#1 Penn video that will give you the chills

While my #4 and #3 picks for my “Penn videos that will give you the chills” have been beautifully made films, yesterday I introduced a powerful spoken word video as my #2 pick.

The more I experience these Spoken Word performances from our Penn community, the more I really like this genre.

…Which brings me to #1 pick today from an award winning undergrad with tons of passion and an interesting background story to match.

Raw truth and expression is what you will find in Alysia Harris’ (C’10, The Excelano Project) April 2007 Spoken Word College Nationals winning performance of “What’s in a Soldier”.

Before you watch it, note Alysia’s story behind her spoken words:

“I wrote that poem because my father was in the army for 22 years and when he was sick he stayed on the amputee floor at Walter Reed Army Hospital. And it was really life changing to see people who were my age 18, 19, who were literally half the people they were before they left for iraq, no legs, no arms, disfigured for life, but all still optimistic and smiling. These men are my age and while I’m off in a classroom pouring over Russian literature these men are out there squaring off with death. And it just made me think. People are so quick to criticize the army and those who serve, but they have no idea about what they are willing to sacrifice.”

Check out Alysia’s passionate performance of “What’s in a Soldier”:

Check out all of my Top 4 “Penn videos that will give you the chills”

• Alysia Harris
• C'10
• chilling videos