A prose-ish poem or poemish prose or just a few words on a page to share what diversity means to me.
Two students,
one from southern China
and the other from Armenia,
always walked me to my office
after our writing class.
We would share stories and tea
once we got there.
Sometimes I just gave them my office keys
and told them to open up
and make themselves at home.
We did that on this fateful day.
I walked back to my office
in the sub-basement of academe
expecting to see them there,
but before I got close
I could hear the full-throated
martial singing of male voices.
When I got to my open door
I saw
my two students,
one Armenian and one Chinese,
singing the Russian national anthem.
They grinned madly the whole time
they were singing
and when done high-fived each other
and me, too.
My question must have been written on my face:
How…?
They laughed.
My Chinese student lived on the coast at a mecca
for Russian tourists.
He said that he got better tips after he learned to sing
the Russian national anthem in Russian with drunken Russians.
My Armenian student on the other hand
could speak five languages and one of them was Russian.
He grew up hearing and singing the song.
They discovered this common knowledge that day.
I don’t know how, nor did they.
What did this mean to me?
I am always looking for concrete examples of abstraction.
I don’t understand words like “diversity” unless I find these ‘anchors’.
That word is tangible now, unlike the bullshit abstract academic speak that passes for clear speech these days.
What else could have brought these two students together in Kentucky in my office on that day to sing. No one could have intended that. Only the power of an ideal could have done that and did do that. Only the larger idea of “the more, the merrier” applied on a global scale. We have all spun out like satellites since that song-filled, heady day, but we all know what ‘diversity’ means now and, like a check valve, we will never go back to not understanding that.
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I wonder how many people had a reaction when they got to the point where you said they were “singing the Russian national anthem”. With the war in Ukraine in the background, this probably innocent act, triggers instant response.
At another time, in different circumstances, that unique bond, over a song learned in past lived experiences, might be more appreciated.
Context influences how we read, listen and hear.
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I chose this story in part because I have seen this movie many times before. I fight propaganda. We need to trigger folks who have bought whole the propaganda of the mainstream media. It is bad, Dan. And their propaganda is obvious. Note, anyone who reacts badly here hasn’t understood my message and, frankly, it is not very complex. There are no Russians in the story. I am American and my students were Chinese and Armenian. The story isn’t about the Russian national anthem; it’s about diversity. I am happy you get that, but I wrote the story as a trigger, a little bur of cognitive dissonance to get people’s attention. Of course, my audience is fine, but few, so the ripple in the pond will be infinitesimal. So be it and fuck ’em. Besides, I don’t know if you have ever listened to the Russian national anthem. Pretty stirring and singable. The only one that I think is better is “The Internationale” IMHO. Always thanking the mighty stars I have readers and, more importantly, friends like you who make the game worth the candle.