Celebrity：Amanda Gorman The youngest inauguration poet
【明報專訊】Gorman is a young poet whose works focus on issues of oppression(壓迫), feminism(女性主義), and diversity(多元). Some of her poems empower different classes of people to change the world.
SHE is a graduate of the Harvard University, and she has written for several renowned media and institutions right after her graduation. Earlier this year, she wrote and recited a poem at the presidential inauguration ceremony(總統就職禮) of the US. The poem is about inclusiveness(包容), diversity, and the democratic values the US community upholds, and the content was inspired by the 2021 Capitol (國會山莊) incidents.
''My life changed in six minutes'', as she describes the six minutes given to her to speak in front of the nation, and probably the whole world.
Gorman was diagnosed with speech impediment(語言障礙), and she had trouble pronouncing the letter ''R'' when she was still an undergraduate at Harvard. To cope with the speech impediment, she trained herself to sing the songs in Hamilton, an American musical. It is amazing how she managed to overcome her hurdles and rise as a new, young poet.
◆Know more
As former US President Donald Trump tried to overturn the election result, some of his supporters committed violent acts at the Capitol in January 2021. Trump was blamed for mobilizing the supporters to start a riot, and several social networking sites even suspended his social media account to temporarily lower the temperature and cease the violent acts. (photo.2)
■Glossary
renowned (adj) 著名的
hurdle (n) 障礙
suspend(v) 暫停
cease (v) 中止
[Smarties' Power English 第310期]
