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'I'm Me No Matter What': Teen Tackles Gender Identity At Louder Than A Bomb

By Josh McGhee | March 28, 2016 8:27am
 Sejahari Saulter-Villegas tackled gender identity and hyper-masculinity in his poem
Sejahari Saulter-Villegas tackled gender identity and hyper-masculinity in his poem "DEEZ" performed at Louder Than A Bomb.
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Jonatan Lazatin of Kuumba Lynx's We Get Free Media

UPTOWN — Whether braided back in well-kept cornrows or flowing free, 17-year-old Sejahari Saulter-Villegas' luxurious dark hair — uncut since the 3rd grade — has always garnered attention.

Since he was a young poet with Kuumba Lynx Half-Pint Poetics program, his mane has been a topic of conversation on and off stage, sometimes paired with questions about his identity. On March 19, at the team finals for Louder Than A Bomb at the Auditorium Theatre, at 50 E. Congress Pkwy., Saulter-Villegas decided to tackle the topic head-on, on his terms — though he never felt he should have had to, he said.

"For me, it's always been a big thing in my life because my parents never cut my hair. I would be asked if I was a boy or girl when it really doesn't matter," the West Humboldt Park teen said. "I'm me no matter what."

Today, as a confident 17-year-old, Villegas uses his poetic skills as a vehicle to discuss "hypermasculinity" and the effects of "that push for being a strong man," he said. "That shouldn't exist. [People] should just be themselves."

"Yes I'm a boy. Yes I have long hair. Yes I'm a poet. You shouldn't judge me. I'm just trying to do me," he said. "The audience definitely took to that and appreciated that."

The team finals include individual poems along with a team performance. Villegas performed "DEEZ" as one of the three individuals poems.

For the first time in three years, the Uptown hip-hop arts program Kuumba Lynx walked out of the annual competition without the title of best team in the city. But Saulter-Villegas said the reception for his especially personal poem felt like its own victory.

"I've dived into myself," he said. "To do that on the stage in front of all those people I feel like I'm winning."

Sejahari Saulter-Villegas Performs "DEEZ" at the LTAB Quarter Finals:

The performance was Saulter-Villegas' fifth time at Louder Than A Bomb. The first year, his team lost; then they won three years in a row.

"You go in wanting to win," he said of this year's finish. But he said that isn't all that matters. 

"I think this year we definitely left our stories on the stage."

In hindsight, it wasn't a hard loss for the Kuumba Lynx program, 4501 N. Clarendon Ave., considering some of the poets from the team that beat them, Rebirth Poetry Ensemble, began their journey in the Kuumba Lynx Half-Pint Poetics program, Saulter-Villegas said.

"It was cool to see them get the victory... In essence, another Half-Pint team is competing" at Brave New Voices, the competition the first place team will now advance to, he said.

Jacinda Bullie, who co-founded the urban arts youth development organization in 1996, said seeing four former members of the Half-Pint program on Chicago's biggest stage for youth poets symbolized a "matriculation."

"They've grown up doing this kind of work," said Bullie. "It's a different feeling, but it's been four years since we lost. [But] we also went eight years without winning."

The Half-Pint program centers on engaging youth in art making, service projects and activism through hip hop methodology. The program, for children from ages 8-14, culminates with a poetry slam focused on social and environmental justice, said co-founder Jacinda Bullie.

This year's Half-Pint Poetry Slam will stretch across two days in May. From 12-5 p.m. on May 7, the preliminary rounds will take place at DePaul Courtelyou Commons, 2324 N. Freemont. The finals will be held at the DePaul Student Center, at 2250 N. Sheffield Ave, at 10 a.m. on May 10.

Last year, Villegas began mentoring and coaching children in the Half-Pint program, which he said added more meaning to the team's third place finish.

By working helping the young ones express themselves, he's helping build "a cycle of young poets," he said.

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