Special thanks to A. C. Middle School

Today is a day when I realize how much I love my work as an artist.
I had the privilege of speaking with a group of middle school girls for their “Girl’s Night” event which was amazing! Whenever I threw a question out to them, so many hands flew up in the air that there was no way I could call on them all! (Although I did try.) What was most exciting to me were all the hands that went up when I asked how many people were artists, and the variety of art they mentioned as their interests.

Question- why is it that there are so many kids who are inspiring and amazing, yet so many adults that miss the mark? This society could learn a lot from young people if it listened more and advertised less. The room was full of beautiful women, youth, staff and parent volunteers and i love that they have events like this. I don’t remember us ever having girl’s night functions when I was growing up, which is too bad. It sounds like the girls are going to have a full evening of activities. They were a GREAT audience.

I have never heard that loud of a shout back when doing my piece called “Unstoppable”. I do call and response. I say, “together we are unstoppable” and they respond with “nothing is impossible!” I decided to have them do it a few extra times since i was so impressed. I thought the roof might start to crack a little cause they were so loud!
I love it! Where are crowds like that all the other times when you need them? These young ladies may not realize how much of an impact that has, so I wanted to post it in hopes they might read my blog and know how much I appreciate them.

People always ask me when I am doing a show next, and I tell them that now I mostly do performances for young people, and this is a perfect example of why. The energy they have is contagious. The questions they ask are brilliant and interesting so I never dread question and answer sessions with youth. The kids want to know when you started writing, possibly hoping they are not too late to get started- which they aren’t! They want to know about inspiration, and from where you draw it.

However, I generally avoid Q & A whenever possible with ADULT audiences because inevitably someone is going to get all ego and use it as an opportunity to get at least 30 seconds of their 15 minutes of fame by being annoying. To put it in perspective,
here are a couple of examples of my least favorite frequent grown-up questions:
- The “look how smart I am” questions-
Q: Have you read, ________ (insert super obscure book here), and what do you think about the concept of _______ (insert obscure point of said book here).
A: No, I didn’t read that, but perhaps I will check it out.

Q: I have been reading a lot lately about __________ (insert geographical region, random cause, timely or untimely crisis, historical incident here). Are you familiar with that? You should write something about that.
A: That is very important, and since it seems really important to you perhaps you should consider writing that poem!

The “not a question” questions.
Q: (insert speech about something weakly guised as a question but is actually a statement) that ends with a “do you agree or disagree?”
A: (insert vague answer that neither agrees or disagrees)

My point is, you gotta love kids and their exuberance, and on the flip side you gotta wonder why sometimes grown-ups can make simple things so complicated.