MCSD welcomes Alex Boye for special performance, discussion on mental health
T-R PHOTOS BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Speaker and singer Alex Boye talks a moment to pose for a picture during his “You Are a 10” concert at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center on Monday evening.
Speaker and singer Alex Boye talks with audience members before speaking about the importance of thinking positively about themselves. Boye visited Marshalltown on Monday and was hosted by the Marshalltown Community School District.
All of the children in the audience at the “You Are a 10” concert play instruments and dance on stage with Alex Boye at the end of the performance. Roughly 200 people attended the concert.
Singer and speaker Alex Boye shows the audience in the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center a tube of sunscreen. He said he does not need it, but just because it is not important to him, that does now mean it is not important to someone else.
Singer and speaker Alex Boye pretends to cry during his “You Are a 10” concert on Monday evening. Boye actively made the audience laugh and said laughter from children is one of the best sounds in the world.
T-R PHOTOS BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Speaker and singer Alex Boye talks a moment to pose for a picture during his “You Are a 10” concert at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center on Monday evening.
Speaker and singer Alex Boye talks with audience members before speaking about the importance of thinking positively about themselves. Boye visited Marshalltown on Monday and was hosted by the Marshalltown Community School District.
All of the children in the audience at the “You Are a 10” concert play instruments and dance on stage with Alex Boye at the end of the performance. Roughly 200 people attended the concert.
Singer and speaker Alex Boye shows the audience in the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center a tube of sunscreen. He said he does not need it, but just because it is not important to him, that does now mean it is not important to someone else.
Singer and speaker Alex Boye pretends to cry during his “You Are a 10” concert on Monday evening. Boye actively made the audience laugh and said laughter from children is one of the best sounds in the world.
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No matter what happens to you, no matter what anyone says, you are still a 10. That was the message of Alex Boye during his "You Are a 10" concert on Monday evening.
Hosted by the Marshalltown Community School District, roughly 200 people attended Boye's performance at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center. He played African-infused music during his concert and actively engaged members of the audience. Boye, an ambassador the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Boye brought some of attendees on stage, and walked through the rows, greeting people and asking their names.
He used a clip of his appearance on the popular reality television show "America's Got Talent." Boye told the audience the judges loved his first performance, and they all voted him on to the next round. However, the next day, the very same judges panned his new performance. A guest judge even asked Boye if he was a comedian, because his performance was a joke.
He left the stage and spent two hours crying because it was the most humiliating experience of his life.
"How can you go from the top of the mountain to the bottom?" Boye asked. "One of the hardest things I had to do."
However, he saw someone who he became friends with while on the show. Boye asked his friend how his new performance went and the friend told him the judges hated him, too. But Boye noticed he was happy.
"I couldn't understand how he was so happy," he said. "I said 'How is it you still have a smile on your face? I don't understand.'"
Boye said his friend told him he was grateful because he was not letting it get to him, because their opinion was none of his business.
"I never forgot that," he said. "I realized the difference between me and him is that I reacted differently. I started to realize when your self-esteem is low, then whatever anyone says about you, you're going to believe it. When your view of yourself is low, when somebody says something about you, good or bad, you're going to believe it. I decided I was going to live my life, no matter what anyone says about me, my opinion of myself will never change."
Boye promised that he was going to not devalue himself anymore.
Holding a $10 bill in his hand, Boye asked if anyone wanted it, and many audience members raised their own hands. He crumpled it, threw it down and stomped on it numerous times. They still wanted it. Boye asked why, and an audience member told him it had value.
He asked why people were so willing to do the opposite with themselves after others say negative things about them. Boye said they are more valuable than that $10 bill. Even when someone is abused, they still have value, Boye told them.
"We're all tens," he said. "That is the message I love to share."
He told the audience he has a lot of respect for teenagers today because they actively deal with more negativity on social media.
"They go to school, they get judged," Boye said. "Wherever they go, they get looked up and down and get judged. That's why we see so many people losing their lives. They have filled it with trash talk. And all that trash talk, when someone else comes and adds more to it, you lose hope. One of the biggest things in this world when we lose hope . . . it's over. That's why we have to keep singing songs about hope.""
He compared social media to mental trash, and told them what they engage in on social media is what they encounter more of. Boye urged people to spread positivity and hope as much as they can.
"We've got to keep posting stuff, post hope," he said. "Anything that is inspiring or made you feel good, share that."
Boye said social media algorithms will show users good, positive content when they share good, positive content. He told them to unfollow people who do not make them feel good about themselves, and follow the ones that do.
"If you have enough of it, you will be filled with so much good that it will actually inspire," Boye said.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.