Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa performing their original poetry during the Pizza and a Poet event held in Bob’s Place. Photo by Payton Stephens.
On Wednesday March 16, Multicultural Student Organization joined with Brave Space and the university’s Spiritual Life Week to present “Pizza and a Poet.” The performance was by Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa, a Kenyan immigrant poet, speaker, performer and activist.
Anton Miller, sophomore history education major and Brave Space member was asked to introduce FreeQuency at the start of the event. Miller was familiar with Katwiwa’s work prior to the event, having attended a conference with members of Marbeck Center Board showcasing FreeQuency.
“When I saw them, I was like ‘this would be an amazing person to have come to campus,’” said Miller.
FreeQuency is known for writing and speaking on various social justice issues, giving them the title of performer and activist. With social justice topics like #BlackLivesMatter, reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ community and Black Indigenous and People of Color being passions for Katwiwa, many students and faculty were able to relate and feel represented during the event.
“It went so much better than I thought it would, honestly,” said Miller. “When I first saw them [FreeQuency] I was like, ‘oh gosh, on this campus?’ It’s going to be scary; I was a little bit worried. But the amount of respect people have on this campus is definitely more than I thought.”
Sophomore social work major and member of the Spiritual Life Week planning committee Leah Bowman enjoyed the reading of FreeQuency’s poem “Masculinity So Fragile,” where the audience was asked to take part in the performance.
Katwiwa asked that every time they read the verse, “Your masculinity is so fragile,” the audience respond with, “How fragile is it?”
“I found the poem they read at the end about fragile masculinity to be the most interesting to me,” said Bowman. “I think all of their poems brought awareness to certain topics of social justice, but this poem added humor, which I enjoyed.”
“FreeQuency” (middle) standing with members of MSO after Pizza and a Poet event. Photo by Payton Stephens.
MSO graduate assistant Leslie Beasley loved the event, saying she related to the messages of multiple of Katwiwa’s poems including “Between My Mother’s Legs.” The poem talked about Katwiwa’s mother doing their hair as a child, and the safety and bonding that came with the act. Beasley related to the poem, saying the act is a “really big bonding moment for women of color.”
“They’re a person of color,” said Beasley. “We do have a lack of people of color on campus in terms of professors and faculty. So having someone that is a voice to the community…they stood in two places where we needed more voices on campus.”
Along with being a person of color, Katwiwa also identifies as being masculine off center and femme adjacent, giving them a way to tie together the work of MSO and Brave Space.
Both Beasley and Miller appreciated Katwiwa’s authenticity and unapologetic attitude throughout. With poems like “1-45 Have Lied, 46 Through 100 Will Be No Different (I Don’t Want a Dyke for President),”—written in conversation to “I Want a Dyke for President” by Zoe Leonard— the audience was able to hear passion and truth within Katwiwa’s words.
Miller feels like it doesn’t always feel real when the university tries to accommodate for everyone on campus, saying the events don’t get the same results. According to Miller, the biggest turn outs come from controversial or non-censored events.
“People want to learn about it,” said Miller. “People want to disagree with it, and when they go, they might find themselves surprised that there are some things they don’t disagree with.”
Miller said Katwiwa’s lack of censorship was part of what made the event such a success.
“I connect with their identity anyways,” said Miller. “And their realness [during the performance] just made me see them as more than a public figure. This is not just someone who is here to perform, this is someone who is here to share their lives with us.”
FreeQuency wants people to walk away from their performances knowing that art can make a change in the world. They said it’s all about positionality and where someone can have an impact. While university students may not be able to make a large impact nationally or globally, they can still have an impact on campus or in the community.
“Words create worlds,” said Katwiwa. “Language has done so much for me throughout my life in terms of being able to articulate something and then feeling more confident in the world because I have some sort of articulation…I think art is a language. It’s transmittable to so many different people over so many different worlds.”
