you don't know me (a spoken word poem by malyssa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apuApak1CJ0

This young woman has a helluva voice. In 93 seconds, inspired me, broke my heart, and inspired me once more.

This piece works, because as a young woman (15 years old), she is using her poem, her spoken word piece as a way to communicate a lot of hurt and pain she has endured. In the first 10 seconds, she explains that it has taken her 15 years to get an idea of who she is, yet it takes others 15 seconds to decide who she is. For this young woman to acknowledge this fact, AND call others out on it... works.

It works through her voice, her honesty, her ups and downs in her speaking and movement. It works because she is assumingly at school (based on the background of the video), speaking to her peers. It works because she uses this opportunity to define herself, question others, and have center stage.

What's to admire? Wow. Her voice, meaning not just the spoken delivery, but the brut honesty she puts forth. Not a lot of young women (I know) would the kind of courage to talk about homelessness, drugs, self-harm... in front of their peers, or anyone for that matter. I admire her use of words too, the use of slowing and speeding up the delivery, and her all around fierce attitude. She also uses the word "bitch" in the poem, once, but does so in a very useful way.

What's not so good? Who I am to judge a young woman and her words? If I were to say, "what could be worked on", I would only offer the advice to articulate a little better when speaking so fast. I think that for the quality of video (equipment) that was used, this piece was fine. Besides, it's more about her message than it is having fancy equipment to record everything perfectly.

As far as a poem being a performance, I think she's got both. It's a poem, it rhymes, it discusses her issues with being judged, as well as gives a very intimate look into the person she is and why. Performance wise, this young woman has it going on. Her voice, and eye contact, her use of gestures... all are on point.

I am.

I am five foot seven, a buck fifteen drippin wet.
but there's more to me than bones.
I am a body covered in scars, some accidental, some not.
I am a victim, of violence, racism, and occasionally my own mind.
I am a victor of hockey games, tennis meets, and dean's list,
none of which matters much, to me, or you.
I am a learner, educator, ex-lover, and my mother's second favorite child.
I am a has-been runner, a will be graduate, and maybe a runner once more.
I am followed, harassed, asked, and pestered daily...by your "average american".
I am the little kid who never stayed awake late enough to see santa eat my homemade cookies.
I am significantly below the poverty line, I can limbo it without bending my knees or arching my back.
I am not who you think I am, nor what I want to be.
I am an imperfect perfectionist, who will always live life as a work of progress.

Lesson Plans (2 and 3).

Plan 2:

Brainstorm with students (as a large group) as many cliche phrases as come to mind. List them on the chalkboard. Some examples could be...

See the world with rose colored glasses.
What goes up, must come down.
Snow like a white blanket.
What goes around comes around.
The apple of my eye.
Pick yourself up by your bootstraps.
Apple a day, keeps the doctor away.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Beauty is only skin deep.

As a class, try to come up with 15+ examples if possible.

Explain then for each student to grab a piece of paper and start writing on one of these cliche phrases. The goal for this lesson is to use the ideas of the phrase, without using the actual words or phrase. Each student will get about 10-15 minutes for their writing time.

After this writing time, the class will break into groups of about 5. Each person will read their poem/writing to their group. The idea/hope is that the group will be able to name the "cliche" which the piece was inspired by. The purpose of this is to show students (and teachers) that the meaning behind cliched events and sayings can be extrapolated using creative thought and word choices, and that often we need to look at the way we write and describe things (people, attitudes, etc) to make sure that we are not falling into the trap of reproducing another cliche.


Plan 3:

This is best done in the fall or spring, when it's beautiful outside, and students are itching to be outside.

Gather the class, making sure each student has a pad of paper and a pen. Next, go for a walk... it's probably the safest (for kids who like to elope) to stay on the block directly across from the school. As you pass by the houses, have the students make notes about what they see.... how does the yard look, the paint job on the house, the manicured lawns, or "things" laying around in the yard (i.e. grills, toys, gardening tools). Are people (neighbors) out in their yards? Are any flags flying?

On the way back to the school, have the students take careful notes about their own school and it's setting. Is there an abundance of trash on school grounds? How does the lawn look? Is there a "sign" with the schools name on it? How does it make them feel? What about their school are they proud of? What are they embarrassed about?

Upon returning to the classroom, have each student circle and list the nouns on their lists (i.e. flags, grass, toys, busted up sidewalk, police officer). Next, have the students go through and add details to several (as many as they can) of their nouns (i.e. the overwhelmingly large American Flag, the green grass that has been trampled by neighborhood kids, etc).

Finally, have the students free-write about "their community". What does their community look like? What kind of energy do they feel in their community? Are they proud to be a part of the community? Who is the community?

The idea behind this lesson is for students to become more observant of their community. By paying attention and noticing ones surroundings, perhaps they will feel more connected to the larger community, or feel inclined to make changes (either physical changes to their community/landscape, or attitude changes about their community).

When students feel a sense of connection, often the relationship (between themselves, community, school) will heighten, increasing the desire to become a more active participant (in themselves, their community, and their school).

Assignment #1

Students break into groups of 5 or 6.

Each student starts with a blank sheet of paper, and is to answer and elaborate on ONE of the following prompts:

1. In my community, we ________. And it looks like _______.
2. Things that make a person likable are; _________, because _______.
3. I saw __________ (issue) on the new recently, and these are my concerns/questions.
4. If I was teaching this class, a typical day would look like _______.
5. Challenges facing youth today are _________.

Each student gets 10 minutes to write a paragraph (roughly) on the prompt of their choice. After 5 minutes, the students (within their group) pass their paper to the person on their right. Then 6 minutes are given to that person to continue where the other person left off. Each student is to add/make a twist to the original story. Each time the student passes the paper to their peer, an additional minute is added to the overall time (as to allow each person enough time to read what has already been written).

After everyone (in the group) has had a chance to write on everyone's paper, the original author will have a few minutes to read over the "finished product".

The class would post these stories in a book, that would be open and available for all, in case students wanted to see the final copies of their peers.

Ideally, in a group of 5 kids, this activity would take about 35 minutes. The first couple of minutes (of a 60 minute class) would be used to split into groups and discuss the objective of the assignment. Next would be 35-40 minutes of writing. The remaining 10-15 minutes would be time for the students to share their experiences of writing/adding to their peers ideas. Discussion would be open to positive experiences, as well as challenges or negative experiences.

Spark

"I wish you would fall in love with me, so that we could run away together", he sang to the woman 20 years his senior. "I'd just assume join the army", she shot back, crushing the bows, arrows, and ego of the retired school teacher -- wannabe cupid. In 86 years, she'd lost her parents, her husband, a grandchild, and all but one member of her card club. But she never lost her spark.

terrorism

"Fucking terrorists", he said.

"Yeah, who's got a rag on their head", another one asked.

The group laughed.

I didn't.

I was busy, choking on what seemed like cayanne pepper

Others were coughing. Some sneezing. My friend Keri, in tears.

I stood there, quiet, listening to others shout about the terrorists.

"They're not fucking terrorists", I wanted to say.

But I kept my mouth shut.

The only muslim guy there that night, stayed put.

He's a good guy.

The guy with the pepper spray? I think he was a saints fan.