2011 June » Joe Salvatore

Marriage Rights in NY State: A reality

Jun 252011

I feel surprisingly happy about the passage of the same-sex marriage bill in New York state. While I still have questions about why we want this institution to define and validate our homosexual relationships, I’m fascinated at the possibilities that seem to unfold as a result of this new law.

My boyfriend and I watched the final moments of the debate on the Senate floor last evening, then watched the vote, kind of by accident, as we channel surfed looking at other programs on television. Of course, the commentary following the vote was full of rhetoric and interviews with people spouting unrealistic expectations on the streets of New York City. Yes, marriage equality has arrived, but the legislation doesn’t automatically change the feelings of people who still discriminate against or “tolerate” LGBT people. For example, as quoted by CNN.com, the delightful Catholic bishops of New York had the following to say:

“‘We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization,’ the state’s Catholic bishops said in a joint statement released late Friday. It was signed by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan and seven other bishops.”

That’s the pot calling the kettle black, people. An institution rife with scandal for centuries talking about the cornerstones of civilization. I love the irony of these guys who wear the fancy robes and the big hats thinking that they have the special 4-1-1 Bat Phone to Jesus.

But this is what I mean about banging the tambourine a little early. Marriage equality is one step forward among many steps that need to be taken on the road to equality for LGBT people. I know that it’s a big step, but we can’t assume that the world can now be viewed through rose-colored glasses. We’ve got work to do in our communities, particularly in our schools, and the way that we “teach tolerance.” I don’t like being “tolerated.” Accepted and embraced as fully equal is more up my alley. So let’s use marriage equality as a step towards true, full change in our society. If I see that happen in my lifetime, I’ll join the celebration. Fully.

What makes a great arts educator?

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Jun 192011

I’m blogging tonight from Washington, DC, as I’m in town for a roundtable discussion with some exceptional arts educators whose students have been named Presidential Scholars in the Arts for 2011. These students are nominated after receiving recognition through YoungArts, the signature program of National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. I have consulted for this organization for a few years now, and I’m excited by the work that happens and the young people that gain recognition through the YoungArts program.

Tomorrow’s roundtable meets at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Smithsonian’s museum of international modern and contemporary art. The arts educators in attendance will be asked to address questions about best practices that they used that have helped to cultivate this year’s cohort of Presidential Scholars in the Arts. We will also ask them to consider what other supports they might need that could help them to expand on their work with young artists.

In this harrowing time of deep budget cuts to educational programs throughout the country, arts education programs will most definitely suffer. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for arts educators to identify our strengths and our powerful positions, rather than wallowing in weakness and despair. If we as arts educators view ourselves as disenfranchised, why should anyone else value what we do? Our belief and conviction creates passion and respect in others, and that’s how we will survive this difficult moment.

So to anyone out there reading this blog who is an arts educator or has benefitted from arts education or has children who have benefitted from arts education, what do you think about those questions that we’re asking on Monday? How have you been successful and why? What are your strengths as an arts educator? What strengths have you seen in your children’s teachers? What do arts educators need to make their work even stronger? And let’s take the dialogue beyond money and time. Those are givens for all of us, and we have to stop using them as self-imposed obstacles. Comment directly on this blog post, as it would be great to get a dialogue going. And I’ll do my best to share your thoughts with my colleagues at the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Following the roundtable, I’ll be attending A Salute to the 2011 U.S. Presidential Scholars at the Kennedy Center. The event will live stream at 8:00pm at www.youngarts.org, so check it out.

To see a video of the YoungArts Out of the Studio performance that I directed in April, click here, and then you will see a video for Out of the Studio. I served as the Assistant Creative Director and focused on creating this piece with these 12 talented young people from all over the U.S. (in about 15 hours!) while the Creative Director, JLove Calderon, created facilitation experiences where the young artists became embassadors for the arts in various communities in NYC. It was a great experience for all of us! And four of them became Presidential Scholars, so I’m thrilled and honored to be able to see them perform at the Kennedy Center!

I look forward to your responses to the questions and ideas above.

