In today’s world, people are so disconnected from one
another and even disconnected from themselves. People are glued to screens,
reading words illuminated by a blue light. Odds Bodkin is a master, modern day
storyteller who uses only his voice and a guitar to enrapture his audience. In
minutes he was able to have the entire audience imagining a vivid depiction of
Homer’s The Odyssey. The first time I read The Odyssey was my
Freshman year of high school. I relied on visual words and SparkNotes to fully
understand the text. When I attended Odds Bodkin’s performance, all I had to do
was close my eyes and listen. His use of voice and music allowed me to fully
picture the story in my head. He told us that all of the stories he tells, to
audiences of all ages, each have an ethical or moral lesson to teach. Odds
Bodkin’s storytelling is reminiscent of the Jesuit belief in higher education.
In Peter-Hans Kolvenbach’s article, “The Service of Faith and the Promotion
of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education,” he stresses the importance
of embracing new ways of learning. He writes “For four hundred years, Jesuit
education has sought to educate ‘the whole person’ intellectually and
professionally, psychologically, morally and spiritually,” (Kolvenbach 34).
Many people struggle with illiteracy and would benefit from hearing literature
told in the way Odds Bodkin does.
Living in Baltimore, there is a quite obvious divide in
social classes. One might even go as far to say that there is a wall between
the classes. Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall,” alludes to how people tend to
put up walls between neighbors not because of disagreements or hatred, but
because of habit and conformity. The statement in the poem, "good fenced
make good neighbors," is completely false. No fences makes good
neighbors. Jesuits value caring for the poor and less fortunate. It is
hard to help those people when there is a wall separating the different groups
of people. Odds Bodkin is one person who can educate hundreds or even thousands
of people with just his voice. People do not need to know how to read in order
to understand the classic story of The Odyssey.
The scene in Jill McDonough’s “Accident, Mass. Ave.” is one
I have seen countless times, whether it be in a movie, a television show, a
book or real life. It is one of those situations where people know what to do
because they have seen it before. When someone gets in an accident, they know
that the expected scene is the one McDonough describes in her poem. People
automatically hate and berate the person they collided with. But after the
expected yelling and criticizing, they embraced and comforted one another
because they knew how scary the experience was. They realized that nothing was
damaged and they were yelling for no reason. They were building a wall between
them for no reason. The way McDonough stepped back and reassessed the situation
is an example of how a Jesuit would respond. By hugging the woman and asking if
she was alright.
People are born with the thirst for knowledge. To be denied
knowledge, is to be denied everything. Frances E. W. Harper’s poem, “Learning
to Read,” paints the picture of a slave who is denied the right to learn how to
read. It shows how people who are denied something they so badly want, will do
everything in their power to learn how to do that thing. Many centuries ago,
when they only people who knew how to read were scholars, people learned and
heard stories though storytellers like Odds Bodkin. This was many centuries ago
but just a few decades ago, and even today, people are denied the ability to
read. The Jesuit belief in higher education would promote people like Odds
Bodkin to go out into the world and enlighten those who are less fortunate by
sharing his talent and love of storytelling with them.
It is interesting to note that when I was
reading the poems I was imagining the scenes in my head because of the
descriptive language the writers used. With Odds Bodkin, there were no words
for me to look at, only words I could hear. But both instances, visual and
audible, I was able to paint a picture in my mind. Imagery is such an important
aspect to fully comprehending stories. Odds Bodkin’s performance and the four
readings opened my eyes to a new way of learning and helping underprivileged
people right here in Baltimore. I could use my knowledge of literature and
storytelling skills to enlighten those who may not know how to read or write.
It is due time that we start building bridges and tearing down walls. Bridges
makes good neighbors.
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