{"id":941,"date":"2020-02-18T01:59:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T01:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/?p=941"},"modified":"2020-02-18T01:59:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T01:59:32","slug":"buzz-alexander-a-legacy-through-social-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/2020\/02\/18\/buzz-alexander-a-legacy-through-social-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzz Alexander: A Legacy Through Social Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buzz Alexander was a professor of English at the University of Michigan, the founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project<\/a> (PCAP) through the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and, as a foundation to it all, a firm believer in the power of social justice. From teaching classes on human cruelty (the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, etc.) to working with prisoners in the state of Michigan\u2019s prison system to give them the chance to express their humanity and creativity, Alexander was able to start a movement. We\u2019re still feeling the ripples of that movement even after his passing on September 19th<\/sup>, 2019.<\/p>\n

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I sat down with Alexander\u2019s widow, Janie Paul, to discuss his work and his influences on people both inside and outside of PCAP. Paul was a professor at the Stamps School of Art and Design for several years and contributed to PCAP by taking her students to do art workshops in prisons, so she has quite a bit of her own hands-on experience in PCAP. Paul was able to paint a picture of Alexander that clearly demonstrated his passion for justice and creativity as well as his respect for all individuals, ranging from students to incarcerated peoples. More than anything, I could tell from the way Paul spoke about Alexander that he had a profound impact on both the people he worked with and the work itself. It was Paul who described to me the ongoing effects of Alexander\u2019s social movement.<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2019s interest in social justice started early. His influences included Paolo Freire, specifically Freire\u2019s book Pedagogy of the Oppressed<\/em>, and Myles Horton, the author of The Long Haul: An Autobiography<\/em> and the founder of the Highlander Research and Education Center, a center in Tennessee that trained some of the earliest American civil rights leaders. \u201cIf you look into what [Freire and Horton\u2019s] philosophies were, it\u2019s a good background for where Buzz came from,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n

In particular, Alexander was interested in using Freire\u2019s concept of critical pedagogy in his teaching. Critical pedagogy is a method of teaching where the learning is centered in the student rather than the teacher. The way Alexander and Paul taught involved having students read texts and ask questions. They would act as facilitators for the questions, encouraging critical dialogue among the students to find answers for one another. For example, during class discussions in Alexander\u2019s classes about incarceration, Paul said that Alexander \u201cwould make the students struggle to get at the meaning of what they were reading and learning. He didn\u2019t [just] tell people anything. He facilitated the dialogue.\u201d In other words, Alexander encouraged people to ask questions, but rather than give straight answers, he would provide the means for other students to be able to respond.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Alexander got his start in theater in Peru while he was on sabbatical. There, he worked with street theater groups, performing work centered on health education in peasant communities. \u201cHe really saw the benefits of theater in terms of education and reaching people,\u201d Paul said. Alexander\u2019s experiences with street theater would later translate into his work with PCAP. Before that, upon his return to Ann Arbor, Alexander formed the Pinkertons, a locally-based street theater group that no longer operates. Though the Pinkertons was in action before Paul met Alexander, she mentioned one story where the State Theater had an issue regarding labor practices with the projectionists. The Pinkertons responded by performing right outside of the State Theater. \u201cThey eventually did some good,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n

Although Alexander may not have been the best actor, he didn\u2019t need to be. His real talent lay in his facilitation of theater workshops, which allowed the participants to present their stories and create work that was meaningful to them. This funneled from Alexander\u2019s teaching, which so many students have spoken about, evident in the many obituaries available following his passing.<\/p>\n

During Alexander\u2019s education, his fascination always lay in the novel. He first pursued an English degree at Harvard, then obtained a degree in Classics from Cambridge, and finally returned to Harvard for a Ph.D. Studying the novel was an apt choice because Alexander always loved good writing. That showed in his work with PCAP; according to Paul, all of Alexander\u2019s work in the program \u201chad to do with narrative.\u201d Connecting and at the core of everything Alexander did was that interest in narrative.<\/p>\n

All of the theater work in PCAP is improvised and based on a structure the participants, as a group, have established. They start out with theater games and exercises, then move on to character interviews, and finally = develop a play that comes from everyone\u2019s personal experiences or fantasies. As a result, some of the work is funny, while other parts are serious.<\/p>\n

The PCAP environment sounds, more than anything, collaborative and engaging. It\u2019s always so interesting to see what other people want to contribute because it\u2019s often things you don\u2019t expect them to say, or bring up, or present. It\u2019s fascinating to see how other people\u2019s brains work in that way.<\/p>\n

Paul told me that most of the people running the theater workshops aren\u2019t trained actors, and some even have no theater experience at all. That\u2019s because formal theater training is unnecessary. Learning how to work with incarcerated people and bring out their stories is more important. That\u2019s also not something you need to have prior involvement in to join PCAP. Even trained actors will need to learn the tools necessary to work in the program. In that way, everyone\u2019s starting on a level playing field.<\/p>\n

