November 1, 2015 - 16:24
Happy November, everyone!
Despite last week being a nightmare as far as everything I needed to get done and lots of rehearsals I needed to get to, I felt much better about class than I have in several weeks. I felt like our conversation really helped give us the determination to be more straightforward with each other in class. It seemed like there was a much more open atmosphere, which really helped to alleviate the stress I have often felt in class.
This openness I think pulled over to our lesson planning and running of the class in Prison- it was really just free and people seemed to sense our willingness to experiment and be silly and be wrong. I think these were some of our most productive discussions of "Burial at Thebes" and I'm really glad they happened... I'm hoping that we'll be able to keep this openness going with "Brothers and Keepers", but I worry that we could easily get too personal. I'm afraid of being too let into the lives of the incarcerated women, of being too aware of all the prison system has done to them and our group's powerlessness to fix them. I think I enjoy hoping that we CAN make a difference and we CAN help empower these women and make them feel like their opinions matter, but I feel like our ability to do so might wane the deeper we get and the less we can speak of and show how much we value them. We will need to make an even bigger effort to continue to accommodate their needs and stories moving forward, and maintain the group as a safe space where they can express their feelings.