Last night, after touring the Jernigan institute, some of the Youth Slam students performed in a talent show. It was full of people with amazing talents, two of them from my home state, Georgia. Even Dr. Maurer got up and sang a song from Gilbert and Sullivan. It was amazing and different to see the head of a huge organization cut loose a little bit and make us all laugh.
The only thing that made this talent show a bit wild was the people I was sitting with. When I came to Youth Slam two years ago , I told myself I wouldn’t sit with the Georgians anymore. You know, you can never take them anywhere and not expect people to know all of them by the end of the event. However, since I’m a natural optimist , I decided to join them at dinner and the talent show was right after.
All of the performers were amazing. We had blind singers, musicians and storytellers from Georgia, Texas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and so many other states. The host that night was a successful rapper called Braille. A highlight of the evening was when we all were given complementary CDs of his music.
And of course, true to form, at the end of the evening at our table , a mini, yet full flown water war broke out among the Georgians. I didn’t know much about it at first. But then I became a casualty. My right side was soaked. One of our girls got an entire bottle of water poured on her somehow. It was so odd and yet so fun to cut loose a bit after days of classes and projects.
Georgia is known for the loud cheers of support we give each other. We’re a very friendly and close-knit NFB affiliate.So, when Wilkens Eugene’s turn came I don’t believe anyone was surprised by our cheering reaction. However, when it was Garrick’s turn, everyone began to boo us. Well, Georgian pride meant we couldn’t take that sitting down. So, we stood up to cheer. We were so loud, we had to be given an extra minute to all calm down. Sometimes, I wonder to myself if we don’t take it overboard. It’s all in good fun though, and I loved these fun times with my NFB friends.
All too soon, it was time to come back to our dorms and prepare for bed. While the bus ride to the National Center was energetic and fun, the ride back was spent in slumber, dozens of students utterly drained from yet another long 18-hour day. We were all so exhausted. But it was all worth it, hearing the wonderful people who put in the time and effort to make our night special.