1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Celebrating the power of possibility. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:29,000 I'm Rhea Carmon and I believe anything is possible. 3 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 This is Anything is Possible. I'm Halloran Hilton Hilt. 4 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000 Thank you for letting me join you again for another episode of Anything is Possible. 5 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:45,000 These are great stories about great people whose lives prove possibility. 6 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Part two of my interview with Rhea Carmon, but we also know her as Rhea Sunshine. 7 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,000 Thank you for joining us. 8 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Thank you. 9 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,000 You've been through a lot. 10 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Yeah. 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:10,000 But even the way you said, yeah, is interesting and artistic, it's almost like an acceptance that we all are going to go through a lot. 12 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 It's just my turn, right? 13 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Yeah. 14 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:20,000 So we were talking about muscular sclerosis, that diagnosis, and we kind of walked through maybe what the tough days are. 15 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,000 And we were talking about your partner and how he's just got your back. 16 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:38,000 What else has, and do you define it as an illness or do you put it someplace else so that it's not mentally debilitating? 17 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Yes. 18 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 I don't ever say that I have it. 19 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,000 I say I live with it. 20 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,000 That's big. 21 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,000 Because I'm not going to own it. 22 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Because you don't want it to have you. 23 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Right. 24 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000 And it can't win, you know? 25 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 So if I'm going to win, then I just live with you. 26 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000 And we'll live together, that's fine. 27 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Where does that defiance come from? 28 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 Where does that resilience come from? 29 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Where does that... 30 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,000 My parents showed me that. 31 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Wow. 32 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,000 My dad was military. 33 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And so he always just taught me to get back up. 34 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 You know, nothing ever keeps you down. 35 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,000 You fight until the last, your last breath. 36 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 So my dad passed away in 1996 of Lou Gehrig's disease. 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,000 And literally until four days before he passed, he still walked. 38 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,000 He still went to work. 39 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:40,000 He did everything. 40 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,000 How old was he when he passed away? 41 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000 60 years old. 42 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Yeah. 43 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,000 And... 44 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 How did that impact you? 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,000 He was my best friend. 46 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:55,000 That's probably one of the hardest things I ever had to go through. 47 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,000 This is nothing. 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 My dad and I were like kindred spirits. 49 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,000 We love music. 50 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,000 We could sit up. 51 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 We sang together. 52 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000 My dad... 53 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:06,000 What kind of music? 54 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Any kind of music. 55 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 Did you... 56 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 He taught me to love all kinds of music. 57 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 What was the first music he introduced you to? 58 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Sam Cuck. 59 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Wow. 60 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 Change Gonna Come. 61 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,000 I sing it when I do my full-length show. 62 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,000 And I sing it before I talk about how much I love the word. 63 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Because he taught me to love numbers and the word and music. 64 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:36,000 And those three things are probably what gets me through most days. 65 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 I am a geek when it comes to numbers. 66 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,000 I will listen to music all day while I work a calculus problem. 67 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,000 And I am going to write some poetry. 68 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Because all those things just make me feel grounded. 69 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 You know what is interesting about those three things? 70 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Words, numbers, poetry. 71 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,000 It all is symmetry and math. 72 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Right? 73 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 It all is figuring out timing. 74 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 It's all that. 75 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,000 And when you hear a great piece of music, 76 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 you are getting all of that at the same time. 77 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Right? 78 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 And the deeper you go into it, 79 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:23,000 the more you hear all the little inside jokes and references and things. 80 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 You are like, oh. 81 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:31,000 So what is interesting about this father-daughter relationship though 82 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:37,000 is the fact that he affirmed your intelligence. 83 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And he, I like the phrase I use over and over again, 84 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 is logs and lighter fluids as parents. 85 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 We see a passion. 86 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,000 We see the spark of a passion. 87 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,000 And we squirt some lighter fluid on it. 88 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:54,000 We throw a log on it. 89 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 And it sounds like that is what he did. 90 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:57,000 He did. 91 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,000 They both did. 92 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,000 My mom was all about education. 93 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 She is an educator herself. 94 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,000 And so it was constantly, you know, she is putting books in my hand. 95 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 She wants me to read. 96 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000 And so I got it from both sides. 97 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:19,000 So my dad was constantly, you know, showing me number tricks 98 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:24,000 and teaching me the different ways that numbers will always be the same 99 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,000 and always be consistent. 