A.D.D. by Rafael Casal Nicole Bennett Why I Chose This Poem I found myself trying to listen to all of Rafael Casal's poetry online after watching "Barbie and Ken 101" in class. The reason it sparked my interest so much was because it seemed more relevant and relatable than Shakespeare's poems, which were written hundreds of years ago in fancy eloquent phrases. I came across A.D.D., a slam poem of his, that I was instantly drawn too. It's a very powerful piece revolving around a story of his nephew, Sean, and distrust in the pharmaceutical business for medicating children who appear different. When it ended I was crying and immediately pressed the replay button to watch it again. There were two main people I was thinking about during it, my old friend Sam and my brother. I met Sam at a summer camp before my sophomore year. We became friends right away and one of the first things he said to me was, "I like this really weird band, but I can't help it they are my favorite. Want to hear them?" It was Mindless Self Indulgence, a band known for being kind of all over the place and wacky, of course I already knew them and loved them. Once we got to know each other he would probe me with odd and random questions either changing the subject completely or breaking a silence. "Nicole, what if all these boxed up chickens came alive and attacked you?" "What if there was an apocalypse, like right now?" "I have these socks that are stripped like candy canes. Should I wear my candy cane socks tomorrow?" His personality was goofy and he was always fun to be around. After awhile I learned that he was an excellent artists, and could began sketching an amazing drawing on anything you put in front of him. I could easily picture him as that kid in class that doesn't really do the work or pay attention, just sits there and draws whatever comes into his mind with mind blowing talent. One day he told me he had A.D.D. which wasn't a huge surprise. It did make me think however, because to me what would be considered his "A.D.D. symptoms" were part of who he was and what made him great. It seemed weird they would medicate him for them, especially since I never realized him having problems when we had task to focus on. A lot of
the things said in Rafael Casal's poem seemed to apply, like how they had taken Sam's uniqueness and called it a disorder. Before hearing the poem I thought to myself, "Nicole, A.D.D. is a disorder. How can you call a disorder classified by professionals bullshit?" After hearing his view it made what I was thinking before make more sense, because he could put it into words that described what I was feeling. My brother is diagnosed with depression and they have him on what I would guess is more than 5 pills a day, although I've been to afraid to actually count or pay too much attention. They are all supposed to do something different and help, but I guess the doctors can't figure it out. They are changing how much and of what all the time. It seems like it's saying "We are trying to change you until you are how we want you to be" to him, although I know it's supposed to help. It's hard to see my little brother being medicated so much, and I personally don't see it making any difference. I had already felt like medicating everyone right and left was a scam, or at least no where near a miracle. As a teenage sister I don't feel like I can actually say anything about it because I'm not knowledgeable on the subject, but Rafael said things I've been afraid to say. Information about Rafael Casal Rafael was born in August of 1985 in Oakland, California. He not only writes and preforms slam poetry but is in a musician and founding member of The GetBack, in which he raps. Rafael is nicknamed "Mr. Getback" and associates himself strongly with the Bay Area. His first album was released in 2008 and called As Good as Your Word. Right now his latest, also his second, album is out which is called Monster. Off his website it explains his inspiration behind Monster. "Casal is all-encompassing, exploiting multiple meanings behind the word MONSTER, in both its literal definition as a state of abnormality, and its hip-hop use as a slang term for an artist who accomplishes what others cannot. He interprets these definitions in many different capacities, without sugar-coating his convictions. " The topics of his lyrics and poem are personal, which give you insight to him as a person. As time went on he branched out from preforming and helped create a hip hop theatre program at University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was a new ambition for him although this move had
the same ideals behind it, expressing creativity, but this time to help others achieve it. (The GetBack Official Site) His Other Work Some of Rafael's other poems include Miller Chiller, Monster, and Barbie and Ken 101. They are all about current issues that are relevant to his life, like A.D.D. because the diagnosing of this disorder. has only recently become significant. Like A.D.D. which is about his nephew, Barbie and Ken 101 was partially inspired by his girlfriend who was getting caught up in our society's ideal women. The other two are a little more personal. Miller Chiller is a personal story about doubting advertising and Monster is a highly emotional piece about losing people to violence. All of these poems are about questioning something in today's society in some form. In Barbie and Ken 101 he writes as if he is in a class that is teaching the gender roles of today and at the end he stands up and informs the teacher that after thinking about it he won't accept these teachings. In Monster the poem, not to be confused with his rap album, he talks about the gang violence in his hometown and how it plays out like chess. "We've got kings who don't budge, rather be dead in a tomb. Queen's who'd do it all for us, but we play them too soon. Pawns who run out and tease the platoon, move foolish, get took, then we're back in our black suits. Another theme in his work is his style of preforming the poems. His poetry is very focused on the rhythm. It is clear from Rafael's poetry then that he was also interested in rapping. Not surprisingly, later he formed The GetBack. The rapping in his poetry and music is an important touch to his work that questions society. He has said, "I generally tend to write from anger. I am most angry when I feel like something that is a big deal is being made into something small. I like to take things that are being considered small and unfold them so they are completely exposed."
