Early in our work, we listened to Gang of Four
ask 'Why theory?' They sing 'We've all got opinions. Where do they
come from?' This project asks us to explore where opinions come from—actually
our whole views of the world—by examining bits of our personal and public
histories. Where, exactly DID some of
our 'opinions' come from?
Robin
does his homework: Mom put this picture in my babybook on the page
for 'Baby's Fourth Birthday.' Apparently I didn't have a good time because I
was worried that the other kids' balloons would break and they wouldn't have a
good time. From the left: Guy Huntley, Phillip Moreland, Donny Peterson,
and me (what was Mom thinking with the flowered matching outfit?).
Guy became an insurance salesman. Phillip (the goofy looking one) became a
Catholic priest. Donny's father was a coal miner, and Donny followed him
into the mines. He died there in an explosion (Consolidated Coal) at 52.
And me—well, you know me. Somehow—even at four—we all knew that Donny was
a 'working class kid' (though we didn't have the words for it). The other
three of us were supposed to do better in school (and we did). It's almost
a GRAND NARRATIVE of what a good boy does with his life. But I always thought Donny was smarter than
the other two. He knew how to wire up the electric trains. He could
track animals. He was a lot more fun. Maybe biology matters (I
still worry about whether the other kids will have a good time). But class really
matters. Class determined a lot of my history, and if I were writing this
blogpost, I'd take that topic, and
use this baby book and picture as my 'historical
archive.'
Write
a tiny mini-history in which you
show how particular events, people, forces, spaces, objects and so on have
contributed to your 'story' of who you are.
Remember that we're suspicious of Grand Narratives, and that we know
that every story will be shot through with ideology—can't not be. In fact, it'
this critical look at the 'stories' that ordered our lives that can be the most
interesting part of this project. Got images? Put 'em in.
Find things that mattered (songs, movies, soccer, Girl Scouts, school, 4H)?
Talk about it. Is it important who you (the writer) are, too? Talk
about that. Need models? Well, that's tough, because all of us are
so different and so are our stories. But
no stupid Yearbook-ish generalities. No
pious 'moral lessons learned.' Think Spiegelman—right,
you maybe can't draw like him, but we can all try to THINK like him….
Look hard, talk with your family and friends,
share your ideas with your group. Show
us how a life took shape, and how you
shape the story.
Does this one need 'theory'? Not so much,
but it really does need to do our kind of work: to show us how big
historical operations play out in our very intimate lives.
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