The Man, Mentorship, and Fractals

I'm not actually going to be writing about "The Man" much but Anna Deavere Smith talked about "The Man" in one of the book's chapters. I know this because I was baking some cookies for Dwayne and I asked him to read me something from the books so that I could have something to blog about. And he picked that chapter because he was on that section. Thanks, Dwayne. I guess if I had to relate it to class then who would be "The Man"? I guess David would be "The Man." Well, David, Anna said in her book that it is no fun being "The Man" so I guess I should express sympathy! Then I suppose at least where this class is concerned... beyond David "The Man" is Dr. Sobol, or maybe Dr. Amber Kinser. Up much higher than that I don't know who "The Man" is anymore at ETSU. All joking aside, I probably would have picked a different text to relate to class discussions.

Wenny brought up Anna Deavere Smith's writings on mentorship, and as I was reading that section I was really moved by hearing ADS' dentist's holocaust experience. The mentorship chapter is in pages 77-79 of the ADS text. It reminded me of class yesterday because we were discussing how personal stories can really be crafted well if you find something in your story that can relate to someone. And when you find something that relates to someone that you can express in your story, it's no longer just about you but about you and someone else or something else. It's about a relationship. It's about something that the listener can hopefully relate to.

I couldn't relate exactly to the holocaust story because I've never been in that exact situation, but I was moved by hearing about that experience. Anna describes that her dentist was so young, and they couldn't give her any toys in her room for fear that she would make noises and the Gestapo might find her if they came. She explained that her dentist was so little that she wouldn't be able to understand who was OK to make noises around and who was not. So I've never been in that exact position but I have minded children before. And anyone who's babysat or raised a child has experienced those ages and stages where children can't tell the difference between how to act in one situation vs. another if the situations seem similar enough.

So it's a far jump trying to form a connection between babysitting in the U.S. and trying to protect a child in the holocaust. But even though they are different experiences, the one experience helps you to sense the danger in the other experience. Kind of like how we were talking about fractals in class. If you can understand one small part of the picture sometimes it lends an understanding of the bigger picture.