In 2002 I accompanied our daughter, Dana Courtney, to a youth poetry workshop. She had won an award and was invited to deliver her work in person. It was a large event with several hundred teenagers. I had the opportunity to hear many poems – not knowing they actually were a style of writing and delivery — called spoken word poetry.
One observation I took away from that 2002 experience was there were a lot of teenage boys who felt deeper, got hurt by love experiences more, and were willing to share their feelings in front of others, than I ever met when I was a teenager.
Fast forward ten years, and I am watching a TED.com video of Sarah Kay. I watch a lot of TED videos (and share a lot of them in this blog), so when I noticed the audience gave Sarah Kay two standing ovations in less than 20 minutes, I knew it was yet another great video to share that should be shared.
The opening poem, If I had a Daughter, is specular in and of itself (and is now a book simply titled – B). What is extraordinary in my opinion is how Sarah has developed a teaching technique that transforms the angst of youth changes the lives of young people. Her teaching technique follows one of my development mottos: Take the drama out of the trauma and watch the spirit soar.
Thank you Sarah for your great work. Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
