There’s a group of babes at Moorpark College with one thing in common: their love for writing and performing.

They’re called The Razor Babes and they recite slam poetry; bringing their written poems to life on the stage. The babes do acts all over Southern California.

“It’s [just] a group of strong, independent, artful women who came from different backgrounds,” explained Crystal Salas, 18, an english and creative writing major and member of The Razor Babes. “You wouldn’t think any of us have anything in common.”

Moorpark College English Professor Sandra Hunter came up with the idea to start the program late last spring.

After holding workshops and monthly readings, Hunter brought it upon herself to bring writers of all ages together to share poems, ideas, and to perform on stage together.

When The Razor Babes perform, they have a lot of variety.

Each member of the team has their own unique style that they bring to the stage.

Since the age range is from 18-60 plus and consists of students and staff members, their poems are focused on different topics.

Whether it is serious poetry or just poetry for fun, their shows have a little something for everyone.

The group consists mainly of women, but there are men as well.

“We do have one dude, and guys are welcome,” said Salas. “We just happen to be predominantly women but [the] Dean, Julius Sokenu, who is an amazing poet, is in it. We call him a babe too.”

Since their first performance this past June at the Ojai Poetry Festival, Salas says the group has been well received and is looking to expand.

“We’ve really meshed well… and we were perceived very well,” said Salas. “Anyone who wants to come, we’ll workshop your poetry… we kind of just want the community to write. It’s really good for the soul.”

The Read, an on-campus poetry workshop, will be featuring a few of The Razor Babes, as well as an open mic session where anyone can go on stage and recite their poetry.

The workshop will be held on the third floor of the Moorpark College LLR on Oct. 14 at 4 p.m.

The next official Razor Babe slam will be held at the West Hollywood Book Fair on Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. in the Salon Lounge. For more information, visit www.westhollywoodbookfair.org

The Razor Babes have and will continue to show our community the best of Moorpark College’s contemporary poets.