{"id":932,"date":"2021-11-22T20:40:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T20:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/lamin-johnson-21-sparking-connections-through-art"},"modified":"2021-11-22T21:16:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T21:16:17","slug":"lamin-johnson-21-sparking-connections-through-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/lamin-johnson-21-sparking-connections-through-art","title":{"rendered":"Lamin Johnson \u201921: sparking connections through art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>Lamin Johnson\u2019s superpower is bringing people together. The Class of 2021 grad and spoken word artist is known for writing thoughtful and poignant poetry that bridges generations.<\/p>\n

Lamin has performed two pieces for Cornell, including a poem composed in honor of the launch of Cornell\u2019s university-wide To Do the Greatest Good campaign. Alumni from across the globe tuned in to the online event, and many expressed feeling inspired and proud to be a Cornellian after listening to Lamin\u2019s piece, \u201cA Farmer & His Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamin\u2019s path to poetry started early. He immigrated to the U.S. from Sierra Leone at seven years old with his father and stepmother, arriving in a country that he didn\u2019t know and surrounded by a language he didn\u2019t yet speak. \u201cMy mother couldn\u2019t come with us\u2014we immigrated without her,\u201d he adds, noting that his mother\u2019s absence affects how he navigates spaces and relationships to this day. \u201cI was torn from the only love I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

At school, he was bullied for looking and sounding different, he says, and felt \u201cdistraught.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamin turned to books donated through his school, learning to read English with The Cat in the Hat and Shel Silverstein\u2019s A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. He discovered something that would help him navigate this new life.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason, words came easy to me. Books were my way to escape everything that was going on at home,\u201d he says. \u201cThrough the process of escaping, I discovered something more beautiful, which was a passion for words. And I was drawn to words that rhymed a lot. I became interested in other literary devices and other forms of speech. I started realizing words were connected, and I was really fascinated by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the rest of Lamin’s story from Alumni Affairs and Development.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. Lamin Johnson\u2019s superpower is bringing people together. The Class of 2021 grad and spoken word artist is known for writing thoughtful and poignant poetry that bridges generations. Lamin has performed two pieces for Cornell, including a poem composed in honor of the launch of Cornell\u2019s university-wide To Do the Greatest Good campaign. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[291,293,335,334,292],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-connections","tag-lamin-johnson","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nLamin Johnson \u201921: sparking connections through art - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lamin Johnson\u2019s superpower is bringing people together. 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