So this isn’t my first rodeo, or reading I should say. However, my experience at the Exiled Open Mic was a unique one for me.
I started my weekend knowing I wanted to go to the open mic but not sure of what I wanted to read, or if I wanted to read at all. I had been playing with the idea in my head all week and gearing up, I would freewrite and then consider reading it. However, it got to the point where I would read my work over and over and nothing seemed right to read. So I decided I was just going to be an audience member that night.
An hour before the open mic, I overheard a conversation that fired me up. I was shocked that people could say such ignorant things and walk away feeling okay with it. With this new found energy, I all of sudden found myself in the micro room typing away my frustrations the best way I know how. It’s not often that I am outspoken on anything but this was too far for me. To see blatant ignorance in front of me and not say anything seemed impossible. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell someone a piece of my mind, even if it was in front of a crowd.
Not having rehearsed anything, I threw myself up in front of the mic. The crowd was already fired up from pieces about racism, gender politics and everything in between. They called my name and all the butterflies flew away. I knew I was talking to a crowd that would understand my anger and why I had to put it into words to read. I spoke as if everyone in the audience was a friend of mine and the words flowed out the way they were supposed to. I could feel my heart beating fast and the anger in my voice screaming out from being up on stage. I could hear snaps and other sounds of agreement as I kept reading. Only then did I really know that reading all that I’ve been holding back this entire time needed to be done.
We live in a time of constant controversy and it can scare people into silence. People like me who just want to go about their day and not have to worry about if the country is going to implode at any minute. But, staying silent does not help anything, it only prolongs the problem. This is why in my piece I suggest we all sit down and talk with each other like human beings because we are human, so why can’t we treat each other as such?