Twenty five years ago—today—my best friend, Brent Shuttleworth, first introduced me to the word, as he remembered it: Excelano. I asked him to literally write it out. He recalled hearing about it, and Excelano Day, from his favorite high school English teacher the year before.
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We were freshmen in college. It was spring break, and I’d traveled to Fair Haven, New Jersey from Philly to hang out with him on his birthday.
Nevermind that it was actually Exelauno Day—observed each March 4th (originated by legendary Roxbury Latin School teacher of classical languages, Clarence Willard “Pop” Gleason, more than a hundred years earlier, apparently as a pun on the Greek verb ‘exelauno’ (to march forth)), this serendipitous (mis)remembered word by Brent gave birth to a seismic creative and cultural force, and an indelible legacy, beyond anything we could have imagined:
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Initially, it was just Brent and I collaborating with a motley crew of artist friends similarly moved by the conviction that art is inextricable from resistance and social change. That with an artistic practice comes a sacred oath to wield creativity toward something greater.
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We did an initial series of summer shows that were fundraisers for the Treatment Action Campaign (a South African HIV/AIDS activist organization), which was followed by numerous other fundraising events, artistic collaborations, sold out shows, grassroots organizing, and socially-engaged work that continued over many years.
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But well before that, and just days after seeing Brent for his birthday, I returned back to campus at the University of Pennsylvania. More specifically, I shared the idea of Excelano (and the Excelano Project) with two dear friends: Warren Longmire and Joy Dyer.
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Immediately, we put plans in place to formally found EP as a student performing arts group on campus: the first spoken word poetry group ever at Penn, and one of the first few to exist on a college campus in the U.S.
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I won’t belabor the story that many already know (and has been documented and retold and borders on myth), but we got rejected. Unanimously. By the subgroup (SMAC) shortly after all nine members told me (to my face) that they didn’t have any questions and would be voting to accept us in the Performing Arts Council.
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On appeal, I sought to make us the first group, in the history of the University of Pennsylvania, to win on appeal and become a recognized student group after being rejected. We were told we needed an affirmative vote from every single student member present to overturn the initial rejection.
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I spoke from the heart. No notes. A knot in my heart, passionate tears down my cheeks. And would you believe it? We won.
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Literally made history the first moment of our official existence on our college campus. And it’s only ascended from there.
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I don’t know what I’ll most be remembered for when I die, but I feel fairly certain that helping to found The Excelano Project will be on a short list.
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More than anything else, beyond the long list of glittering accolades of EP’s alumni, I remain most proud of the transformative (even life-saving and life-altering) impact of the deep relationships and profound connections within and across this FAMILY that persist and expand and grow and give back.
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With all my heart, I love this EP family. Forever.
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March forth,
Carlos
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#25thAnniversary
