The Kids are Going to Be Alright and Other Miscellaneous Musings
A play about gun violence, big wins in school board elections and a trip to Vermont all captured my attention this week.
Last Monday night, Nov. 6, I attended the nationwide reading of “Enough! Plays to End Gun Violence” at Waukee High School. Waukee was representing the state of Iowa in this one night only event staged simultaneously by theaters, schools, and community groups across the country.
The six short plays presented were written by teenagers and were chosen from thousands of submitted works - each one shining a spotlight on the problem of gun violence. “Enough is enough!” they proclaim at the start of the reading.
My daughter is a part of the Thespian troupe that performed “Enough!” last week, playing a homophobic parent and a law enforcement officer whose racist views are challenged by an encounter with a ghost. Both were a departure from her personality and beliefs but both taught her that there were lessons to be learned from the inhumanity of others.
Des Moines is a big place and Waukee a large and growing school district. Despite this, we’ve been fortunate to have avoided a mass shooting in our schools. But we know there’s the possibility of such things happening. The active shooter drills and annual school safety videos and presentations remind us of that. As a parent, do I worry? Of course. I can’t imagine getting a text from my kids saying there’s someone shooting up the school and they’re scared. I’ve lost sleep over less.
What I came to realize from “Enough!” is this: We are failing our kids by not doing something about the gun problem in our country. We are failing them every time there’s a mass shooting and we blame it on mental health or absent fathers or the color of someone’s skin. The thing is, they KNOW we’re failing them and by standing up and reading these plays written BY teenagers, they’re trying to do something about it. Their words are sharp and painful and hard to hear but they’re exactly the words we need to hear to spur us to act. They can’t wait until it’s a friend who dies at the hands of a jilted boyfriend or a teammate who took their life because they were being bullied. We have to do something NOW, not when it’s one of them who dies and we’re trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy.
The kids are right, they have had enough. Enough excuses, enough tragedy, enough worry. Enough inaction. But by using art in this way, they’re telling you that they know what’s happening. They see what you’re doing and if they’re going to have to change things by themselves, they will. For this reason, I believe, the kids are going to be alright.
Another Reason to Be Hopeful
School board elections happened this week in Iowa and I couldn’t be more excited about the results. Many people slept on the last election cycle thinking that there was no way the anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-empathy, critical race theory conspiracists and “parents choice” folks could win, until they did. This year was a whole other story. This year, folks showed up. They were pissed about book bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation. They were angry that money that was supposed to go public schools was being used to fund private school tuition payments. They were upset that educators were being attacked for teaching kids about how to contribute to the greater good of society.
Like many parents, and other supportive folks, voters were done with the B.S. and cast their ballots accordingly. And they won big. Progressive groups like the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) and LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa Action saw many of their endorsed candidates voted into office, while 92% of the Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates lost.
Just watching the wins roll in on Tuesday night gave me a sense of elation. It felt like the smallest glimmer of hope during a very dark time in Iowa’s educational history. I’m eager to see what these new faces will accomplish in office. I look forward to the progress they’ve promised us.
Greetings from Vermont!
I’m pretty fortunate to work for a company that has really amazing benefits. One of those perks is a handful of “work from anywhere” weeks we can use throughout the year. We already work a hybrid schedule so this extra we’re afforded is just icing on an already sweet cake.
I hadn’t taken any of my remote time yet so I decided a few weeks ago to book a trip. My criteria…It had to be somewhere I could still work and not be easily distracted. There needed to be places to see and places to eat great food after work. There needed to be places I could go to clear my mind and be still. I found that in Burlington, Vermont.
If you’ve never been, Vermont is gorgeous. The trees hadn’t fully dropped their leaves yet and everything is just so New England-y cute. I must have repeated that phrase a dozen times to my Uncle Ric who happens to live there, “It’s so super cute here!” I recently read that it’s also the safest state in the nation. Safest or not, it was the perfect place to work remote. I got my work done, got some sightseeing in, ate some wonderful food and still had time to write and spend time with my uncle. Remote mission accomplished.
Did Someone Say “Party?”
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative is hosting a holiday party. It will be held on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023 from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Witmer House, 2900 Grand Ave., in Des Moines. If you are a paid subscriber to my column or to any of the other writers in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, this party is for you.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP here. I’ll be there and hope you will considering joining us, too.
What Inspires Me?
Speaking of kids doing the right thing…Trick-or-treating is serious business but there are some kids who try to ruin it for the rest. When two sixth-graders in Waukee discovered that someone purposely emptied a house’s bowl of its candy on Beggar’s Night, they decided to do something about it.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
I’m proud to be a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. We are a group of professional writers producing columns on the Substack platform of interest to an Iowa audience. To receive a weekly roundup each Sunday morning, subscribe here: Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Our roster of talented writers is as follows: