I've Been Obsessed With Stopping

When I Was 16, The Guest Speaker Was King. And I Was Completely Overwhelmed Because I Had Been Studying Nonviolence, Talking About It, Reading About It, But Here It Was Happening, Here It Was People Boycotting The Buses And People On The Streets And Taking Risks, Which I Think Was The Key.

I Wasn't Popular In School, I Was Mexican, I Was All These Inappropriate Things. I Started Playing The Ukulele And Taking It To School, And I Realized People Liked Listening To It. I Would Play It To Comfort Myself At Home, And I'd Play Rhythm And Blues Songs That Had Four Chords. That's How It Started.

Social Change Really Cannot Happen Unless People Are Willing To Take A Risk, And They Were. And I Was So Moved By That, And Of Course By The Way That He Spoke, That Made A Huge Dent In My Belief System And My Spirit.

To Sing Is To Love And Affirm, To Fly And To Soar, To Coast Into The Hearts Of The People Who Listen To Tell Them That Life Is To Live, That Love Is There, That Nothing Is A Promise, But That Beauty Exists, And Must Be Hunted For And Found.

It Sounds Corny, But It's Absolutely True: A Song Chooses Me. I Don't Go Looking For A Certain Kind Of Lyric. It Kind Of Develops Its Own Little Arc And I'll Just See What Happens.