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Sunday, September 23, 2012
‘I’m not off men, but as far as marriage is concerned, not for me’
What did you study in school? I did English and American studies, pop culture. After school, I moved to New York where I did writing and performing poetry. I was in a Def Poetry Jam, which is a show on television in the United States for a year. Tell us about the DEF Poetry Jam and your awards. Was it what brought you out to the limelight? Yes it was. Before that, I performed in little shows and open MIC shows, where anybody could go up to the stage and perform or sing. One day, I went with a friend of mine who was going to enter for a contest. I went there just to support him but they told me I couldn’t go in unless I signed in for the auditioning as well. I just signed for the auditioning with the mind to just support my friend, but I ended up winning the contest and getting noticed by the founder of Def Jam, Russell Simmons, who is the owner of a very popular recording label in the United States. He created the Def Poetry Jam on television and asked me to be part of it. It ran for six seasons and I was on five of those seasons. They liked me and what I do and they asked me to join the tour of different cities all around the United States in a state wide tour. From there I got a lot other opportunities to do other things. Def Poetry Jam added a plus in my career. I grew from being a town poet to being more international. Do you have a published collection of your works? I have a manuscript that I am still working on. I am highly critical of my work. I don’t think it’s good enough yet, so I m still working on it. You talked about your parents encouraging you, but there a lot of kids out there who have these things bottled up in them but no one to encourage them. What do you say to this? It’s a sad thing because there are lots of Nigerians stuck in jobs
‘I’m not anybody’s wife’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
Bassey Ikpi is a writer, poet and mental health advocate. She was born in Cross River State but currently living in the United States where she has won several awards in poetry. Bassey is living with Bi Polar II disorders, a mental health problem and she spoke with Vanessa Okwara about her poetry performances and passion for people with mental health disorders. What aspect of poetry do you do? I am a writer first. The kind of poetry I do is very personal. I don’t write about anything I don’t know or haven’t experienced. I hope that what I write is something that other people can connect with. I also perform poetry. This is taking from page to the stage, When did you pick up writing poetry? Is it something you started during your childhood years? I started writing when I was eight years old. I use writing to express myself. I moved to the United States when I was four years old and learnt to speak English when I was five. What are the things that could trigger your writings? It can be nothing and everything at the same time. It could be a societal issue or personal. I write a lot about mental health. I have a series of poems called “the broken diva’’ series. It is a collection of stories I have written about female stars like Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Loren Hill. It’s just something that will spark it, usually a one line and I will think about it over and over again and then I will get to a computer and I will write it down.
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and careers that were created for them by their parents. Visibility is important. In the United States, whenever I am announced, they will say “Bassey Ikpi, from Cross River State Nigeria,” so that people will know where I am coming from. This is very important to me. Part of the reason I am here in the country apart from the shows I came to do is to talk to people about developing a show like Def Poetry for Africans but based in Nigeria. This will help talented people to be visible, work on their craft and be encouraged, especially when they see that person on television reading a poem. That way, children can also develop the skill or aspire to write a poem of their own. What other notable events did you perform poetry in the United States? I performed at the NAWACP image awards. It’s an organisation that gives awards for the best representation of black people in any category. It’s almost like the Grammys but specifically for black people. I was asked to write a tribute poem for Venus and Serena Williams, the tennis stars. I wrote a poem for them and performed it at the award. Let’s talk about your mental health issue. How did the bi polar disorder happen? What happened to me was that I was on tour for the Def Poetry Jam and I was doing two things concurrently. I was doing the Def Poetry Jam and a college tour as well. So when others in the Def Jam will go home to rest, I will be on the road to do the college tour. That was when I cracked. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had a breakdown in the dressing room when we were in Chicago Illinois. It was probably one of the frightening moments of my life. I had what they call a mixed episode. This means that I was depressed and manic at the exact time, which is the most physical uncomfortable feeling imaginable. I was sent home and went to see doctors. I was diagnosed with Bi Polar 2 disorders. Is that what made you to start the mental health advocacy? Yes, it was my illness that motivated me to start the Siwe project, a mental health advocacy nonprofit organisation. It was named after a young girl, Siwe Monsato, who I have known most of her life who committed suicide due to her illness. I discovered that so many people with mental illness think that nobody wants to hear about it or discourage them from getting help and seeking treatment. What Siwe Project does is to be a louder voice to encourage people to get help, treatment and to do what they need to do to feel good How old are you? I am 36 years old. What’s your love life like? I am not married but I have a five-year-old son. I am single and I am not searching. (Laughs) That is serious! Do you want to be single for the rest of your life? Well if you put it like that ….I guess not. I am a poet and very sensitive. I don’t like heartbreaks and I don’t put myself in the path of getting my heart broken. Are you telling us that you are off men? I am not off men. A lot of them are amazing, but as far as marriage and getting married is concerned, I don’t think it is for me.
Why is it that many celebrities today either have crashed marriages or in some cases their marriages are being endured and not enjoyed? Mind you, celebrities cut across actors, doctors, journalists, engineers, fashion designers and so on. I’m not saying just actors. I will first of all say they are human beings. It is what they do that puts them in the eye of the world. Therefore, they have no life of their own. That is why we can talk about them. They have their responsibilities but what if this celebrity has an abusive spouse, one who doesn’t understand the workings of this job, who thinks that the other person is being unfaithful, that the partner must be doing something outside of the home, when the person really is not? That poses a problem. First of all, it is the problem of lack of trust and understanding. It meant that before you went into it in the first place, you didn’t think well. You didn’t accept the person. I say to people that love fades, it is your friendship that keeps your relationship going. Passion would go in the background. Sometimes it even dies but it is your friendship that keeps it. The important thing for me is whoever these people are, whatever problems they are going through in their homes, I hope it is worth working at. If it is not worth it, from any of the side of the divide, walk away. In your view, what should the society do or what’s the way out? I think the thing is that society hasn’t begun to actually take these things seriously. If we begin to actually consider marriage as important even in our professional lives, then concessions would be given to people who are married, including nursing mothers. It means that if she starts working from morning till five in the evening, please let her go so that by 7 p.m. she should be in her house to attend to her home and take care of her family. Don’t say if she wants to take care of her family, let her stay at home. That is why we are having problems in marriages because the wife is a banker. She has deadline that her boss who is also a woman has given to her. Because the boss also is in the office till about 11 p.m., you cannot tell her that you are going to feed your husband and children when she is still in the office. The person who makes the rule is the man because whether he gets home at 2 a.m., his wife would feed him, anyway. It doesn’t matter how she does it. The thing is we have to begin to actually apply these things in our professional lives. The jobs won’t suffer because women are dynamic.