American Precedents

Today, Presidents' Day, I wrote in my journal about two triply-named people who have been floating around in my mind: William Carlos Williams and Anna Deavere Smith. Enchantingly rhythmic names! I plucked the WCW off the shelf before getting in the tub. I mistakenly took In the American Grain, one of Steve's books, for a collection of poetry, and once I was in the bath and realized that it is actually a book of essays (eww), I was stuck with it. So I turned to the second chapter, "The Discovery of the Indies," because its margins were the most full of endearing notes and definitions in Steve's collegiate handwriting. Despite the very un-PC use of the word "discovery" and the very out-of-style rendering of Columbus as a man of unquestionable virtue and courage, the chapter fascinated me. In fact, it saved Don Cristóbal from villainy - in my mind at least (or at least until the next time I read about his atrocities?). Or if I must be less dramatic, it made him into a person for me, a person inevitably endowed with the heaviness and grandeur of history, but still a person, and all the more fascinating for that. For the first time, I imagined him as a foreigner, an Italian in the Spanish court. He pledged loyalty to another country's government, faced death innumerable times in service to that government, and - like most foreigners - was quickly betrayed and forgotten by that government. In this respect, Columbus's story does reflect a part of the American story. In this respect, he was the first "American", the first child of the nation that the clash of cultures would eventually yield. As WCW wrote, "With its archaic smile, America found Columbus its first victim."

Then, there is Anna Deavere Smith. As research for my Playwriting course, I watched her performance, Four American characters, on TED.com. I really loved it; I can't wait to show it to my students and can't wait to see her latest show, Let Me Down Easy, here in Philly next month. Like WCW, ADS was channeling America, teasing out what's been missed before. She is a roaring, inspiring, purposeful female artist, and she gives me a lot of hope for the next generation of female artists, writers, and activists. I am just getting this prescient feeling that there is a surge of them out there, unwritten wonders nascent in their hearts, thousands of history's villainies still unredeemed by them. If WCW can redeem Columbus and ADS can redeem an inmate, who else will be saved once the surge floods? And I see this as a surge of women particularly. Because I look at the women in my life, and I see driven, educated people who have a sense of purpose anchored in carefully considered values and supportive, meaningful relationships. I look at the men in my life, and many of them seem lonely and adrift. Maybe WCW had purpose and values and strong relationships. Maybe it used to be that men were the ones with meaningful, generative relationships while women languished in isolation in the home. But it is not so now. Now, women have sustaining relationships and access to education and opportunities. And men . . . well, of course men have just as much access as ever, but it seems so much harder for them to cultivate sustaining relationships. And I have to believe that these are a critical font for creativity, productivity, writing, art. I just think women have an incredible amount to offer to culture and society, and I'm thrilled to watch it unfolding in America.