The Wonder of Showing Up

I love the adage "80% of success is showing up." I wish the words had come from someone other than Woody Allen, but hey. (This leads me into a fuzzy grey area of text vs. author that I need to sort out in another blog.)

Regardless, I've used this line dozens of times to propel myself and my students forward.

Show up.

Come to class.

Say yes.

Be there.

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On Friday I took students to a free all-day Slam poetry workshop hosted by the NFSPS (National Federation of State Poetry Societies). The organization held its annual convention in Des Moines this year, which was only the second year they've offered the Slam workshop for teens.

I had very little idea what we were in for. My student poets had even less of an idea. 

Yet three said they'd show up.

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The night before the event, two more students asked to come, and our number grew to five.

Only two of my students had written any form of spoken-word or Slam poetry before climbing into the school Suburban Friday morning. Yet by noon, all five had agreed to participate in the afternoon's Slam competition, with $1000 of prize money at stake, generously provided by the event's sponsors--including https://www.poetryamp.org/.

Now here's where showing up really paid off.

1) The students were given free T-shirts.

2) They were fed the Subway orders of their choice.

3) They received personal training from nationally known Slam poets.

4) And because there were only 9 students in attendance, everyone went home with prize money in their pockets.

Three from our group earned $25 each as participants.

Another took $50 for fourth place.

Our 2nd-place poet won $250 (which the kids calculated as the equivalent of working 33 hours at Louie's Shaved Ice).

Showing up doesn't always come with a financial bonus. But on our way home, the students talked about the fellow poets they'd worked alongside, their "crushes" on the poets who had led the workshops, and their motivation to pursue more Slam opportunities: Priceless.

They even talked of hosting their own Southwest Iowa Slam competition. 

Can't wait to see who shows up!

Enough.

Be well.

Write.

Allison