100 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 And he is also teaching me about music and sports because he was a boxer. 101 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:36,000 And then my mom is teaching me about education and how to take care of the house 102 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 and how to be resilient. 103 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,000 The things that she went through in life and still made it out. 104 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 My mom is 82 years old, still kicking. 105 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,000 She lives by herself. 106 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 She drives her own car. 107 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,000 She cooks all of her meals. 108 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,000 She is doing it. 109 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,000 And so that's resilience. 110 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 And I watch her go through so many things. 111 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000 And she lost my dad. 112 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000 My dad was a love of her life. 113 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And she still is bouncing. 114 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,000 She bounced back. 115 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,000 She drove up here from Huntsville on a whim and teed me in college. 116 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,000 She's been to every important event that I've had. 117 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,000 She shows up. 118 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,000 Like I was put in the Hall of Fame. 119 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,000 She's here. 120 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,000 She's drive by herself. 121 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 She's coming. 122 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,000 You know, I put on my very first fifth woman show. 123 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000 She's there. 124 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,000 She's been the biggest support. 125 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,000 She's always supportive. 126 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:40,000 So you were bracketed by these two parents that loved you to life, right? 127 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Yeah, always. 128 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:49,000 Losing your dad though, what was that like on the inside? 129 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000 It took a big part. 130 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,000 I didn't write. 131 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000 I wrote all throughout high school. 132 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:05,000 And I didn't write for three years after that because I came to college and I just kind of 133 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:11,000 was going through the motions of life because I wanted him to experience that with me. 134 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:12,000 You know, you should be here. 135 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:13,000 You should see. 136 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:14,000 I'm doing good. 137 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,000 I'm going to be an engineer, you know. 138 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,000 And so that was really hard. 139 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:26,000 I didn't even visit his gravestone until three years after his funeral. 140 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000 And then I went and that's the first time I visited it. 141 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:37,000 And that was the first time just kind of having a conversation with him after three years and 142 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 saying, hey, you'd be proud of me. 143 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:48,000 And so now every time somebody says your dad will be proud, that's what I need. 144 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:57,000 He's always been empowered by Covenant Health, Home Federal and the Knoxville News Sentinel. 145 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Coming up. 146 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,000 But it's a healing process for me. 147 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:14,000 So I heal my pain with my pain. 148 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Your father passes away, you're in school, but you're going to school for engineering. 149 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 You are so off the beaten path right now, Rea. 150 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:32,000 You went to school to be an engineer and ended up as a math teacher and a poet. 151 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Yeah, that's what happened. 152 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,000 But that's quite all right, though, isn't it? 153 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:38,000 It is, yes. 154 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,000 It's all a part of the journey. 155 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:48,000 If I had not chosen biomedical engineering, I would never have come to Knoxville. 156 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,000 I had not been to Knoxville. 157 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,000 I would not have met this wonderful man. 158 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:58,000 If I had not met that wonderful man, I wouldn't have my two beautiful sons. 159 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,000 I wouldn't have been a poet, Lariat. 160 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,000 It's what God, it's the path he had. 161 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:04,000 It is beautiful. 162 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,000 When you trust him with your life. 163 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:06,000 Yeah. 164 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,000 And you say, okay, what's steps next? 165 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,000 Even if I don't understand that step, then you start to see his plan unfold. 166 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000 It's beautiful to see. 167 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Have you always been in that space with God where you were willing to trust the unfolding? 168 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Well, yes, because I was nine years old and paralyzed. 169 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,000 I pretty much been like that since I was nine, because I was like, you got to have a plan. 170 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Who's nine years old and can't go running around with their friends? 171 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,000 I think that's crazy. 172 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 I love to go roller skating. 173 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 Every, I was at a, what was the roller skating rink in Huntsville? 174 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,000 I was there every Saturday. 175 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 I was at that skating rink. 176 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,000 Every Saturday I was at that skating rink for the four hours. 177 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Nine years old, I can't go skating. 178 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,000 That broke me. 179 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,000 I wanted to go roller skating every Saturday. 180 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,000 And that was the one thing I told my mom. 181 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,000 I was like, when I can walk again, I need to go back to the roller skating rink. 182 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Wow. 183 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:15,000 I love the beautiful arc of your life and your story, which brings us to the art. 184 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,000 The art of being, but also the art of poetry. 185 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 What's your process? 186 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Now, I write every day. 187 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,000 So do I. 188 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Yes. 189 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Just to put something on paper every day, it might be the beginning of a poem. 190 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,000 It might just be a rant, you know, just to get things out. 191 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 But it's a healing process for me. 192 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,000 So I heal my pain with my pen. 193 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Do you write, are you digital or are you analog? 