Photos From the Journey

Becca Epp with playwright Oren Jacoby after the production of "Invisible Man" at the Court Theatre. Both Becca and Annika had read the book by Ralph Ellison for a class this past fall. They had some great insight to share with the rest of the group. 

We were excited to meet up with a couple of Bethel ladies. Bethel Alum, Kelly Reed, class of 2011 and current student Audra Miller who was serving an internship. 

Rev. Jesse Jackson hosted a forum at the Rainbow Push Coalition discussing poverty.

Later, he met with the group. 

Jose Guerrero was our guide on a mural tour. 

He explained the stories behind many of the local murals. 

Houses are seen in the background of this mural. 

Housing is always on the minds of area residents.

The group posed for a picture with Mr.Guerrero.

This mural, on the side of a house is entitled, "Gulliver in Wonderland" 

based on the book by Jonathan Swift. 

The ropes holding this immigrant show the bonds that are perpetually holding him down. 

Our last group shot before we left Chicago. What an amazing journey!

Playing the advocate: Social change still needed

     Throughout the month of January I took a class where we read 9 plays, went to Chicago, and got to see 3 plays and 2 improvised performances. The Chicago Center helped us get around the city to see places where there was a bound of culture for us to learn about. Through the class and trip I have learned this that even though our society has gone through many changes and has seen many advocates on the issues of racial equality, our society is still changing and still needs work in order to mirror the words "All men are created equal" which is found in the beginning of our Declaration of Independence.

     One of the plays we saw was called Home/Land done by the Albany Park Theater Project. This play was developed and performed by high school students, and we were all impressed by the show. Home/Land is about immigration and the way that the laws (especially the laws in Arizona) have impacted numerous immigrants wanting to live here in the United States. These children helped come up with the idea for the show and then did the interviews which would develop into the story. They spent over a year doing everything for this show from the interviews to the casting to the countless hours of practice to get the final product, of course with a little help. They talked with advocates of getting rid of the laws and challenged us to help change our society by telling us why these immigration laws should be removed, and through the journey became activists for the issue. It is so powerful to be an activist for or against a major issue and especially at a young age. Most often children would not even think about such issues unless they were dealing with the issues themselves. They are giving voice through the play of the people they interviewed and how the laws affected them. In doing so they are also raising their own voices and spreading the word on why these laws are bad for the country. I also believe that the laws over immigration should be repealed because it does not go with what our country started their beliefs on. Our country was meant for us to get away from England and its monarchy and for the people of this nation to all be equal. Still the battle continues on for peoples rights across the continental United States and many people are feeling oppressed just like our forefathers felt while they were under the British.
     We also saw the World Premiere of Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" done at Court Theater albeit they were still working out some problems within the script and some parts of the story. Apart for being a well done adaptation of the book, the visual effects helped portray the journey of a man who was not treated as an equal. Apparently the play is becoming very successful because I keep seeing advertisements about it.
     The set brought to life many details, from the lights, to images projected on the wall behind the actors, and the set changes throughout the play. It tells the story of an unnamed man though his struggles in trying to be seen, an attempt to get someone to hear him. Throughout the story he is not accepted by the whites and some of the fellow black men. Even when he believes that he has a voice and is starting to become visible again when he joins the Brotherhood after he makes a speech to an officer about some recently evicted African Americans, he later sees that they were just using him the whole time. He is struggling with most of the people that he meets along his journey. He is invisible because no one wants to hear him and is kept down after all the work he does to promote change. He wants to be an equal but try as he may his voice wont anyone except the audience. From them it is the part of the audience to go out and make their voices heard.

     One thing that started in Chicago was the organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition which fights for equality for everyone and advocates on issues plaguing the country. It grew from the organization of Operation Breadbasket and was found by Martin Luther King Jr. From Operation Breadbasket came Operation PUSH, which stands for People United to Serve Humanity. PUSH later merged with the Rainbow Coalition to form the organization they have today. One of the main issues they fight over is poverty, which effects around 50 percent of the nation with 26 percent being black and another 23 percent being Hispanic. Poverty is an issue that deals with all races but more help is needed to help people get over the poverty line. Rainbow PUSH, headed by Rev. Jesse Jackson, is striving to help people everywhere in the USA to get rid or minimize the issues plaguing the country. It was great just listening to him speak but as a surprise to all of us we actually got to meet him and take a picture with him (which I wish I could find). In addition to poverty, Rainbow Push deals with the issues of gun violence, home foreclosure, voter registration, corporate inclusion, as well as peace and justice. "The struggle for peace and justice is unending and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition will always be at the heart of it" was said about the issue of peace and justice on their website. Many of these issues that they are fighting with are huge topics in our society with most certainty the housing market and with an election coming up soon they are sure to talk about voter registration. The organization has gone around the country, participating in many protests and rallies to get support on the topics they fight for. They also have a program called PUSH Excel (which I believe is a great program) that encourages students to work toward academic excellence and give out opportunities for scholarships for continued learning. The things they have accomplished has helped get the country closer to equality.

