"Stuttering Public Speaker" Intro!

Hey y'all, I'm Will Rideout and I'm exclaiming how that I'm more than blessed to express myself through this community. This is my first post, so please don't mind the wordiness!

A little about myself, I'm a 23 year-old Spoken Word poet, public speaker, and English tutor from Seattle, Washington. I've been heavily involved with performing for close to nine years now. 'Spoken Word', for those of y'all who are unfamiliar with the art-form, is basically performance poetry. Poets integrate their whole body into delivering every word for the audience. The best way that I can describe the feeling of performing is like being able to at breathe after suffocating for so long. That is an appropriate analogy because I've been stuttering all my live. The very notion is speaking in front of an audience would send me, as well as a few of y'all reading this, into a fit of anxiety. Making sure that every syllable becomes muscle-memory, as messing up becomes something akin to nightmares. I'll be sure to go over my experiences on overcoming, and utilizing, my disability into becoming an ability. I'll be updating y'all on any and all upcoming shows and events of mine, so if anyone is in the area, don't be too afraid to stop by!

I'm a dark-skinned Lousianan-Creole, and I'll be discussing my trials and tribulations while trying to gain acceptance into my own community, as well as being a Black man in the U.S. My poetry reflects a lot of this and my hope is to help build confidence in those who read and experience my poetry and performances.

I look forward to sharing with all the completely transparent life of a Spoken Word poet who has been afflicted with a speech impediment. I hope to learn from y'all as well. Thank you for your time!

-Will Rideout