Last week, I attended a creativity and spoken word poetry writing workshop with Marc Bamuthi Joseph sponsored by Creative Campus. Despite some initial reservations, the workshop proved to be an incredible experience that not only further developed my writing skills, but also truly challenged my perception of writing and life in general.
We started with one word – “hate,” which branched off into ignorance, greed, neglect, racism and more. Each new word elicited a different meaning from each person in the room, yet every definition uncovered truth about history as well as the future of mankind.
Following performances, we were all asked to write our own genealogy. As I sat with the pressure of a five-minute time limit paralyzing the pen I had poised over a clean sheet of notebook paper, I began to get nervous.
While it seems irrational for a writer to get nervous when asked to write, the intense introspection necessary for the assignment was truly daunting. In order to proceed with the writing, I would have to contemplate my actions, my emotions and the purpose for my existence on a much grander scale than I ever had before.
After I had finished struggling to pull-together a couple of measly paragraphs, many students fearlessly shared what they had written. There was one piece in particular that stood out. It cut hard, far beyond the surface of a beautifully written piece of prose.
It delved deeper, approaching the core of man where pain and distress are universal and innate feelings of passion – love and hate, devastation and exuberance – lie. I looked down at my own paper full of shallow, misguided attempts to express myself without any sort of real introspection, and I was ashamed at how superficial it now all seemed.
For most college students, including me, our daily thoughts are dominated by insignificant issues that become irrelevant in less time than it takes for them to be resolved. In short, it is uncomfortable, humbling and painful to examine one’s own life, and so for the most part, we simply try to avoid it.
However, moving past all the negatives that often render us incapable of introspection, the beauty, truth and intrapersonal understanding that we stand to gain from introspection should be enough for us to all forge into our deepest selves.
We are all expected to progress, grow and achieve some sort of existential breakthrough while in college; however, we can not expect to obtain this without working toward it. We all want to know where we’ll end up and what we’ll become, but we forget that the only way to know is to look within ourselves.
Bamuthi left us with one phrase: “Everywhere I’ve been tells me all I’ll eventually be.” That served as the ultimate reminder that if we don’t call upon our inner selves and past experiences, we’ll stand no chance at figuring out who we are or where we’re going.
Tara Massouleh is a freshman majoring in journalism and English. Her column runs biweekly.
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Team rallies past Auburn to continue winning streak
Alabama softball team fights for a 7-6 win in weekend series at South Carolina
