The University Union kicked off it’s annual “Week of Soul” with a popular headliner, Dr. Maya Angelou
University Union’s Committee for Black Cultural Programming (CBCP) organizes the weeklong celebration every year. This year’s events included Move and Goove Monday on Tate Plaza, YouTube comedy group FUNarios, professional stepping company Step Afrika!, and crisis management expert and inspiration for ABC’s “Scandal”, Judy Smith.
The attention-grabber for CBCP’s 2013 Week of Soul, however, was the incomparable, renowned poet and author Dr. Maya Angelou. For only five dollars students were granted the opportunity to spend an evening with the renowned poet.
The event opened with Megan Pendleton, a university student, performing two original pieces. Pendleton won the poetry reading/spoken word competition by receiving the most “likes” on her entry on the Week of Soul event page on Facebook. On the night of the event, Pendleton fearlessly belted a profession of love followed by the piece that won her the chance to perform before a sold out crowd.
This same soldout crowd exploded into applause when Angelou took the stage. Granted only five minutes to take photos and videos, audience members took this time to capture memories of being in the same room as the legend. As flashes flickered throughout Grand Hall, Angelou spoke of romance, stating that we must “remind ourselves of romance.” She then read James Weldon Johnson’s poem “Sence You Went Away,” in which the speaker sighs “Seems lak to me de stars don’t shine so bright, / Seems lak to me de sun done loss his light, / Seems lak to me der’s nothin’ goin’ right, / Sence you went away.”
Angelou also stressed the importance of getting help from previous generations and helping future generations.
“Don’t you know that you’ve already been paid for?” Angelou asked the audience, encouraging attendants to seek advice from early poets. “Somebody was here before you, lonely before you, and survived.”
She challenged her audience, something all collegiettes should take upon themselves, to let our lights shine so that others will survive because of us.