The road to anarchy is paved with not the sharpest stones from the quarry

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Jun 162011

I woke up this morning to a CNN.com posting with the title, “Super Bowl hero warns of ‘anarchy’ if NY approves gay marriage.”

Huh?

As many people know, my boyfriend and I are not beating any civic or church organization’s door down to step in and publicly declare our nuptials for each other. I think marriage is an antiquated institution that reflects an Old World way of thinking about relationships between two people. However, I’m finally starting to accept that it’s a step that many people need to take to validate their relationship. For those who are married, I respect the choice, and I hope that you and your partner have found a multitude of ways to navigate it so that the arrangement works for you, regardless of your sexual orientation.

The retired NY Giants “hero,” David Tyree, famous for his helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII, came out yesterday in defense of marriage between a man and a woman in a video statement for the National Organization for Marriage. As the NY state House of Representatives approved a bill for same-sex marriage legislation yesterday, the opposition needed to pull in the “big guns.” Suffice it to say, there are a few ironies swirling around this statement from Tyree.

First off, Tyree did jail time for a 2004 drug possession charge. You can read about that story in the New York Times article here. That same article also reveals that his estranged girlfriend and now wife was pregnant when he came out of jail. So drug use and pre-marital sex leading to a pregnancy. I’m thrilled that David Tyree has become a rehabilitated, God-fearing, testifying Christian. That’s delightful for him. I’m not so happy about him being held up as someone that we should listen to about the state of the world. Just live your quiet, very wealthy, post-helmet catch life, and leave everyone else alone.

Second, according to the CNN post, Tyree says that “the [New York state] bill’s passage would be the beginning of our country sliding toward…anarchy.”

Oh really?

Doesn’t our helmet catch “hero” realize that in very recent history, people would have said the same thing about African Americans having the right to vote or go to school with white people, which he would have done when he attended Syracuse University? This is not the sharpest position for him to take. And worse (or better for those who think about and respect history), the National Organization for Marriage is putting this guy and this position at the forefront of its campaign to stop the passage of the bill for same-sex marriage in New York state.

These anti-gay people are getting more and more desperate, and they’re resorting to spokespeople with sketchy credentials to speak for their positions.

I know. They aren’t “anti-gay,” they’re against same-sex marriage. “There’s a difference.”

Whatever.

Find some sharper stones in your quarry, people. But remember, lay them down gently (as Renee Post likes to say) and don’t throw them. You just had your windows cleaned.

Why would anyone want to meet with Tracy Morgan now?

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Jun 112011

In an opinion piece on CNN.com, Jarrett Barrios, the President of GLAAD, suggests that Tracy Morgan should now meet with victims or the families of victims of anti-gay violence. Here’s an excerpt:

“While it is certainly a good thing that Morgan has started to take responsibility for the offensive content of his routine by apologizing publicly to his fans and the gay community, he must do more to balance the harm that his words have inflicted. He could take one profound step to show his sincerity by meeting with parents and young people who have been personally effected [sic] by anti-gay violence or family rejection.”

Call me crazy, but why would any person who considers her or himself a victim of anti-gay violence or that person’s family members want to meet with Tracy Morgan after the awful things he said in his comedy routine in Nashville about what he would do if he found out his son was gay? I know that GLAAD does very important work, but this call for some kind of summit meeting makes absolutely no sense to me at all. “Meeting” with Tracy Morgan is not going to change anything. He’s done the damage to his credibility already. And why should people who have been victimized by anti-gay violence do Morgan any service by allowing him a public relationships opportunity to atone for this tirade? No way. That spanks of collusion if you ask me.

Mr. Barrios can meet with whoever he wants, but he shouldn’t be calling on other people to meet with this guy.

I will not be rushing out to buy a ticket to see Tracy Morgan or to begin watching 30 Rock anytime soon.

Queering Weinergate

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Jun 092011

I can’t believe that I just typed that title for this blog post…

The newest revelation about an alleged “x-rated” picture of Anthony Weiner’s erect penis got me thinking about the very public arena in which we live. I read an article by Marie Griffith on Huffington Post last evening, and I think she hit the nail on the head. Then I started thinking some more about how we label an erect penis as “x-rated.” As a direct descendent of Mayflower Compact signers (the Fuller family for those who care), I feel their puritanical beliefs running very deep in my psyche. It’s taken me lots of hours in the chair to learn how to respect those beliefs while also quieting the judging voices that come with them. It’s why I’m trying so desperately hard not to condemn Anthony Weiner’s actions. The lying part I’m pretty unhappy about, but politicians lie all the time. I’m not sure why people get so bent out of shape when politicians lie. Yes, let’s hold them to a higher standard, but haven’t we seen that the higher standard is unattainable for most of these people? Maybe we need to adjust our expectations. Our romance with a public person’s persona is impossible to keep going for too long, because our obsession with participating in social media connections takes all the mystery right out of the equation. Nothing is private anymore.

But technology has also changed how people construct their sexual identities. Confession: I am a bit of a closet queer theorist. Shocker. Queer theory is an academic discipline that grew out of the women’s studies movement. The term “queer” can actually be used to describe anything that is non-normative or that challenges normalcy. So if we lived in a culture where everyone only wore Converse sneakers, and I decided to wear penny loafers, then that would make me non-normative and queer. Some may call that an oversimplification, but it’s how I make meaning of the term.

People have spent a lot of time over the last three days criticizing Anthony Weiner for his actions and passing judgment about his tweeting, implying immorality, mental illness, etc. Then the revelation of a pregnant wife added additional weight to those judgments, and the moralists piled on that as a way to further condemn his actions. As I said, the lying I’m disappointed about, but given the current state of our society, I’m less interested in judging Anthony Weiner’s tweeting. For me, it’s an example of non-normative or queer behavior. Here’s why.

In his 2003 book Queer Theories, Donald Hall writes:

“Indeed, it is stunningly clear that technology has thoroughly complicated what constitutes sexuality and our mechanisms of sexual identification or identifications.”

Since Hall wrote those words, technology has only grown more accessible and increased the public way in which we live, document, and share our lives. Anthony Weiner, like millions of other people every day, expressed a constructed sexual identity through his tweets, Facebook messages, text messages, and phone messages, and none of that particular sexual identity may be reflected in his relationship with his wife. Not only has the internet made our lives more public, but it also provides people with a way to have multiple identities and ways of expressing themselves. Because we can’t see how fast our society is changing (or don’t want to see it), we label Weiner as an outsider engaging in non-normative behavior. We “queer” him. And for most people, that means condemning him. However, if we pay attention to what Hall wrote over eight years ago, we should see that Weiner’s identity as a sexual tweeter may not be all that queer. We don’t have the sexual privacy that we used to have because we splatter our sexuality all over an information highway that has no toll plazas.

Bottom line: Weinergate has ruined someone’s career and disrupted a number of people’s lives. It’s given Americans another reason to question the integrity of elected officials. But Americans need to do some soul searching as a society about how we judge people’s sexual identities and practices. A lot of so-called “normal” people engage in queer behavior every day, so picking up a stone to throw at someone else’s glass house right now may not be the best idea.

Put your stones down, people, and take a step back.

Leave Huma out of the tweeting controversy

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Jun 082011

News outlets are now reporting that Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner’s wife, is in the early stages of pregnancy.

It would be helpful for everyone involved if Huma Abedin could have some privacy right now. She’s not the one who tweeted; he did. Maybe the media should find a way to just leave her out of it, since she has remained out of the public eye since Weiner’s announcement.

If this husband and wife did not have some kind of agreement or understanding about their relationship before this revelation, they need the space and time to figure it out now. It’s not the media’s place to reveal her pregnancy to the world. Please stay out of her personal business.

Teaching Play Development at NYU Steinhardt

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Jun 072011

Last evening I started teaching a three-week graduate intensive called Theatre Practices: Problems in Play Production, the Development of New Plays at NYU Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theatre. As a bit of a disclaimer, I inherited the title of the course, so I want to be clear that I don’t necessarily think that play development automatically equals a play production “problem.” I’m not sure how the title came about, as the course was written before my time at NYU, but I do thoroughly enjoy teaching the course.

