Civil Conversations
The conversation begins with Spoken Word advocate and founder of the @2CentsMovement, Jean Claude Cournand who comments that spoken word provides an opportunity for millennials and others to have civil conversations about topics like politics, religion, and diversity. Comparing spoken word to traditional communications tools, he referenced the superiority of a good poem to tug at your heartstring over simply narrating a statistic.
Spoken word and Education
Referencing how spoken word is used in other parts of the world Jean Claude commented that Chicago has provided a case study of how it could be integrated into the school’s curriculum where teacher Peter Khan has integrated a “Poetry Slam” into his school’s curricula and all students participate. The benefits experienced go beyond reading, writing, and performing to developing their confidence and presentation skills. There is ongoing research globally to understand the impact of spoken word from an evidence-based perspective.
At 17:00 the conversation pivots to Devon Seale who is bilingual (fluent in Portuguese), a Calypso Monarch (2016), and a technology nerd. Inspiration for him comes from being around people who are passionate about what they do whether it is solving an “IT” problem or hearing an “encore” in the calypso sphere.
Digitization
In dreaming of the future of our country, he wished for us to embrace technology in all forms and implement the changes that are necessary to digitize our country. Among the many areas where service delivery can be improved, he commented on transportation and the easy win which could be derived by embracing technology.
Devon operates at the intersection of the Calypso art form, Technology, and Language. His motto is “Trust and Believe.”
Dennise Demming 