blog, week 8:

Friday April 29, 2011

Last Friday was relatively good. Although the students admitted they did not practice whatsoever in the week that we were gone, they were more than happy to make the effort to do a good job during class. We read through the script once and were able to act it out all the way through twice. The students, although they fooled around, were not shy about playing their various parts. Although the memorization process is slow, they seemed to be reassured by our encouragement. We reminded them that they can ad lib if they need to, as long as they get the gist of the point of their lines said. Travis and Steveo seemed to take well to this, but Mikey tried really hard to say everything absolutely how it was written in the script.

At one point during the middle of our class, I noticed a large group of students (who I assumed were ASU students, given that many had ASU t-shirts on) walking through the yard with Deputy Warden Jackson. I was both shocked at the sight of the students (since I'd never seen a group quite that large on the yard) as well as appalled. I wanted to ask our students how they felt about people walking through the prison to see how the inmates live, and if they felt as if they were being looked at as animals - because that is how I would feel if I were one of the inmates. I didn't ask the question, however, because as soon as Steveo saw the group he ran over to the windows and started to act like a trapped ape. A couple of the students looked over in shock, but the rest seemed to ignore him. The students, Gabby and I couldn't help but break up in laughter, only because of the absurdity of the situation and Steveo's behavior.

The way Steveo acted has had me thinking all week about how people expect inmates to behave. While Gabby and I have had fun telling this story over and over to friends around us, it was strange for me to see Steveo act like a caged animal. To him it may have been fun and games, but by doing what he did, did he reaffirm in those students' minds that day that inmates are animals, subhuman, the way that most society seems to view them? When in fact from my point of view, he is just like the boys I knew in high school, getting worked up and having fun scaring people? My view from the inside is very different from what it may have been before this internship; had I seen something like that on my first day, it very well would have terrified me, given that I wouldn't know the inmate and assume he was angry, rather than being funny.

I am sad that this upcoming Friday will be our last day at the prison. I will probably never see the students again, and I feel like they've flourished in this setting, and can only continue to grow with more programs such as this one. I hope that they get the chance to continue to get exposure to things like Shakespeare and classes like the creative writing or literature class; it is such a great opportunity for them, and they've seemed to enjoy it.

 

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