     A play we read in class, Master Harold and the boys, tells the tale of white and black men, or rather two black men and a white adolescent with background of his family. They are great friends through most of the story and while Sam thinks that they still can be friends at the end, Hally or Harold believes that their friendship can no longer work. The story is based in South Africa where there is apartheid or segregation, much like how is was before the Civil Rights Act was passed in the US. Hally, Sam and Willie are great friends even though at the time the apartheid was going strong. It was wrong at that time for Hally to even talk to them. If things weren't bad already, the injuries to his father make Hally hate him, while also beginning to break the walls of his friendships with Sam and Willie. By the end Hally has spat literally and metaphorically in the face of his friends of a different color. Sam tries to give Hally another chance at being friends but he rejects them and gets pulled into the apartheid.

     Even though many of the plays were written before the turn of the century, all of them can still be related to how our society is currently. These plays discuss topics that have and still plague our society through the years that pass us by. One thing that is true is all of these is that it forces the audience to think what is wrong with this and why are things this way. It's also trying to say that if you don't like the way that society handles these issues then go out there and make an impact on society to where change will happen.

Work Cited

Rainbow Push Coalition. Web. 26 January. 2012. <rainbowpush.org>

Tavernise, Sabrina. "Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’." New York Times. The New York Times Company, 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?pagewanted=all>.

How to Fly a Kite

One of our first events was to take a tour of the south side of Chicago with Rev. Steve Saunders to get an idea of how separated the and segregated the neighborhoods are. There was more than a slight overtone of people being socially assigned to different areas of town based on race and economic status. Rev. Saunders is the Executive Liaison for the Featherfist Agency one of the foremost organizations working with the homeless community in the Chicago area. Rev. Steve mentioned police sanctioned racial beatings in the Bridgeport neighborhood, an area that most of Chicago's mayors have lived in. Obviously, these beatings were meant to cause fear in anyone else thinking of crossing social bounds. And this pressure is what keeps people from crossing boundaries and integrating the city. There will always be economical restrictions on where people live. There will always be a poor end of town, the question I want to answer is: "Why is it not just 'the poor end of town' and instead it is referenced as a 'poor Black neighborhood' or a 'poor Latino neighborhood' and what pressures keep people from integrating?" There is a push and pull effect caused by three different factors: Society, Culture, and Economics. Fugard's Master Harold... and the boys provides a good illustration of these three ideas.


Master Harold takes place in South Africa during the apartheid years when legal segregation and discrimination had taken hold and the European minority had taken most of the power from the Native African majority. Master Harold or Hally, as he is called, is a white upper class boy around 17. He is friends with a pair of African servants named Sam and Willie. When Hally arrives we are filled in on the history of the trio and how Sam had made a kite for Hally when he was young and how he cherishes that memory in particular, though he is still disappointed that Sam had to leave him and return to work. Hally's father is a drunk and an embarrassment to the boy. It is then revealed that Sam decided to do something to cheer Hally up after Sam had to help Hally retrieve his passed out father and saw the shame the boy held. Hally is then forced to choose between his father and Sam after Sam reveals that he did not leave to return to work but because the bench he left Hally sitting on was labeled 'White only.' Hally has huge blow up and makes Sam call him "Master Harold" as Willie does. Sam swallows his pride and tries to make amends one last time, saying that perhaps they should try to fly a kite again, it worked once. Hally then leaves, choosing his family and society over his friends.

As was brought up by Rev. Saunders in the aforementioned example of beatings, there are many pressures from society that are pushing people to stay in the areas where they 'belong.' Hally's father in Master Harold is a proponent of this idea. Many people feel unwelcome in areas they feel that they do not come from or are not culturally or racially majority. It is not always an outward showing like a public beating though, as Word, Zanna, and Cooper found in their 1974 studies of self-fulfilling prophesies the person isn't even aware of how their interaction could affect outcomes. Fourteen white Princeton students were instructed to interview three high school students, the first was always white then the next two were alternately white than black or black then white to deter ordering effects. The results showed that when it was the black student, the subject subconsciously sat an averagely of three inches further away, had an average of three minute shorter interviews and made an average of one mistake per minute more than when the interviewee was white. As unfortunate as this is, it is hard to gauge whether it is an innate racism that causes this or if it is a malicious racism that is based around the subject's actual beliefs. This is the cause of some of the problems as well, and as unfortunate as it is, it is hard to call all who show some racist tendencies an out-and-out racist because humans are hardwired to use heuristics and lump things together into categories. Hally shows us that racism is a choice when socially pressured but this is a different racism entirely. No, it does not make it right, but it means that we need to address issues other than 'racism.' In Home/Land, a documentary play that was put together using real interviews that the APTP went out and did, one issue that was addressed by the Albany Park Theater Project was Arizona's Immigration Policy. This policy can obviously be called racist as it encourages profiling and this can only lead to blatant discrimination. This is an extreme case, but it illustrates what happens when society pushes legally against a certain people to keep them from expanding.

