WEiRD (talking to kids)

April 26, 2017

I went and talk to Whitefield Academy high school students last week. I was asked to tell them about my view on living a WEiRD life. I had never spoken to a high school before. I remember a couple men that spoke at my school when I was a high school boy. There was Chuck “tell me a story” Larkin with his handle-bar mustache. There was also a guy who wore boots and told us about how he had been bad and tough and done rough stuff but now had turned it all around. I don’t know if I believed him. I always felt like Chuck Larkin was the real-deal. He had to own that mustache. The other guy could have just bought them there boots.

Photos by Allen Bell.

I enjoyed talking to the crowd of kids and teachers even though I couldn’t see much past the lights. Now I know what they mean when they said my future was bright. I told them some stories and showed them some of my Street Poems I had made over the last few years. They got a chance to laugh at me after Mr. Principal made them behave before I took the stage.

At the end of my talk I gave them a chance to ask some questions. They waited a minute then a boy hollered out,” Hey, how much do you weigh?!” “Is your wife weird too?” another one asked me. These weren’t quite the inquiries I had imagined but they sure did make me laugh. I hope one day one or two of them will remember that long-beard guy in his polka dot overalls as someone that made them smile and made them think things over in a different light. We can all have hopes and dreams. Some might have just walked out and mumbled to each other,” What a WEiRDO” … and thats OK with me too :)

Thanks to Allen Bell and Joanne Fitzgerald for asking me to visit.

see you soon,
Kyle BlackCatTips Brooks