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"Lift others as you climb" -Suzan-Lori Parks

Submitted by CCM on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 10:09pm.

             This evening I was fortunate enough to attend Suzan-Lori Parks reading in Goodhart Theater. I must say that I am very happy that this course requires us to attend some outside talks/events. If it weren’t for this requirement then I probably would have missed out on this great talk! Overall, I don’t really see how tonight’s talk directly relates to our main theme of gender and sexuality. However, I did find Parks’ performance to be very enlightening and motivational. More importantly, she briefly touched upon the idea of “activism” which I linked back to our ongoing class discussion about incorporating activism into our new syllabus. 

 
            Parks’ performance was truly innovative in the way that she presented her material. Rather than reading from a text, Parks used odd gestures and innovative sounds to enhance her reading and overall talk.   As a result, I was instantly captivated by her unique presentation style and above all, by the “suggestions” that she offered. 
 
            Throughout her speech Suzan-Lori Parks presented the audience with a number of “suggestions.” Please find below some points/quotes from Parks’ performance that I found to be particularly inspirational:
 
1. In the first part of her talk Parks focused on the notion of entertaining “far-out ideas.” Her intention here was to encourage others to be active in pursuing their dreams and to ignore all those inner voices that emphasize doubt and failure. She went on to provide a personal anecdote from her own life in which she had to make the difficult decision to ignore that cynical inner voice that we all carry. 
 
2. Sometimes you have to say “no” to the advice given to you by those people that you respect…
 
3. “You make your luck.” –Suzan-Lori Parks’ father
 
4. “Don’t worry about being cool.”
 
5. “Lift others as you climb.” (*This was by far one of my favorite quotes of the evening)
 
6. “Practice radical inclusion by opening your eyes wide, just past your comfort zone.” (…in doing so you will see yourself as the other).
 
She ended by encouraging us to spread compassion and to encourage enthusiasm. According to Parks, we are all prized, especially because we have gotten this far ;)
 

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