Then again, sometimes it is not an outside force, but an internal one that makes people stay the way they are. Let's call this a cultural force, because one way or another, ties to a culture are what are going to keep people from moving out of an area. Chinatown, for instance, is a relatively large area of Asian-Americans with somewhat similar backgrounds, making a life based on the fact that they are a large area of Asian-Americans. Chinatown is a good example of people who embraced their culture enough to dig out a niche to create a place where a semblance of their old culture can flourish. Hally eventually gives in to the cultural force he feels from his parents and friends to stay isolated from the Native Africans. If this is what you have grown up or lived in, it can be hard to let go of it. As a different example, in Invisible Man the president of the college he is at and the man in the paint factory both have adapted and made a life they are content with, this causes them to act in ways that will allow them to protect the stations that they have even if it is not for the better of their race. This could also be explained by their knowledge of the economic standing of those who turn their back on the status quo. Unfortunately, the recession has caused many more people to fall into poverty. This means that people just do not have the ability to move, and are stuck in places where they can hash out a life, usually in areas where the living conditions are less than ideal. As pointed out by the Rainbow Push Coalition this can be its own form of discrimination. Economics are usually controlled by those that have the money, and unless those without can find a way to gain capital, that is not going to change.

Speaking of Rainbow Push Coalition, you have to admit that there are many advocates for those in bad situation to change their lives. Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Push advocate that the African American community become informed in an attempt to branch out from their current situation. Sam has gained his capital with Hally and we see his attempts to cash in this capital in the form of trying to convince Hally that the current system is wrong. Home/Land is a form of advocacy, drawing attention to pertinent issues such as legislation like Arizona's aforementioned policy. Rev. Saunders works with the homeless and advocates as much as he can. The problem, as Mandy points out in Time Stands Still is that it never really reaches anyone that can do anything about it. In Invisible Man the narrator finds people who he thinks will advocate for him, though in the end they end up using him for their own gains. He ends up being his own advocate. Time Stands Still raises the question: what methods of helping advocate are best? Sarah and James claim at the beginning that bringing the stories home to those that have power and can help but even James makes the comment about the play that he saw that it is "just preaching to the choir." So how can you help without having any ability?

The question raised then is how do we balance all of these problems in a positive way to end the separation of races and economic classes. Or maybe asking for both is fallacious? Perhaps the best we can hope for is to integrate all people into economic class based living areas instead of racially and economically based ones? How do we address issues based in culture and people who want stay in an area with others like themselves? Just like we are afraid of people unlike ourselves we feel better with people like ourselves, this also drives people to cluster into racially segregated areas. Self-induced segregation provides an answer for the current state of affairs but cannot answer how to change it or if this problem needs addressing. Yes, it is unfair. But is integration the best policy? Yes. Aronson showed with the Jigsaw classroom studies that by making people reliant on each other, regardless of race, tolerance and acceptance are created. Hally, unfortunately spent too much time within the confines of an unsegregated life to offset the time he spent with Sam, so the respect he had gained for him was negated and we see the horrid effects of society on a young mind. We can make the right choice to fly the kite.

Work Cited

Aronson, Elliot, and Diane Bridgeman. "Jigsaw Groups and the Desegregated Classroom: In Pursuit of Common Goals." Readings about the Social Animal. By Joshua Aronson and Elliot Aronson. New York, NY: Worth, 2008. Print. 


Fugard, Athol. ""Master Harold"... and the Boys." The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama. By William B. Worthen. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004. 908-23. Print.

Word, Carl O., Mark P. Zanna, and Joel Cooper. "The Nonverbal Mediation of Self-Fulfilling
 Prophecies in Interracial Interaction." Readings about the Social Animal. By Joshua
 Aronson and Elliot Aronson. New York, NY: Worth, 2008. 397-422. Print.

The Confusing New Breed

            I am a part of a generation of philosophical activists, a generation of new, open-minded thinkers. Despite the fact that we are strong in our ideas and opinions, we are always willing to reform them accordingly, for ourselves, to new arguments that are always being presented in our media-driven world. We are a confusing new breed to the generations that preceded us. “Your generation interests me,” was what Scott from the Chicago Center said to us, “You’re doing a lot of things that our generation fought against and fought to change.” Yes. We are. The conversation was brought up after seeing the show, Time Stands Still. In the after show discussion someone brought up that Mandy, the younger of the two females in the show, becomes the expected "norm." In the show Mandy has a child and makes the choice to stay home rather than go back to work, while the other female, Sarah, is a working woman and chooses her career over any kind of family. Scott was frustrated with Mandy, as she obviously represented the twenty-something generation, and here she was choosing to be a homemaker, something his generation fought against. Megan, our professor, put it well when I brought it up to her. "You fought for us to make the decision you want us to make? That makes no sense." Some people make the choices that the generation above us fought for us to have. Others do not. The point that stands is that I, as well most others in my age group, appreciate what the older age group has done for us, because you gave us the choice. In addition, we are under a lot pressure from our elders because of the political and social movements that they were involved in. Our parents, as well as our teachers and mentors, want us to have a better life than they had, in every way. Educationally, socially, and financially. Our teachers push us to do well in school, our parents want us to get a good job, or get into a good college. They want us to make good choices. But what is a good choice?   Does that not differ from person to person?

The Chinatown Gate. I think the blur adds artistic value. Don't you?

