[Music]
thank you um there was a quote by Billie
Holiday and this kind of summarizes how
I’ve kind of what I’ve learned about
myself like growing up as a young person
but also in the past year having like a
gap year and then going back into
education
well Billie Holiday said um if I’m going
to sing like someone else then I don’t
need to sing at all so if I’m gonna talk
like someone else then I don’t need to
talk at all I spent so long trying to
sing a hopeless song and hum along to an
offbeat tune I stuttered and stumbled
over my own words trying to persuade a
crowd that I was talking since I tried
to say the words that they taught me but
I was regurgitating information lies
that I couldn’t hold down still trying
to find my own sound I thought I was
supposed to sound like change but when I
cleared my throat to speak it sounded
like gunfire like the clap of a gun so I
held my hands up in surrender to my own
power
I found words to express the thoughts
oppressed from years oppressed and I
open my mouth and said black lives
matter in a moment of weakness in a
moment of weakness I released sounds of
praise that sounded like my
grandmother’s laughter I learned to say
words that my father never knew and
explained to my mother that my voice
could never be my own with the name that
she gave me branded on it I realized
that I had diamonds sparkling and
resonating inside I use my teeth as
pickaxes to mine deep in the cave of my
chest and I found just a lump of coal so
I used my tongue to refine that carbon
or my lips to polish the rough edges and
people were in awe by the time I opened
my mouth to speak and they heard my
voice emerge a diamond so now as I open
my mouth to speak know that those words
are non-renewable so pay attention thank
you
[Applause]
and the piece that I wrote for today is
just called my thoughts when I’m unsure
and it’s just about me thinking where
the futures gonna take us and the new
developments in technology and it’s just
crazy
so this is my thoughts when I’m unsure
and I’m accompanied by Sam today thank
you if I had a limb would you think I
was less of a human being than someone
who walked and barely tripped or
stumbled and if I had one leg would you
watch what you said and bury your
thoughts deep down so that anything
potentially hurtful that you thought
wouldn’t trip or stumble out of your
mouth when materialism rules the world
no one has time to chase dreams cuz
they’re too busy chasing the gold coin
on the end of the string being tugged
away from them every time they edge
closer too busy chasing the
ever-changing face of technology not
realizing that they’re no longer
spending and wasting money they’re
wasting and losing time I know so little
about this great big world in which we
live
and in these times of unprecedented
change where the questions raised for
society are so many it’s confusing
knowing where I’m from and trying to
belong in a space that could never
sustain me but we always find ways to
overcome we recreate our biggest fears
into our superpowers so we recreated our
own image into a better one chose
nurture over nature and decided that
artificial intelligence would be our
Savior and if beauty is in the eye of
the beholder and society is viewed at
the perspective of the individual in my
eyes I’m ahead of my time I’ve lived
longer than the digits on my ID yeah I
look younger than the digits on my ID
and sin Society I’m worth less than the
cost of my degree we need to liberate
education break down the walls of a
classroom to prove that the sky is the
limit and undo financial ties so we can
afford to live our lives but I’m
uncertain still unsure what would happen
if it were all to change
and it might be my responsibility to be
the change that affects my community but
we all just sit there sinking into the
backs of our Sulphurs like lost change
falling out of our pockets change that
could have been invested into better
days but we are so afraid of armies of
robots and nuclear wars the threat that
the future has to not being distributed
equally but maybe artificial
intelligence will fix our flaws so if
the system crashes where we forgot I
love yous and debug our hard drives so
we remember the good times before social
media became our warmest embrace and
Facebook was the only way that we
celebrated birthdays I feel if I was
able to download my prayers as emails
translate my love from X’s and O’s into
ones and zeros if I could manage my
humanity and use it more efficiently we
could find the answers to questions we
never felt to solve but we chose
technological advances resulting in an
emotional decline but we know so little
about this great big world in which we
live and in these times of unprecedented
change with the questions raised for
society as so many I try to remember all
that is spiritual physical emotional all
that makes us truly individual thank you
[Applause]
so the last piece that I’m gonna do and
I wrote this quite awhile ago like when
I was finishing college but it still
kind of it means a lot to me about where
I see my future going
it’s called infinity often I tried to
count down from infinity but logically I
can’t calculate whether the time ahead
