Two events brought me closer to my two main communities last weekend: theatre and Quaker.
LINC was a gathering of Philadelphia "teaching artists" - which too me means people who make and teach art, but which I found out is a controversial term. A large group of us gathered at the Moore College of Art, and the day kicked off with a presentation by Eric Booth, an inspiring speaker who didn't have enough time to really dig into his ideas with us. Eric has broken down arts education into several categories as a way to help explain what we do to others. I was too busy listening to him to write them down. He offered hope and admonishment together. He said we are a woefully disorganized and under-recognized professional group, but he said the pendulum is swinging back and soon, teaching artists will find our voice collectively in the U.S. Later in the day, I jammed one of my books in his hand and was delighted to hear him say, after her read the jacket description, "Oh! I'm a Quaker too!"
The rest to the day was taken up with smaller workshops and gatherings, and a lunch thrown in the middle. The best part of it to me was the being together with others like me, but of different disciplines and levels of experience. My frustration was that I wanted to get to know them better, and felt like there wasn't enough time for it. Still, I came away having made some new friends, picked up some news exercises and abuzz with the sense that there is something really, really cool about opening up students of all ages to creativity of all kinds.
The next day, after worship, I joined a group of men from my meeting in carrying large planks of wood from the sheds outside to the basement beneath our meeting room. I was struck again by how much we Quakers enjoy each other's company when we do things together. Many of us wouldn't naturally spend time together away from meeting, and usually only see each other in worship or social time after. But carrying wood together, we were put into a simple activity requiring cooperation and mutual assistance. We had time to check in with each other, make jokes, enjoy being outside. It occurred to me that we spend too much time talking and not enough time doing. Here's to more doing, and less talking.