            Chicago gave me an opportunity to practice one of my favorite hobbies in a new location: people watching. With the diversity of culture and the setting change, the type of people I had a chance to observe was much greater and expansive than anything I had witnessed before. One individual in particular that I noticed popped up when our group went to Chinatown before we went to see our scheduled play that evening. We ate at a nice restaurant called Emperor's Choice. Unfortunately I was not extremely hungry, so I found my eyes wondering most of the time. I noticed one of the waiters was a young girl, about our age, or younger. She was waiting on most of the tables as the restaurant filled with the busy dinner hour. Unlike our waiter, who we often had to struggle to understand through her thick accent, the girl spoke fluent English. This got me wondering: how many more opportunities is that going to give her than her parents. As explained earlier, our waiter, despite her incredibly friendly and helpful nature, was difficult to understand at times. This is one of the many socioeconomical characteristics of the American workplace, that if you are not fluent in English it is more difficult to work your way up the corporate ladder as an entrepreneur. Our waiter may have more difficulty in the job market outside of Chinatown, especially in the current economic situation. This young girl that I noticed for a brief period in that restaurant will have so many opportunities that her parents could not have, simply because of her American education.

           And education is one of the greatest weapons that has been given to my generation, no matter what culture we aspire from. What, you say? Education has always been around, you say? True. Very true. However, there has been a big change in the educational system between the time of Civil Rights movement and today. Not only are schools integrated, but the way we teach is different. Through the studies into the three sections of learning, visual, auditory, and kinetic, teachers are more prepared to help students' different learning styles. Many also believe that we cannot just focus on their main learning type, because all students need a mix of the learning styles. We had the privilege of visiting one of these wonderful education opportunity providers while in Chicago. After a nice lunch at Whole Foods, we headed over to Little Black Pearl, an art-focused educational program which recently opened up a school program for kids who are having issues with the public school system. The program is arts based, so it makes the kids really enjoy coming, despite the fact that they still have classes like English, Math, and Science. On top of the fact that it keeps the students coming back, it gives them some hands-on approaches to school that many public schools leave out. "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." -Aristotle. This innovation is integral, considering that public schools have developed the issue of polarizing our educations. Students in middle and high school are often forced to choose between two things they are interested in, and fine arts students lean one way, jocks another, and it polarized not only the education of those students, but their social pools.

A mural in the Mexican-American Community. Jose, our guide, said it showcased the importance of education.
(Also Cody looking into the distance rather dramatically.)

            As the play Translations by Brian Friel taught us, education has ups and downs. Sometimes we must choose between knowledge and culture, much like the girl in the Chinese restaurant will no doubt have to do as she gets older. Similarly, the Irish characters throughout the play are in-between their education and opening up to this new culture and their heritage and cultural identity. Maire in one of the few characters who strongly reflect an urge to join with their English Neighbors, and even goes as far as falling in love with one of the despite the language barrier. Her opinion is strong in her lines; "We should all be learning to speak English ... That's what Daniel O'Connell said... 'The old language is a barrier to modern progress.' " Now, the Gaelic language has been all but lost, because of the education reform imposed by the United Kingdom. Many fear this cultural assimilation as we move towards becoming a more united people, no longer separated by race. This is a truly difficult subject, and no one knows what the correct answer is. Is there a balance that could be achieved? Choices between culture and knowledge are not the only decisions we are being forced to make in today's school systems.  A student must decide between the arts, academics, or sports. Many small schools, whether high school, or college, preach that "you can do everything you want to do here," but this is untrue. I know first hand. I had to choose between sports and theater. I also had to downgrade from an Honors English class to regular English my senior year, because the period time conflicted with my painting and drawing class. Programs like this are something that's only started popping up recently and are being set up by our elders who do it with the best intentions, but sometimes they have unintended results. 

            So we have our ammo; the ability to make more progressive choices, and education, in the form of not only school but also our analytical decision making. How are we using it? Wisely. Many believe that we are an uniformed generation, but this is a horribly generalized misconception. Yes, there are people in my generation who are uninformed, but that is because they choose to be. For those that are, they organize against things they disapprove of, like active Americans, much like those before us. One example was the SOPA blackout and protests. Some may say I am dragging this out, but you have to admit, this was a major movement, whether you were Pro-SOPA or Anti-SOPA. A group of people, mostly young but also some older generations mixed in, organized because they were informed on the Act and they said that it was wrong. Not long after the blackout and the protests, SOPA and PIPA were defeated. Truly this victory is a small victory, but a victory none the less and lets our generation feel we do have some control in our country and in political issues.

My program from what was by far my favorite show.

           It is not just the internet community making this leap. One of the miraculous things we saw in Chicago was the Albany Park Theatre Project. Their mission statement says it all. "Albany Park Theater Project is a multiethnic, youth theater ensemble that inspires people to envision a more just and beautiful world." The ages involved are high school level and they created the documentary theater piece, Home/Land, as well as several others. The students conducted the interviews, crafted the shows, and then preformed it. They are involved youth, spreading political and humanitarian messages through their own activism. One student was so inspired by his interview subject that he, too, has now become an active protester and activist. They are inspiring, and certainly restore some of the faith in my generation, which I was beginning to lose. I had begun to fall into this hole of an idea that everyone my age was out for themselves, uninformed, "average" Americans who were content to go on neglecting their responsibilities to humanity. Granted it is because of my own small view of my part of the world I had begun to believe this. I am not the only one either, as many of our elders believe this about us as well. This project though really restored some of my faith in humanity and helped me see the direction in which I believe my generation can take it. 

