You Will Make It

[Music]

[Applause]

been teaching here for a while and

love it it is a joy to

find a job that really truly makes you

happy

and i did find that and i am loving it

and i want to talk a little bit about

redefining success

when emil told me that was the theme and

wanted me to talk about music

i thought well then i gotta say i think

that our definitions

sometimes about success are pretty

inaccurate

they maybe need some tweaking because

sometimes they can even be damaging

not to bring us down here but some

definitions

of success or some measuring of success

they can damage you and they can damage

your dreams

and they can damage your attempt to

have those dreams i just want to

make sure you understand it’s not all

down though because i’m here to say

that you’re you’re never too old

i’m not that old but i’m kind of old

never too old to

realize those dreams and you’re

never needing to worry about being

17 and having a ton of pressure and

having to figure out do

there’s all these things i have to

achieve right to be successful in all

these things i have to accomplish

you know as other speakers have said

today

you’re not on somebody else’s timetable

of success you’re on your own

you define what success means to you and

it took a while for me to learn that to

be honest with you

because here’s my short little story um

you know

i took this path in teaching which i’ve

been so happy

to do and but i grew up really loving

music

and being a part of choirs and doing the

things like that that you do but i also

wanted to perform on my own

a long time ago that was a dream for me

maybe even someday write my own songs

and here’s what happens

pretty quickly it’s quieted

by the measurers of success be they

well-meaning

parents or family or sometimes even

friends

the discouraging words and maybe even

worse

sometimes the stunning silence

that you might be met with when you’re

pursuing a dream and it

it if you’re strong it may not shut you

down but if you’re not i wasn’t

it can shut down your dream you can

start to build a wall

you didn’t even know you were building

or letting them build

um that can happen

and that can also become then and it did

for me your default

your default is your belief that they

have established that

you’re good but you’re not good enough

don’t draw attention to yourself

who do you think you are

2015 it took a while 2015

we mentioned coffee house here at

minnetonka and a student

involved with coffee house was also

doing some gigs in

in town here and she offered me

a chance to sit in i was like

okay yeah and and for the first time in

a long long time i

i started to let my yes be louder than

my no

to things to challenges we had a ball

and i tell you man i was hooked it was a

little tiny it wasn’t a big crowd or

anything it was a little tiny

you know a group of people who were

super encouraging

and and it was it was like something

that had been dying inside of me to be

alive again

came alive at that moment

and so we scoot ahead to 2016 and i

started taking some

voice lessons and some guitar lessons

and and

and all the while those measurers voices

in the background saying no one’s ever

going to let you play

you know that right so you know do it

it’s fun

well doors started to open and then the

next hurdle

my voice teacher says i think you need

to stop singing

covers and start writing your own songs

i think you have something to say

and i said absolutely not

no way because it just brought up all

those images of all those

attempts and fails and right

and the measurer voices again

so i had to take some big steps i’m a

good student i didn’t step away from the

assignment

i did the song it actually turned out to

be pretty good

and and it unlocked something man that

all these songs started to flow after

that

and more and more gigs and after

seven sold out shows in a row and

a lot of of songs and putting together a

little band

and having just the time in my life last

year you know we

released i released a dream

gave birth to a dream my first ep

i hope it’s my first the first cp we’ve

been down this road before

and we had a great release party and

just a time of our lives and

with no idea of course what was coming

around the corner in 2020

where a lot of those next opportunities

are all going to get shut down

and set aside it’s not my livelihood

and i’m thankful for that so

i thought well i guess that’s it i

achieved

but the music didn’t stop the songs

didn’t stop

it just they just kept coming and coming

and coming so

like a lot of artists i wrote songs and

started to record them in garageband and

wrote parts for other

band members who aren’t there and

background singers who aren’t there

but i see them i see them they’re

happening they’re happening i don’t know

how soon

maybe a year we don’t know right

but i see them happening because uh

being a teacher and i know that after a

plague

there’s usually a renaissance and we

don’t know exactly what that’s going to

look like for

so many people in entertainment

industries and

food services and so many other things

but there’s going to be a renaissance

and i’d like to be a part of that and

you can be a part of that

you can be an encourager to someone

else’s dream instead of a

silencer to someone’s dream

and i i just want to reiterate here

before singing you a little song

that it you’re never too

old to realize a dream if it’s what you

want you have to take those first steps

and surround yourself with those

encouragers and those walls start coming

down

and even healing starts to happen

which is pretty tremendous experience

and again

you’re not needing to worry if you’re 16

17 18 and concerned about what’s this

future going to hold

and and what about these dreams i have

well they’re not going to make me money

they’re not going to

what are you ever going to do with that

no

you don’t have to worry about that

there’ll be a place for your dream

if you want it there will

and you don’t have to have it all happen

by some prescribed

time table

silence the measurers go boldly forward

chase your dream because you’re probably

going to make something beautiful

that you can put out into this world

like

we’ve seen in a lot of the other folks

that have talked today and in the ones

that are to come

take your dream take your talent take

your gift hang on to it

pursue it all right so a couple years

ago i was

out riding around on my scooter downtown

minneapolis and i came by this really

old mill

it’s like a hundred and something years

old it’s abandoned but people go down

there and they climb it you know

i think that’s actually illegal but they

do anyway these adventurers

who go indoor climbing it’s crazy and

it’s

broken and windows are busted and

there’s glass everywhere it’s

the fruit mill i think if i’ve said that

correctly

and there’s graffiti all over the walls

in that day

the graffiti that i saw said will

you make it question mark which is a

good thing to ponder when you’re driving

around on a scooter

through a busy downtown in a city

and it was my birthday on top of it all

happened to me and

i don’t know man that that just it

became a song to me

and it isn’t will you make it for me now

it’s you will

make it and that’s my message for you as

well

so here’s that song

[Music]

i came across a crumbling wall

a splash of pink graffiti straw

the word’s a simple question

will you make it

[Music]

just couldn’t take it the winded blue

torn curtains through a jagged little

hole

empty halls and discolored walls

spoke right into my soul

you may be empty

you may be tired

you may be broken

or grow out of style

and they make them you

[Music]

put up signs but you

will make it go leave your mark on time

[Music]

well the mirror doesn’t light on me

no filter on that picture

see the lines the time is etched upon

but these really isn’t a death i

fear it’s living with this aging

mirror and it does what i’m doing

really matters at all

but maybe i was meant to find

the words now painted on my mind

i realize that it’s all right

it’s the writings on

[Music]

you may be broken

or grow out of style

they may condemn

go on baby you may be empty

you may be so tired

that you may be broken grow

out of style and they may

[Music]

you’ll condemn your mark

go leave your mark on time

there you have it thank you thank you