W.R. Anderson rec center offers poetry night
Winston-Salem native Vincent Wilkins per-forms during poetry night at the W.R. Anderson Center.
Photo by Timothy Ramsey
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
The Winston-Salem Local Organizing Committee (WSLOC) sponsored a poetry night at the W.R. Anderson Recreation Center last Thursday, Dec. 8. The event was the brain child of Teaune Vinson, who spoke with Effrainguan Muhammad, facilitator of WSLOC and local representative for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, about the idea, and it took off from there.
The WSLOC was founded as a result of the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the Million Man March.
Local organizing committees are designed to unite African-American communities in that they are not focused on any one specific religion. The goals are to promote, organize and mobilize African-Americans to operate independently outside of governmental agencies.
Vinson said she reached out to people via social media about the event and had a high number of responses. She reached out to Bryant McCorkle, director of the W.R. Anderson rec center, and he was more than happy to help her.
There were many individuals who came out and recited their original poems. The theme of the night seemed to be the uplifting of the African-American community and embracing the culture.
“People got up there and were vulnerable and as long as you can be vulnerable with someone you can always build a relationship,” said Vincent Wilkins, a poetry night participant. “It’s hard for people to be vulnerable, especially when they are talking about their real lives, and that’s what resonated the most with me.”
“I never want someone to be in awe of me when I perform,” Wilkins said. “I hope that they think and go home and unlock the treasures that are within them. It’s therapeutic for me and hopefully someone can dig within themselves to see what they can find.”
Vinson says since the event was such a success, she definitely plans on holding another poetry night.
“I’m a very artistic person and in my heart I’m a singer, writer and poet,” said Vinson. “I was very pleased with the turnout and the level of consciousness and content is exactly what we wanted.
The purpose was to promote awareness and consciousness in one another so that we can be doers of our words.”
Vinson said she wants to build upon the first poetry night by possibly adding music.