            Because of you, our parents, grandparents, mentors, we have not only the want and the drive, but the tools to do what we believe is best for our world. All we ask now is that you let go of the bicycle. We know you are scared for us to go out without our training wheels for the first time, that you do not want us to fall, and we are scared too, but until you let us go we can never succeed and feel fulfillment. There is a want to be able to make decisions without the worry that you will disapprove or tell us you think it is wrong. We want your blessing, the ability to act without fear of being judged by those we look up to, even if you do not always agree. The time has come for us to go out into the world and make a difference, clean up messes, and become integral members of our society, one small piece at a time, and we do need your help and support, maybe not of the ideas we present, but at least of us as human beings. We are a new breed, and its time for us to test our new form of thought through action. Stop forcing upon us what was best for you and let us do what is best for us.

Print References                

Willingham, Daniel T. "Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory,  and Kinesthetic Instruction?" Reading Rockets. Washington Educational Telecommunications Authority, 30 May 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.readingrockets.org/article/12446/>. 

Friel, Brian. "Translations." The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama. By William B. Worthen. 6th ed. Independence, KY: Heinle & Heinle, 2010. 945-70. Print.

Olivarez-Giles, Nathan. "SOPA Blackout: Protests Hits Streets of NYC, SF, Seattle, Las   Vegas - Latimes.com." Blogs - Latimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2012. Web.  26 Jan. 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout- protest-hits-the-streets-of-new-york-san-francisco.html>.

Invisible People

            Apparently, a simple word like "the" can change everything when researching plays. That one, seemingly meaningless word can influence the mindset when going into a production. Specifically, it made me believe that the brand, new play "Invisible Man," an intense look at racism and belonging, was actually called "The Invisible Man" and was, in fact, about a crazy murderer that could not be seen and like to be naked. Needless to say, I was surprised when the actor was not only visible, but also tackling important issues. I think I liked being surprised, blindsided, like that, though. Instead of being able to predict every twist and turn of the plot, I was forced to experience every facet of the story "blind." It was nice.

            One of the main themes I drew from "Invisible Man" was the idea of cultural and social invisibility, not quite as cool as actual invisibility. This idea seemed to permeate itself into everything that we experienced in Chicago, until it was very apparent that this was not just an issue that existed inside of the theatre but in the real world, as well.

            Invisibility from the "Invisible Man" is the central issue of the play. Throughout the play, the main character, an African American named Invisible Man, (henceforth, known as Inv. Man) tries to find an identity to call himself and become visible. There are many times when the issue of invisibility are uniquely present. The subject is first brought up when Inv. Man takes Mr. Norton, a rich trustee of his school, on a car ride through the campus. We start to see evidence if Inv. Man invisibility as Mr. Norton begins to treat him less of a human and more like a project. Inv. Man seems to shake this off and keeps driving around the campus. He eventually reaches the house of Jim Trueblood, a black man that has impregnated his own daughter. Trueblood has been rendered social invisible by this act, as no one wants to see him. He tells Mr. Norton his story, although I'm not sure if it was true or not, and asks Norton to give him money. Norton gives him quite a bit of money in order to take care of his future kids. Inv. Man takes him away as he starts to pass out. This scene shows the reason for invisibility, bad social image, cultural faux pas, mistakes that make us want to forget the person that made them. Perhaps in this instance, the forced invisibility is warranted, as Trueblood seems to be a detriment to African Americans if they want to advance farther in society. The scene shows this masterfully as after this scene Mr. Norton cannot remember his creed and "destiny" to help the African American community. At the end of the play he cannot even remember Inv. Man.

            Another scene that demonstrates invisibility well is a scene near the end of the performance. One of the characters, Tod Clifton, a member of the Brotherhood, is shot to death by the police. Inv. Man is rightfully upset by this but wonders about what could be done or who would care, they both were invisible. It's an excellent and cutting monologue. He continually says lines to the effect of  " Tod Clifton's dead, He was shot. Who care, go home." The way the actor said it, it kind of hurt. He sounded accusatory of the audience and seemed to be calling the us to action to change this horrible situation. It showed how it felt to be invisible; no one looks at you , no one talks to you, no one listens to you, and no one cares about you.

            That was the first play we saw, and it probably influenced my entire trip. First thing we did the next day was to go on an inner city tour with Steven Saunders, a member of Featherfist. During the tour, he kept mentioning ideas of invisible people, like the homeless, that the so-called normal people ignore every day. By the way, about five years ago, the mayor then promised to lower homelessness by 2012 in a Times article, I do not think it is working.  Next, we saw a play called "Time Stands Still," which could be interpreted to be about how we make the people that are important to us feel invisible and less important when we mindlessly pursue a goal or when we trivialize their dreams and ideals. It was an okay play; great script and excellent set, but the actor playing Susan Goodwin could have used some polish.

