Christopher Guzman
Staff Writer
“A Plea for Peace and Social Justice,” was held March 5 in front of a packed house in the Cabaret Theatre.
Performances by David Rovics with special contributions from Professor of English William Cook were put together to raise awareness of controversial social issues.
Rovics played several of his songs for the crowd and Cook provided some of his poetry to compliment the social issues heard in the lyrics of Rovics’ music.
The two touched on several different subjects, including the bombing of Hiroshima and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
They also included a memorial to Rachel Corrie, a peace activist who was murdered in the Gaza Strip by Israeli defense forces.
Rovics said he hoped to leave an impact on those who came to hear his music presented.
“The one general message in my music is that democracy is in the streets,” Rovics said. “I want to remind everyone that our rights and privileges are held through social movements.”
Cook has been writing poetry on political topics for the past eight years.
Much of the poetry he recited can be found in his books “Unreasoning Mask” and “Psalms for the 21st Century.”
Most of the themes of his poetry were inspired by his outcry against the mistakes made during the time the Bush administration was in office, Cook said.
“Nothing Bush did represented me and it didn’t represent America,” Cook said.
Before reciting one of his pieces of poetry, Cook said that he had finally removed a bumper sticker from his car that read, “Impeach Bush.”
Steve Kinzie, the assistant director in the Learning Enhancement Center kicked off the evening of performances with a song.
Kinzie was asked to perform a song to help compliment the theme of peace for the night.
“Lovely are the feet of those who walk in ways of peace,” Kinzie sang during his performance of “Listen.”
The evening was hosted and put together by Kent Badger, professor of health services management, who said he was excited to see so many faces in the crowd.
“It is the energy we all share that makes this a success,” Badger said.
The event also featured several pieces of art on display that were also created by Cook.
A slideshow of photos of other pieces of art created by Cook ran on a projector during the two performances.
Christopher Guzman can be reached at christopher.guzman@laverne.edu.
