pep rally

About last night...

Taalam Acey is the truth! And I have the double CD set to prove it. What a treat last night as Jus Words at Dowling's Palace featured Taalam Acey!

Please see his website at http://www.taalamacey.com.

And by the way...

I love going to hear intelligent people say intelligent things. I love sharing our minds like that - there really is no other social outlet like that, where I can share what's on my mind, and hear what others have to share. It is inspiring and affirming to know that I am not the only person who has some of these thoughts, fears, opinions, and epiphanies. It is educational to learn from the others who don't think like me. It's like testimony at church service, but it's different, cause it's about more than just witnessing about triumph over tribulation - it's like we are collectively struggling to build a communal consciousness and love and transcends the boundaries of the politically correct and the status quo.

My concern is that, like church, when we leave, do we take our energy and spiritual and mental growth and live boldly, ever willing to change the world? Or like many churchgoers, who put their Bible and tambourine in the rear windshield of the car from Monday to Saturday, do we poets, writers, and artists settle for the contentment of the outlet of our communal activity, the synergy we find within the four walls of the open mic venue, and then forget the higher selves we encountered when we were all high off the rush that comes from a well crafted verse over a well placed beat? I hope not. I hope that like with church, when I leave the open mic venue I can present myself to the world a better, more progressive thinking, more loving, more thoughtful, more meaningful, more productive child of the Most High. And I hope I'm not the only one who leaves changed and ready to be a catalyst for even more change.

Cause the longer I live, the more testimonies I hear, the more poems I listen to, the more I know that we are living in trying times where the hope of change is sometimes all that can keep us going.