            Anyways, perhaps the real world example that struck me the most was the visit to the Center on Halsted. Perhaps, it was that the Laramie Project: 10 Years Later was fairly fresh in my mind (by the way, way to go Dalton Smith) or the fact that I am a Blue Liberal in a Red State, but this was the most impactful place we visited. This was a great place for people in the LGBT community to come and find support. It was really refreshing to have this kind of place open for anyone and to be assisted and supported by a lot of people from the community. The Center on Halsted helped people discover themselves and put them on their feet again. The Center also increased awareness of LGBT issues to the city, making the people less taboo and thus, less invisible.

            Going onward, we went to see the brand new play "Home/Land." It was a documentary piece about undocumented immigrants in America. The play was phenominal, perfect set, great actors, and an excellent script. The stories that they told hit hard at times and were very emotional. They perfectly demonstrated just how unimportant and invisible that we sometimes make immigrants feel, like they do not matter at all. We make them feel invisible by saying that your need to take care of your family is not as important as making sure that everyone that enters America pays taxes, by the way, they do, in fact they pay about $73 billion worth of taxes and they will not even benefit from it. The play shows us that these people want the same thing that everyone does, to be able to help their family and not be persecuted.

            Thinking back to the actual work part of class, there were a lot of plays we read that dealt with the idea of invisibility, specifically, "Translation". It is a play about the anglicizing of Ireland, and in a way it's about turning a culture into invisible, socially speaking. The English come in and decide that everything needs to be changed to their system. This causes the people that follow the old ways to feel invisible and they react violently, like the in "Invisible Man" when the African Americans rise up and fight against their oppressors. Both of the rebellions either hinted at, in "Translations," or seen, in "Invisible Man" ended up failing, although, an argument could be made that after the rebellions failed, the doors for peaceful negotiation was opened again, but I digress.

            The main issue is that the people want to ignore the undesirables, make them invisible so that we no longer have to look at them and feel bad, or angry, or disgusted. But it is in making these people invisible that we see problems. Tempers are flared, relationships are broken, and families and damaged. These plays show that we can seriously hurt people by turning them invisible. We need to stop ignoring the hurt, the down trodden, and the different.

            On my last day in Chicago, a group of us went looking for a coffee house called the Wormhole. The journey there was long and arduous and we almost gave up. We were standing at a corner trying to find the bus stop that would take us there when a homeless man came up to us and asked for money. I ignored him, even with all these thoughts of making the invisible visible. He asked us where we were going and we told him we were looking for a bus stop that appeared not to exist. He looked at us strangely, and said "That bus stop is just down the block, the way you was headed." We looked down the block and there it was, the bus stop, right in front of us, made visible by the invisible.

Sources:

Lantigua, John. "Nation & World | Illegal Immigrants Pay Social Security Tax, Won't Benefit |     Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. Seatle Times,    28 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.             <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017113852_immigtaxes29.html>

Ferkenhoff, Eric, and Matt Bigelow. "Can Chicago End Homelessness? - TIME." Breaking          News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 27 May     2007. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.             <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1625097,00.html>.         

Knight, Meribah. "Youth Homelessness On The Rise In Chicago." Breaking News and Opinion    on The Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.      <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/youth-homelessness-on-       the_n_1076011.html>.

Identity

Part 1: Invisible Visibility

“I am an invisible man. No I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe: Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.” 

                                                                                    —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

The first night in Chicago we saw a world premiere performance of Invisible Man at the Court Theatre. It was adapted from Ralph Ellison’s novel by Oren Jacoby. Jacoby stuck to all the original text, following the story closely, only cutting down the novel, carving the text into a performable script. In the talkback session afterwards Jacoby stated that once he started trusting the novel, he did not feel the need to add any of his own words. I was fortunate to have studied Invisible Man in my Reading Race and Gender class this past fall semester, giving me more insight into the story.

It follows the life of a nameless African American protagonist who moves from the south to New York City in search for a job. Along the way he is used by various employers—all of them white. Throughout the story he is searching, searching for truth, for purpose, for who he is. A gifted speaker, the protagonist becomes a spokesman for the Brotherhood, a representation of the Communist party. Veering from their manifesto, he speaks on issues of race in Harlem. In the end he is forced underground, an invisible man fighting the racism and corruption of society from the shadows. He is forced to be who the powerful of society dictates him to be. Invisible.

The set was cleverly made up of moveable scrim backdrops which videos or pictures were projected on throughout the performance, bringing the settings to life, creating the world which the protagonist was subject to. There was a fantastic fluidity of set pieces which worked in with the staging of the actors propelled the story forward. The lighting of the play was my favorite element. The story opens on the unnamed invisible man who lives in a hole, lit up by a ceiling of over 500 light bulbs. Although he hides in the dark, he loves the light. His silent protest is stealing electricity from the city.

Invisible Man struggles with the question of identity. How does one find their identity in a country which is forcing them to assimilate? A world that is hiding them away in separate areas based on color of skin? While in Chicago we took a tour through some of the ‘invisible’ communities of the city. Communities of lower socioeconomic status, communities which were run down and broken. Chicago is still a highly segregated city with different cultural groups keeping strictly to their own neighborhoods.

