Powerful stuff Gabriel. Every high school kid should read and discuss this. And it should be mandatory for all college freshmen. Look forward to your first movie role !
I forwarded to many friends one of whom sent back both compliments and his own analysis of your many insightful points that touch upon a variety of issues we have discussed and lived over the decades
Great article Gabriel! "Who" over "what" really helps explain the issues I have with the current social justice orthodoxy.
I'm actually not super "anti-woke" either. I think there's actually some good points that the "intersectional" crowd make on occasion. Like the overused term "privilege". I have white skin. And even though I now refuse to racialize myself, thanks in part to people like Coleman Hughes, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Kmele Foster and the lesser known but always amazing Dr. Sheena Mason (get her to write something FAIR!!), I'll give the woke crowd there due. People assume I'm a college graduate even though I barely got out of high school. Up until recently my "white" skin clearly had a lot to do with that perception. (I'm also well spoken and appear well read). So I'm sure it helped me get jobs and rent apartments. No doubt.
But even though our society has these biases (which are thankfully fading), they don't describe WHO I am. They just describe WHAT I am. I'm a high school graduate. What KIND of high school graduate? Etc, as your acting coach demonstrated. Love it!
Somewhat unrelated, but I need to know which Saturday Night Fever songs make you cry? For me it's "How Deep Is Your Love". One of the first songs I learned on guitar. And one of the most underrated love songs of the 20th Century.
This is fantastic! Such a surprising article and so resonant.
I put on a peer support volunteer training a few times a year. One of the modules is on "Cultural Awareness" that comes from the perspective that each of us have our own unique traits and how, in many instances, we are not who we appear to be at first glance, that there is more to all of us than simple visual markers like skin color or gender. The point being that we can't use shorthand to define someone, we must allow the space for others to define themselves, no matter what culture a person may appear to be from. I'll be updating this module to include an additional step similar to the exercise in this story. Thank you!
Powerful stuff Gabriel. Every high school kid should read and discuss this. And it should be mandatory for all college freshmen. Look forward to your first movie role !
I forwarded to many friends one of whom sent back both compliments and his own analysis of your many insightful points that touch upon a variety of issues we have discussed and lived over the decades
Beautifully written.
Groupthink turns us into a what; character turns us into a who.
Great article Gabriel! "Who" over "what" really helps explain the issues I have with the current social justice orthodoxy.
I'm actually not super "anti-woke" either. I think there's actually some good points that the "intersectional" crowd make on occasion. Like the overused term "privilege". I have white skin. And even though I now refuse to racialize myself, thanks in part to people like Coleman Hughes, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Kmele Foster and the lesser known but always amazing Dr. Sheena Mason (get her to write something FAIR!!), I'll give the woke crowd there due. People assume I'm a college graduate even though I barely got out of high school. Up until recently my "white" skin clearly had a lot to do with that perception. (I'm also well spoken and appear well read). So I'm sure it helped me get jobs and rent apartments. No doubt.
But even though our society has these biases (which are thankfully fading), they don't describe WHO I am. They just describe WHAT I am. I'm a high school graduate. What KIND of high school graduate? Etc, as your acting coach demonstrated. Love it!
Somewhat unrelated, but I need to know which Saturday Night Fever songs make you cry? For me it's "How Deep Is Your Love". One of the first songs I learned on guitar. And one of the most underrated love songs of the 20th Century.
Loved this. A great exercise for everyone!
Beautiful writing! I could feel your sense of liberation
I absolutely adore this essay. It's a lesson for acting, but also writing, and life itself.
What a wonderful article!
This is fantastic! Such a surprising article and so resonant.
I put on a peer support volunteer training a few times a year. One of the modules is on "Cultural Awareness" that comes from the perspective that each of us have our own unique traits and how, in many instances, we are not who we appear to be at first glance, that there is more to all of us than simple visual markers like skin color or gender. The point being that we can't use shorthand to define someone, we must allow the space for others to define themselves, no matter what culture a person may appear to be from. I'll be updating this module to include an additional step similar to the exercise in this story. Thank you!
Did the Jewish smoking lesbian grow from or resent the experience?