Floetry: An evening of Improv and Poetry

Prepared for an evening of verse, the Northeastern Illinois University community filled Alumni Hall on Oct. 21

for Floetry: an evening of Improv and Poetry. Dwan K. Buetow, Chair of the Black Heritage Committee, which

organized the event, welcomed six poets, a stand up comedian and an improv group. Buetow kicked off the

event thanking everyone for coming and presented Clyde McLeod, the event Chair and host of the evening.

Gilo Gwesi Logan, "the exciting poet," according to the event flyer, was the first to be introduced. Logan recited

his poem "When you think," accompanying his voice with the tranquil and fluid sound of the kalimba he was

playing. He urged the audience to focus on the video wall, where pictures along with each verse of the poem

appeared. He ended with, "When you think if you know anything, then the more you know, the more you realize

you do not know."

The next poet to present part of his work was Jason Ferguson, an NEIU student, and according to McLeod and

the event flyer, "the serious poet." Ferguson recited two of his rhyming poems. The first one, titled "By the love

of God," was a description of Ferguson's personal history. The second one, the title of which was "From history

to present," was an effort to lyrically present a small part of Black History. According to Ferguson, his aim

was "to take you from history and try to bring you to the present, which is not too far apart."

McLeod announced Jessica Fuentes' absence and filled her place by reciting two of his own poems, "400 years"

and "Rainbow woman." The first poem was about the African-American community and the changes it has gone

through during a period of 400 years, and ended with an auspicious, but somewhat sarcastic, message: "400

years, 400 years, hopefully it won't take another 400 years to realize that with suffering should come wisdom."

His second poem was dedicated "to all the women in the audience," McLeod declared.

Accompanied by Logan's kalimba sound, Terry Jacobus was introduced to the audience. Jacobus first presented

a video about a story called "A short Poe Flick." He said that, "the gist of the piece is everybody's got their stuff,"

referring to people having their own issues and problems. Then he recited the poem "Patience," from his new

book called "The book of God" and the poem "God told me to stop writing."

Marylene Smith Whitehead was then introduced by McLeod, who said that she is "a trail-blazer from

Northeastern Illinois University," as well as one of those instructors who has had a great impact on students'

lives. Whitehead is the writer of the book "Yes we did, Reflections of everyday people," a memoire about

Barack Obama's campaign. McLeod invited the audience to "enjoy excerpts from her outstanding original

anthem, ‘Barackin' Everywhere'." Whitehead began by saying, "It's so good to be home," thanked the people

all over the country who accepted her invitation to be interviewed for her book and finally shared with the

audience two stories with her grand-daughters and her grand-nephew as leading figures.

The last poet of the evening was Edi Gnippe, who recited three of her poems. The first one, titled "Crescendo,

a love story," was about a young man's feelings. The second one was about "a poem talking and complaining

about has happened to poetry," as Gnippe said. The third one was her first poem to be published when she was

only 8 years old, in the Weekly Reader, and it was a Halloween poem about a witch.

The atmosphere took a different turn when Gwen La Roka first and then "The Freshmen Comedia Troupe" took

the stage. La Roka, who was the winner of 2010 Last Locos Standing Comedy Speech, elaborately combined

her family's and her personal everyday stories as well as self-sarcasm, inciting laughter among audience

members. "The Freshmen Comedia Troupe," composed of Brian Self, Angela Oliver, Matt Slater, Mikko Minor,

Brittany Baker, Valerie Banks, Dino Spezzini and Clyde McLeod, improvised using three different "games",

which demanded the audience's involvement ending the evening with fun and amusement.

For more information about the upcoming events of the Black Heritage Community visit www.neiu.edu/

BlackHeritage.