When Alexander started PCAP in the 1990s, \u201cI don\u2019t think he knew how huge it was going to get,\u201d said Paul. \u201cBut I think in his essence he was a political organizer and he wanted to create a movement, which he did. I don\u2019t think he would\u2019ve said when he [started PCAP] that he wanted to create a movement, but what he did, the way he taught, made students so invested in social change that there are now over 350 PCAP associates. Most of them are [still] doing social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PCAP associates Paul mentioned are alumni of the program. The fact that so many of them are still involved in social justice speaks volumes about Alexander\u2019s ability to mobilize his students toward change. He had a way of getting people to \u201csituate themselves in relationship to whatever issue they were dealing with,\u201d Paul said. This manifested in him getting people to see evil in all forms, even before PCAP, especially in the classes he taught. Paul stated that Alexander had people examine the worst problems perpetuated by humanity, and his teaching enabled people to situate themselves in relation to those problems.<\/p>\n

This approach allowed students to learn about incarceration in a way that felt much more real than simply reading about it. It wasn’t just theoretical, a situation where a student would memorize statistics and keep a mental distance from the topic. Instead, it became real, and students would experience significant struggles, asking themselves, \u201cWhat am I going to do about this? How do I relate to this problem?\u201d That\u2019s why the community of PCAP associates has grown so large. It\u2019s impossible to walk away once you\u2019ve become a part of it.<\/p>\n

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As much as Alexander and PCAP might have had an impact on the inmates in the program, then, the students were also deeply affected. More than two hundred people from across the country attended his memorial on January 19th<\/sup>, 2020. Many of those people were PCAP associates, and she learned that many of them, even after their graduation from the program, were continuing to participate in what she called \u201cgreat change work.\u201d Alexander\u2019s critical pedagogy led to that legacy.<\/p>\n

Adding on to that legacy as part of Alexander\u2019s organizing effort is a PCAP alumni associates\u2019 newsletter to keep in contact with people who\u2019ve been involved in PCAP as well as send out regular updates. He would reach out to various associates to find out what they were up to and fill the newsletter with such updates, maintaining a tight network. Paul described the group as \u201cvery solid,\u201d even telling me they organized a gathering to meet up during the week of Alexander\u2019s memorial service. PCAP was a very social community under Alexander; potluck dinners, celebration, and group reflection were regular occurrences. Even now, the community continues to support one another and find ways to continue the kind of work Alexander was all about. This all is what Paul means when she calls Alexander\u2019s legacy a movement.<\/p>\n

Each year, PCAP puts on an exhibition of work produced by Michigan prisoners, which has, according to Paul, \u201caffected thousands of people in the Michigan Department of Corrections.\u201d The work in the exhibition is drawn from a narrowed-down pool of about 28 prisoner artists. The exhibition, which was something Alexander and Paul started together, has positively affected the incarcerated people and even, as Paul asserted, the Michigan Corrections Department. She amended that the changes installed in the Corrections Department as a result of the exhibition haven\u2019t occurred on a major level like affecting policy, but certainly on a more base level, people in the system have become more aware of how important art is as a humanizing device. This year marks the twenty-fifth installation of the exhibition. The PCAP 25th <\/sup>Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners<\/a> will be held in the Duderstadt Center March 18th<\/sup>-April 1st<\/sup>. The public is invited to see all the work selected for viewing, with speakers \u2013 including a keynote talk to be delivered by Paul this year \u2013 giving speeches throughout those dates.<\/p>\n

The incarcerated people also make up an important part of Alexander\u2019s legacy. PCAP has a linkage program to keep in contact with all the people involved, since a large part of the program is fostering community with the people inside. Not only are there workshops with incarcerated people, then, but they\u2019re also invited to speak at the exhibition as well as keep in touch with the people they\u2019ve worked with.<\/p>\n

As influential as it was, PCAP was far from the only significant aspect of Alexander\u2019s life. He also loved and wrote poetry. In his late twenties, he did a Fulbright in Italy, where he became fluent enough in Italian to work as the poet Roberto Synazi\u2019s English translator. Alexander was also interested in and taught film. His book Film on the Left<\/em> was about the radical American documentary filmmakers of the 1930s. Alexander\u2019s knowledge spanned a wide array of genres, but the themes of social justice and narrative can be seen running through each of his pursuits.<\/p>\n

Alexander accomplished a lot in his life. From teaching to PCAP workshops to more personal activities like writing poetry, he was certainly multifaceted. After talking to Paul, though, I believe that one of the most important of Alexander\u2019s accomplishments, and perhaps one not immediately obvious on the surface, has been his ability to affect people and create positive change. It\u2019s truly an impressive soul who can inspire a movement with their life\u2019s work. And that\u2019s exactly what Alexander did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buzz Alexander was a professor of English at the University of Michigan, the founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) through the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and, as a foundation to it all, a firm believer in the power of social justice. From teaching classes on human cruelty (the Holocaust, the Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[114,116,115,117,103,51,58],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews-profiles","tag-buzz-alexander","tag-janie-paul","tag-pcap","tag-pinkertons","tag-public-writing","tag-umich","tag-university-of-michigan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}