Day 18 - Dr. Shirley Jackson - Who's Calling?

who first tamed fire???

Every single piece of technology you have ever used had to be invented by someone. Everything you wear had to be woven or created by some other process. The names of people who first figured out how to create those things are lost to us. We don't know the name of the first person who figured out how to cook over open flames, or created writing or made the first paintings, or anything like that.

That is understandable. Most of those things were invented so long ago, nobody has any idea when and how they came into being.

What about some of the things you use every day? Do you know much about who created the technology we take for granted?

Dr. Jackson

Once you meet Dr. Shirley Jackson, you will know a great deal more about some everyday things!

Dr. Jackson did so many things and is still doing so many things that there is no way to encapsulate it in this quick bite.

Shirley Ann Jackson was born in 1946. She graduated as the valedictorian from her high school, and was pleased to be accepted into MIT!

That's when things got difficult. Not because of the work. That was hard, but that wasn't the biggest thing. Her classmates shunned her.

She tells a tale of being told to go away the first time she tried to join a study group with her white peers.

Being the only black woman getting a physics degree did not make her a popular person in the 1960s.

If you want to read about the journey that saw her decide to stay at MIT, fight to get more minority students admitted, create the first Black Student Union on campus, and keep excelling until she'd become the very first African American woman to graduate with a PH.D. from MIT in 1973, click here.

Her Ph.D. is in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics!

Once she left MIT, she did a whole bunch of very cool stuff.

She did her post-doc work with Fermilab and CERN. CERN is the European organization for nuclear research. It is where they have the Large Hadron Collider! I am seriously geeked out by that! Fermilab is the American particle physics laboratory.

Where did she go from there?

Bell laboratories - for those of you who don't know, this means she went to work in telecommunications.

What on earth is a particle physicist going to do at a telephone company?

Simple -

Dr. Shirley Jakson is responsible for a few wee bits of technology that you might have used in your lifetime.

- Touch Tone Telephones
- Portable Fax Machine
- Caller ID
- Call Waiting
- Fiber Optic Cables

After she left Bell Labs. she did some other stuff.

1995 - President Clinton appointed her to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She led international efforts to promote nuclear safety.
1997 - She helped establish the International Nuclear Regulators Association. She served as the first chairperson.
2001 - She was the first African American Woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering
2004 - She was the President of the Association for the Advancement of Science

National Medal of Science

2009 - President Obama appointed her to the President's Council of Advisors on Science.
2015 - President Obama awarded Dr. Jackson the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for contributions in science and engineering.

She currently holds 53 honorary degrees and is president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue in Troy, New York.

So, the next time you don't have to answer the phone for that annoying telemarketer, or you get a beep because someone else is trying to reach you, give a silent thank you to Dr. Jackson!

#Celebrate Black History!

Part 2: Picking The Hard Story: Why are you telling it?

Part 1: Telling The Hard Story: What Is It?
Part 2: Picking The Hard Story: Why are you telling it?
Part 3: Crafting Intentions Into the Hard Story: No Pity Parties Allowed!

The Hard Story: (n) Any story that touches on subjects or themes that are considered socially sensitive, politically divisive, religiously difficult, or fraught with discomfort.

I decided to blog about my experience with a story that I have been workshopping for about two years. My plan was to describe it and then make some comments and post, but as I got into the writing I realized that to really work it, I would need to either write a ridiculously long blog post, or do it in parts.




The first question that I always have to answer when I am choosing a story is the "Why?". 

Why am I drawn to this story?
Why should anyone bother to listen to it?
Why should I tell it?

If you actually have a guiding philosophy about why you tell stories, this is not a difficult list to tackle. Quite some time ago I sat down with my husband and I crafted a mission statement for DLW Storyteller inc, my company, that closely mirrors my personal mission statement as a performer. These are the guidelines I use when deciding on whether or not I am going to tell a story.

DLW Storyteller Inc. strives to present performances, residencies, workshops and written materials that strengthen communication, uplift the human spirit, engage the imagination, promote literacy and uphold the values of Unitarian Universalism.



That's a pretty simple list, but it does help. Any story that I have in my repertoire has to uphold those principles.

1. Why am I drawn to this story?

The night Obama was elected the first time was a pretty strange night for me. In the cold light of day some months beyond the feelings of abject fear that gripped me because of my circumstances, I was able to laugh at my foolishness. I was struck by how the whole event affected me. I have been in some situations where I didn't really feel safe, or I was disappointed in someone for behaving badly, but I had never been in a place where I was actually afraid someone might hurt me.

In retrospect, I'm sure I couldn't really have been in that much danger, but it certainly felt like that at the time. As the years of Obama in the White House progressed, I became more and more aware of a sort of casual lack of what I always think of as courtesy or civility with certain groups of people. Somehow, having a black man in the White House made it okay to say miserable, passive aggressive, or even demeaning things to black folks you just met. I found that pretty astonishing. Striking out at me verbally as a substitute for striking out at black folks in general seemed rather odd to me, but there were folks who did it. Then, there was the whole, "we have a black president so anything I say can't really be racist" thing that I encountered. 

I had more overt racism thrown my way in the last eight years than I had in the first forty. It was kind of astonishing. The thing about it, however, was that most of it wasn't soul wounding so much as it was funny to me and a bit unbelievable. It made me realize something.

The wound of racism that poisons so many people isn't gone, it just went inside...and not that deep. There are people who are hurting because...black people, and they feel like nobody is doing anything about it. 

Racism hasn't gone anywhere. It has just gotten really passive aggressive.

The things that people said or did were so ridiculous, I decided I wanted to put some of them together and share them with audiences. 