Teacher John Lin in an article from Independent School, talks about his struggle with his Asian American identity and how the stereotypes of American society moved him to disconnect with his cultural heritage:

“I wanted freedom, not destruction. It was exhausting, for no matter what the scheme I conceived, there was a constant flaw—myself. There was no getting around it. I could no more escape than I could think of my identity. Perhaps, I thought, the two things are involved with each other. When I discover who I am, I'll be free.”

This is the same struggle that the protagonist of Invisible Man deals with. He is fighting to find his place in society while trying to find himself. He changes who he is to fit in which results in loss of identity. He has to go underground to be able to find his true identity. But this begs the question, how do we go on then? How can we find identity within society if society dictates that we should not have it? How do make the invisible visible? How do we become free?

Part 2: To Thine Own Self Be True

“I wish I could cry like that. But I can’t; I can’t let it get to me. If I let it get to me…How could I do my job? I couldn’t. I’d want to take away the guns and rescue the children. But I can’t. That’s not why I’m there. I’m there to take the pictures.”

                                                                                    —Donald Margulies, Time Stands Still

            The second night in Chicago we went to the Steppenwolf Theatre to see Time Stands Still, which we read in class previous to the trip. It follows the story couple, Sarah and James, after a nearly fatal accident forces Sarah to return home to the psychologically traumatized James. They are war reporters, Sarah takes the pictures and James writes the articles. Both have seen violence and horror which most other Americans could hardly imagine. Their opposite reactions to their good friend Richard getting married and having a child with his younger girlfriend Mandy, set them off on new paths in life. James, now longs for the comfort and stability of settling down and tries to find a new identity at home in America. Sarah is not able to let go of her past, struggles with domestic life and yearns to return overseas. She clings to her pictures and they become who she is. Time stands still in the photos, a pocket of time which she can control with her camera.

            Although the actress’ characterization of Sarah was different from what I imagined while reading the play, watching the transformation from script to stage brought new emotion and power to the story. The characters struggle with finding themselves within and with each other. It takes a more personal look at the question of identity. It is not only society as a whole who is trying to define you, but also your more immediate environment—family, friends and lovers.

            We spoke to David Zak, director, educator, activist and member of the LGBTQ community. As part of a community constantly degraded and judged by others, David talked about how it was important to create safe spaces where you can be yourself. This brought up the question of who then is going to make the change? How can the ideas of acceptance and tolerance be spread if different communities simply stick to their own neighborhoods? And even in your own homes, people change, times change. How does one become confident in identity? Or is identity, like life, in a constant state of flux?

Part 3: Tales and Tolerance

“Tolerance is not a product of politics, religion or culture. Liberals and conservatives, evangelicals and atheists, whites, Latinos, Asians, and blacks . . . are equally capable of tolerance and intolerance. . . . tolerance has much less to do with our opinions than with what we feel and how we live.”

—Sarah Bullard, Teaching Tolerance 

            Our last night in Chicago we went to see Home/Land which was written and performed by the Albany Park Theater Project. Written in documentary theater style and based on real life interviews, the company of teenagers put together a beautiful collage of tales from immigrants in the US. Focusing on immigration issues and assimilation issues, many of the characters in the play struggled to find their place as an American without losing their cultural heritage. I watched as the actors portrayed people who made up false identities to get into the US, or people who changed their identities to fit into their new neighborhoods. Yet I also saw people who were holding on. I saw people who were protecting themselves, but also fighting for their rights to be not just an ‘American’, not just a ‘Mexican American’. They were fighting to be a free person with their own identity.

            It is important to express who you are. The high schoolers in the Albany Park Theater Project have the opportunity to do so on the stage. The kids at Little Black Pearl, a school we visited, got to through art and music. The young adults who create “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” share their stories through creative writing and performance. One idea that I will take away from this trip is that identity cannot come from a single element. It has to move in tandem with your life, ever changing as you change, as your environment changes. Theater is a fantastic medium in which to document these questions of identities which boil down to questions of acceptance. How can we make our world a more accepting place so that people can embrace who they truly are without fear of judgment or reproach?  The writers, directors, actors and all members of the cast and crews of the plays we saw in Chicago are on the right track—the track of tolerance.

Works Cited

Bullard, Sarah. Teaching Tolerance. New York: Doubleday, 1996. Print.

Lin, John C. “Finding my Asian Identity with help from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man”. Independent School 70.2: 34-38. Web. 25 Jan 2012.

