A weekly publication by Loras College students
Vol. 90, Issue 10
Feb. 16, 2012
Poetry with giddy-up ANDREA BERNS staff writer
Words of inspiration were bouncing through the Pub last Friday and flying out of the mouth of Slam Poet and YouTube star, George Watsky. With cleverly written rhymes and words that began like a conversation and flowed gradually faster and faster until reaching the speed of a sped-up recording, 24-year-old Watsky had the audience laughing, cheering, and even soul-searching throughout the course of his oral poems. His use of humor while conveying thought-provoking phrases and metaphors, as well as his active interaction with the audience, made his performance enjoyable and meaningful. Watsky was born and raised in San Francisco, California. At the age of 15, his teacher, seeing potential in him, recommended he participate in Youth Speaks, a program centered on poetry and spoken word through young people. Watsky began taking workshops there, and attended a theater performance sponsored by this program, and it sparked his imagination. He then realized that “Poetry isn’t there to make me feel stupid … it can be very, very brilliant.” He returned to the performance three times and decided that he wanted poetry to play a part in his life in some way, but it turned into something even more. “Now it pays the bills,” he said with a flippant chuckle. He remained in Youth Speak, even taking a year away from high school to work there. Since then, he’s been performing on various college campuses in the Midwest and on the East Coast. After he graduated from college in 2010, he gained notoriety through his YouTube video entitled “Pale Kid Raps Fast.” It received very positive feedback, reaching 4.5 million views in 10 days. After this feat, he appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” There have been many inspirations throughout the George Watsky gained young poet’s career, instant notoriety with a including the funny, YouTube video. heartfelt stage performances of Beau Sia, the fast runs and sonic patterns of Rafael Casal, and the use of imagery and wordplay of spoken-word poet and musician Saul Williams. There is no doubt that Watsky is passionate about what he does. “Thank you for coming and allowing me to do what I love to do,” Watsky said as he opened his show. This includes the thrill of being on stage, the energy of connecting with an audience. Through wordplay, he gets a chance to say something important and meaningful, and hopes for it to resonate with his audience. “It makes the world seem a bit smaller,” he said. Though his work as a slam poet seems fun and laid back, Watsky admits, “Any career that has a lot of competition isn’t going to be smooth sailing.” But he encourages the audience to never lose hope. “The only ingredients for success are: believing in yourself, creating a plan, and sticking with it,” Watsky said. “If there’s anyone out there who is not sure what they want to pursue, or there’s a little voice in the back of their mind telling them that it’s unreasonable … don’t listen to that voice … it’s the drive that will take you there.” His message to young people can be summed up in the lyrics of his poem, “Letter to my 16-Year-Old Self:” “Sometimes what you love most will cause your biggest problem … This world is so confusing, but you’re gonna be fine. You’re gonna be fine.”
The Memeing of Life
the creator said. “The next morning, it was already at 70 (users) and grew to 500 by the end of the day.” co-executive editor and sports editor At first, the reception from Loras faculty was rumored to be Loras finds itself in a battle of the interwebs. The new negative. But upon further inspection, it was decided the page art of “Memes” is finding itself on Facebook. With a new carried less harm than originally thought. “I heard the school wanted some of the posts removed bepage called “Loras College Memes,” students are sharing stories about campus life, some of which can be put cause they were offensive,” said the page’s creator. “As the administrator, I have been keeping the page clean and makto good use. “It provides folks with a place to show their wit, their con- ing sure there are not any offensive memes being posted. cerns, their joys, whatever the case may be, said Art Sunleaf, The latest I heard, the school thought the page was funny.” “I went there and looked at the page two-fold,” Sunleaf said. dean of students. “This is another avenue for that. It’s today’s “I wanted to make sure people weren’t saying things that would version of the bathroom stall.” get them in trouble, like posting libelous stateA “meme” is tough to define. In short, it is ments … or using pieces of the college that are a series of ideas or behaviors that is passed property.” visually between members of a certain culSunleaf explained that the memes posted It’s today’s ture. To express an idea, people have taken to about certain themes are OK, but once they get the Internet, or, more specifically, Facebook, version of the personal, the college might be forced to do a bit to display their opinions. bathroom stall. of policing. He also urge students with campus To go a step further, an “internet meme” positions to walk a fine line when is intended to be unique. Many of them are Art Sunleaf leadership clicking on the page’s content. But for now, it’s associated with a photo, and the theme of Dean of Students a good place for students to share their inside that photo goes directly into the verbiage of jokes about campus life, as well as supplying the thought. For example, Dos Equis beer administrators like Sunleaf with valuable inspokesman, “The Most Interesting Man in formation. the World,” is one of the many photo memes. “Every organization has something like this, either used by Meme creators then write spinoffs from a tag line — i.e., “I them or created by them. This is ours,” Sunleaf said. don’t always ____, but when I do, I _____.” “People love memes,” said the page’s creator, who wished “Down the road, I feel like the page will eventually level off to remain anonymous. “They are simple and they can always in the number of users, but I hope people can continue using relate to them.” it,” the creator said. “There will always be new jokes to laugh The creator made the page as a medium to share jokes and about on campus, so I hope the page will provide a place to post insights to campus life. As soon as students caught wind, the them, and a place to keep them to look back on.” popularity skyrocketed. To see some of The Lorian editorial staff’s favorite memes, “The night I created the page, there was about 30 (users),” visit myduhawk.com.
by NICK JOOS and JACK METZ
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‘I’m in love with you’ illustration by AYUSH SUBEDI
Pages 6-7: Who won the ‘alumni super-cute photo contest’? Page 7: Who is your ‘professor crush’? Page 12: Who is sending you secret Valentine’s Day messages?