Politics and Theater

Great minds of color gather on the steps of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Hill Harper was in this program the year after me with my ex-girlfriend from college. I had no desire to be anything then other than an elected official. I was in the right place. What changed? The world changed. My first semester in public policy school the stock market crashed and America changed for me. I no longer saw the world in terms of opportunities...they deceived me into believing that the resources of the world are scarce ..but what I felt was that the resources were plentiful and a few people were hoarding them. The woman all the way to the left became the National Chairperson of the National Black Law Student's Association. We went to the same law school and I was elected the National Director of Community Services of the National Black Law Student's Association. Many believed I could have succeeded her as the National Chair. I had discovered theatre by the time the election came around and was seriously contemplating dropping out of law school altogether. It occurred to me very early on in law school that law and politics was the least effective way to make a positive difference in the lives of other people. I found theatre to be a far more influential forum. We come to the theater with the express purpose of having our lives altered. In politics it is quite the opposite...people typically come to impose their will on others.