On February 28th, UAA invited Elizabeth Acevedo to perform several of her spoken word poems. She was very passionate about the subjects of her poems and spoke with us at length as to their inspirations and contexts. She presented a number of her more famous poems such as “Ode to the Rat” (also known as “Rat Ode”), “Bittersweet Love Poem”, and “Beast Girl.” As well as some of her more obscure works without given titles such as the poem for singles and the poem regarding her feelings after the 2016 election and her poem regarding the black lives matter movement. She was incredibly engaging; encouraging of audience feedback; and very candid and open on her feelings, opinions, and vulnerabilities. After her performance, she held a Q&A session and a book signing.
She brought up numerous interesting and/or relevant topics during the evening. She began by giving us background, where she was coming from, regarding her struggles identifying what her nationality and ethnicity was that spanned years. She was candid about her feelings of isolation due to her …show more content…
She also told us a story about one of her poetry professors. One day, the instructed them to write an Ode to an animal, and as he went around the room, other students were picking animals such as black birds and sea anemones. When he got to Elizabeth and asked her for her choice of animal, she said a rat. The idea being that she wrote about what she knew, and growing up in Harlem, she knew rats. Her professor responded that she had to pick something else because “a rat is not a noble animal.” She responded by writing “Ode to the rat.” Years later, when she had to defend her thesis against that same professor, he asked her what inspired the piece. She told us about how that moment made her realize that some people can be unaware of their micro-aggressions and that sometimes we have no idea how our actions affect
She brought up numerous interesting and/or relevant topics during the evening. She began by giving us background, where she was coming from, regarding her struggles identifying what her nationality and ethnicity was that spanned years. She was candid about her feelings of isolation due to her …show more content…
She also told us a story about one of her poetry professors. One day, the instructed them to write an Ode to an animal, and as he went around the room, other students were picking animals such as black birds and sea anemones. When he got to Elizabeth and asked her for her choice of animal, she said a rat. The idea being that she wrote about what she knew, and growing up in Harlem, she knew rats. Her professor responded that she had to pick something else because “a rat is not a noble animal.” She responded by writing “Ode to the rat.” Years later, when she had to defend her thesis against that same professor, he asked her what inspired the piece. She told us about how that moment made her realize that some people can be unaware of their micro-aggressions and that sometimes we have no idea how our actions affect