Sunday, February 20, 2011

Éloge de Ma Ville Natale

In Praise of My Home Town

I’ve had an ambivalent relationship with Home Town over the years. As a child and teenager, it felt close-minded and stifling. During college, a quick weekend at home was enough to recharge but not long enough to become bored. I’ve grown less judgmental with maturity and can now enjoy a walk down memory lane without lingering in the thistle patches.

Last week, Maman and I went to see a South African choral group at the renovated théâtre downtown. We were able to walk to the theater from free, safe, well-lit parking. Many families had dined at the nicest Italian restaurant in town, just across the street from the venue. Before the show, the theater’s director took a moment to thank all of the collaborators including local businesses and other arts organizations such as the Community Theater. The performance was wonderful, but the real beauty lies in the greater infrastructure. This show was just one of many billed for the season for the renovated theater, which coordinated its schedule so as to complement those of the local high school drama productions, symphony concerts and art center programs. While this event was on the more expensive side, there are many free or low cost (<$10) programs available to people of every age in the community. There are extension classes (ceramics, ballroom dancing, Spanish), poetry readings, and a river festival which attracts local artists and performers.

Perhaps a more community-minded person would have noticed this earlier, but as a natural introvert I participated in many programs due to availability. Tout ça (all that) seemed de rigeur as an angsty adolescent, until the day I visited some friends who live in the suburbs of Urban Metropolis. I asked where the local theaters, museums and cinemas were and they pointed me downtown (at least a 30 minute drive). Due to the community’s affluent nature, the local government didn’t fund many summer programs as most kids took private music/swimming/ACT/underwater basketweaving lessons. A large and vibrant artistic community exists in Urban Metropolis, but it is located far away from where most people (of all socioeconomic classes) live and work.

I’m grateful to have grown up in a place with a strong sense of community and hope that these programs survive the coming state budget cuts. Private donors can, have and will fill the gaps but there’s something powerful about a proclaiming the arts a public good. Not a passe-temps for the elite, but open so that all may find the beauty and creativity in and around themselves. During a session on development, PC staffers talked to us about listening to our communities and how some might want to build a recreation area more than renovate the health center. Host Country has a long history of artistic production, particularly in film. I’ve particularly enjoyed reading about how Volunteers use computers, crayons, paintbrushes and plays to give their communities tools of expression.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Il était une fois…

Sorry for the blog absence as of late. Things have been going well chez moi – I finished my last appointment with the kinésithérapeute (physical therapist) before the rendez-vous with the orthopédiste next month. Jury duty calls for later this month. While the world keeps turning, I’ve had several fairytale experiences in the past few weeks.

Tout d’abord (first of all), I saw a production of “Phantom of the Opera” at my old high school. I knew that the drama department was still strong, but how those kids could sing! Last May, I visited l’Opéra Garnier with my friend M before our flights home. Basking in the glow of the opulent fixtures and reveling in the watercolors of Chagall, Leroux’s story and Webber’s play finally came to life for me. My father picked up the film “Language of the Enemy” from Redbox before reading any reviews. (SPOILERS) It starts off as an intense meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before becoming an international romantic comedy version of Romeo and Juliet. Maturity has made me more generous with respect to films and I appreciated many of the small details: the décors, the anecdotes of past generations. I could not, however, bear the silly sociolinguistics of the film. The protagonists speak to each other in Arabic for a few minutes, but spend the rest of the film speaking to Israeli and Palestinian characters in English. Oh well, I should just rent “Carlos” and read subtitles for dialogue (10 languages)!

Last week, my parents and I braved the icy roads to journey to College Town. They went shopping while I spoke to former professors about My Future PlansTM and Important GoalsTM involving graduate school, a career et le français. The physical part hadn’t changed much – the five minute walk felt much longer, the computer stations were all full and the foreign language stacks still tempted me to partir là-bas (leave for there). I didn’t recognize a single student’s face, but was received with much warmth and advice. ThesisAdvisor asked about my past experiences and looked over my future dossier for graduate schools. MajorAdvisor reminisced about his own travels in France and wanted to know how the assistantship program was doing. TripAdvisor, who guides at least 40 students a day, spoke in a quick clip about others who had chosen my potential paths. SocialAdvisor helped me refashion my ideas such that new portals of progress opened before my eyes. College wasn’t a wonderland for me, but it was nice to return to a place of strength and comfort and to receive wisdom from those who had gone before me.

This is why I value education so much. I had wonderful high school teachers, but I saw them as imposing knowledge on me. My professors, par contre (by contrast), see themselves as intellectual guides and have given me the tools and confidence to follow my own dreams. Hopefully one day, some students will say the same about me.