The Past Is Relevant

As things DON'T change, the past becomes oh so relevant! How can we truly comprehend what went right and what went wrong if we don't look back...

When teaching high school it sometimes becomes necessary to defend the relevance of past experience to today's challenges. When the upheaval of the past few years is taken into the context of a long history of societal turmoil, our relationship to the difficulties seems more manageable. In this way, I have been able to share the important work of Lucy Phenix's YOU GOT TO MOVE with my students and my community. I have been asked to reconstitute the 16mm film assets of this project with the primary goal being to make the material available to other filmmakers.

At first, I was skeptical about the usefulness of this project. However, once I got my hands on the footage and watched Lucy's incredible film, I realized how crucial this process is to the process of social change. This is a critical step in activism. And also creative storytelling. We can all contribute to informing the future with our current work --as well as from the past. Issues will remain as time moves on, and I have come to understand why the material that is created in the past is crucial to what we can do in the present and future. I could give numerous examples of how this plays out every day in the news and in education, but the main takeaway from me is that I am part of this continuum. And so is every maker and creator who contributes to the construction of our cultural experience. It all matters. And it will continue to play an important role in helping future generations make an impact for positive change.