Writer's Week

The main thing that I liked about Writer’s Week was the fact that the speakers really showed that writing does not just mean writing criticisms or novels but could take someone down many different paths. My favorite writer to listen to was Bill Kelly. Although he was admittedly unprepared for the presentation, I believed that he had the most interesting career and expressed to us best how the life of a writer works. I was impressed with the fact that he had the courage to simply pack up on New Year’s Day and leave his home to become a film writer. I was also shocked to learn that he learned to write in his twenties, something that inspires me to practice more now because I know that if I do, I can also become as good as him.
I enjoyed the clips from the play Speed Dating. Although they were not fully rehearsed for the play and still had to use their scripts, I thought that the play was extremely funny and outlined the nuances and stereotypes of the dating world quite well. The first song about all the questions men and women would ask their potential dates was hilarious. I also liked how they selected people from the crowd to join in certain parts of the play, and I wonder if they are planning on doing that for the real play or if there were simply two people missing.
I also enjoyed hearing the poems of Marc Smith. The amount of poetry that he had committed to memory along with his more entertaining way of promoting poetry makes him in my eyes a phenomenal poet. I was surprised when he said that he had long been afraid of speaking in front of people and that inspires me to want to become a better performer. He also showed a deep understanding of what reading poetry for people means when he said that he tries to put on a show rather than focusing only on his one poem.
The work of Billy Lombardo was interesting. The most fascinating part was that he said he writes about the things that he doesn’t have in his life like violence and hatred, and that the part of his story about almost attacking his son was inspired by a dream. His stories seemed to show a darker side of the mind that counters happiness by providing a melancholy view of things, as shown most clearly in his piece about the White Sox victory. The piece The First Time You Were Punched is one of the few that I have seen written in second person, and I found it to be a very creative way of expressing the story taking place.
I also saw the writer and poet Reggie Gibson. He seemed to be extremely experienced with speaking in front of many people, and although he was sometimes hard to understand, his performance poetry was breathtaking, especially the piece exposing the prejudices in today’s society and criticizing politics. The presentation by Daphne Willis & Co. was amazing, but although it was a great musical performance, this presentation did not go deep into what being a writer means. I was impressed that someone from Fremd High School went on to become a successful musician with people she had met at open microphones and through other friends.
In my opinion, all the examples highlight the diversity of the writing world and the fact that, no matter where you are, you will probably have to write in some way. Writer’s Week was inspirational in that it caused me to realize that writing can be a crucial instrument of success. I really enjoyed seeing all the writers and I thank all the people that contributed to the event.