AP Style Response The poem starts and ends with the story of Rafael watching his nephew play at a park with other children when they run into problems with the water fountains. Although it revolves around a more general story of Sean who has attention difficulties, which he uses to make greater points about A.D.D. in our society. Poetry has similar literary deceives as essays, but some slightly vary like form and in this case tone because it's being performed. In a slam poem's case, form is the type of poem and tone also includes tone of voice. He uses these deceives and others to communicate how he believes we shouldn't label children who are unique as having a problem like A.D.D. or be medicating the youth. This piece of slam poetry is a free verse poem because it has no tight structure that is kept throughout the whole thing. It helps Rafael keep his poem diverse, so he can tell his story at the beginning then use more structured lines as he gets into the poem. The way some lines rhyme, but not all of them, is very powerful because it helps the rhyming lines stand out from the rest. A great example of this is the line, "At first I thought Attention Deficit must be some new epidemic shit, 'til I found out globally the US consumes 90% of it." This line has an internal rhyme because within one line multiple words rhyme. The words that rhyme are Deficit, shit, and it. The mixture of the significant fact in this segment and the rhyming get people's attention and draw them into his argument. Diction is the choice of wording in a piece of writing which is important because a writer must portray their argument with the words. Rafael uses the words "free sight" and "machine-like" at one point in the poem. "Free sight" is representing his view of Sean's characteristics while "machine-like" is supposed to be the view of society and people in power. "Free sight" has the listener think of uniqueness, creativity, and a person who can solve things of importance. The connotations of "machine-like" are negative and have the listener imagine society trying to make us all the same, sucking out room for any individuality. The contrast in these words helps create part of Rafael's message because it makes medicating children seem like deindividualization to better the society as a whole, making a person think of Big Brother or other concepts along those lines.
The tone of the poem changes because many parts of it are different from the rest. For the most part it goes from being admirable and heated, going back and forth from talking about Sean and the pharmaceutical business. When Rafael talks about his nephew it is obvious that he sees a lot of uniqueness and potential in him, which helps convince the listener that what makes Sean different is a good quality. The heated tone in his voice, which is at its peak when Rafael is doing the calculations on how much money is made in the pharmaceutical industry, helps build up the calculation portion of the poem to make it more powerful. There are a few very strong images portrayed in this poem. The most detailed was of Sean's Lego creation, which was a, "four foot long replica of the Star Wars Millennium creatively constructed using pieces from four separate Lego sets, color coated..." That image is complex, and it builds up over the course of the line. The listener knows that creating a design like that is not done by a typical 3 year old and would probably even take a gifted adult. The imagery used here gives the listener a sense of just how talented Sean is when it comes to "playing invention". It strengthens the argument because it gets other people to see his nephew's uniqueness as a strong point like Rafael sees it, not like adults trying to medicate Sean do. Overall the slam poem does a effective job at getting across Rafael Casal's argument to the listener. They can picture Sean, a little talented two year old, who is just starting to show how gifted he is. Medicating him seems suppressive and A.D.D becomes a scam. Like the rest of his work, Rafael is making a strong point and presenting it in a highly creative fashion.
Works Cited "ABOUT RAFAEL CASAL." The Getback Official Site. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.getbacknews.com/2009/11/about-rafael-casal.html>. Viewssweetp4, J.Ivy237,452. "YouTube - Def Poetry - Rafael Casal - Barbie & Ken 101." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=e8mvhiiy8uq>. "YouTube - HBO Def Poet Rafael Casal - "monster" BNV College Tour." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=54pejmmlc30&feature=related>. "YouTube - Rafael Casal - A.D.D. @ Brave New Voices." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-2unriojve>. "YouTube - Rafael Casal - My Miller Chill @ Brave New Voices." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfvrb_dsrly>.