Art and Social Change

One of the things I enjoyed most about Chicago was the incredible diversity.  There are so many different types of people from different backgrounds and ethnicities living in the city.  There is pretty clear segregation between areas where people of different ethnic origin live.  We visited Chinese, Mexican, and African neighborhoods over the five days we were in Chicago.  This division partly came about because of strict housing regulations years ago and racist attitudes, but it also created communities where people are reminded of their cultural identity and remain in touch with their past while also being a part of American culture.  This led me to think about how a person can live in America while also remaining true to their own culture and country of origin.  Everyone who lives in America is an immigrant in a way; it’s just that some are more recent than others, so how does that affect a person’s identity-- or the way she sees herself?  Some immigrants are afraid of losing their connection with the countries of their ancestors in the process of assimilation.  One outlet for staying in touch with one’s culture is through artistic expression.  Abby Scher says, “In the arts, we are each in our own way engaged in a battle against homogenization, struggling to build a new sense of ourselves, a sense of possibility, and a way of seeing outside of the ordinary” (6). This includes theater, murals, and architecture among other things.  I think art can also significantly change our perceptions and mindset, and in the process, elicit social change.  Art can be used to point out injustices and social constructions that we might not have noticed otherwise. 

In Pilsen, a Mexican neighborhood, we went on a mural tour and learned about the different murals painted on the sides of buildings.  I was amazed at how many murals there were all over Chicago-- underneath all of the train overpasses.  In Pilsen many of them were focused on aspects of the community.  One mural depicted water flowing from a pair of hands and splashing around the heads of people from the area—children and teachers from the school nearby.  Water is an important resource and so is knowledge; the teachers have speech bubbles coming out of their mouths, representative of them imparting knowledge on the children.  Murals and other forms of community art have been known to generate “community pride” and “a new awareness of self worth” (Time).  There was another mural that showed a family fighting with each other; they were behind bars and could not see the key needed to unlock them.  However, the wall beside it showed the family escaping from the bars and showed their hands clasped together instead of held up in anger.  This is a lesson in communication; when the family talks to each other and does not just focus on the individual needs of one person but rather what is best for the family as a whole, they are happy and end up making tamales together.  Once people work together on creating a mural, they “verbalize a problem instead of lashing out blindly at society” (Time).

  Another school in Pilsen was covered with mosaics of significant individuals in Mexican-American history.  Jose Guerrero, our tour guide and local artist, told us that the mosaics were meant to teach the children about their Mexican roots and their unique culture so they would know where they came from and who they are.  I think that is valuable information to know and it was wonderful to see a community in which art was so important.  Scher says that “Art can honor our past by creating a record of what we have done, thus anchoring us for our move into the future” (6).  Jose spoke wise words when he said “there is no such thing as art for art’s sake;” art always has a purpose.

Art is a powerful tool for educating people about social issues and initiating change-- and theater is a part of that.  My favorite play of the week was the Albany Park Theater Project production of Home/Land.  It was performed by a group of high-schoolers from the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago.  They had been working on it for a year, starting with interviewing immigrants about their experiences in coming to the U.S.  The stories of losing loved ones and trying to survive while providing for their families were very powerful.  The goal of APTP is to share the stories of those who may not have a voice in mainstream society.  Since the kids are involved in the entire production it becomes a learning experience, they not only perform the plays but write them as well.  Because some of the schools in that area are not very well funded, APTP also provides an after-school tutoring program, which helps raise the grades of the students who come to APTP and gives them a better chance at being accepted into a good college. 

On their website, there is a video of alumni of APTP as well as supporters of the project, and they all give high praise of their experiences there.  One member remarked that they “get people’s stories that would be lost,” they record the voices of “people who are stigmatized and need to be heard” (aptpchicago.org).  This is a concept that we talked about in class, and is something I find very appealing about theater.  Documentary theater can create historical accounts and give voice to minorities in the way it presents certain events.  Home/Land forced the audience to think about immigrants as real people, and think about immigration as something that is happening—specifically in Chicago but also many other towns.  The ensemble members helped gather the stories and write the play, which gave them a special connection to the stories and made it more likely for them to participate in activism against unfair immigration laws.  One member said that for him APTP was “more than theater, it’s about social activism” (aptpchicago.org).  The community that is created as a result of kids coming together to learn and create art, combined with the people that come to see the shows, is a beautiful thing.  While the members might be of different backgrounds and ethnicities, this project gives them something they can all be a part of.  Scher says, “Community arts can create a safe space that allows us to trust and be open to change” (5).

The acting was incredible, it was clear that they had practiced and had good direction. There was even music and choreography integrated in the show.  In one of the last scenes they showed images on TV screens of recent protests regarding unfair immigration legislation.  This is particularly relevant because of the controversial legislation in Arizona saying that anyone who looks like an immigrant can get pulled over.  While these images played out the kids stomped and danced and the result was that the audience felt excited about future changes.  Showing that protests are happening makes the audience want to join in; it is important to end on a high note because then we feel hopeful instead of sad, and we feel like we can actually make change happen instead of feeling like there is nothing we can do.  One supporter of APTP said that the performances “hit you like a sledgehammer” and when you leave you are a “different person” than when you came in (aptpchicago.org).  Home/Land is the perfect example of art that makes you think, and leads to social change. 

A place with so much diversity and culture demonstrates what kind of social awareness and progress can come about from artistic expression and working together as a community.

Works Cited:

Albany Park Theatre Project. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://aptpchicago.org>.

Scher, Abby. "Can The Arts Change The World? The Transformative Power Of Community Arts." New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education 116 (2007): 3-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

"The Mural Message." Time 105.14 (1975): 89. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.