In Awe on a Field Trip

When I started this gig almost 2 weeks ago, the other 3rd grade teacher filled me in on the field trips that we would be going on. I was torn between feeling a sense of relief of not having to plan lessons on the days that we had the trips, to the dread of not knowing what the little cherubs would do when they were out in public. You see, for kids, field trips are viewed as free-for-alls. They're out of the building, under limited supervision, and feel like they can act like they never knew about manners. So for teachers, field trips can be a nightmare.

Today's trip was more like a dream for me. First of all, the kids acted appropriately. There wasn't a lot of screaming and singing on the bus, which was good. And getting into the theatre didn't require any refereeing on my part. Everyone acted like they knew about manners.

Secondly, the performers who we want to see were incredible. You may know them from Paul Simon's album, Graceland. They're the South African singers on most of the songs on the album. This one is particularly famous. Their name is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and they're amazing. The sounds that come out of their mouths are deep, rich, and from the heart.

I remember when I was a freshman in high school, taking the city bus to and from school and walking to and from the bus stop could take me 45 minutes each way. My walkman became my best friend. I listened to tape after tape in that thing, replacing batteries left and right. One tape stayed in my walkman for weeks and months. Graceland. I wondered about those singers, those voices so foreign to me. I tried to imagine what they looked like, how Paul Simon figured out how to capture their sound and weave it magically with his.

And now, some 20-something years later, I am seeing these singers live. It was pretty awesome.

The kids liked it too. The group did enough audience participation and dancing to keep the entire theatre enthralled. It wasn't until about 10 minutes before they were done that the kids started getting antsy. I was getting that way too.

We're lucky to live where we live, close enough to a university to take advantage of its wonderful cultural events. I was lucky to get to see people that have been singing to me from a distance for years.