I Am Happy

Description

Listen & Peruse

I am Happy

based on the responses of the Springfield Street Choir to the prompt “I am ___” 

I am grateful, I am learning, I’m a child of God I am kind and I’m outgoing I’m a child of God I am strong and I’m brave I’m a survivor I’m a good person I’m a member of the choir And I am happy A child of God Happy

I am awesome and I’m blessed A child of God I am confident and capable A child of God I am alive I am a warrior I am forgiven I am beautiful And I am happy A child of God Happy

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“This song was very much a surprise to me. After a Street Choir rehearsal in December of 2019, I asked all our singers to turn over their attendance slips and write “I am…” and then finish the sentence however they liked. I gave them no prompts or coaching, encouraged them to write whatever they wanted, didn’t explain why I was asking, nothing that would bias the responses. And when I looked through the papers, I have to confess, I was shocked. Winter is a hard time to be homeless, tempers are short, everyone’s tired and cranky. And I really expected a lot of answers along the lines of “I am forgotten” or something like that. I got one: “I am sad and depressed.” Instead, they were overwhelmingly positive. (There were also a few that were hilarious, like one that said “I am Ralph”… from a guy named Mike.) 

I do not wish for anyone to overgeneralize from this song that homelessness is a bucket of laughs. It is not. It is crushingly traumatic in almost every aspect. But the awful baseline of day to day homeless life renders good experiences borderline-euphoric. And far be it for me to censor their honest responses because they were too positive for my agenda. I asked, they answered. After all, our friends had just done one of their very favorite things — singing in the choir, in a place where they felt safe and loved. Thus, they indeed told the truth. In that moment, they were happy.” – Katie Kring