of me is bright in ass perfect scenario
I just hope to find the light at the end
of my struggle to funnel out all
ambiguous ideas about who I’m supposed
to be but with the state of the world
now I’d be happy to retreat to the
comfort of my past relive the
familiarity of church hats at a soup and
prayers that last longer than 24 hours
would allow but our lives are governed
by three hands in an omni a cycle
mystics beans that speak in monotonous
echoes that don’t ring out for too long
I find myself transfixed by these time
constraints why would we given so long
to contemplate our time here and sifter
existence for an answer I got here
quickly by speeding towards a deadline
but I don’t want that eerie beep of a
flatlines to be the means of my ends I’m
not afraid of death but just existing to
the point of taking that last breath and
adding up all my regrets to equal
whether I lived a whole number or just a
fraction of what I could have been it’s
that moment where I’m submerged into the
ground with the six feet pinning me down
the moment that I worked towards my
grandparents future was boiled down in a
Dutch park with a good supply of good
food and hard food and food for thought
and food that keeps me full even till
now
and it was dished out generously to poor
souls who needed more than just change
to pay for their days but I find myself
budgeting breaths I have enough left to
reach heaven I find myself
shuffling past a dreamers with their
hands open trying to catch a blessing
and I’m guessing what the untold story
is written behind the shade of blue in
their eyes I refuse to have my regrets
left engraved in my gravestone but I
aspire to have my dreams hard-pressed
into diamonds because they were the
masterplan of my ancestors crafted from
the residue of sea salt dried on cheeks
like tears and seeds gathered on
concrete like the snow that doesn’t fall
on my Island I’ve got all their history
on my shoulders I’m just trying to fill
the footprints of giants overcome
mountains and trip over them like their
pebble stones I’m still trying to count
down from infinity and as infinity looms
over threatening to erase the stamp of
scars decorated around my knees and
elbows the familiar faces whose names
escape me I’m trying to stay above the
wave of pin codes and personal
statements ID cards and licenses and the
threat that the future poses to my plans
it’s easier to limit possibilities and
live by practicalities but I don’t want
to live by practicalities I wanna start
from one and see which infinity I get up
to thank you
[Applause]
thank you um there was a quote by Billie
Holiday and this kind of summarizes how
I’ve kind of what I’ve learned about
myself like growing up as a young person
but also in the past year having like a
gap year and then going back into
education
well Billie Holiday said um if I’m going
to sing like someone else then I don’t
need to sing at all so if I’m gonna talk
like someone else then I don’t need to
talk at all I spent so long trying to
sing a hopeless song and hum along to an
offbeat tune I stuttered and stumbled
over my own words trying to persuade a
crowd that I was talking since I tried
to say the words that they taught me but
I was regurgitating information lies
that I couldn’t hold down still trying
to find my own sound I thought I was
supposed to sound like change but when I
cleared my throat to speak it sounded
like gunfire like the clap of a gun so I
held my hands up in surrender to my own
power
I found words to express the thoughts
oppressed from years oppressed and I
open my mouth and said black lives
matter in a moment of weakness in a
moment of weakness I released sounds of
praise that sounded like my
grandmother’s laughter I learned to say
words that my father never knew and
explained to my mother that my voice
could never be my own with the name that
she gave me branded on it I realized
that I had diamonds sparkling and
resonating inside I use my teeth as
pickaxes to mine deep in the cave of my
chest and I found just a lump of coal so
I used my tongue to refine that carbon
or my lips to polish the rough edges and
people were in awe by the time I opened
my mouth to speak and they heard my
voice emerge a diamond so now as I open
my mouth to speak know that those words
are non-renewable so pay attention thank
you
[Applause]
and the piece that I wrote for today is
just called my thoughts when I’m unsure
and it’s just about me thinking where
the futures gonna take us and the new
developments in technology and it’s just
crazy
so this is my thoughts when I’m unsure
and I’m accompanied by Sam today thank
you if I had a limb would you think I
was less of a human being than someone
who walked and barely tripped or
stumbled and if I had one leg would you
watch what you said and bury your
thoughts deep down so that anything
potentially hurtful that you thought
wouldn’t trip or stumble out of your
mouth when materialism rules the world
no one has time to chase dreams cuz
they’re too busy chasing the gold coin
on the end of the string being tugged
away from them every time they edge
closer too busy chasing the
ever-changing face of technology not
realizing that they’re no longer
