By Derrick Brown (follow on Twitter @dbrowndbrown)
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Born(e) Witness – A One-Man Show (Hope-Raiser) (A Narrated Proposal for #TheSeeSayShow Stage) (1416 Words)
(68th Day Of School)
(Wednesday, November 11, 2025)
By Derrick Brown (Join Our Mailing List!)
Empath Remixes #96 (Born(e) Witness – A One-Man Show (Hope-Raiser) (A Narrated Proposal for #TheSeeSayShow Stage)) (1416 Words)
Premise – Why I “Spit”
For years, I have been rehearsing a simple, undecorated show … that feels less like a performance … and more like a promise.
It is a one-man conversation with God, family, students, and self ... 90 minutes of truth told through song, testimony, and reflection.
It is called Born(e) Witness because I am LEarning that witness is not merely seeing something happen.
It is becoming what happened … and then using that becoming to help others heal.
Each song is a story about how I survived my own lessons … and how those lessons taught me to raise “hope” … instead of “cain.”
The format borrows from the hybrid documentary and performance film described in my earlier (8-18-2025) draft screenplay, but its heart beats with the same purpose that animated my 2025 Clemson “Men of Color” Conference submission (which was not accepted) ... and my 7-19-2024 reachthenteach.com blog post and playlist … to use #StandupStorytelling to “spit it ‘til they git it.”
Pattern – The “Playlist” as “Curriculum”
The show unfolds like a curriculum for the soul.
Every song is a lesson … that I am still LEarning.
Every transition is a reflection.
The playlist forms a circle ... what begins as self-examination … returns as
self-offering …
1. “Better Me” – Opening Invocation
A quiet piano riff introduces the evening.
No spotlight yet … only a voice saying that “mistakes are great teachers … because they grab your undivided attention.”
The song is not confession for pity … but for clarity ... a pledge to grow in public.
The chorus turns that pledge into a call … “make a better me … roots u can't see … branch humility … and agility … trunk stability … and nobility … leaf utility … fruit fertility” …
The audience is not watching a show … they are joining a “hope” study group.
2. “What They Say” – Self-Identity Anthem
The beat shifts to a steady hip-hop pulse.
This song was written for students who fight to define themselves before others do it for them.
It was first a message to our then-six-year-old daughter … to tell her who she was … in her father’s eyes.
It reminds every listener that identity is not a rumor to be managed … but a
revelation to be protected.
3. “Re’sume’ Say” – Lesson in Labor and Grace
Classroom lights replace stage lights.
I move like a teacher between desks made of rhythm and reflection.
The hook ... “'re'sume' say … I only teach a "bebe" … go head and play-play … ‘shuffle’ and ‘Sheneneh’” ... becomes a crowd chant.
It is half hip-hop, half homily (sermon).
The song says what no rubric can measure … that hope is the ultimate LEarning
“standard.”
4. “Holler” – If You Hear Me
I dream a world ... I may never see ... but know that change ... begins with me ... I hope and heal ... stay in my lane ... unspeakable joy ... unspeakable pain ... unshakable will ... patient until ... peace be still ... pen and quill ... lemme be free ... show say and see ... do re and mi ... makin' me ... holler '' ...
5. “Thank You” – Marriage Anthem
Lights dim to a soft gold.
This song belongs to my wife.
It is the place where the public man rests inside private grace.
It recalls how love is not a stage note … but a steady key signature.
6. “Born(e) Witness” – Title Anthem
A quiet organ underscores projected text from my autoethnographic journal.
I sing of writing doubts in margins … and LEarning that mercy knows my name.
The music swells into anthem as students, colleagues, and family join in.
The chorus ... “I am a "born witness" … and have *borne witness* … mine eyes have seen the glory ... of telling your own story ... and letting that story tell the "counterstory" … to those who "sense" … but do not SEE … to those who "think" … but do not SAY … to those who "know" … but do not SHOW” ... becomes the show’s north star.
