I am off to find out why the caged bird sings...

by joannadandy 15 Replies latest social entertainment

• 

  SixofNine

  I said you were "likely" racist. Perhaps you are, perhaps you're just humorless, I honestly don't know which is worse.

  I was going to ask, if you came back to this thread, exactly what you found "hurtful" in my comment. I see you (kind of) answered that.

  If you're going to sit here and pretend that it isn't a WELL KNOWN cultural phenomenon that black people talk in movies, I have to believe you don't get out enough, or your agenda of spanking the guy who made the innocent (yes innocent) racial joke, turned you into a dumbass (agendas will do that to people). Let me clue you in; it's a WELL KNOWN cultural phenomenon that black people talk in movies.

  Does this mean that all black people talk in movies? No. Does this mean that white people don't talk in movies? No. But, anyone who goes to movies enough to see various demographics in attendance, get's the joke immediately. There is a reason for that, and that reason is that, like most humor, there is truth of some sort or another behind it's playfulness.

  So, those are some facts about moviegoers. Please don't tell me not to joke about a situation that exist. If I spoke seriously about it, it would be taken as rascist, and anyway, honestly, I don't have any suggestions for solutions, so I guess I don't have too much serious to say about it anyway. It bugs me a bit, but I try and be good-natured about it. Hell, I only bring it up with a wink on occasion.
• 

  nilfun

  Sounds neat, Joannadandy! Let us know how it went...

  black people talk in movies

  You mean that $hit I saw in Scary Movie was for real???

  Oh dear. I just admitted that I watched Scary Movie on a public forum. God help me.
• 

  dedalus

  But, anyone who goes to movies enough to see various demographics in attendance, get's the joke immediately.

  I really didn't get it, even though I go to movies very frequently and have been exposed to "various demographics." Is it possible for you to explain the joke to someone like me, who is supposed to "get it"?

  Dedalus
• 

  joannadandy

  Actually the show was free for me because I am special...ok that's a lie, all the students got in free. (5 bucks for the public).

  And it still wasn't a "sold out" crowd...how sad.

  I honestly didn't know that much about her before I went to hear her speak. I had read the poem I mentioned in the title of this thread. I knew she gave a speech at clinton's inaguration. That was roughly it.

  I was even toying with the idea of not going. I had a HUGE project due the next day and I needed every available minute to work on it. I was standing inside the auditorium waiting for my friend to show up. I told myself if I didn't spot her I was going to go back to the library and keep working.Luky for me she showed up because it was easily the best "study break" I have experienced and I felt so absolutely refreshed after hearing her speak.

  She walked slowly to the podium wearing all black, and a bright orange turban while the crowd gave her a standing ovation. She began by singing a song about rainbows in the clouds. She would interject the song with poetry. It was amazing.She has such a lovely voice. A cadence I can't even describe, and while she said she did not have a voice for singing, I do believe that would be the only point she and I disagree on.

  Her entire speech was about rainbows in clouds. How everyone and how places can be rainbows in clouds of darkness, and that no one can know how far their rainbow will reach to people. She told stories about her grandmother and Uncle Willy. She talked about how she was sexually assulted at 7. She talked about how after that she decided she would never speak again. Her grandmother continued to tell her she would be a teacher someday, and she assumed her grandmother was crazy. It was really touching and I can't even begin to convey how powerful, sweet, funny, inspiring her anecdotes were.

  She sang another song, read a few more poems and I sat there with my eyes closed just being lulled by the rythmn of her voice, the strength of her words, and the weight of the ideas she was so effortlessly speaking out.

  This woman has lived an amazing life. She herself is an amazing person. If anyone out there gets a chance to hear here speak I HIGHLY recommend it. She is easily a great national treasure. I never really believed the hype about her before. I knew she was famous. I knew she was a poet laureate, I knew she was smart...I just had no idea how right everyone was about her. You honestly feel better just being in the same building as her. Talk about a powerful spirit.
• 

  joannadandy

  A rainbow visits St. Cloud By Regina Eckes

  Almost 3,000 SCSU students and community members greeted Dr. Maya Angelou with a standing ovation as she took the stage in Halenbeck Hall Tuesday night. The last time Angelou came to SCSU was 14 years ago and for the past several years, SCSU's University Program Board (UPB) has been trying to have her come and speak again.
  
  "Our committee wanted to bring a diverse array of speakers and we've been trying to get Maya Angelou here for a while," Amanda Hallfrisch, member of UPB, said. "We really wanted to bring her back this year and are very happy to finally get her after the past few years."
  
  Angelou, who recently turned 75, came to SCSU as more than just a speaker. She has a life-long career as an acclaimed poet, best-selling author, educator, historian, actress, director and civil-rights activist. Besides talking about her childhood, Angelou recited several lines of poetry and sang about making the world a better place.
  
  Maya Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Mo. under the name of Marguerite Johnson. She moved to Stamps, Ark. at the age of three along with her older brother. There they lived with her paternal grandmother and worked in the only black-owned store in the county.
  
  Angelou's childhood has been an influential part of her life as she referred to it often. She vividly remembers learning her times-tables from her Uncle Willy and has never forgotten them. When traveling back to Stamps for her uncle's funeral years ago, she ran into a man who wanted to tell Angelou that her Uncle Willy had employed him at the store as a child and taught him as well. This man ended up becoming the first black mayor of Arkansas. Angelou reflects on her Uncle Willy as being a "rainbow in the clouds."
  
  Rainbows were often used in her presentation as a reminder that even the worst times have to pass and things have to get better. Angelou referred to a passage from the book of Genesis in the Bible where God put a rainbow in the sky to symbolize a promise that the rain will always stop; bad times do not last forever.
  
  Angelou discussed how we can be rainbows in other people's clouds, just as generations before us can be the rainbows in our clouds.
  
  Angelou also encouraged people to look within their families to find their rainbow. She finds it troubling that so many young people look to "mega-stars" for inspiration and those are people who "wouldn't care if you lived or died."
  
  "When she told you to look inside your family to find your 'rainbow in the clouds' it got me thinking about my own family and who my own 'rainbow in the cloud is,"' said Misty Kreklau, sophomore. "I thought her speech was very inspirational and overall it was pretty good."
  
  Even though Angelou has been a public speaker now for most of her life, she was mute as a child. After living in Stamps for several years, she moved to Missouri to stay with her mother. It was there that she was raped at the age of seven by her mother's boyfriend. After telling the police and her family who the man was, he was found beaten to death. Angelou felt it was her words that killed him. As a result, she did not speak for months, even to family members.
  
  "I was afraid my words would go out and kill anybody," Angelou explained. It was during that time her grandmother predicted Angelou would become a teacher. Her grandmother's words rang true, and now Angelou's words are used for healing, comfort and inspiration for all people.
  
  With her poetry, singing and true words of wisdom, Angelou received a second standing ovation at the close of her performance. Even though she spoke for only a short 60 minutes, she made a point of saying how proud she was to be at the university.
  
  "It is a great opportunity to speak at an institution of higher education, which is in itself a rainbow in the clouds. It is quite an honor," Angelou said. "I know that each of you young men and women has the possibility and the probability of becoming a rainbow in the clouds."
• 

  Aztec

  Thank you Joannna! She seems like a very inspirational person. I'm very glad you got to hear her and I hope to do so myself. ~Aztec