Sarah Paley
On a miserable NYC March Saturday, every bone in my body wanted to stay home and avoid the ice and filthy snow banks outside but Stephen Haff had asked me to come teach a humor writing workshop at Still Waters months earlier and I had said yes. I had been wowed when I had gone for a visit to an afternoon of the kids translating Don Quixote.
A bunch of kids were outside playing in the snow flurries and one of the fathers was chopping ice and clearing the sidewalk. Inside a kid practiced the piano and other kids were playing and talking. In all 25 kids (ranging in age from 6 to 14) and 5 volunteers braved the weather. (These volunteers were invaluable treasures and much appreciated by me and the kids.) Pizza was ordered and eaten. We talked comedy. One little girl asked what comedy was and I asked her what she thought it was. “What makes you laugh.” she replied and that’s what we discussed. What makes you laugh?
I showed the kids Comedy Sketches on my computer which I propped up on a lot of copies of Don Quixote. The kids, organized by height so they could see the small screen, paid close attention — something that Still Waters kids are exceptionally good at. We watched Monty Python, Steve Martin from the 70s, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, lots of SNL and lots of other stuff. And we laughed or didn’t laugh and talked about why. Some of what I showed them was political (ie: Alec Baldwin as Drumpf.) I hesitantly showed them an SNL parody of the “Welcome to America” film seen at passport control in airports. I thought it might be too upsetting or not appropriate for the younger kids. Of all the comedy I showed them this made them ALL laugh the hardest from the youngest to the oldest. It was instructive. We laugh at our worst fears and this struck a chord. They seemed inspired that writing something funny might be a way to have an impact on what is going on in the world.
The kids dispersed into 6 writing groups and produced their own sketches which they then acted out. Three of those sketches were political: “Donald Drumpf trying to deport the Three Bears”, “The International Pizza Parlor with Mexican pizza, Muslim pizza, Hawaiian pizza and Drumpf as the only (horrified) customer” and another sketch that involved “Immigrants taking over the U.S. with the first people to be deported…INS agents!” They were fantastic! The kids were energized. I was energized. It felt like we had accomplished something. It was inspiring. This reluctant teacher left having received much more than she gave.
Go to Still Waters in a Storm – visit and volunteer. You will be glad you made the effort. It’s simply great.