194 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,000 I'm both. 195 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,000 It just kind of depends on my mood. 196 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000 Sometimes it's this, I have notebooks upon notebooks. 197 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:03,000 And so most of the time, if I finish a piece, it's in a notebook. 198 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 And if it's just a little blurb, then it's a digital. 199 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Gotcha. 200 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:14,000 Do you have a defined process for how long it takes to finish a piece? 201 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,000 No, I don't. 202 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Because a lot of my pieces are life. 203 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:25,000 In my life, sometimes it's just when it's ready to come out. 204 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,000 And so I have a poem called After the Black. 205 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,000 And it's in a visual book. 206 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:39,000 And that poem took, I'd say, three, four years to write. 207 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 And it just kind of just kept welling up in me. 208 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:47,000 And I would be in situations and I would be like, what are you going to do after? 209 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:53,000 After you see my skin, after you see and make your judgments, now what? 210 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,000 You know, what happens now? 211 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And then the Ahmaud Arbery shooting happened. 212 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,000 And the whole piece poured out. 213 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Yes. 214 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,000 Yeah. 215 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,000 And the whole thing just came out. 216 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:15,000 I started this process of writing every day. 217 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,000 And somebody was asking me about, well, do you write something good every day? 218 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,000 The first thing I did this morning was a sketch. 219 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:29,000 And I said, no, what I'm practicing is availability. 220 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,000 I want the muscles warm when the inspiration strikes. 221 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Because it's always around. 222 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,000 The inspiration's always there. 223 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:42,000 I don't know when that moment is going to be, when that thing happens. 224 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,000 But if I'm in the regular rhythm of responding to. 225 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Yeah, it just comes. 226 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:58,000 I think one of my poet friends, Shane, she said, the inspiration is always there. 227 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 It's just when do you want to reach in and grab it? 228 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,000 And is your spirit available? 229 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Yeah. 230 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 Have you practiced openness or availability? 231 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000 That's, do you write in a specific space? 232 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Yes. 233 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:15,000 No. 234 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Sometimes. 235 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:22,000 I write in my desk a lot. 236 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,000 But I also have a beautiful porch. 237 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,000 So sometimes when I want to be outside in the nature, I write out there. 238 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,000 Right out there. 239 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,000 Do you have a. 240 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,000 I've also been known to pull over on the side of the road. 241 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And just, yeah. 242 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,000 And write in my car. 243 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:47,000 I love the fact that when you are given over to inspiration and you surrender, it doesn't matter where it is. 244 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,000 It's just like, and it's such a joyful thing to feel it come through you. 245 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,000 Do you have particular things that you need? 246 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Like, do you like a cup of tea? 247 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Do you like coffee? 248 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Do you like, are there things that you have to have in your environment? 249 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:05,000 A candle? 250 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000 Something to set the. 251 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:14,000 I think because it just kind of flows. 252 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:15,000 I just. 253 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:16,000 Whatever it is. 254 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:20,000 Wherever we are is what happens. 255 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:25,000 Now I do like a good cup of tea, but it doesn't have to be there. 256 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Your son has autism. 257 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,000 One of your children has autism. 258 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:39,000 Art has this wonderful way of jumping over behind whatever that is that would keep most of the world out. 259 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,000 Art just goes, nope, I'm going in there. 260 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:42,000 I'm touching. 261 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,000 You need this kid. 262 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:44,000 You will. 263 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,000 He's a drummer. 264 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,000 Okay. 265 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:53,000 At six months old, he started keeping perfect rhythm on his high chair with a spoon. 266 00:14:53,000 --> 00:15:03,000 And as he grew up, he would pull bowls out and he started making his own drum sets. 267 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:13,000 And we have videos of him, like when he's still in pull-ups and he's watching famous drummers on a tablet. 268 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:19,000 And then he's mimicking what they're doing on his drum set that he's created. 269 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,000 And he's got his head cocked to the side and he's in it. 270 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,000 I mean, a year and a half old, two years old. 271 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Now, he's my drummer. 272 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,000 When I perform, he plays for me. 273 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,000 And we have a duet that we do together. 274 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:35,000 How does that feel? 275 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,000 It's called The World Is His Drum. 276 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,000 It's the most amazing feeling to be able to perform with him. 277 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,000 I told him, I said, one day you're going to charge me before right now. 278 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Right now. 279 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 You are an indentured servitude. 280 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Because he's an amazing drummer. 281 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,000 I would imagine. 282 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:59,000 And when I say that, people always think you just say that about your kids, right? 