The Daily OrangeThe gospel according to John
By Stephanie Musat
Posted: 9/24/09, 2:03 AM EST Section: News
John Legend claimed he didn't want to give a sermon.
As a young kid growing up with a church family, Legend had heard plenty of sermons in his time - most of them informative, yes, but also a good "cure for insomnia," he said.
But when Legend stood up on stage in Goldstein Auditorium Wednesday night and grabbed the sides of the podium, he became a preacher. And the 1,392 people in the audience were his congregation.
Legend, a six-time Grammy Award winner, stood tall at his pulpit and emphasized the importance of education, the right to health care and the stigmas of racism to a sold-out crowd - all with the perspective that truth and soul will guide the way to solve global issues.
"As a soul singer, I'm often asked to define what soul is," Legend said. "It's hard to define, but soulfulness and truth are closely related. Soul isn't about a particular race or a genre of music. Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding things in your life that are real. Things in your core, things that you know you were put on this Earth to do."
Legend lectured proverbs - it is important to stay in school, it's hard to evaluate President Barack Obama's presidency thus far because he has only been in office for nine months, and if there is Medicare, there should be health care for all.
Though the message of his speech ranged in topic, he was at Syracuse University to talk about his "Show Me" campaign, a grassroots movement started by Legend that encourages action from the bottom up in regards to global issues. Most recently, the "Show Me" campaign set up camp in Tanzania to eliminate poverty and provide aid to the ill.
"I'm into community service. I heard about his 'Show Me' Campaign and I know that he is here to spread information and I'm really interested," said Genevieve Tabios, a sophomore magazine and psychology major.
The premise of the organization is based off of the song, "Show Me," that charts a conversation with God about the state of the world and the individual's place in it.
As a young kid growing up with a church family, Legend had heard plenty of sermons in his time - most of them informative, yes, but also a good "cure for insomnia," he said.
But when Legend stood up on stage in Goldstein Auditorium Wednesday night and grabbed the sides of the podium, he became a preacher. And the 1,392 people in the audience were his congregation.
Legend, a six-time Grammy Award winner, stood tall at his pulpit and emphasized the importance of education, the right to health care and the stigmas of racism to a sold-out crowd - all with the perspective that truth and soul will guide the way to solve global issues.
"As a soul singer, I'm often asked to define what soul is," Legend said. "It's hard to define, but soulfulness and truth are closely related. Soul isn't about a particular race or a genre of music. Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding things in your life that are real. Things in your core, things that you know you were put on this Earth to do."
Legend lectured proverbs - it is important to stay in school, it's hard to evaluate President Barack Obama's presidency thus far because he has only been in office for nine months, and if there is Medicare, there should be health care for all.
Though the message of his speech ranged in topic, he was at Syracuse University to talk about his "Show Me" campaign, a grassroots movement started by Legend that encourages action from the bottom up in regards to global issues. Most recently, the "Show Me" campaign set up camp in Tanzania to eliminate poverty and provide aid to the ill.
"I'm into community service. I heard about his 'Show Me' Campaign and I know that he is here to spread information and I'm really interested," said Genevieve Tabios, a sophomore magazine and psychology major.
The premise of the organization is based off of the song, "Show Me," that charts a conversation with God about the state of the world and the individual's place in it.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Cardiovascular Health
posted 9/25/09 @ 9:09 AM EST
Entertainers have as much right as anyone to preach about what they believe in. His message appears to be a good and uplifting message.
katie
posted 9/25/09 @ 12:10 PM EST
I'm glad you took out your factual error about how his show started off with the song "Show Me" because he never even played it. And you may want to change the copy and pasted explanation of his campaign because it's directly from the website. (Continued…)
nafoJL
posted 9/27/09 @ 7:47 AM EST
I thought it was funny how he kept saying he didn't want to preach and how he wasn't qualified to have an opinion, but then he goes off anyways into highly polarized extremist political views. (Continued…)
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