The Playback that Almost Wasn't

Last Thursday, March 11, I attended the Playback at the Douglas Elementary Head Start Program. Although twenty people had signed up, only two were in attendance. The Head Start staff got on the phones and before the PBers could call it quits, the room filled with people. One woman, Lily, a grandmother, explained that she was watching her soap opera when she got a call. Not one to let the school down, she turned off the TV and came on over. That seemed to be the general feeling of everyone in the room--not wanting to let the school down.

Personally, I was really excited to see the show. I really enjoyed the public performance I attended in February and was really curious about how PB worked in a non-profit setting. When everyone took the stage and started introducing themselves, a theme quickly emerged: parenting.

Uh-oh. I felt myself get hot and tears tried to squeeze out of my eyes. I was in the middle of one of the hardest parenting weeks of my life and I didn't think I could handle an intense Playback on parenting. But I was committed to witness so I held back the tears.

In originally agreeing to witness, I was glad that I had an excuse to opt out of the audience participation element of PB. Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary (including this write up) I don't like to draw attention to myself. However, I SO wanted to be a part of this audience. I had things to say! I needed to see them played back so I could laugh instead of cry!!

Enough about me...

The audience, which was composed of parents and staffers and kids, was reserved. I think the fact that they all kind of knew each other added to their shyness. That and the fact that they didn't really know what they had just gotten roped into. Virginia assured everyone that the show would be fun and wouldn't hurt.

Darrell said parenting was rough.

Lily said she had 4 kids, 6 grandkids, and 1 adopted son and that she enjoyed them all, even though they were worrisome at times.

Carmen, who cried as she spoke, said Head Start helped her grow as a parent.

Karen said everything she did as a kid was coming back to her thanks to her 5 year old daughter.

Tisha said she felt like she was running all of the time.

Latrice said she was only an aunt, but her niece called her mama. (And she liked it.)

Once the audience was warmed up, Virginia instructed everyone to do the Pairs exercise.

Carmen said she didn't know whether to punish her kids or laugh at them.

Lily wondered if she'd done the wrong thing adopting a boy who could not clean his room.

Louis said he couldn't keep up with everyone's birthday wants and wishes.

Latasha said she was tired of trying to get her son to eat good food.

There were a lot of kids in the audience and Virginia asked if someone wanted to participate. A young girl named Maya shyly raised her hand, although you could tell by everyone's audible approval, she was not shy at all. Maya said, "I always have to wait on my little sister." Before the words were out of her mouth, her mom added, "But you enjoy helping out, right?"

Oh man, that got me. I wanted to hear what every kid in the room had to say!

It was getting late though, so Virginia moved onto the longer stories. Latrice told us how she always thought she'd be a star, but now she helps other rising stars. Andre and Ashley told us how hard it was to have 2 jobs, 2 schools, 1 baby, and 1 car.

When Virginia asked what he hoped to have in the future, Andre didn't hesitate. "Health Care," he said.

Everyone in the room laughed, but as Virginia pointed out, it was no laughing matter.

Everyone came together and did their recaps. I think that's my favorite part. Joe (I think) looked out into the distance and said, "Health care? Is that you? Are you out there?"

When the show was over, the PBers got a standing ovation. Everyone around me was smiling and saying nice things to each other. "That really was good!" they said. "I really enjoyed that!"