283 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,000 And I'm like, no, here, let me show you a video. 284 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,000 And then when they see it, they're like, oh, no, he's a for real drummer. 285 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,000 Yes, he's not playing with it. 286 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000 And so it allows us to connect. 287 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,000 We connect on music all the time and he plays for me. 288 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,000 I'll go out there. 289 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:19,000 We'll just have a jam session. 290 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:20,000 I do a poem. 291 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,000 He's playing the drums. 292 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000 It's a happy place for us. 293 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,000 My youngest son hops on the piano and he plays. 294 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,000 It's just our way to connect all of us. 295 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,000 First of all, it's echoes of you and your dad, right? 296 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:39,000 But autism in sometimes is a superpower. 297 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Because you get this ability to focus that is unreal, which accelerates the learning 298 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:54,000 and all of you get really technically good because you're not, you're right in there. 299 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:15,000 I can't wait to hear him and see you guys perform together. 300 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:22,000 I would love to wrap with you giving me another of your favorite pieces. 301 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,000 Oh, wow. 302 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,000 The one that makes you feel great. 303 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:27,000 Okay. 304 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,000 I can definitely do that. 305 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,000 This is a point that I always close with when I do features. 306 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 So I have to sing. 307 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:39,000 Is that okay? 308 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Oh, I love it. 309 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:53,000 Because when the gold inside your soul is locked in chains and the world done told you that 310 00:17:53,000 --> 00:18:02,000 ain't gonna change and your dreams are now a goal so close and range and you're excited, 311 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:07,000 so excited, so excited now. 312 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Can I make it? 313 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,000 Can I handle it? 314 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:17,000 These are the words that filter through the mind of an emitted poetic, schizophrenic genius 315 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,000 trapped in mediocrity. 316 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,000 I'm supposed to be more than just dust. 317 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:37,000 All else is formed from words, but me, I'm woven into existence from rib and dust and air from the mouth of a creator who knew once set free, I would be continuously learning new things about myself. 318 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,000 I'm never meant to fit into any box. 319 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:45,000 I see your lines as restrictions on my spirit and then I color outside them. 320 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:50,000 The finding sight and all I write with open eyes, I'm listening to the cries of the world seeking coverage. 321 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000 I've got points. 322 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000 I haven't even written yet. 323 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:59,000 And still I seek for greatness in the eyes of someone or some crowd not worthy to judge me. 324 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,000 See, great is the Lord and worthy to be praised. 325 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:07,000 I'm just glad that I'm saved and I'm learning new things about myself every day. 326 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,000 I'm a praiser and a worshiper. 327 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:16,000 I find comfort in the presence of the Lord in the midst of doing yoga and meditation. 328 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:27,000 So yes, I'm weird, but I can teach a few things to those willing to listen because my inclination for the word urges me to learn more than what's set before me is true. 329 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000 I need more than just to listen to you. 330 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:34,000 My spirit connects and intersects with a plan set in motion before time existed. 331 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,000 Don't get it twisted. 332 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:36,000 I got points. 333 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000 I haven't even written yet. 334 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:48,000 Exposing demons with spiritual enlightenment, laying down a new testament of what woman, mother, daughter, lover should be to man, son, father, comfort. 335 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:55,000 You see, I grow like weeds, constantly learning new things about myself through scriptures laid on papyrus. 336 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,000 I reject conformity. 337 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:00,000 I realize that my greatness is my individuality. 338 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000 So I don't even need a mic. 339 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:11,000 I whisper and you come closer to hear these words, drench you with spiritual awakening, urging you to stop and read, learn who you are and then love that person. 340 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,000 You are who you believe you are. 341 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,000 Rather than what you've been programmed to believe, I come to relieve your mind of social tension. 342 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Gather your attention like a black hole sucks in light and more than just I am the Adam created to be like the most high and he teaches me, opening my mind to all that's been denied me. 343 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:42,000 So that when the gold inside my soul is locked in chains and the world and told me that ain't gonna change. 344 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:48,000 And my dreams and now a gold so close in range and I'm excited. 345 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,000 You're excited. 346 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000 We're excited now. 347 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,000 I remember that we all have points. 348 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,000 We just haven't written them yet. 349 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,000 So go and write your point. 350 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,000 Boy, boy, boy, boy, that's so good. 351 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000 Man, that's like a ray of sunshine. 352 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,000 Thank you. 353 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:21,000 How do people get your work and access to all that you and the fifth woman are doing? 354 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,000 My website is simply rheacarmon.com. 355 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,000 You can follow me on social media, Rhea Sunshine poetry. 356 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:40,000 And then everything with the fifth woman is the fifth with a five th woman.com. That's our website. That's our social media handle. 357 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:45,000 So we have some big things coming up this summer. 358 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:52,000 So make sure you're paying attention that you get on our mailing list and buy some books. 359 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,000 I'm going to buy some books. 360 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,000 I'm going to be in the audience. 361 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:55,000 Thank you for being there today. 362 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000 Thank you so much for having me. 363 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,000 This has been a blessing.