Sometimes, it pays to be different. Take the example of the winner of this past weekend’s “Valdosta’s Got Talent.” Of the 15 acts, 14 were singers and musicians. One act was an illusionist.
Guess which one won?
That’s right. The young illusionist.
Not only was he very good at what he did, he stood out from a field of singers. Instead of singing, Jonathan Alverez spun an orb along his arms, up and over his arched hands. This technique is called contact juggling. Jonathan performed this feat with grace, precision and skill.
He followed the contact juggling with a glow-in-the-dark routine using lighted batons. These lights seemed to dance in the sky all to Jonathan’s choreography and agility.
The singers were talented but, with that much singing and musicianship in a two-hour period, a performer offering something different was immediately exceptional.
Years ago, in a speech class, the professor told us to choose a topic, find several items on that topic, and present a recitation using various sources on this topic.
About half the class chose the theme of love. They read poems, definitions, insights, play excerpts, etc., on the theme of love.
Nearly the other half of the class selected the theme of death. They read poems, definitions, insights, play excerpts, etc., on the theme of death.
I was the only student who chose neither love nor death.
I chose ducks.
I gave a dramatic reading of a nursery rhyme about ducks, read a few pages from a “Howard the Duck” comic book, and a selection from Henrik Ibsen’s drama “The Wild Duck.”
At the end of the class, the professor said love and death are overdone. Ducks, ducks, now that’s different.
I received the only A in the class.
At Valdosta’s Got Talent, Jonathan Alverez was different and exceptional. The judges took note. Jonathan won first place and the top prize of $600.
Dean Poling is The Valdosta Daily Times assistant managing editor.
Dean Poling
Don’t duck being different
- Dean Poling
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Roosevelt Marshall
Roosevelt Marshall of Valdosta passed this life Dec. 14, 2010. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. at Union Cathedral with Bishop Wade S. McCrae, Pastor officiating. Burial will follow in Sunset Hill Cemetery. Final rites are entrusted to Harrington Funeral Home.
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Alice W. Johnson
Alice W. Johnson, 55, of Valdosta died on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 at the Langdale Hospice House following a lengthy illness. Services for Alice W. Johnson will be held at 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home with the Rev. Jay Watkins officiating. The burial will follow in the Riverview Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Langdale Hospice 2263 Pineview Drive, Valdosta Ga. 31602 or to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, 2121 SW 16th Street Gainesville, Florida 32608. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanefuneralservices.com. — Carson McLane Funeral Home
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Crofts launched Labor Day Gospel Sing
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America’s Last Freak!
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A city of trees
Much will be written and said about the architecture of the new Lowndes County Judicial Complex.
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Talking to yourself on the phone
He was elbow-deep in the guts of a copying machine. No one else stood with him. And he was just talking away.
Not under his breath either. He talked like nobody’s business. -
Forget an overpass, 84 needs a leapover
A recent event could well hold the answers to resolving a long-term problem and teaching a new generation that just because something looks easy doesn’t mean it is.
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Sign of the voting times
Maybe we need a new way to elect our leaders.
Less than 18 percent of Lowndes County’s registered voters participated in Tuesday’s primary election. That sounds like a mandate of an apathetic populace that wants to do things differently. -
Wiregrass, um, Technical something or other
There’s nothing really wrong with the new technical school name of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College. But that’s quite a mouthful for folks used to calling its tech school the two-syllable Val-Tech.
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Roosevelt Marshall
