Collegio Online

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Aaron Anders Malcolm-Jamal Warner of the Cosby Show came to Pittsburg to share some of his poems on Monday, Feb. 25, in the Overman Student Center.

After rescheduling twice, poet, actor and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner finally made his appearance in Pittsburg.

"This is the second time we've rescheduled it," said Kimberly Reed, club entertainment chair for Student Activities Council and sophomore in automotive technology, said. "The last time, there were a lot of flight delays because of the weather."

The audience of around 200 people heard the poet, who played Theo Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," recite shocking but humorous poems. Despite a surprising amount of cursing, audience members said they enjoyed Warner's spoken word performance.

"It surprised me a little bit at first," said Melissa Fite, graduate student in English education. "I thought it was really well written, so I was impressed."

The audience laughed and clapped at Warner's jokes throughout his performance.

"I used to write fiction myself, I like listening to it," said Ginny Clements, junior in communication. "I was trying to think of what inspired him."
In Warner's poem titled "Project Image," he talked about hip-hop stars and their lies. He said that they are actors playing a part that they never lived.

He then said that these stars say, "Image is nothing, thirst is everything," but then they worry about their image.

Warner yelled "Love yourself, respect yourself!" many times at the audience.
"Virgin Sacrifice" and "Sprung" were two of many poems recited to the audience.

After the poems, the audience got to ask Warner questions.

"My mother, father, and Mr. Cosby have been my inspirations," Warner said in response to one question.

He said that his parents taught him to work hard.

"My philosophy was always to keep myself working," Warner said.

Warner said that his mother didn't want fame to go to his head, so she always kept him busy.

After the questions, Warner sat at a table to sell his CDs for $10 each, and he signed each of them. Many people stayed afterward to buy the CD.

"We were really happy to get to see someone we think is like an icon," said Marc Johnson, graduate student in education. "It's the best thing I've seen at the school."

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