OH! Suzanna

Ken Curtis has been the bane of my existence for over 40 years now.

Not really, but as a teenager I thought he would be.

Who is Ken Curtis you ask?

Doesn't look familiar?

How about now? No? HHHHHMMMMM....

Not there either huh?

Hmmm, he was an accomplished swing band singer, a lead vocalist to many country and western bands; he was a respected entertainer.

So what did I have against Ken Curtis?

He was a really really really good actor. That's what.

He made people of my heritage seem to be a joke. Well, HE did not really- the producers of a very popular t.v. show did. His skill at pulling off his craft?  Well, THAT'S what clinched the stereotype of the country folk come to town persona for the last 50+ years.

Gunsmoke. Festus Haggen. 

Yep, even I have made the joke that someone was just too .....um, UNCULTURED and called them Festus.

uh, huh...

The first time I connected Ken Curtis to some other characters in movies and t.v. series from the past I just about fell off my chair.

Ok, so what has me all "riled up like a polecat in a possum trap" - as Festus would say?

Last night I was watching an old episode of Gunsmoke on the Western Channel (yes I do that from time to time.) I sat through the entire episode and not once did I NOT understand a thing Festus said. AND then I thought about all the other current shows on t.v. that are portraying country people's lives right now. REDNECK is the term that comes to mind. HILLBILLY.

Swam People
Moonshiners
Ax Men
Redneck Intervention
My Big Redneck Wedding

I could go on and on.

I have noticed that there are subtitles provided with these shows at times.....

I am embarrassed to say I can understand even the most deep running Cajun accent they can dig up. Well, I am not embarrassed any more. I have come to understand that it is because I have had the opportunity to experience these cultures. All over the U.S., not just here in Indiana. Not just in the south. ALL OVER.

It is not just the speech that is the point here. It is the idea that a certain type of person will have backward ways and antiquated thoughts and ideas without even knowing them. The practice of labeling a person or group of people. Yes to a certain degree it is good that we do this. It is what gives us a sense of self and belonging to something bigger than us. It gives a very primal sense of clan, of family. That is needed. But to look upon another group and ASSUME you know the ins and outs of who they are, how they feel, and what they do is just nonsense.

Stereotypes hurt because there is a portion of truth in them that we do not want to look at. It is hard for folks to look at themselves and see what others see. But what if what other folks see is not true? What if what they are seeing is made up?

Here I will use Festus' own words against him:

{ Festus one day was contemplating learning to read, but had one question. So he asked his good friend Doc Adams:

"Supposin' I was to go to work and learn how to... to read writin'. Well, how'd I know the feller that... who wrote the writin' was writin' the writin' right? See it could be that he wrote the writin' all wrong. Here I'd be just a readin' wrong writin', don't ya see? You probably been doing it your whole life, just a readin' wrong writin' And not even knowin' it." }
http://octaviasmith12.blogspot.com/2009/08/thoughts-to-ponder-from-festus-haggen.html

What if we are reading the pictures wrong too, Festus? What if the writing, the pictures, the words coming from people's mouths are wrong? What if we are believing so many things wrong we don't even know what our country really is like any more?
How does this apply to the Whitewater Valley area?

There are many people who have preconceived notions about what this area looks like, what the people act like, what there is to do here, how life is lived here, what education is like here. There is a whole bunch of wrong writin' going on.

THAT'S what made me mad at Ken Curtis for so long. He was so good at what he did and it seemed so harmless.

Yes, I know he is not the cause of prejudiced ideas and behaviors.

To infer that would be just silly.

I used Ken Curtis and his work as an example. We get sucked into believing things that are not true. Or are only partially true.

EVEN about ourselves.

So what are we to do about it?

I suggest the best thing to do is get off the computer chair.
Turn the computer off, go out the front door and just start finding people to talk to.
Interact with other people. People different than you or people that work and live and play differently than you do.
Mix and mingle.
Try new things, but most importantly -
Look a person in the eye when they talk to you - or when you talk to them.
Shut up and listen. Listen to someone else for a change. A real live voice, not the letters on a screen of some one's e-thoughts!
Think about how you would feel if you were them.
Go out there and experience the world and people.

When someone becomes flesh and bone in your line of vision there is something very special that starts to happen - to YOU.

You become more human. 

More emotional and more messy. Because that is what it means to be human, That is the human condition.

You begin to see that there are similarities and differences in every person of every relationship that comes your way in life.

You want to know how your town can be made better? YOU make YOU better. Go out there and make you better in the town or community you want improved. That is it. It will not happen over night, it won't be easy. It won't even save the world, but if it can make things a little bit more real, then it will make things a little better.

Believe me it will.

-Suzanna