Poetry, and the Beginning of Voices in Wartime

Interview Questions for Andy Himes from Joy Helmer, Peace By Design Blog
5/8/08

Q: Was there a particular event that that fueled your desire to make the film Voices in Wartime? Do you have a personal experience of or reaction to war that made this film something that had to get made—and by you? What fueled the passion in the film, the anthology and the project, to create a less violent world and to heal the trauma caused by war?

A: In the beginning of 2003, as the Bush administration was on the verge of invading Iraq, I was really on the verge of despair. I had protested the war and seen millions of others oppose this bizarre and misguided invasion, but it appeared to be going ahead no matter what was said or done to oppose it. I was one of the founders of an international movement called Poets Against the War, which gathered and published over 13,000 poems written in a global outcry against the impending war. But somehow the war proceeded, and Bush carried many Americans with him, including many of my own conservative and Republican relatives. I decided that we need a different language to help Americans understand the terrible cost and traumatic experience of war. We need to get beyond political debate and into the human experience of war. Only then can we begin to undertake the work of peace.

Q: Is there something about poetry in particular, and literature, that allows the experience of war, to shine through? If so, what do you think that is? The economy of words? Can you name one or more war/peace poems that have had a powerful effect on you personally?

A: We need the language of poetry and art to talk about matters of the human heart. In political debate, you can use fraud and lies, twisted statistics and warped logic, and you can still be very successful. You can use fear and false accusations as weapons. But I don’t think it’s possible to create a great poem unless you are telling the most powerful truth you know. As Wilfred Owen, the British soldier-poet in the Great War, said, “True poets must be truthful.” Poetry tells the personal and human story of war with deep emotion and powerful metaphor.

Q: What is your personal vision of how the wounds of war can be healed? What is a “culture of peace” and how is that created?

A: It’s not only war’s wounds we need to heal. It’s also the violence in our communities in our families, and in ourselves. Creating a culture of peace requires creating a space for peace within ourselves and a capacity to show kindness toward others. The first step, as the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron has said, is to notice those times when we are reacting with fear and anger toward others, and when we are hardening our hearts toward each other. And then we have to intentionally soften those places in our hearts. Then we can take steps toward peace. Our Education Project is designed to help young people develop awareness of their own perspective so they can understand that other people have different perspectives and different stories. That perspective awareness is basic for a true global understanding that can help us create a more peaceful world.

Q: Where is Voices in Wartime going in the future now that you have a film, an anthology, a curriculum, a blog and a website? What’s next?

A: Our great challenge now is to make these resources widely available to many thousands of teachers and millions of students across the country. We are now completing the project of publishing our curricula on the Internet for free access by students, teachers, parents, and educational activists. You can go to our new web site to see the resources available – http://curricula.voicesinwartime.org. We are working with many other organizations and individuals to build a movement that can spark compassionate action through global education.

Q: I understand that you have not served in the armed services. What is your relationship with veterans? How do they respond to the Voices in Wartime project? Are they supportive of it?

A: Veterans are witnesses to war, and are also victims of war, so I don’t think any group of people can match veterans for a heartfelt desire to create a peaceful world and heal the terrible wounds of war. Vets are going into many classrooms now to tell their stories and help young people understand what that experience is all about. Although I have never been a soldier, I have discovered that virtually every single person in our society has been affected by war. Almost everyone has a personal story or a family member who has been damaged by war. We all live with the legacy of war’s trauma, and we are affected by war in ways most of us are not even conscious of.

This Little Light of Mine

When I was five years old, I appeared with my younger brother John and two older sisters Lloys Jean and Faith in "Bringing in the Sheaves," a film produced by my granddad, John R. Rice, and designed to be shown in church basements across America in order to bring lost souls to Jesus and keep people out of the flames of eternal Hell. The song we sang was "This Little Light of Mine." I'm still interested in shining a light in the darkness, but I think of that darkness metophorically nowadays -- a light in the darkness of poverty, injustice, and ignorance, a light to bring a sense of hopeful possibilities to a black night of despair, desperation, and selfishness.





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Monologue Interview - Capitol Hill Arts Center

CHAC: You’ve done some amazing work creating the Voices in Wartime Education Project. What is the role of the Project in your artistic endeavors, and how has this effort inspired and led you to create Revival?

ANDREW HIMES: The Voices in Wartime documentary in 2004 was all about reconnecting with my own very conservative family. I was opposed to the Iraq war, and I was looking for a language Americans could use to have a deep conversation about the trauma and tragedy of war. I wanted to get away from the angry partisan political debates so many have been mired in during the Bush years. So the poetry in Voices in Wartime led me right back to my own family story and my relationship with my fundamentalist granddad, John R. Rice. My big question is how we can move from rage, despair, and confrontation to compassion and hope.

CHAC: How has Revival helped define your personal evolution from an evangelical household, through spiritual awakening and artistic composition?

ANDREW HIMES: Most of my life, at least since I was a teenager, I have been locked into hating this set of words and phrases – “revival,” “soul-winning,” “born again,” and “kingdom of heaven” – because they represented narrowness, dogmatism, and arrogance. With Revival, I want to reclaim these words. I’m certainly in favor of revival, but not the sort my granddad would have recognized. We need to reclaim our souls from a deadening consumerism, and remember how compassion knits together our human community, and work to end poverty, and toil for justice. That’s the work of Revival.

