Over the last few weeks, I’ve had good opportunities to be “in community.” One of those opportunities happened at The Cutting Room, where School of Rock NYC had their midseason show. School of Rock is a nationwide program that teaches students music through modern compositions with attention to student agency. My son’s been attending a weekly tutoring and band session for the last year and a half. They perform at well-known spaces in the city for their midseason and end-of-season shows. He’s part of a Prince/MJ band and the students’ transformation into full-fledged rock stars is a sight to behold.
The families in the audience party along to their children’s melodies. For a minute, we didn’t worry about news of impending doom, just the kids and the SoR community.
Building community feels harder to accomplish these days. It’s more than just listening to one another. It’s the multiple forces vying for people’s ears and eyes and which messages land. The United States reached an apex during the 2020 uprisings because ideas of eliminating institutional harm towards a shared humanity replaced the status quo. Now, and in retaliation, we’re inundated with anti-heroes not only repeating nonsense about people they despite, but parading unapologetic dispositions in the worst ways.
The repetition is working well for too many of our neighbors. Educators at the school level have tried to sound the alarms, but those calls have fallen on ignorant ears.
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