Part of my excitement for teaching stems from my own experiences as a playwright, director, and dramaturg. However, one of the unique things about the course is that it runs in concert with a three-week play development laboratory housed in NYU Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theatre called New Plays for Young Audiences (Twitter: @NPYA). Three playwrights each get one week of development time for their new plays with a director, a dramaturg, and a cast of actors. The week culminates in three staged readings of the script for public audiences, and these audiences are asked to feed back through surveys and/or a post-reading discussion. The series has operated since 1998 and has produced a number of TYA plays that have gone on to professional productions and publication. I am not an expert in Theatre for Young Audiences, however, the opportunity to observe this laboratory with my students provides excellent jumping off points for discussions about what it means to “develop” a new play.

The graduate students have the change to observe one 90-minute rehearsal period each week, and their main written project for the course is to track one of the roles in the process (playwright, actor, or director) through the three different development weeks. The final paper summarizes their findings and also explores the implications of the experience for their own future work as theatre artists. Additionally students research other play development opportunities throughout the US and present on their findings through in-class presentations. Students also read five plays from the TYA canon and work through various steps in a play analysis process. We read the draft of the new play at the top of each week (individually and aloud in class), and we receive copies of all of the changes that occur on a day-to-day basis. As a result, students can track how a given play develops over the course of the week, both on the page and through their own observations of the rehearsal process.

We begin the course by reading Outrageous Fortune by Todd London with Ben Pesner and Zannie Giraud Voss. Their study of new play development in the US is both insightful and depressing, but it provides an important reality check for us as we start our exploration. The discussion of the text in class last evening already raised great questions for us to consider. I’m excited to see what this group of graduate students may think when we complete the course and what innovations they may have to offer to the field in the future.

Anthony Weiner did tweet his…well, enough said.

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Jun 062011

Another one bites the dust, people. These politicians should rethink their chosen professions if they’re going to do these kinds of things. I’m not a prude, but people in public office need to be a little more careful with tweeting, Facebooking, etc. So far, this is what sets Barack Obama heads and shoulders above any other public figure this country has seen in a long time.

I just heard Anthony Weiner say that he’s been doing this with six women over the past three years. OK? He wasn’t married for part of that time. OK? He did lie about it for a week. OK?

It’s all a little dicey, isn’t it? OK.

These moments need to serve as lessons for all of us about our personal lives and social media. Even though Steve Jobs just introduced a new cloud, I think we collectively need to stop seeding the clouds with our own personal “stuff” or “bizness” as some like to say. As we’re seeing with Anthony Weiner and a host of others, when it rains, it pours.

Let’s stop paying attention to Sarah Palin. Please?

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Jun 062011

Sarah Palin’s recent American history gaffe represents just one more moment in a long line of moments that illustrate quite clearly that she should not be a candidate to lead any governing body, including the PTA at her kids’ school. No offense to the PTA presidents of the world.

Essentially, Palin said at an event at the Old North Church in Boston that Paul Revere’s ride to warn American colonists that the British were coming was actually a ride a to warn the British that the Americans were coming. Then in the Fox TV clip below, she tries to defend her answer to what she calls a “Gotcha” the question. Sorry, Sarah, but it’s basic American history. If you don’t know the history of the country’s revolution, you probably shouldn’t be trying to lead one of your own.

Why the media pays attention to this woman is beyond my understanding. I’m paying attention to her in this blog post, but after this, I’m stopping. When we pay attention to Sarah Palin, it’s like paying attention to the child who is misbehaving in a classroom to get attention. If we stop paying attention to the child, the child will sometimes stop acting out. Palin is acting out because we give her a lot of attention. If people would just stop giving her airtime, she might actually shrivel up and go back to Alaska.

Plus, now that Rick Santorum, Mr. Uber Social Conservative, has officially declared his intention to run for President, we should focus our energies on stopping someone who could really do some damage to humanity, rather than Ms. Palin, who just keeps looking and sounding more and more inept.