spending and wasting money they’re
wasting and losing time I know so little
about this great big world in which we
live
and in these times of unprecedented
change where the questions raised for
society are so many it’s confusing
knowing where I’m from and trying to
belong in a space that could never
sustain me but we always find ways to
overcome we recreate our biggest fears
into our superpowers so we recreated our
own image into a better one chose
nurture over nature and decided that
artificial intelligence would be our
Savior and if beauty is in the eye of
the beholder and society is viewed at
the perspective of the individual in my
eyes I’m ahead of my time I’ve lived
longer than the digits on my ID yeah I
look younger than the digits on my ID
and sin Society I’m worth less than the
cost of my degree we need to liberate
education break down the walls of a
classroom to prove that the sky is the
limit and undo financial ties so we can
afford to live our lives but I’m
uncertain still unsure what would happen
if it were all to change
and it might be my responsibility to be
the change that affects my community but
we all just sit there sinking into the
backs of our Sulphurs like lost change
falling out of our pockets change that
could have been invested into better
days but we are so afraid of armies of
robots and nuclear wars the threat that
the future has to not being distributed
equally but maybe artificial
intelligence will fix our flaws so if
the system crashes where we forgot I
love yous and debug our hard drives so
we remember the good times before social
media became our warmest embrace and
Facebook was the only way that we
celebrated birthdays I feel if I was
able to download my prayers as emails
translate my love from X’s and O’s into
ones and zeros if I could manage my
humanity and use it more efficiently we
could find the answers to questions we
never felt to solve but we chose
technological advances resulting in an
emotional decline but we know so little
about this great big world in which we
live and in these times of unprecedented
change with the questions raised for
society as so many I try to remember all
that is spiritual physical emotional all
that makes us truly individual thank you
[Applause]
so the last piece that I’m gonna do and
I wrote this quite awhile ago like when
I was finishing college but it still
kind of it means a lot to me about where
I see my future going
it’s called infinity often I tried to
count down from infinity but logically I
can’t calculate whether the time ahead
of me is bright in ass perfect scenario
I just hope to find the light at the end
of my struggle to funnel out all
ambiguous ideas about who I’m supposed
to be but with the state of the world
now I’d be happy to retreat to the
comfort of my past relive the
familiarity of church hats at a soup and
prayers that last longer than 24 hours
would allow but our lives are governed
by three hands in an omni a cycle
mystics beans that speak in monotonous
echoes that don’t ring out for too long
I find myself transfixed by these time
constraints why would we given so long
to contemplate our time here and sifter
existence for an answer I got here
quickly by speeding towards a deadline
but I don’t want that eerie beep of a
flatlines to be the means of my ends I’m
not afraid of death but just existing to
the point of taking that last breath and
adding up all my regrets to equal
whether I lived a whole number or just a
fraction of what I could have been it’s
that moment where I’m submerged into the
ground with the six feet pinning me down
the moment that I worked towards my
grandparents future was boiled down in a
Dutch park with a good supply of good
food and hard food and food for thought
and food that keeps me full even till
now
and it was dished out generously to poor
souls who needed more than just change
to pay for their days but I find myself
budgeting breaths I have enough left to
reach heaven I find myself
shuffling past a dreamers with their
hands open trying to catch a blessing
and I’m guessing what the untold story
is written behind the shade of blue in
their eyes I refuse to have my regrets
left engraved in my gravestone but I
aspire to have my dreams hard-pressed
into diamonds because they were the
masterplan of my ancestors crafted from
the residue of sea salt dried on cheeks
like tears and seeds gathered on
concrete like the snow that doesn’t fall
on my Island I’ve got all their history
on my shoulders I’m just trying to fill
the footprints of giants overcome
mountains and trip over them like their
pebble stones I’m still trying to count
down from infinity and as infinity looms
over threatening to erase the stamp of
scars decorated around my knees and
elbows the familiar faces whose names
escape me I’m trying to stay above the
wave of pin codes and personal
statements ID cards and licenses and the
threat that the future poses to my plans
it’s easier to limit possibilities and
live by practicalities but I don’t want
to live by practicalities I wanna start
from one and see which infinity I get up
to thank you
[Applause]
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