WIN/WIN
I graduated from high school early and moved to New York
where I spent what would have been my senior year of high school working. I babysat, worked as a Broadway
usherette, and did office work at the Theatre Development Fund. Then one day a letter arrived from my
mother that said, “Enroll in college or come home.” Worried I would have to leave New York, I found myself
highly motivated to continue my education. My roommate, an awesome Cajun chick from Lafayette, had a
brochure for Purchase College. It
was a small SUNY school with an emphasis on the arts, and with my well-invested
year in New York, I qualified for in-state tuition. Win/win. I
applied and enrolled sight unseen.
After spending a night in the dorms for freshman orientation,
I quickly realized that I was not made for communal living. Instead, I rented an apartment in
Hell’s Kitchen and commuted. I
would walk to Grand Central Station, take the train to White Plains, then a bus
to Purchase. Door to door it took
2 hours. At 18, it seemed like a
good idea.
A NEW WORLD VIEW
Coming from Alabama, Purchase exposed me to a diverse mix of students from a myriad of backgrounds. Pouring over the course catalog during registration, my mind
was blown. For my freshman seminar I took a literature course called Exploding
American Identities, where I was introduced to Latino, Asian, and Native
American voices. There was the
philosophy class where I read Kant and Marx and a course on the Psychology of
Gender. Then I begged my way into The Political Economy of AIDS a three hour seminar only open to
upperclassmen. It was the mid-90’s
and the AIDS crisis defined our generation. Hugely popular on campus, it was taught in a lecture hall by
Kim Christensen, a favorite among students. I never missed a class. She took a topic that was so complex and broke it down in a ways
that made it accessible. She
found ways to teach us about the past in a way that resonated in our
contemporary world.
There was no formality with Kim, but she didn’t need it to gain
our respect and admiration. Kim
was the professor that the students loved, the pied piper on campus who
motivated students to stand up and fight back. Her classes were always full.
The things I learned in Kim’s class have been just as
beneficial to me as a writer as the skills I learned in graduate school. I learned about the balance of power,
about the role of women and minorities in society, and the relationship
between money and power – all issues that inform the characters I write and the
stories I tell.
Kim taught at Purchase from 1985-2010. A four- time recipient of the Students’
Union Award for Outstanding Teaching, Kim was an outspoken ally. She also earned the President’s Award
for Innovative Pedagogy and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished
College Teaching. Her research
focuses on the intersection of economics and public policy with an emphasis on
race, gender, class, and labor.
I eagerly took every class she offered; by the time I
graduated I had enough credits for a minor in economics.
There were certainly other dynamic teachers along the
way. I read Aristotle, Ibsen,
deTocqueville, bell hooks, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Adrienne Rich. I lobbied for a seat in a playwriting
class, which was only open to drama studies majors, armed with samples of the
short plays I had written. I
started out as a psych major, but a brush with behavioral statistics led me to
change my major to women’s studies. My
mother wondered what I would do with a degree in women’s studies: I became a writer.
I’ve
become an advocate for the liberal arts, especially for young artists. A foundation in the liberal arts
provides artists with a well-rounded education, which then informs the work
they create. Additionally, by
providing students with access to the arts we give them an opportunity to
engage in the creative process in a way that allows them to not just analyze
the work, but to learn by embodying the characters. Artists, like academics, examine, record, and endeavor to
understand the world around them.
Theatre artists must learn to see the world through the lens of the
characters they create, which is essentially the goal of liberal arts
education.
It’s been 19 years since I last spoke to Kim. I was disappointed to learn she had
left Purchase, but an internet search found her teaching at Sarah Lawrence. She was quick to respond when I reached
out. After trying to coordinate
schedules while I was in New York, we had to settle on a chat by phone. Hearing her voice and laugh immediately
brought back memories. I was able
to tell her what her classes meant to me, how they shaped my worldview, and
informed my writing.
A LIBERAL EDUCATION
As I
continue to grow as a teacher, I look to the dynamic teachers I had along the
way for inspiration. Kim’s classes
not only forced me to step outside my comfort zone, but they also served as
safe spaces where difficult topics could be discussed openly. She wasn’t just a professor; she was also
an advocate, a cheerleader, and a truth teller. Now that I’ve found my way to academia, I see the value in
the liberal arts in a new way.
There is a certain excitement when students start making connections
between the texts we read in class and the topics they have studied in other
classes. They begin to see the
interconnectedness of the world around them. My goal is to challenge them to take creative risks, think
critically, and work collaboratively.
All of these skills
will serve them well.
No comments:
Post a Comment