Thoughts on Notes From the Field

One of the readings/viewings that I did in this class is called Notes from the Field, written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith. In this performance, Smith performs verbatim (accents, pauses, etc.) interviews that she conducted.

Watching Smith perform is amazing. She transforms herself into 20 different people and tells their stories in exactly the way she heard them. It is so meaningful to see these stories performed because they are stories that would likely go unheard otherwise. Even though the lives of the people in the stories being told already had meaning, Smith shared that meaning with the world, allowing the stories to be seen and heard by her vast audience.

Smith's performance prompted me to think about all the stories of the people around me and the meaning that they carry. I want to learn all I can about the people I care about in order to be a better friend to them. Everyone deserves to be heard, and that includes people who are normally ignored. Marginalized groups deserve just as much, if not more, attention and recognition than those who are not marginalized by society.

Finally, I learned that my own stories are meaningful. I deserve to be heard, and I deserve to listen to myself instead of ignoring the things that I feel are important for the sake of pleasing the people around me.