We started by Alex leading a game where the whole class formed a big clump and one person stood out separately. The one person wielded an imaginary sword that they could use against the clump. If the sword master slices with their "air sword" above the clump's head, the clump must duck down. If the sword master slices with their air sword at the clump's feet, the clump must jump. If the sword master slices to the left, the clump must move to the right. If the sword comes down on the right, the clump must move to the left. If the sword comes down in the middle, the clump must divide. And if the sword is jabbed straight into the gut of the clump, the clump must jump backwards.
I don't know how much intense discussion or emotion I got out of this exercise, mostly because I was towards the back most of the time, but someone mentioned that when people who had never been on the "front-lines" got there, they panicked because they had never been trained for that and had never prepared for that pressure and that vulnerability. I thought that was an interesting insight. I also found myself wondering why none of the sword masters parted the clump and attacked an individual sector to make the people more manageable. I'd like to see that happen--I think there could be some more intense discussion. Maybe there's a stronger objective we could add for the sword master?
Then we took a break and decided on presentation days. I'll be assembling most of my presentation over the three-day weekend so that I can have a freer and more relaxed schedule during the coming month. Ideally, I'll be ahead in all of my classes and on all of my projects after this weekend. This may, however, require a divine miracle. Or a few Redbull energy drinks.
To conclude class, we played one more game. From a position of standing in a circle, we were asked to arbitrarily choose one person to be afraid of. Then we moved about the space, trying to stay distant from that person. Our natural progression moved us into a circle, a kind of carousel of fear. And then there was running. At the height of this, we were asked to find a protector who would keep us safe from our fear-person. The goal was to still stay as far away from your hunter and to get your protector between you and your hunter. This polarized the class--half were at the built-in proscenium, and half were back at the aisle between the risers.
We discovered that fear can do some pretty incredible things. When the running started, we all felt as though we had no choice but to continue it. We all felt panicked and all felt the paranoia of thinking that our hunter knew that we had chosen them as our hunter, even though none of them later professed that knowledge. We became very single-minded and selfish.
For my protector, I chose Kelsey, who was on the same side of the room as my hunter (Melissa). I had to decide wether to stay away from Melissa or join Kelsey. I joined Kelsey because I suppose I'd rather be close to a protector in an unsafe land than alone in a safe one. There might be some only-childness in there somewhere. There was a lot of discussion about why we selected the protectors we did and about the difference between running from someone and running to someone. It seems easier to run TO someone. There's more power. There's more objective and mission. There is something to be accomplished--a goal to be attained. Essentially, there's a reward waiting for you if you succeed, for not only would you survive--you would be SAFE.
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