My Black Joy Retold from Memory:

I walked in at the start of class and placed a freshly painted wine glass on the podium by the door, letting it sit out in the open. When the time came for my performance, I instructed my classmates to walk around and look at the glass while I grabbed materials. Materials in hand, I walked up to the podium and wordlessly placed one roll of scotch tape and one roll of packing tape on the podium next to the wine glass

The spectators (my classmates) clustered close to the podium to get a good view as I poured water into the glass. I pulled a vial of lavender essential oil from my pocket and dropped four drops of the oil into the water. Setting the essential oils down, I placed my hands on either side of the base of the wine glass and rotated it slowly, giving my classmates a view of the painted sides.

Their eyes still focused on the glass, I lifted it into the air in one hand as if I were about to take a drink. I swirled the water like a sommelier, then extended my arm out over the podium away from my body and said, “You might want to step back” before releasing the glass and letting it fall. The spectators hurriedly rushed backward away from the podium as the glass hit the floor and shattered

I looked up at my classmates and said, “Now, put me back together..” Two students came forward and worked for over five minutes picking up large pieces of the wine glass from the floor and attempting to tape them back together while I watched silently, arms crossed. Their efforts were unsuccessful. As they worked, the fresh red paint on the wine glass mixed with the water and became runny, it covered their fingers, the podium, and the floor looking like blood