A man of spoken words, who deals with the injustices of the world. Articulate, intelligent & highly emotive. A wordsmith who stirs the coolest of cats, as I express on my experiences without feeling the need to tailor my words to gain attention. My style is confrontational, direct and often outspoken. My words are delivered with eloquence, and carried with a sting of clarity, a characteristic, inherited from my mother, an ex-school teacher and psychiatric nurse. She died from a 16 year struggle with MS in 2004, in my arms. I had been her principal carer after my father left, upon finding out about her illness.
Poetry has been a way to channel the pain, managing to fight adversity with little respect. My candid, thought provoking style was a more natural way to tackle my struggles, and has roots in my musical and cultural loves. Everyone from Krs-One, Chuck D and Ray Charles to Fela Kuti, Gil Scott Heron, Maya Angelou, Big Youth and Muhammad Ali. You can see why. Political, outspoken and controversial, this is the landscape that I thrive in. I started performing at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, in 2004, and have continued to perform at a variety of venues. A thought provoking wordsmith with a unique voice and presence, he must be heard !!!
Sport, Music & ofcourse ..... WORDS & Expression !!!!!
Using Art, specifically, Spoken Word Poetry, as a method of indulging young people in more than every technological gizmo, including weapons, as a means to express themselves, less intellectual apathy, more exploration of the things that we feel & know to be the things that stir & motivate our very being ......
Anything & Everything, as long as you do so, openly, honestly & in a manner that is logical rather than, overly emotive .....
Artistic expression ... spread that word ... www.bigvirge.com
Got switched on to TED Talks by a good friend of mine who felt i'd appreciate an address by an English Professor, on the values of the arts in education. Enjoyed it immensely, unfortunately, I have only been back, infrequently, but, am now joining the community as I feel that much of what I speak on in my art, will hopefully be appreciated by the TED community ......
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A comment on Conversation: What experiences have made you more comfortable with mental health disorders?
Medication aside, one has to wonder, when looking at the "Apparently Sane", workers & people of the world, who indulge in so many falsehoods & fallacies to keep their, "Little version of Normality", going, who the people are who have REAL Mental disorders ....
It has been said on numerous occasions before, but, in this day & age, the person who spends their life behind a computer screen, claiming to connect with people, defines sanity ... ???
As opposed to the individual who literally, could no longer cope with the nonsense that humanity now embraces as being civilized ....
Denial, like cocaine ... is a hell of a drug !!!!!
But ... Mental health issues are not something people should be so uncomfortable with as they seem to be, but, I guess, those who can't deal, invariably, see a piece of themselves & that's what's so difficult for them to deal with ....
My workshop experience didn't make me more comfortable, but, it made me less disparaging of those who suffer.
A comment on Conversation: Debate: Our culture isn't adapting to our rapidly progressing technology.
Those currently making money from it, i'd suggest, are those who are still advocating it's use in our progression, but, anything reflecting on technology & it's impact, be it factual, or, an artistic representation, seems to indicate a less than positive outcome.
Technology is moving much faster than culture because in a great many ways, what it has done, has stunted cultural development. Cultural development surely resides in the physical interaction of people, be they of the same or different backgrounds, now assess how we travel, ipods in ears, psp's etc .... children who'd rather communicate via txt speak than REAL speak, aids to cultural advancements ?
It's easy to criticize yes, as I sit on my macbook connecting, due to internet provision, but, after reading this, how many of you will actually make the effort to connect with me & build something in terms of inter-community building or otherwise huh ?
How many of you will give me a thumbs up or down & say I want to communicate directly with this human being ahead of the next internet fix of whatever, that will satisfy your need for that quick net fix ....
I think that Stefan is onto something, but, Giant Leaps now, are rarely made in the areas he specified. There is a great deal of rhetoric about spirituality etc, online, but who really takes the time to develop that side of themselves when e-mails are coming regarding the next sexual encounter or bit of business that's going to enable them to buy themselves the latest gadget that looks cool & gives them a sense of status due to it's perception in the public eye
We have so far to go & technological methods, as useful as they've become, are not for the purpose of cultural development, if anything, technology, in terms of recent timescales & it's advancement, have coincided with our regression as people.
A comment on Conversation: What is the key to smarter decisions?
We see it all the time with our young people now, decisions without a moments thought, sadly, they get that from much of what the adult populous now promotes as being wisdom ......
Careful people, the repercussions of your decision-making can reach so far, that, they can eventually return to you through societies vicious circle ..... take a minute & THINK !
A comment on Conversation: What is your argument for or against "Voter Apathy"?
It is a very shady arena, where money & influence, far outweigh the voting process, or, the apparent apathy of those, who can't write million dollar cheques to get policy amended to benefit themselves, their loved ones & their communities.
The people are the only ones who can truly affect change for themselves, putting ticks in boxes just ain't the ticket !!!!!
The other issue is the inevitable internet voting, that, would seem to be what the politicians now want. So, that will be the end of any kind of voting transparency, which, we now know to be minimal at best anyway .......
I think it's simple, the masses are getting sick & tired of buying into systems that have proven to be corrupt & not in their best interests, who can blame people for not voting ... REALLY ... ???
A comment on Conversation: Do you feel comfortable talking to someone of a different race about racial issues and stereotypes?
So, I feel comfortable speaking on these issues, but, people should remember that racism has so many subversive levels & subtleties, that, when people are asked to actually look at their behaviour & attitudes, that's when you see that this is a very prevalent problem & issue for numerous people, probably moreso, in a lot of ways today, than the days of the KKK ... etc ... It's easy to play along now, whilst harboring racist views & attitudes, hence, i'd suggest that, if you walked into a bar & started the conversation, many people would find a way to smoothly escape ... just my opinion of course.
Finally, as a black man, let me just stress that racism starts in a lot of instances, within it's own racial groupings, a very important thing to recognise & for these communities to acknowledge ... caste systems etc & unbelievable levels of internal race discrimination within the black community, not fiction, but, FACT.
Unity & frank open discussion is the only way to hopefully reduce that, which, will never be eradicated.