Musical Theatre Mash

Man. I had to remember all my tumblr login details for this thing.

This post is about accountability. Here’s what I’ve been up to since my last video. It’s mostly devoid of musical theatre stuff.

First off, as promised I’m donating all of my June internet revenue. That’s $250 to The Martha P. Johnson Institute.

Most of this comes from my Patreons. My deep thanks to them.

Next, I thought it’d be nice to let folks know what I’ve been reading in hopes it’ll help you pick up a book. Here’s what I’ve finished so far.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Required reading. Highly recommended. If you don’t know where to start, start here. Oluo walks you through a straightforward unpacking of systemic racism in contemporary USA with solid action points about what YOU can do.

————

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

This book is “required reading” assigned by the school I teach at. Don’t read it. I got about a chapter in and something felt off. Kelefa Sanneh explains it in his review in the New Yorker. For more discourse, check out Episode 17 of Blocked & Reported (and the associated Bonus Episode).

————

The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical by Warren Hoffman

This was my second time through this book. A thorough analysis of the “whiteness” of the world of musical theatre and the mostly unseen racism it’s been enforcing. If you’ve heard the rumblings from the We See You, White American Theatre open letter and the associated petition, then you need to read this book to understand why Whoopi Goldberg is suggesting we rebrand broadway as “The Great Bright Way.”

————

I Won't Learn from You: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment by Herbert R. Kohl

Another re-read for me – this one comes from my time learning to be a teacher in college. I had forgotten how much I LOVE this book (really a collection of short essays.)

If you are an educator who feels “stuck” in the system, this is the book for you. Kohl borrows the concept of “creative maladjustment” from a speech by Dr. King:

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word “maladjusted” … Certainly, we all want to avoid the maladjusted life. In order to have real adjustment within our personalities, we all want the well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurosis, schizophrenic personalities.

But I say to you, my friends...there are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize.

I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self-defeating effects of physical violence.

In other words, I’m about convinced now that there is need for a new organization in our world. The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment–men and women who will be as maladjusted.

Kohl talks of how he brings his own particular form of this “creative maladjustment” to the schools and systems he works within to try and affect change from the inside.

I had forgotten how much this concept is core to my educational philosophy.

————

So that’s been June. I’ve got a long book list for July – still figuring out what I want next. Really, the literature I’m looking for is some straight-up history. If you’ve got any suggestions for good books that go beyond the whitewashed “American History” textbooks, please tweet them at me. (@MusicalMash)

Also, yes (YES!) I do have plans for upcoming content. If you’ve followed me long enough you’ll know how I fall into fits and starts of creativity. I’m working on it. Along with plenty of other things.

Be well. Love each other.

It all started with this tweet:

Dear Internet, I have a recently graduated Senior who’s looking to fill his gap year with Tech Theatre internship…any takers? (Or where do people normally google for these things nowadays?)

— Musical Theatre Mash (@MusicalMash)

June 22, 2018

Here's a semi-orgainzed list of people's responses. Please feel free to send along more and I'll do my best to update this post.

Hi Internet,

I know I've been away for a while and ya'll got real excited when I teased on twitter that I was working on a new holiday video. Unfortunately, that video won't be coming out.