“Louder Than a Bomb” Filmmaker, plus Death Penalty Drug Protocol In Missouri

When someone screams in the vacuum of space there is no sound, no vibration, an absence of contact. That is what has been happening to the youth of America, they are being victimized by a justice system developed by their elders who are afraid of them, as well as economic and political forces that marginalize their experiences. On Today's show host Rebecca Hamilton talks with Kevin Coval, founder of the Louder than a Bomb poetry slam competition in Chicago in 2011. He will be talking about how Hip Hop music and culture has lead into a new kind of poetry that gives voice to the "deliberately silenced and the preferably unheard". Also joining Rebecca will be Paul Richardson, who teaches English at Washington High School, in KCK and is in charge of the local "Louder than a Bomb" poetry slam competition, which will take place in April 2014. LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is not "high school poetry"…