Pork Chops and Karate Chops

February 20, 2013 9:07 PM

Numerous artists come together to animate an Shane Koyczan's fantastic performance of his anti-bullying poem, To This Day. More info at To This Day Project.
posted by dobbs (11 comments total)

I was debating posting this earlier. It is really awesome.
posted by sweetkid at 9:12 PM on February 20, 2013

This was beautiful.
posted by Han Tzu at 9:18 PM on February 20, 2013

Shane Koyczan is great. I've seen him on two continents - once as a kid in an American school and later at poetry slams in Sydney. I think I've even performed at a few of the same slams as him. He's so charismatic in person.

Promise is another great poem of his. I'm trying to find the poem of his that has the line like "fill your intestines with helium and make balloon animals out of them". I think it's called "If" but I can't find a poem with that name.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:22 PM on February 20, 2013

My only gripe is when talking about adopted, the line "Not because they didn't love him, but..." implying that other adopted kids are put up for that reason, and then it's okay to mock them. I'm hoping that's not the intent, but in something made with the intention of watching your words because they cause damage, it stands out a lot to me.
posted by usagizero at 10:18 PM on February 20, 2013

Just watched this. It's very moving and coincidentally, my friend and I were talking about beauty and insecurity today. There are so many ways to feel insecure about your appearance, coming from others and yourself. It feels impossible to ever really build your self-esteem. I do not know a good way to feel better about yourself, that is something you can actually do, steps you can actually take.

Feeling comfortable in your own skin is a huge challenge. Yes I get that thinking about how you look is self-absorbed, but how can you NOT think about that? When you are beautiful, you worry about beauty fading. When you're not, you feel inferior. It's difficult enough for adults to face, let alone school-age children.
posted by ichomp at 12:26 AM on February 21, 2013

My only gripe is when talking about adopted, the line "Not because they didn't love him, but..." implying that other adopted kids are put up for that reason, and then it's okay to mock them. I'm hoping that's not the intent, but in something made with the intention of watching your words because they cause damage, it stands out a lot to me.

I believe the line is "Not because his parents opted for a different destiny," which carries somewhat more nuance.
posted by EmGeeJay at 3:19 AM on February 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I think the implication of the adoption is that it wasn't by choice of the parents and probably due to abuse or death. He makes mention of "one part tragedy" in reference to it.
posted by zizzle at 6:42 AM on February 21, 2013

"If you can't find something beautiful about yourself, find a better mirror."
posted by mrgrimm at 9:37 AM on February 21, 2013 [3 favorites]

Ooof. This hit close to the bone. Misty in here, now.

Thanks for this post.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:33 AM on February 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I couldn't watch the whole thing: it brings up a fair amount of stuff.
posted by jrochest at 7:15 PM on February 21, 2013

Holy shit that was beautiful. So many tears.
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:50 PM on February 23, 2013