I'm not the only person who has experienced these things, and the people doing them aren't in isolation. Storytelling for me is a wonderful mirror where you can see not only yourself, but others. 

Then there was the piece my daughter did last summer called "White For A Black Girl" about things that are said to young black women who are excellent and brilliant. They are pretty much the same things that were said to me that I had to learn to live with. We haven't gotten very far in terms of the stereotypes kids have about color. 

Ultimately this story screams to me about "Othering".

Other - (adj. or pronoun) used to refer to a person or thing that is different or distinct from one already mentioned or known about.

Othered - (verb) view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.

Othering - (verb) Actively or aggressively excluding, treating, or defining as different or alien a person or group of persons from oneself  


Racism is a form of "othering" but the effects or results will be recognizable to anyone who wasn't part of the in-crowd in school, or who was part of that crowd and either actively or passively othered someone else. So, universal understanding by an audience.

Check.


2.Why Should Anyone Bother To Listen To It?

This story is about how we speak to, treat, and speak of other people. Everyone has had to deal with this. What if the person you said something negative about was standing right behind you? How would you feel? Now, imagine someone had something negative to say about you, but said it right in front of you without realizing they were saying something about you despite the fact that it was really obvious they were talking about you?

Perhaps it will make some folks think about how they talk to or about others.


So, more universal ability to relate to people.

Check.

3. Why should I tell it?

This one is the easiest. 

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say things like, "We need to have a national discussion about how we deal with race in this country!"

"We need to talk about how we deal with race in this state!"

"We need to talk about how we deal with race in this city!"

"We need to talk about how we deal with race in this community!"

"We need to talk about how they deal with race in this text book!"

Everyone keeps saying this, but I notice that this phrase seems to be the extent of what they mean. We get an article, and then everyone breathes a sigh of relief that it is over, and we just keep on doing what we've always done. 

Someone else is shot for scaring police because they are black
Someone else is puled over for driving while black.
Some else is roughed up for "looking like a criminal" just because they are walking down the street
Apparently you can even be rousted out for reading while black.

Well, as an African American, it seems to me this conversation should be a bit more extensive.

I am a storyteller. One of the things I do is introduce ideas through stories that help generate discussion. Nothing is stopping me from starting this conversation except for my not doing it.

This story should definitely make people talk.

Check.

So, now I know that I do want to tell this story despite the possibility that it will most likely spark anger, outrage, confusion, sadness, joy, hope, sorrow, disgust, empathy, thought, disbelief, and who knows what all else in the audience watching it.

I know why I want to tell it.

I think folks would be willing to hear it, and it will strike chords with them.

She's only 17. Maybe her daughter won't be told she's "white for a black girl"

Next, I need to figure out how to craft it so it does what I want...and doesn't cause unintended consequences.

I want my daughter...by the way isn't she fabulous...to grow up in a country that is further beyond this nonsense of being in the thrall of the melanin content of people's skin than it is today. That won't happen unless we really start addressing this. I can't change the world, but I can start a conversation.







Part 3 Next Week:  Crafting Intentions Into The Hard Stories

Language, Literacy and Policy…What?

This image is from babble.com

It is quite something when a literacy enhancement drum you've been beating for the last fifteen years turns up in the political arena in a place you never thought to see or hear it.

Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech about a new initiative he is starting called, 'My Brother's Keeper'.  The focus of this program is boosting positive outcomes for boys of color in America.  Organizations will be investing 200 million dollars over the next five years to impact developmental outcomes for this high risk group of Americans.

The idea for this program began after Zimmerman was acquitted for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

In the President's remarks, he points out that we know a great deal about how people develop, and we also know that there are times in a person's life where we can have a huge impact.  Then, he referenced the 30 million word gap.  I don't believe I have ever been as shocked and pleased with a politician as I was in that moment.

Drs Betty Hart and Todd Risley are the co authors of an amazing text entitled:  Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children.

Anyone who has spent any time talking to me about language and literacy has most likely been subjected to my tirade about the the 30 Million Word Gap.  I mention it as often as I can.  I rant about the fact that we know this concept to be valid.  We understand how it impacts children, and still we do nothing.

Here is the abridged version of the 30 Million Word Gap concept.

"The amount of language a child hears and interacts with by the age of three has a huge impact on how successful they will be for the rest of their lives.  If we, as a society, would focus on communities where we know there is a paucity of language, we could improve outcomes for an entire generation of Americans."

After the president pointed to the 30 Million Word Gap, he went on to outline a litany of woes that affect young men of color in our society that stem from beginning school with a serious deficit that only gets worse as they progress, and leads them to fall into societal pits that often end in incarceration and disenfranchisement.

I am glad that a coalition of private and government programs are going to be focused on making better outcomes for young men of color.  I hope that they expand this type of programming to all underserved or at risk communities across the country.

As for me, I will continue my crusade in school districts, workshops, classrooms and residencies.  The first step is understanding the Gap.  The second is understanding what steps we can take as teachers, storytellers and parents.  The third is putting our concerted efforts into making sure that we are doing what we can do no matter how small our efforts may seem.

For me, storytelling is a perfect tool to begin addressing the 30 Million Word Gap.

I leave for Canada in a few days and I am notoriously bad at blogging when I am on the road, but I will attempt to put some posts together about the 30 Million Word Gap and discuss ways to intervene in that gap if you work with or are exposed to children.

I am buoyed beyond belief to hear the 30 Million Word Gap pass the lips of someone who might be able to begin addressing it!


Today is a good day.  Today is a day we all moved forward a small step.

Happy Talking!