Your Power is Your Perseverance – My Life in Spoken Word, with Jason Selman, poet and musician

A Montreal born poet and trumpet player, Jason « Blackbird » Selman is the author of The Freedom I Stole, Africa As A Dream That Travels Through My Heart and co-editor of the poetry anthology Talking Book, which chronicles the writings of Kalm Unity Vibe Collective (of which he is a founding member). He has done extensive poetry workshops across the Montreal area in schools and community groups. His work is grounded in the themes of ethno-musicology, surrealist expression, love and the intersection of masculinity and emotional vulnerability. 

His presentation/workshop will showcase his life in poetry: what he has learned and how he has persevered. He will begin my performing one of his poems and introducing himself. From there he will talk about his academic life, the struggles he has had and how he triumphed by following his heart in a career in the arts and community work. He will then perform another poem and discuss how perseverance is embedded into his creative process as a musician and writer. To conclude he will lead the group in a collective writing exercise. If there is extra time he will perform one last poem, talk about other lessons he has learned from poetry and working in the arts. He will answer any questions the students may have at the end if time permits.

Availabilities : 
– February 11th 2019 – AM (until 1:30 pm)
– February 13th 2019 – AM (until 1:30 pm)

Duration of conference : approximately 1 hour

Target audience : 
– 5th and 6th graders
– Teenagers and young adults

Technical requirements : 
– Microphone and stage, if necessary

Photo credit : Mariel Rosenbluth