Not always a bad thing

I also had a complex reaction to Footfalls feeling very much shut out by my lack of understanding. I think that this automatically brought me back to my first year at Bryn Mawr where I felt very behind and unprepared. Most times, I felt like I had to work twice as hard as everyone else just to catch up. I guess the difference this time was my reaction; I expected the play to be broken down in a way that I could understand it. My past few years at BMC I've come to learn that there are many ways of learning, and that sometimes "academic writing" is given too much weight compared to other experiences. Therefore, especially in this 360, I felt safe enough to say I didn't understand it, and to (honestly) complain about it.

Towards the end of the class though, I was very struck by how we began to talk about "gaps." What does it mean to recognize that there's a gap in understanding? I couldn't help but go back to our discussions of Rigoberta Menchu and Erin's silent exercise. These were gaps that we quickly acknowledged that we couldn't close, and we were ok with it. We didn’t complain about Erin not explain it or about Menchu keeping secrets. We understood that these gaps were important, and in fact part of our understanding of them.

I began to see gaps in two ways; one is a gap that can be closed, by further reading, research, and discussion. I think that this is the one HSBurke is talking about here. The others are gaps that exist but that can't be closed, I think of these as cultural gaps, those that are acknowledge respected and accepted such as those by Mench and Erin.

I've been thinking about gaps A LOT this weekend, and I'm glad that we had a conversation that allowed me to transform my previous frustration, by linking these gaps to my freshman year experience, to appreciation. However, I still wonder what of those that don't have access, time, or resources to close these gaps? How do academic writing, the theater, art museums etc. (these are spaces in which I've personally felt shut out from one time or the other) decide who their audience will be? What happens when gaps completely define our everyday lives? I think of this specifically in relation to my aunts, who moved to the US in their 30s and don't speak English. They recognize the gap, they know that without English they can't go to the doctor alone, can't attend parent-teacher conferences, or even order something at a restaurant. However, time and financial constraints make it impossible for them to close this gap. I'm not saying that the world needs to shift, but I do want to recognize that appreciating and working to close gaps is a privilege that we all enjoy as students in this college.