Josh, a verbal alchemist, is a 19-year-old junior at the University of Pennsylvania and a unique figure in the youth slam community. Josh honed his distinctive brainy-edgy voice as a poet in the gritty urban 'hood of his native Yonkers and the exclusive private school Rye Country Day School.

"I didn't fit the stereotype," explains Josh. "So whereas I'm super hard in high school, I go back home and I'm this kinda like soft, kinda outcast whitewash dude."

At Brave New Voices 2008, Josh was a veteran slam champion and MVP of the Philly team. On the verge of his 20th birthday, this is his last time at BNV, and he is passionate about leaving behind a legacy that will last long after him.

"I want to leave an impression on people that Josh did it right," he says. "That's the legacy that I'm concerned with: How will people remember you when you're gone? And so next year when people are reminiscing about poems that they've heard at Brave New Voices past, I want to be one of those voices that's mentioned."