Christell Victoria Roach was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She is an artistic soul that wears many hats, (a renaissance type of girl). She enjoys all the arts, dances in her church, and studies the Viola and Creative Writing in School. Seeing writing as her forte, and her most adequate form of expression: it is the field she is most diligently pursuing in high school, and hopefully in someone’s university next year. Christell is in the 12th grade at Miami Arts Charter School. She has been published in Figment Literary Magazines’ ‘Why I Write’ Anthology, in Dog Eat Crow Magazine, in Rattle Literary Magazines’ Young Poets Anthology, in The Traveling Poet Literary Journal, and in the Postscript Journal. She has received 4 Silver Keys for her writing in the Scholastic Alliance for Young Artists and Writers’ state evaluation/competition, has received 3rd place in Poetry Matters’ 2011 poetry competition, and won 1st place in the 2012 Poetry Society of Virginia poetry competition. She has competed on state and national levels for Spoken Word; she is a member of Tigertail Miami International WordSpeak team that performs annually at brave New Voices competition, has competed in the Spoken Word Category in the National Fine Arts competition of 2012, and was awarded 3rd place in the Poetry Out Loud state recitation competition of 2013. Christell is a creative thinker, a writer, and musician: she can very knowingly say writing is her forte. She sees it as her only adequate form of expression, and she harvests it daily under the direction of her role-model, and mentor, Jen Karetnick.
Current Whereabouts:
I am interested in Spoken Word Poetry, and collaborative arts.
High School: Miami Arts Charter School in Miami, FL
class of 2014
Activities & Accomplishments:
I am the Vice President of my Senior Class of 2014. I write in my school's Creative Writing art.
I play the Viola in my school's Orchestra. And I dance with flags at my church, and independently.
Best Memories:
My best high school memories range from treasured moments at my school's band camp get-away in Central FLorida - to poetry slams scattered across my community. I cannot define my high school experience, except through joyous scenes that pass through my mind every now and then, just to make me smile.
I developed into an individual, an independent artist - by watching upperclassmen execute artistry that seemed foreign to me. My best memories however, would be every experiences that comprise who I am as an artist today.
My "coming out" performance as a spoken artist was in 2012 - in my Sophomore year of high school - when I performed the poem "What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black" by Margaret Burroughs. That poem was the the written, and published embodiment of all of my thoughts and worries - that were shared by another poet as well. I grew up with that poem - my father saw it necessary for me to have that poem as a part of me, and I gave that part of myself to an audience that was not ready for such a poem. I, and another African American artist performed the poem. I performed the poem, and she danced to the meter in my voice. It was raw art - uncut, unfiltered... felt.
From that performance, I began to perform in local poetry slams - reading at open mics, and familiarizing myself with the poetic world in Miami. I began to perform at benefits, in my church, and soon began competing in Tigertail Wordspeak's local poetry slams; and I competed in the National Fine Arts Festival for Assemblies of God churches.
Through poetry, I was finding myself. I was understanding that the performing artist in me - who has familiarized herself with the stage through various arts - found her nitch. I loved writing; I loved performing, and so that is exactly what I did.
I began to compete in poetry recitation competitions around the city - that only serviced mastery of my own poetic voice. In December 2012, I won first place in my school's Poetry Out Loud poetry recitation competition, and in March of 2013 - I won 3rd place in the state with my poetry recitation. I spent a weekend with talented performers, peculiar minds, and eccentric spirits - I loved it. I made friends there. [And this year I've won 1st in Poetry Out Loud at my school once again, and I am headed back to State Competition - driven to keep conquering as long as there are blessings for me to obtain.]
In April 2013 (in National Poetry Month), I competed in a Tigertail WordSpeak's local poetry slam - with hopes of being scouted for Tigertail WordSpeak's Internationally competing Spoken Word Team that competes in YouthSpeaks' Brave New Voices Competition yearly. I performed a poem dedicated to someone who hurt me, and I didn't let anything stop me from executing that poem because I was performing it for myself. I closed a chapter to my life in front of everyone in that 'safe space.'
And from there - I won 1st place to the slam, was spoken to by the Tigertail coach, and invited to audition for the team; I received two call-backs as the groups of selected poets dwindled, and before I could exhale - I was a part of a team of 6 select poets (out of 600) chosen to train with Tigerrtail WordSpeak, and head out to Brave New Voices Competition in August 20123.
During the Summer of 2013, I experienced my most enlightening learning experience in all of my high school years. The team and I, we mastered the stage through our movements, projections, energies, and spirits. We shed tears on stage, through fist on stage, and shared laughs on stage. We dominated it. We were ready for BNV, we were ready to use the largest platform we knew of - to spread awareness of Albinism Struggles, of corruption via Pharmaceutical Drugs, to spread awareness of the Native American Diaspora, to speak for autistic children who have been labeled despite their beauty, to speak of the sacrifice an entire community became because of gentrification - Overtown; to speak of how our government is the loudest advocate for rape culture - there is an Invisible War women face once enlisting to defend our country - we used the platform to speak for Marissa Alexander, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin - we used the stage for purpose, enlightenment, service, and awareness. Through this team I quit being a dilettante artist - and became an activist making statements through three minute poems.
And I have continued to develop. If there is one thing that I can promise anyone - it is that through my high school experience - an artist eager to be a world-changer has been birthed. I speak on stages, and through my writing - using your ears as altars. I am an intercessor - an artist.
God bless you and may you have a marvelous
and productive day. When you get a chance
please visit my profile to check out some info
that might appeal to you.
Tagged by
Ralph White on 02/03/2014
