The Public, and Public Space

View from U of U library reading room

My colleague who teaches eleventh and twelfth grade US history and civics posts her units' essential questions on her door, which is centrally located such that every member of the school community passes it at least a few times a day. The current questions are 

- How do we move toward justice as a society, and once we have it, how do we keep it?

- Who has a right to public spaces?

These questions (the first a large, overarching one for the year, the second specific to the current unit of civil rights) are accompanied by pictures of "colored seating area" and "we wash for whites only" signs of our overtly segregated past. 

What about public space in our city? Where is it? Who has a right to it? 

I am currently sitting in the University of Utah's library which has a stunning westerly view of the Oquirrh mountain range. As an alum, I am eligible for a Pass which allows me to take books out of this library, and to sign up for a 2 hour internet pass. The man at the info desk told me "This will expire in two and a half hours at 12:22; we give you an extra half hour in case you want to go to the bathroom or get a drink or something." I'm sure my gratitude showed on my face. 

My point is that this beautiful space, which I can treat as public, is not. Everyone on my bus ride up here was white, and everyone had a transit pass (no one was paying with cash or change for a ticket) which means that everyone was probably a university student: all students receive an unlimited transit pass. We were all well-heeled and toting academic-looking backpacks. 

Contrast this with my ride down state street the other day, on the 200 bus which ferries lots of down and out folks from point A to B. Wheelchairs, strollers, trash bags of possessions, scruffy beards, dirty hair and hats... these elements of the more representative public of this city were all in evidence on the ride. 

Do the two populations on these routes ever share another public space in the city? At the public library they certainly do. That's why the SL Roasting that's  nestled in the first floor of the library is my favorite coffee shop in the city - it is frequented by people of every echelon and color our city has. 

Perhaps the bus's free-fare zone is also a public space, but one to which the stigma of being called "free" is attached. Something that should have a price attached is now being offered free, conveying all the patronizing pity of presents donated at Christmas or food labelled "Not to be Sold" (which Malcolm X recalls having received after his father left his mom with 7 kids to feed - 'It's a wonder we didn't come to think of it as a brand' he says.) 

True public space is rare in our society. I remember this past summer feeling like every square inch of New York City, where I would expect to find robust public space, seemed monetized. Or, at least that my presence there was more legitimate if I had an expensive coffee in my hand, or was somehow supporting capitalism. I know this is not true - for example I spent time walking on the Highline; roaming Prospect Park; listening to free concerts in Brooklyn, sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park; sitting beside the East River with friends; enjoying free chamber music at a cathedral near Wall Street. 

I guess there was just an intensity there that I could not feel at home in. I wanted to retreat to the Quaker boarding house where I was staying, where each person seemed an equally legitimate member of the community. 

This short article from the New Yorker discusses how services like Uber and Lyft are diminishing commuters' understanding of public space by selling the myth that they are the only passengers on the road: Nikil Saval evokes the image of the map that shows your driver approaching - the only thing on the road, devoid of other humans, or any indication of public life and space. 

Indeed, when I watch that little car come toward my pick-up location, I am often confounded about what could possibly be taking so long - there is clearly nothing in your path obstructing the way! Just zoom on over here! Once in the car, I am hardly more aware of what's going on outside - since I don't have the responsibility of driving, I read a book or am on my phone, or even gaze out the window without really seeing what I'm looking at.

I feel the same way when waiting for the bus, and watching its icon approach at a painstakingly slow rate on the iRide app (which I have many times contemplated taking off my phone, so irritating is the process of watching the bus approach but never. seem. to. arrive.) Once on the bus, I cannot tune out public space - it is surrounding me. The bus pulls up to a curb and noisily lowers down. A mother with a stroller and two toddlers rolls laboriously on, Smiths shopping bags dangling precariously from handles and tiny hands. 

Or a older, large, motorized chair rider requires the ramp to be flipped out onto the uneven, icy shoulder. Perhaps a wheelchair needs to be strapped into place by the driver. All the while, frustrated cars turn on blinkers and rashly dash around the bus, undoubtedly cursing the obstruction the public transit poses to their travel. 

On these buses I never resent the inefficiency of public transit - how could one, when confronted with the difficulties of manoeuvring in this world without lots of money and perfect health? 

I like that I get to treat the public transit system and the University library as public - I have a transit pass through my work, and the Pass for alums to this library. I don't have to pay a price to be seen in my city. I wish this were the case for more folks. 

Gloria Steinem spends a good part of the last chapter of her memoir talking about the Native women that she has spent time with, organized with, and learned from. I learned that the Iroquois Confederacy, not ancient Greece, was the model for the US constitution, because the framers could see how well the Confederacy's governing philosophy worked for them. Apparently when the two Iroquois delegates arrived in the meeting hall in Philadelphia, their first question was "Where are the women?"

What struck me about her comments about Native governance - well, many things struck me, but this is relevant here - was that each member of the society was seen and considered relevant, legitimate in the public eye. I have a lot more learning to do about Native life and philosophy, this book showed me.

