Jonno Marlton's Tenth Blog: Me, The Man, and The Bridge

I am very grateful to my new community for the past semester.  I have been able think differently and really examine my place in the world.  This course came at a particularly convenient time in my personal journey, considering I am about to graduate and pursue a career in teaching theatre.  In the weeks leading up to this semester, I had sent off my applications to a few programs that I thought would get me exactly what I wanted.  This class, not single handedly (but certainly in a surprisingly influential way) has changed the way in which I view my future.  I thought I knew what I wanted to do, and I thought I knew why.  The emphasis on education in the class has reinforced my desire to become a teacher, but the broad focus of this course has instilled in me a desire to make keep thinking about my ‘place’ in the world and how I interact with others and the hegemony.

I said earlier in class that I thought I was the man…not in the way someone says, “Oh, I like that guy- he’s the man,” but in a ‘person who keeps you down’ sort of way.  When we divided up on the floor by race, I found myself a bridge…only I was a bridge from white to white.  I have learned over this course that I may look like a giant white bridge, but through my studies and my teaching, I can work to become a real, significant bridge, crossing culture, color, orientation (just to name a few) by making meaningful connections with people.  Of course, there will be limitations and obstacles, but through this class, I have given myself permission to make myself a little bit uncomfortable in order to discover how we as a community can work together to celebrate our differences.

And I mean it.  We’re different.  That’s what makes our little community so cool.  It’s not that we all have an interest in being the same, but rather that we have an interest in bringing our complexities and distinctive characteristics together to see what we get.  The teaching project is a great example.  We brought in different materials and taught in different ways, but we each made an effort to connect with the other members of the class.  My hope is that I can find a way to connect in similar ways with people outside of this class.  How do I find people who want to talk about how we portray race and gender in our society through plays and film?  How can I get someone to engage in a conversation with me about how he or she feels marginalized by the media?  Is it my place to ask?  I think the real thing this class has given me is a realization that I have a lot of questions, and I am not going to get anywhere unless I ask them.