Farewell advice...

A performance piece:

When the opportunity to do a performance piece came to light, my mind reeled with a million different idea's...so many things, so many issues that I've longed to address...how could I possibly choose!  But that's the best part about being an artist, you can say what you wanna say for as long as you've got the will to put it out there.

So for this piece I decided to focus on a current issue in mine as well as many of my peers lives, a campus transfer; from regional to main campus...yes...this is a pretty big deal for all of us.  For me, I will so miss the community and friends I have here.  There are times when I know without a doubt, that they have been my inspiration.  I'm surrounded by talented artists of all kinds, and we are supported by an outstanding faculty.  Including my instructor, mentor & friend Kate Shannon, who has by far been the one ongoing force behind my growth as an artist.  She has encouraged my work and helped me to find my own passions, I will miss seeing her every day, but I don't think she'll ever be far.

So as you can see, I'm feeling all mushy and I really wanted to have a chance to just one last time tell my peers how I feel and maybe give them a little advice that might help them along the way.  I sat down with a pen and paper and started a list of all of the things I wanted to tell them, things that I'd wished someone had told me so many years ago....I wanted to share my pearls with this extended family of mine...if it was time to let them go, I wanted it to count...to matter.

The filming was easy...sat down and had my say.  The point of it all isn't really about what those pearls were,   its about the fact that I could pour my heart out, and I do...but who's gonna hear it?  Who wants to hear it?  I think a friend of mine had it right when he said, "All they hear is wa...wa...wah....wa...wa...wa..." and that's probably true. I remember being their age and thinking....Yeah...yeah...whatever... So though my heart was in the right place, I do understand.

But all of this got me thinking about how often more than not, I'm not heard.  How easily it is for my voice to be lost in crowd, ignored or overlooked...how for so many years my voice was not my own.  I thought it was interesting to see myself talking without the sound...to wonder how many conversations I've had where I'd swear it was just me being animated with no sound.  Sure, she's nice to have around, but where's that damned mute button...

I wonder who will hear me now...