Daniel, Cornel West, and small movements for justice

Gloria Steinem's memoir is instructive in its structure. She zooms in on several of the populations she has worked with to fight for justice, or the communities that she has entered for long enough to get a sense of their own desire for justice. Two of these are

- Women flight attendants demanding fair treatment and reduction of status as sexual symbols
- Conservative women who picket against Planned Parenthood because 1% of its services are related to safe abortions, who then come in for abortions themselves before returning with renewed vitriol (fuelled by guilt?) to the picket line.

She tells her own story and the story of the women's movement in this country around and through these stories of isolated, small-ish scale movements for justice. In these communities people who what they want, and are able to band together at least a little bit to demand it. And it works. And they are inspired by things they read or hear about similar stirrings in other places.

We are indeed so inspired by words we hear from one another. I have been inspired this week by the prophetic and insightful words of my students in role play and discussion. I have been inspired by their poetry. I have been inspired by Steinem's example of living a life not rooted to one place or idea or possession (or possessions in general) but "on the road" in spirit if not in physical reality.

I have been inspired by the combined glory given to both arts and political activism in some things I'm reading recently.

1. Warmth of Other Suns, which has loads of epigraphs citing songs and novels by black and non-black writers and artists about the struggle for freedom and what living as a black American has meant to them. Here are two from the beginning of the book.

I was leaving the South 
To fling myself into the unknown....
I was taking a part of the South
To transplant in alien soil,
To see if it could grow differently,
If it could drink of new and cool rains,
Bend in strange winds, 
Respond to the warmth of other suns
And, perhaps to bloom.

        - Richard Wright


Our mattresses were made 
of corn shucks
and soft gray Spanish moss
that hung from the trees....
From the swamps 
we got soup turtles
and baby alligators
and from the woods
we got raccoon,
rabbit and possum.

        -Mahalia Jackson, Movin' On Up

I appreciate how Wilkerson pays credence to the power of the arts, especially music, in encapsulating and expressing struggles and triumphs - I should just say the human condition.

2. Cornel West's speech at U of Washington in 2014, which I watched on youtube. I have never seen him speak before and my goodness what power. A theme throughout was the important of taking inspiration from musicians and the musical world both in our ability to harmonize, improvise, experiment, and sing the truth of the situation, in order to constantly raise the level of the collective art we are engaged in making.

3. If Beale Street Could Talk, which has allusions to music throughout. The most moving recently was a reference to Daniel, a character who is incarcerated for two years and thoroughly traumatized by his experiences inside. The narrator of the book asks '"Didn't my lord deliver Daniel? Then why not every man?" It's an old question, and still unanswered.'

This prompted me to stop my audiobook and begin singing that amazing spiritual "Didn't my lord deliver Daniel?" I found this beautifully directed and performed version which I share with you now.

___

On a separate note, I have heard the name of Quakerism, the legacy of Quakerism, invoked by a solid handful of high profile folks in the past few weeks in ways that have made me uncomfortable. People speak of write about the valiance of Quakers fighting against slavery. Do we live up to this legacy today? I have to remember that John Woolman was not just searching and courageous in his journal - he was in his public life too. I cannot read about injustice and then continue with life as normal. I must organize. As Cornel West says - he answered the ubiquitous audience question of "how can I as a normal working person help?" by saying "You've got to take out time to organize, through whatever organization you have available to you." Indeed we must.

Cosy Sheridan, Gloria Steinem and the wisdom of women

Snowday

The director of my choir is a force to be reckoned with. A talented leader, he is also harsh, fairly aloof to most of us, and sometimes domineering. I don't think I would ever choose to be in the same room with him were it not for a choir rehearsal. But for rehearsals, he is unbeatable. We, a ragtag community choir, rise to great heights under his hand keeping the beat, and his voice, alternately counting and critiquing. 

On the weeks when he is not there, the assistant director, Kerrin, leads rehearsal. I know I am not alone in my disappointment when I walk in and Kerrin is on the stage. (They never tell us when Brady will be out of town, because they probably know we wouldn't come to rehearsal.) 

Kerrin is a talented and knowledgeable musician, and a capable director. The only person who seems to doubt this is Kerrin herself. Therefore her leadership is somewhat painful to undergo, because she is constantly apologizing and undercutting her own ability. 
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not being clear." 
"Did you get lost there? Maybe it's just me that gets lost." (She doesn't get lost.) 
"Good! Goodgoodgoodgoodgood." (When we haven't done well at all, but she seems afraid to be anything but positive.) 

The sopranos talk constantly through her rehearsals, something they never do with Brady. We go much, much more slowly through the music, and she asks "Did anything stick out in there? Should we go over it again?" When all we want is someone to tell us where to start and what to work on. It can be disheartening when the leader doesn't assume the role of leader thoroughly enough. 

