Dispel Your Single Story (#DYSS)

"We live in a world of dreamers and artists, all of us- teachers and students with a story of our own. A story through music, a story through rhythm, the one in colours and in brush strokes, one story in movement, the one in speech, and then, those stories in the eyes; a million stories waiting to be told and to be heard. This is a story of the poets of the spoken word."(Veda Nadendla)

            About a year ago, I watched Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Ted Talk, “The Dangers of a Single Story” for the first time in my English II class. The professor then gave us an assignment: What single story may people perceive when they look at you? When a story is endlessly repeated it assumes the status of truth. Single stories can be dangerous, not because they are untrue: there is always some truth to a single story. The danger is when the one story becomes the only story. Given the assignment, I decided to go about it a different way. I wrote a poem. Growing up I was always fascinated by the act of storytelling through the form of poetry. Through this poem I dispelled a few stereotypes that revolve around being a Muslim woman living in a Western World. A few weeks pass, and I was approached by a different professor on campus. She had told me that my English professor had showed her my poem and she was blown away by how powerful the message in my poem was conveyed. She really thought that it can be transformed into something bigger, beyond the classroom. Now I am by no means a writer, but it sure was a good feeling to be noticed for a piece of work that I had written.

 “Spoken word poetry is the type of poetry that is written on a piece of paper, but performed for an audience. A performance unlike a theatrical monologue, the spoken word is an ecstatic rendition of a personal experience using word play, free association, alliteration and slang. Zeal and attitude are the key ingredients. Spoken word relies on the poet’s own experiences and his or her own narrative style. It is almost like a chic rant of aggression waiting to be unleashed. Since it is performed poetry, spoken word gives the writer the freedom of slang and uncontained rhythm in expressing their piece.” (Veda Nadendla).

 When given this assignment, I thought about how art can be used as a form of activism. I was also always fascinated by the art of spoken word performances. After doing some research, I realized that activism through poetry has been around for as long as the art form itself has. “From the times of Shakespeare to the Beatniks, till the time of hip-hop and slam poetry; the spoken word has successfully revolutionized poetry to give it a commercial, yet essential flavour. Spoken word has brought poetry to life; it is the art of storytelling in rhythm.” (Veda Nadendla)  Knowing this, I decided to take the poem I had written about a year ago, that its sole purpose was for an English class assignment, and started to think about the professor that had approached me a few weeks after I had written the poem: “What’s the next step for making this into something bigger?” The first thing that came to mind was cleaning it up and adding onto it. So much can happen in a year. People tend to come across new experiences and experience new things. The next thing that came to mind was that I wanted to produce this as a video. Production is a huge part of my project. Once I had the writing down, I had a vivid vision of how I wanted this video to be. Everything from lighting, to performance, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to make this  video as powerful as the writing.

Where will this video live? This video will live on the YouTube platform. I will also use Twitter as a means of sharing and using the hashtag “#DYSS” (Dispel Your Single Story). My goal of this project is to encourage others to dispel their single story, and tell their own story: whether it be through poetry, dance, illustration, or any other form of art. I want this project to become the reason people are informed and become less ignorant about certain issues.

When thinking about the activism in the Guerilla Girls, their work brought awareness to certain topics and issues through advocacy and activism. They used their platform to “complain” about issues they wanted to change. I am doing something similar. Through my poetry, I am complaining about “single stories” by telling my own story and owning it: making it mine. Hopefully my project will encourage other young activists to “complain” with me and tell their own stories. Get #DYSS trending with me and Dispel Your Single Story!

Sources:

Nadendla, Veda. “The Art Of Storytelling In Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry Through Ages.” Youth Ki Awaaz, 28 July 2014, https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2014/07/art-storytelling-rythm-spoken-word-poetry-ages/.

Radin, Charlie. “Further Reading: Activism Through Poetry.” The New York Public Library, The New York Public Library, 27 Oct. 2015, https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/08/16/further-reading-activism-through-poetry.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en#t-27265.