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When Pedagogues Go bad
Jul. 31st, 2003 10:14 amHmm. Last night was interesting. Joy and I did an encore presentation (two condensed scenes) of Fare for All for a group made up of theater educators and museum people, some from all over the world. We came in early, ran a dress rehearsal (they'd added a bunch of new explicatory lines for me, because we were only doing two scenes) and then they had a reception in the garden which was very nice. That's a beautiful garden, all apple trees and ivy. Too bad there are these tall modern buildings looming over it--they really box it in.
After the reception Joy and I hung out in the kitchen during a looong talk by Dorothy (all about methodology and so forth) and then we did the two scenes. All went fine. But when we tried to take our bow and make our escape, Dorothy stood in the center and started talking--Joy and I retreated to our respective chairs. Then the gloves came off. Some of the people were so snippy about the play--saying things like "I'm hearing all these right wing buzzwords like entertainment and frankly, I find it appalling" and "you're getting very defensive." Some of the stuff was interesting but some was just pedagogues with a couple of glasses of wine in them, wanting to say something, anything. "I have an opinion!" I hate it when you're at a meeting and someone just wants to hear their own voice. Anyway. Some of the black women kept talking about Flora's (Joy's character) position as a maid, and how this would make the black kids feel bad--they wanted to hear more about Cato Alexander (he's mentioned several times in the play--he was a black hotel owner who was competition for Mr. Woodhull in the play). Well, the truth is that Flora is much more representative of black workers of the time than Cato Alexander. And frankly, for her time, she didn't have it so bad. Yes, she had to work hard but she was earning a decent wage. When did being a maid/honest labor become something to make you feel bad? If you need to "feel good" how about taking pride in the fact that you were able to maintain a family, or pay your bills, or save to start your own business, while working in said labor job? And education's primary goal should NOT be to make someone feel good--it should be to start a conversation. Are we supposed to ignore that the Floras of the 1830s existed because that might make the black kids feel bad? That's completely unhistorical. History isn't supposed to make you feel good, it's supposed to hold a mirror up to you and teach a lesson. We have to know the good and the bad of history (and that's assuming Flora's position was "bad." As I said, it could've been a lot worse. She could've been a street merchant, she could've been a prostitute, she could've been destitute) or we can't learn from it.
I loved it when Joy finally stood up and defended the play and said Flora was a strong and worthy character and a bunch of other things. Later on, one person was (again) criticizing how disenfranchised the black audience would be and someone spoke out "Hello, did you not HEAR this STRONG Black woman (gesturing to Joy) talking about the play??" Too funny.
Something else I found telling, and sad--everyone had an opinion on how the black character was portrayed--no one gave a shit about the female characters, who worked just as hard. Not one person mentioned them. In fact there's a whole song about how "ladies" have to look like they're delicate and frail, but actually work their asses off. More proof that people consider racism worse than sexism in this country.
Anyway, we finally escaped to the kitchen--some people followed us there and were complimenting us and the play. This one cute black guy (he was adorable, although my gaydar was tripping a bit) was all "Fuck them, they've just had too much wine. Y'all were great." I met this one lady later who was telling Joy and me about a program in Indiana where for 90 minutes they replicate the experience of being an escaped slave--they hunt for you and you have to find safe houses and so forth. Now that sounds interesting and so educational--but according to some of these pedagogues, this isn't acceptable because it would make people feel bad. I think it sounds awesome--that's exactly what history should do. Joy thought it sounded great too.
Joy and I walked over to Lex Ave. together. We talked about black hair issues and I told her how I'd always wanted beads in my hair. Someday, I vow...
After the reception Joy and I hung out in the kitchen during a looong talk by Dorothy (all about methodology and so forth) and then we did the two scenes. All went fine. But when we tried to take our bow and make our escape, Dorothy stood in the center and started talking--Joy and I retreated to our respective chairs. Then the gloves came off. Some of the people were so snippy about the play--saying things like "I'm hearing all these right wing buzzwords like entertainment and frankly, I find it appalling" and "you're getting very defensive." Some of the stuff was interesting but some was just pedagogues with a couple of glasses of wine in them, wanting to say something, anything. "I have an opinion!" I hate it when you're at a meeting and someone just wants to hear their own voice. Anyway. Some of the black women kept talking about Flora's (Joy's character) position as a maid, and how this would make the black kids feel bad--they wanted to hear more about Cato Alexander (he's mentioned several times in the play--he was a black hotel owner who was competition for Mr. Woodhull in the play). Well, the truth is that Flora is much more representative of black workers of the time than Cato Alexander. And frankly, for her time, she didn't have it so bad. Yes, she had to work hard but she was earning a decent wage. When did being a maid/honest labor become something to make you feel bad? If you need to "feel good" how about taking pride in the fact that you were able to maintain a family, or pay your bills, or save to start your own business, while working in said labor job? And education's primary goal should NOT be to make someone feel good--it should be to start a conversation. Are we supposed to ignore that the Floras of the 1830s existed because that might make the black kids feel bad? That's completely unhistorical. History isn't supposed to make you feel good, it's supposed to hold a mirror up to you and teach a lesson. We have to know the good and the bad of history (and that's assuming Flora's position was "bad." As I said, it could've been a lot worse. She could've been a street merchant, she could've been a prostitute, she could've been destitute) or we can't learn from it.
I loved it when Joy finally stood up and defended the play and said Flora was a strong and worthy character and a bunch of other things. Later on, one person was (again) criticizing how disenfranchised the black audience would be and someone spoke out "Hello, did you not HEAR this STRONG Black woman (gesturing to Joy) talking about the play??" Too funny.
Something else I found telling, and sad--everyone had an opinion on how the black character was portrayed--no one gave a shit about the female characters, who worked just as hard. Not one person mentioned them. In fact there's a whole song about how "ladies" have to look like they're delicate and frail, but actually work their asses off. More proof that people consider racism worse than sexism in this country.
Anyway, we finally escaped to the kitchen--some people followed us there and were complimenting us and the play. This one cute black guy (he was adorable, although my gaydar was tripping a bit) was all "Fuck them, they've just had too much wine. Y'all were great." I met this one lady later who was telling Joy and me about a program in Indiana where for 90 minutes they replicate the experience of being an escaped slave--they hunt for you and you have to find safe houses and so forth. Now that sounds interesting and so educational--but according to some of these pedagogues, this isn't acceptable because it would make people feel bad. I think it sounds awesome--that's exactly what history should do. Joy thought it sounded great too.
Joy and I walked over to Lex Ave. together. We talked about black hair issues and I told her how I'd always wanted beads in my hair. Someday, I vow...