I think about this in relation to the classroom. I do ask for student input and reflection often. Sometimes I'll ask for their help on small things like how we should rearrange into a circle. Should we go around these two tables? Should we move the tables to the corners? This seems minor, and maybe it is. But I want them to know I value their ability to problem solve in a context when their contribution is relevant. If I'm deciding how to lead a part of my English lesson, I'm less likely to ask their opinion, since it's my job, and ostensibly my area of expertise, to know how to lead the lesson, and I don't think they would have a better idea than I would, about whether to share in groups of 2 or 3, or whether to write for five minutes before talking through their ideas. Maybe they would. 

But I wish Kerrin would be more confident in her role as director when she is up there. Last night, she said we needed to cut off on time at a certain place, because she wasn't going to be able to cue everyone at that moment. "I'm only human, unfortunately," she said. This made me want to cry. Everything about how she presents reveals that she truly, truly believes, as many women do, that it is unfortunate that they are only human. When society tells them to be so much more, they are disappointed and ashamed to find they have (in the words of Othello's Emilia:) "Affections, desires for sport, and frailties, as men have". I want to call out to Kerrin - it's OK to have frailties! We all have frailties! And that is what makes life interesting! And (in the words of Hugh Grant's character in Two Weeks Notice:) "Saints are boring!"

On Friday Mum and I went to February's IAMA concert, featuring Mountain Country, and Cosy Sheridan. Mountain Country is a five piece country band, four men and a woman on standing bass, that played all original music. It was typically sexist in its messages: a woman is "a good thing" something "nice to come home to" that "smells good". The male speaker in the songs is "hard to hold onto" and a "rambler." 

I would have been more willing to forgive these as the conventions of the genre were it not for the fact that at the end of the set the lead singer and guitar player introduced each musician by name - except the woman playing bass. You could feel the cocked heads and raised eye brows in the UU audience until another band member acknowledged her, and an overwhelming whoop and applause went up from all corners of the room. "She always gets the loudest applause." the leader griped into the microphone. "It's because she's the cutest," quipped the banjo player. 

No, my dears. It is not because she's the cutest. It's because of what we can tell she has to put up with. 



The "rambling" song especially made me think of the memoir by Gloria Steinem that I'm listening to on audio right now, subtitled My Life on the Road. Steinem describes how when she was young, all images of women were associated with home and hearth, and the men were the ones to go gallivanting off. She has bucked that trend by spending more than half of the past 40 years on the road, organizing, mobilizing, speaking, being a feminist activist. 

I am greatly inspired by her commitment to listening, and being part of consensus circles that meet with "all five senses". Think about what that means. 
- Sight - we can all see each other
- Smell - we are close enough to smell each other and the aroma of the ...
- Taste - ...food we are eating together.
- Hear - we are close enough that we can hear without microphones or phones.
- Touch - our chairs are close enough that we had to jostle each other to get into the circle, and we are not afraid to touch each others legs or hands as we pass the talking piece around. 

This reminds me of circle time in advisory, when two student leaders come up with two questions to ask each other, and we discuss them in pairs then come into a circle to talk about them. 

Being part of an audience has always seemed sadly distant from the idea Gloria Steinem describes. I wish that at a concert or a talk there was more sense of being part of a listening circle among audience members. 

Cosy Sheridan

The second set on Friday night was by Cosy Sheridan, and I felt us approach the ideal of audience unity under her influence. The first sign was that, after the song "The Pomegranate Seed" a woman two rows ahead of me waited until the applause died and exclaimed "That was beautiful!" She spoke the "sense of the room" as Quakers would put it. The next sign that we as an audience had been transformed by her performance was when she said "We'll play one more for you," and a man on the other side of the sanctuary asked with unguarded sincerity, completely devoid of jest or self-deprecation, "Can you just play for another hour?" He too spoke to desire on all of our hearts. I can't remember the last time I was at a concert where I wished the performance would go on for another hour. 


What made Cosy so compelling? Mom said it - "She's a real folk artist." I believe we were drawn to the universal images of humanness that we, like Kerrin, are taught to despise in ourselves and hide from the world. She spoke of her desire to build a fence between herself and her neighbors, feelings of shame before a mother, the desire to be healthy combined with distaste for healthy things, the difficulty of finding fulfilling work and liking the life we've made, and the challenge of feeling OK about having less money than we associate with mainstream "success". She conveyed these ideas with warmth and humor and harmony, a sure-fire way to get them to sink home immediately. 

The last time I was in an audience that seemed linked to the same degree was listening to Colson Whitehead speak at the SLC Public Library, where he lifted his iPad to the microphone in order to convey the crackly sound of a 1960's song, which he mouthed the words to until we were all singing along (well, all the people who had been conscious for the original broadcasting of the song - I had never heard it before). We were united in song, something I'm sure none of us expected when we arrived at the auditorium and promptly ignored everyone around us, even in the very next seat. There were spontaneous spurts of laughter during this song, which I think revealed the degree to which people were taken out of themselves by this turn of events. 

Today is a snow day, my first since high school, I think. The phenomenon has lost none of its magic!