New Experiences at AMSET

The most important part of this blog (so far) is obviously service. That is the assignment after all. Sharing an experience I had at the art museum is difficult, though, because I’ve had so few. Causally, I’m going to share an experience instead.Two weeks ago, I went to the Art Museum under false pretenses. I believed that I was going to ‘serve’, when in fact the favor was reversed. If I was an indebted servant, this would be much like being given a day off, only to have the money for that day added to my debt. Luckily I’m not. Emily and I arrived at the Art Museum only to be told to stand in the back of the teaching room. It was a sunny day, and all the windows made it a bit stuff. We lolled about telling jokes and making fun of those too lazy to join us for the day, waiting for our assignment. There were T-shirts on the table, and we, or at least I, thought that we’d be printing them. We did not, however. Instead, Andy made an announcement. He told the class-and we two-that there was a puppet show in the Learning Room, and that if we were good, we’d be allowed to go see it. Additionally, if we were bad, we’d be taken out so fast our heads would spin. Since I possess an irrationally strong attachment to keeping my head much in the same position relative to my body, an attachment I find many others share, Emily and I headed into the puppet show like the meek lambs we are.
 It was a one man puppet show, which made it interesting, notably because he was not a ventriloquist. His name was Michael Gunst, and he was a performing artist.  He had created the whole show, the backdrop, the puppets, even the music. He performed his piece with a reverence often assumed for church. His masks were amazing. He told us the story of the Wabanaki, a Native Aerican tribe in the Northeast. The four protagonists, much like those of the proverbial Wizard of Oz, set out to meet their God, in the hopes that he would grant their wishes. Three failed because they didn’t follow his instructions. One succeeded because he did. It was rather interesting, because if it had been a biblical tale, there would’ve been sins associated with the failure, but there weren’t
.It was so unusual I actually tried to stretch the characters boundaries in a partial attempt to relate them to something I know. One wished for possessions, which could easily be linked to greed. One wished to be tall, perhaps out of vanity? Perhaps to have power over others? The other one, however, confounds me. He wished to live a long time. Is that cowardice? Is cowardice a sin? Is it also vanity, because he wished to know the time of his death? It shouldn’t be, he didn’t ask for exact figures.  Even the motives of the one who succeeded were suspect. He wanted to be the world’s greatest hunter. He didn’t specify that he would feed his family, or that he even had a family. Should it be taken for granted? Was there a deeper meaning to the story, or was it simply, ‘follow directions’? Much like a djinn, however, their god still granted their wishes, even if they didn’t follow instructions. The one who wanted possessions sank in a river, because his boat became so full. The tall one became a tree, the one who wished for long life became a rock. While their motives interest me, and perhaps you, my dear reader, the most important thing I learned wasn’t from the story teller. It was from the children.When the story ended, they asked what happened to all of the characters. This isn’t shocking, I know, someone is never paying attention. However, all of them? All of them have such little comprehension that they couldn’t grasp what was inferred to in a twenty minute puppet show, with only six characters? I was more than confounded. It became a combination of depression and hatred for the human race. Do we fail our children that much? Andy said that the ones who ask questions do better on their standardized tests, because they eventually learn. I couldn’t believe it. They actually have trouble with standardized tests? There is no reason to have trouble with standardized tests. They’re in English, and even if you have issues with Math Reading, in Elementary school, is relatively straight forward. If you don’t speak English, they offer it in other languages. How do you still have issues?The Art Museum is teaching me things after all. That day, I came into contact with a part of the population I rarely see. I learned that the issues the teachers I know complain of aren’t exaggerations, due to the fact that they see so many kids. I learned that children do need our help.Additionally, Gunst, the puppeteer, responded to their questions by asking them what they thought happened. My relatives did this to me when I was young. You have several choices. If you didn’t know the answer to the question you asked, you can make something up. If you do know the answer, you can say it, or withdraw your question. These children wouldn’t make their own answers. I don’t know if it was because they were shy, and making things up isn’t ‘cool’, or if their imagination is really so lacking. I will choose to believe the former.