You probably have seen a spoken word piece making its way around the interwebs called, "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus". It has sparked a huge debate and has left some people confused about its message. You can read a lot of it just in the comments section of the YouTube page. I'll save the conversation about the artist's content for another time. Instead, I wanted to focus on the art form. While the video is well done, I've seen better spoken word performances. Here's where I'd like to share about an artist who passed away last year, David Blair.
One particular piece that moved me called, "My Name is Carl", is a beautifully told story about Carl from The Simpsons. In the piece, Blair shares the story from a first person point of view, through the eyes of Carl. It helps to know a little bit about the characters of The Simpsons but even if you know nothing at all, the story and the delivery is captivating. As Blair put it, "Here it is in Technicolor."
I love that I could feel the emotion through the performance. He shared a piece of his soul through the story. Reading Blair's remembrance page, Metro Times journalist Melissa Giannini described his work as "hope that rises from the ashes of despair." I think that's what this story embodies. There will always be hope where we make ourselves visible to others just as Lenny stood up for Carl. I hope that I would have the same kind of courage, to be able to rise to the occasion and make myself visible to those in need.
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