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Mesmerizing and Funny, Maya Angelou Makes MHC Audience Chuckle and Hush
Story By Bria Smith
Maya Angelou, visiting campus for the second time since fall 2006, wanted MHC students to understand that they are enrolled in an educational institution of higher learning not only to receive a degree but also to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.
That was her theme Thursday, April 16, in an evening address to about 800 in Moore Auditorium. She wanted students to know that they should prepare themselves to be a blessing in the lives of others instead of a curse.
“This is not a joke. It can be funny, but it’s not a joke,” Angelou told the audience, singling out students. “You are here because we need you desperately. Not enough adults tell young people how much we need you. We need you desperately. You are the best we have; you are all we have. We need you to help to make this country more than it is today.”
Students, faculty, staff, and the public had the opportunity to partake in “Another Night with Maya Angelou.” The memorable event conjured laughter and contemplation.
“I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me. If you can internalize that statement, you are forever liberated, because you can say, ‘Oh, Madame Curie with her ideas of radioactivity and Paul Laurence Dunbar with his ideas of poetry were human beings. I am a human being. I see that within me. I have all the components that are in her,’” Angelou said.
The program began with MHC sophomore chorus student Zakia Allah singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Following Allah was the introduction of Maya Angelou by Nina Pollard, vice president for academic and student affairs. Pollard and Angelou acknowledged a very special bond.
Angelou referred to Pollard not only as a friend but also as a “soul sister.”
“I think of my friend, Dr. Nina Pollard, I know that she has been a rainbow in the clouds. She brings her light with her everywhere she goes. We met in Mississippi, and Nina Pollard was the light. We met again in Kansas and Missouri and around the county, and I have seen her bring that understanding that human beings are more alike than we are unalike,” Angelou said at the beginning of her talk.
Upon Pollard’s introduction of Angelou, the stage curtain was drawn back, in dramatic fashion, revealing Angelou sitting in a chair ready to deliver her inspirational message through speech, song, poetry and jokes.
Beginning by singing acappella a 19th Century song, Angelou quickly caught the crowd’s attention.
“In an attempt to put the people at ease, God put in Genesis, a rainbow in the sky. Some African American lyricist from the 19th Century poet says that God put the rainbow not just in the sky, but the clouds themselves,” Angelou said at the onset of her presentation.
“Illuminations are always in the premises, however clouds can show lower and louder, that the viewer can not see the light. But if the rainbow was put into the clouds, not just in the sky, then the viewers can see the possibilities of hope. I am happy to come to Mars Hill, because I thought the last time that I was here, that you are a rainbow in the clouds,” she said.
In less than an hour, Angelou touched on a sequence of events. In her speech she mentioned her remarkable “Uncle Willie” who truly was a rainbow to many, she said as she recalled the moments in her life when people she had never met mentioned to her his influence on their lives. Angelou used her Uncle as a thematic building block to stress how important it is to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
“Uncle Willie taught me how to do my times tables. He taught me how to do my multiplication tables. He would put me in front of a potbelly stove, with a slur attending to his paralysis, he would say, ‘Now, sista, do ya fours and ya fives,” Angelou recounted in a comical thread.
“It is because of him that I am who I am today, a rainbow in somebody’s cloud,” she said.
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