Saul Williams a 'sorcerer of emotion' at performance

Alumni Hall was packed Tuesday night as an anxious crowd awaited the arrival of spoken word artist Saul Williams. After a collaborative audience clap, Board of Directors-Diversity Performance Alfonso Lerma assured the audience members that Williams would grace the stage shortly. \nAs others in attendance grew rowdy, junior Derrin Granger came to the stage. Granger, an active poet on campus, competed last week in the Hip Hop Congress' poetry slam competition, which won him the opportunity of opening for Williams. While waiting for the main event, the audience had watchful eyes on the nervous newcomer. \nGranger introduced his first piece, "Another one bites the dust," by expressing his opinion that many of his peers were choosing destructive paths leading to drugs, crime and jail time. He shared some of his writing inspiration.\n"I have seen both sides," he said. "I go to IU and I see there are a lot of possibilities. Here, you have the key to the world, and I go back home and see the drugs and drug dealers. I see both sides and I consider myself special."\nHaving effectively warmed up the crowd, Granger left and Williams made his highly welcomed entrance. Apparently he had quite the fan base in Bloomington. Williams, sporting a yellow mohawk, was casual in manner but speedy and intense with poetic delivery.\nAlthough he was here to deliver spoken word and a lecture, Williams surprised the audience after his first poem by announcing that he wanted to open the floor up for questions. Many audience members hesitated, as the Q-and-A session had been scheduled for the end of the show. Williams calmed their nerves: "Don't worry, I'm still gonna do my little shtick," he said. \nOne audience member shouted, "How do you write when you're depressed and don't feel like you have anything to say?"\nHe responded, "You can't force shit out if you haven't eaten!" A roar of laughter came from the crowd.\nFreshman DeAntae Prince reacted: "I think Saul is very innovative and uses many of the things around that we might feel are irrelavent as inspiration. He is very charismatic and talented."\nWilliams is the author of three collections of poetry and a book titled "The Dead Emcee Scrolls," and is also a familiar face on music television with his hit song "Black Stacey," among others. He has presented at nearly 100 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad and has been on popular television shows such as "Girlfriends," HBO's "Def Poetry Jam" and "The Chris Rock Show," according to his biography. \n"He's a sorcerer of emotion -- he can conjure ideas that you didn't think you could have," said Jordan Thevenow-Harrison. "He's vivid and it's evident."\nWilliams' spoken word and lecture was just one of three events the Union Board put on Tuesday night, in addition to the showing of "Breaking Away" in Dunn Meadow and a talk on Earth Day given by David Wann. \n"We try to bring people together the best we can," said Union Board Design Director Cory Szybala. "That's why we have all these events going tonight. We thought this performance would be enjoyable because hip-hop is a big thing now days and it educates people."\nDirector of Recruitment and Retention at the School of Education Ghangis Carter said he is interested in poetry and spoken word. \n"The turnout tonight shows that this campus embraces the performance arts," he said. "I'm happy to see the diverse turnout"