On April 29, Gerald Perlas was the first of 13 students to walk up to the lone microphone on the LSU Ballroom C stage. Perlas took the audience gathered in front of him into his most vulnerable state. He told his own personal story.
This year was the fourth annual Hollywood by the Horns Story Slam. Every spring semester a group of students applies for the COM 390 Hollywood by the Horns class that takes the students on a journey to finding their voice through the art of storytelling.
The class is led by Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle, assistant professor of communications, and Lisa Callamaro, founder of the Lisa Callamaro Literary Agency and Story & Voice a management and production company.
During the semester Eagle and Callamaro gave the class different prompts that made them open up and express the experiences they have faced throughout their lives. This led them to the stage where they presented their most vulnerable-selves. The storytellers evoked all of their pain, triumphs, success and glee to the audience to whom in return demonstrated their appreciation of the student’s bravery with tears and a roar of applause.
The sense of pride, or self-empowerment, did not go unnoticed by the audience or the presenters, as each of the students seemed to radiate as they walked back to their seats after finding and expressing their voice.