It is not performed for applause … but for alignment.
7. “I Believe” – Faith Anthem
The stage glows blue.
This song is a simple confession: “I know that peace is possible … because I have been through some storms.”
Where “Holler” was testimony … “I Believe” is the trust that testimony is
enough.
8. “Better Me (Reprise)” – Finale and Farewell
The band returns to the opening piano riff.
Everyone sings the refrain together.
The show ends not with a bow … but with a breath ... a reminder that hope is
a curriculum … that is always in session.
9. “Move” – Encore
Make your dreams come true through direct, strategic action.
Move your character towards faith and love through humility and confidence.
Move with coordination and balance.
Move those you influence through thought leadership.
Paradox – Containment Begats Release
The journey to this stage was born from containment.
I once believed I was being punished for speaking too much truth.
Now I understand I was being prepared to speak truth differently.
The evaluations, memos, and surveillance that once surrounded me … became “writing prompts” for the autoethnography that anchors this very show.
Containment produced clarity.
Clarity became communication.
Communication rekindled morale.
That is the paradox of Born(e) Witness … the restrictions that threatened to erase me … ended up etching me into public record.
The songs exist because the struggle did.
When OMcR said, “It sounds like you are building a school … maybe this is not the right place for you,” he named my next assignment.
This show is that school ... a school without walls … graded only in grace.
Practice – From Stage to Fellowship
This production is designed to travel light ... a microphone, amp, projector, band, and circle of chairs.
It can fill an auditorium or a church basement.
Every performance becomes a #TheSeeSayShow Fellowship Lab session … a space where participants listen to songs, reflect on what they hear and remember, and then compose their own stories in response.
This mirrors the Clemson MOC Conference submission model ... “audiences that respect and embrace mentoring, mediation, and problem solving as tools of change”.
Each stop on the tour includes three acts:
1. The Performance (Live Show) – Songs as sermons, laughter as liturgy.
2. The Dialogue (Post-Show Circle) – Audience members share their own “born(e) witness” moments.
3. The Practice Session – Participants craft AI-assisted reflection prompts to turn their insight into action.
Through this loop, the show extends #TheSeeSayShow course into community practice ... a bridge between arts education and autoethnography, between personal narrative and collective transformation.
Peace – Hope as Infrastructure
Peace in this context is not decorative … it is design.
When a student writes to say that the classroom reminded him of his father’s wisdom, that is infrastructure being rebuilt from within.
When a colleague offers encouragement instead of comparison, that is a load-bearing beam in the architecture of morale.
When an audience member leaves the theater humming “I was born to be a witness,” that is structural repair in the culture of education.
The show proves that hope is not an emotion to be felt … but a discipline to be practiced.
It can be taught, measured, and replicated through story, music, and reflection.
It is the antidote to the morale deficit that haunts so many institutions.
Selah – A Simple Stage for Something Sacred
In the final minutes of Born(e) Witness, I hand the microphone to a student and step back into the crowd ... just as the screenplay’s closing scene imagined.
The gesture says everything … the future is collective, and every voice belongs.
The band fades into the “Better Me” reprise, and the room becomes a choir of witnesses.
When the lights come up, there are no “encores” … maybe just one ... only conversations starting in the aisles.
That is the real show.
That is the hope-raiser.
Epilogue – Invitation
Born(e) Witness – A One-Man Show (Hope-Raiser) invites schools, churches, and communities to partner in turning performance into practice.
It extends twenty-five years of KnowledgeBase work ... from Georgia Tech’s Summer Academy to today’s AI-enhanced reflection labs ... into a living curriculum of empathy.
Its playlist is its syllabus … its audience is its faculty … its impact is its evaluation.
And like every good lesson plan, it ends where it began … with a simple
promise to be a better me.
Selah.
(The "Follow The Leader (changED - Volume 2)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com)
(The "changED (Volume 1)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com)
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