Internship –
This week I met with Karen, Gail, and the rest of the interns and drove to Taqueria la Esquinita to have a paid meal. I was able to share concepts learned this week about utilizing tea as a method to calm the nerves of people entering a shared space with Gail and Karen. It was very interesting noticing their immediate increase in attention and Karen especially leaned in to hear what I had to say. She compared some of my statements with other herbal remedies that can accomplish the same function and mentioned there should be an additional meeting on Sundays to discuss “behind the scenes” planning. Gail revealed that she is going to place a board member Poppy into a manager-like position so she can do more background management. I revealed that tea can not only be used as a method to tune people’s energy to a similar frequency, it can be used as a secretive means to survey the temperament of an entire group of individuals to choose an appropriate activity that fits the post-tea mood.
Activities –
This week included some of the most difficult emotional challenges I have faced in my life thus far, and I thought I could benefit from releasing some emotion by dancing to a very rich, diverse mix of genres performed by two bands who just wanted to smile and groove. The first band was called the Pimps of Joytown and relied heavily on their extremely talented drummer to provide an atmosphere that couldn’t be avoided. The lead guitarist was also very talented and had a wonderful voice, so naturally he was upset when he had to miss a solo because no one on hand had a solution but managed to retain stage presence before coming to the conclusion he had to improvise. The lead guitarist saved the show and found a syncopated rhythm to add another layer to the current song. The band had their own unique sound, but included elements of afro-beat, salsa, rock & roll and electronica.
The second band, MarchFourth! retains influences from rock, ska, jazz, klezmer, Hip Hop, and swing styles of music, among others. Klezmer was a genre I had never even heard of before and got to research after the show. According to some quick wiki searches, Klezmer was brought to the United States by Ashkenazi Jews migrants from Eastern Europe and assimilated jazz.
Group dynamics were present in both bands performances. Every good band displays a support system for the main focus of every second of each song. There were moments in the first band’s performance where the drummer, lead guitarist, and bass player all stepped back and rhythmically supported the supporting singers/percussionist dancers. The second band supported an individual stepping in and having a solo in several songs and the transitions had to be well timed to accurately queue the solo artist. Having a constant rotation of supporting individual excellence was inspiring, especially when there was a grandma out dancing all of us youths.
The social dynamics of the show were fascinating to see. The sore losers stood out like a sore thumb. I was one of the first people to notice the show was about to start and headed towards the front of the stage and waited to see how long it would take me to be pushed towards the back. Usually at a show when I’m at the front I like to stay there, but this time I was willing to be pushed aside just to see who would look at me and think they deserved the front. Halfway through the first show I was in the third row with 12 or so white women 20-50 years old and a few rather obnoxious white older men all drunkenly muddled in the front. Several people were laughing and dancing; connecting with strangers and enjoying the shared experience. Unfortunately, a middle-aged white woman and her husband, who were trashed, thought I was apart of their experience. The woman linked arms with me and her husband quite a few times thinking I was apart of her drunken blur of an experience only to be politely brushed off. Finally I had to ask her to stop touching me when she was all about my fluffy hair, and she was extremely sorry and basically tried to jump into a hug and at this point I was just laughing, pleading saying “please stop this apology is still about you – it’s cool, let it be!”
There were several people who knew how to have a wonderful time and were excited to invite me into their dance circles. I spun and grooved through the crowds splashing waves that rippled positivity as my couchsurfing energy coasted on the shared energy of hope, happiness, and release.