The 74 July 17, 2026 by Joe Goodkin
I stand alone on a stage in front of 200 high school freshmen.
They’re looking at their phones, talking to one other, laughing — paying
attention to anything but me. I pick up my guitar, strum a chord and
start singing, first in almost a whisper: “Who am I, mind on fire, born
of you but who am I … οἴνοπα πόντον.”
Two hundred sets of eyes are now off their phones and on me. The
laughter and talking stop, the room is silent. I have the audience’s
complete attention as they listen to … my 35-minute, 24-song retelling
of Homer’s “The Odyssey.”
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