Hey everyone it’s Kennedee. February was a crazy month.
February starts off this year's Bridges event Zay Williams and Ramel Washington performed a poem written
by Teddy Martin called Hurricanes. The poem talked about the different struggles black people have gone through in the past and present. It dives into how black people are treated in the media. For example, “She was a little black girl in the book, Yeah, but this is the big screen for the masses. Funny as she lightened up.” These lines in the poem reference the book and movie “The Hate You Give” when the book came out, it describes a dark skin black girl but once the movie premiered the lead then turned into a light skin girl. Showing colorism in the media, T.V., and film world. This was a great moment and I am so thankful that Teddy thought of me to help perform this amazing piece.
Once Bridges was over I moved right into the Winter Dance Collection. I was a part of the wardrobe crew for the show. This was my first time working on a wardrobe crew for a show and I was very nervous. When working on wardrobe crew you help the performer with their costumes, whether it be a missing button,
needing something to be safety pinned, down to the shoes on their feet. This also includes quick changes, a quick change is when the performer has to quickly change backstage into the next costume because they are needed for the next scene or dance. Even though I was very new at this, all the dancers helped out so much and made the job so much fun. Even though my job as a wardrobe crew is very important and serious, we still have our fun. The dancers were amazing. They put on an amazing performance.
After that amazing week of shows, I had an RA event planned with another RA. We called the event, “Switch Please, Wii da Best residents” It was a Switch and Wii Sports tournament. The winner of each category would win a bookstore gift card, the different categories we had were, tennis, soccer, boxing, and bowling. We had pizza, chips, and drinks and had a great turnout.
The last event I wasn’t a part of but it was great to be an audience member. BIPOC, Beautiful Indigenous Performers of Color put on their first black history program. It featured singing, dancing, great speakers, and a little bit of cheerleading. It showed the great of not only black history but as well as the
present and the future. One thing that spoke to me was when the keynote speaker told us that when we wake up every morning say this, “You are strong, you are beautiful, and you are on FIRE.” We have to be on fire for ourselves to achieve the goals we want to reach. We have to do it for ourselves. If it's our dream we must do it. So I say to you, you are strong, you are beautiful, and you are on FIRE!!