Episode 3: Gamal Palmer

In 1916, Robert Frost published his poem “The Road Not Taken”. I wonder if he knew when he wrote it that he was composing a poem that would resonate with artists, rock bands and school children 100 years later. It is a story about a single traveler who has come to a fork in the road. He has reached a point in his journey where he has to make a choice about which path he will take. He has no friend to text, no therapist to consult, no other opinion to consider. On this particular day, there is no real appreciable difference between the two paths, but he chooses the one that has seen less traffic, and in doing so, steps into poetic and literary history.

Gamal Palmer’s journey through his life and career has been a series of roads less traveled. His introduction to theater came at the age of 12 when he joined a prison theater group whose plays helped incarcerated men experience if even briefly, freedom and their own humanity. As a young child, he went with his mother who volunteered at needle exchange programs to keep users from contracting HIV in Philadelphia, not soccer practice. At 14 years old, when most kids were fighting to stay in the closet, he came out.

Using vivid memory recall and storytelling, and a willingness to speak frankly and from the heart, Gamal illustrates what a rich life and career look like when we dare to spread our wings and soar. When we dare to design our lives in ways that people may not recognize. And like our traveler in Robert Frost’s poem, Gamal experiences the consequences of taking an unexpected journey. Some things fall away, as they must, to allow new wonders to emerge.