It was the last question of the day.

The talkback for the MEMPHIS company of the Illinois All-State High School cast was winding down and Producer John Yonover solicted one last question from a student: “College to working- what was that process like?”

“Hard.” responds Derrick Baskin.

And what happened next was pretty incredible. I’m not sure if it translates on video but that will be for you to tell us, but for the next 7+ minutes, Derrick Baskin had the room transfixed as he spoke on the subject. In the room, I swear it felt like no time had past. The only frame of reference for time passing I had was that I was watching my camera battery flash its warning that it was about to die. “Hold on,” I silently willed it. “Just please hold on.”

And it did-shutting off exactly as he stopped speaking.

A modern miracle indeed.

Maybe you are at work or school and you can’t watch this video now. I get that. But make a mental note- come back to this one when you have time. We have a term in this business called a “pull quote;” quite literally a quote puled out of a source, like a review or a testimonial. Here are my favorite pull quotes from a video I am calling “Advice that Every Student Should Hear: Derrick Baskin on ice cream, finding family and a word beyond passion.”

“You have the ability to change someone’s life direction- you have the power to do it.”

“The Art chooses you.”

“You’re building those roots- trials and tribulations and hardships. But you need them- You don’t want to go through them but they are terribly necessary to have any kind of life in the business.”

“To be a artist is not enough- there is a word past passion-there’s a level past passion-that you have to have for what we are doing for however long we are doing it.”

“As you are questioning yourself, as you are pushing forward, as you’re being rejected, you are growing roots into your artistic soil.”