest (after Robbie Dunning)", retrieved 2023-01-24
  24. ^ 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam Finals - Janae Johnson "Ode to My Ripped Pants", retrieved 2023-01-24
  25. ^ "A poem celebrating women's basketball". ESPN.com. 2016-03-30. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  26. ^ Janae Johnson - Black Rage, retrieved 2023-01-24
  27. ^ National Poetry Slam 2015 Semi-Finals - The House Slam, retrieved 2023-01-24
  28. ^ Janae Johnson - "Black Butch Woman", retrieved 2023-01-24
  29. ^ Janae Johnson - "My Court" | All Def Poetry x Da Poetry Lounge | All Def Poetry, retrieved 2023-01-24
  30. ^ Janae Johnson - "Black Girl Magic", retrieved 2023-01-24
  31. ^ Jonathan Mendoza, Janae Johnson, Melissa Lozada-Oliva & Erich Haygun - Grinding, retrieved 2023-01-24
  32. ^ "Kinfolks: a journal of black expression - Vol. 1 / Issue 3 by Kinfolks Quarterly - Issuu". issuu.com. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  33. ^ "Janae Johnson". FreezeRay: Poetry With A Pop. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
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