In what universe are posts about musical theater on Broadway and gang activity in our neighborhood part of the same conversation? Well, not to be too fancy about it, but let’s start with graffiti like the drawing at left on some trees a few miles from our house.
Now, sometimes graffiti is art, displayed at the world’s finest museums, and sometimes it’s a federal crime. It seems to me that culture encompasses both uses or interpretations, and it’s certainly worth talking about in any case. At least that’s what I would hope to do on WashCult.
I got to learn about MS-13, the gang of choice in my Takoma Park/Langley Park neighborhood while doing a feature story for NPR’s Justice Talking, the show I used to produce with some very talented folks who are still there. Here’s a link to my feature story on their site, and here’s another straight to the RealAudio version on my site.
There’s immense frustration, of course, in boiling down everything you learn about a subject into a six minute radio report. I wanted anyone interested in more information to be able to hear more.
Here, for example, is the voice of Mario, a former gang member I talked with in the Langley Park offices of the Youth Opportunity Center. He pleads with the Anglo community not to automatically fear young Latinos.
“Another thing I want to tell the community is that I see that many white people are afraid of young Latinos. Don’t be afraid of them because they don’t bother anyone. In many ways the young Latinos are afraid of white people. Why? Because if they don´t like the way we look at them they call the police right away. They are protected by the police. I see that many white people are afraid of Latinos and it shouldn’t be like that.”
And here Mario talks about finding God, and a job.
“Right now, thank God, it has been 6 years – since 2001 – that I have been on the right track. I’m not getting into trouble. I left my past behind. I have been in church. I have been a leader with the word of God, then I found the [Youth] Center which I’m part of it. Thank God now my life is different. I have a job in construction. I make good money working as a carpenter and now people look at me with love they don’t see me as they did in the past, as a challenge.”
But, for now, the most poignant bit of sound I had to leave out of the story was the first person reminiscence of Sergio, displaying his tatoo, above, who recounts his initiation into MS-13 in L.A. in the 1980s.
It’s exciting to arrive in New York City, hear about a Broadway show that has critics panting with excitement, and then to be able to get a ticket without any contortions, bribes or special dispensations. What’s even better is if the show lives up to its hype.
Anarchist Goldman gets to the point of why she’s turned on by Spring Awakening, the play: “Never was a more powerful indictment hurled against society, which out of sheer hypocrisy and cowardice persists that boys and girls must grow up in ignorance of their sex functions, that they must be sacrificed on the altar of stupidity and convention which taboo the enlightenment of the child in questions of such elemental importance to health and well-being.” Who knew that “taboo” was a verb, and a useful one at that?
Before the audience was even seated at our matinee, the usher pointed out a couple of understudies who were joining the group of audience members seated on each side of the stage. These performers love their jobs so much, the usher was implying, that they are willing to supply extra voices to the chorus while they continue to learn their parts.