CHAC: Who and what are some of your mentors, inspirations, and leaders – in the past and present?

ANDREW HIMES: As a kid, my biggest heroes were Howdy Doody and my granddad. When I grew up and was in my 20s, I was way into Malcolm X and Mao Zedong. Nowadays, as much as anyone, I guess, a friend and mentor who inspires me is Parker Palmer, a Quaker teacher, writer, and philosopher. I love an image Parker has used since 9/11 in talking about “the politics of the broken-hearted.” When our hearts are broken by some tragedy, says Parker, we can respond in one of two ways. One image is of a heart broken into a thousand jagged shards that become shrapnel aimed at the source of our pain. Another is of a heart broken open to receive new wisdom, express new empathy, reach out to others in new ways. Yeah.

CHAC: In composing Revival, and addressing racism and social ills in America, what have been your greatest challenges so far?

ANDREW HIMES: To tell the truth, as far as I am able, no matter where it takes me, and even when the truth reveals what a total and incomprehensible idiot I am. To express compassion and generosity of spirit toward people who terrify, annoy, offend, and crazify me. To learn how to stop preaching at others and just try to tell a damn good story.

CHAC: Presidential Candidate Barack Obama gave a speech on race in Philadelphia the same evening you presented Revival at the Hugo House. Any thoughts on Barack’s own “revival”?

ANDREW HIMES: I think Barack is getting at the same themes that motivate me. We are born as imperfect beings into flawed families in a racially charged culture. We have to own and acknowledge our inheritance. Race and racism, racial oppression and violence have shaped and deformed our history and culture. We can only heal and rebuild when we acknowledge that flawed legacy and talk about the forbidden topic of race openly and honestly.

CHAC: We can’t wait to have you here in May. Give us a hint as to what we can look forward to – How was the show at Hugo House?

ANDREW HIMES: At Hugo House we had a great crowd and a great start, but we were still in development. The show at CHAC will be sharper, some of the rough edges smoothed out and the funniest and most dramatic places highlighted. A major difference is that I’m now working with Tim Hyland, a fabulous director!

CHAC: What’s the next stop for Revival?

ANDREW HIMES: It’s either Oprah, or the Paris Metro subway system, or a community theater in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I haven’t decided yet.

CHAC: If the audience can walk away with one message in their minds after seeing Revival, what would that be?“

ANDREW HIMES: Oh, so THOSE are the actual words to the Internationale!” Or, “I never knew Billy Graham was a communist.” Or, “I always thought a Sword of the Lord was a garden utensil in a P. G. Wodehouse novel.” Or, “Exactly why did this fool think he could overthrow the bourgeoisie?”

My monologue, and the painful topic of race

I have been developing an extemporaneous monologue based on my memoir Revival, and last Tuesday I first performed my monologue in public, at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, on the same day Barack Obama gave his extraordinary Philadelphia speech about race. Barack said that while he condemned and rejected certain views of his black pastor, he could no more disown Rev. Wright than he could his black community or his white grandmother who had expressed her own bigotry. My parallel message is that while I reject and condemn the racist views of my ancestors, I also acknowledge my love for my granddad; I share his legacy and can only build my own life and explore new pathways on the heritage I have from my family and my community. I must answer Obama’s call for an honest and open discussion about race in America with my own truth and my own compassion.

I am committed to telling the truth about the evil of racist hatred and violence I witnessed as a child in the 60s in Tennessee, including the racist actions of members of my own segregated church in the white community, exactly because telling the truth can help create social change. The problem is that race and racism have not disappeared and in fact drive our current politics. We must talk about race if we are to understand it and transcend it. And we must tell the truth, to ourselves and our children.

I don’t expect anyone to bring their children or grandchildren to hear me or to read my book to them as a bedtime story. I’ve intended Revival for adults. But even children – maybe even especially children – need to know the truth about the terrible evil that can be done by human beings in the name of any number of prejudices and ideologies. Children are our hope for moving beyond using categories like race, religion, language to decide who our friends and enemies are, or who should be a target of our love. And in telling and hearing this truth, we can help our children and ourselves to understand the very meaning of compassion.

As a story-teller and memoirist, I am interested in provoking a response that can help people shift their feelings and expand their consciousness. My largest purpose is to help heal the world in which I live.

Hallelujah!

You are required to stand while watching this video.

HSL

A new friend of mine, Mark Jones, met the Dalai Lama a few years ago, and asked him for his thoughts on how to work for peace. DL said, simply, "People want to be heard, seen, and loved in that order."

This is a profound insight, which Mark refers to as HSL, or "HIZZLE"! The failure or lack of HSL in any relationship can make things go from bad to worse. The feeling by either side in a conflict that they are not heard heard, seen, or loved by the other side can quickly lead to stubborn and violent opposition. For each of us who aspires to be a peacemaker, the challenge we face is how to practice HSL in each and every encounter in our lives: every meeting, every transaction, every interaction, every conversation.

The Art of Hosting - Whidbey Island

After most had gone off to bed, Saturday night, January 26th, 2008 on Whidbey Island, Washington.