I'm having a love-hate relationship with the new Fox series Glee. The premise is that a bunch of high school 'misfits' form a glee club under the auspices of a teacher who is also having problems in his own life. For the first few weeks the show split the kids fairly predictably down the usual televised lines: jocks and cheerleaders, the effeminate boy, the Asian chick, the black girl, and the Jewish girl. Each had their stereotypes firmly in place.
In last night's episode, though, they started to break them down. One of the emerging themes has been what is the best way to help these young adults. As Rachel, the bullied Jewish girl who sees her voice as her ticket to likeability, says to the teacher: "You help everyone else, but you don't know what to do for me." She hits on something vital here. When it comes to all the other kids, their problems are obvious, and are generally eased by giving them a confidence boost. Rachel has confidence already. What she needs from glee club is a social connection with people who will not judge her or mock her for having that confidence.
Talking about teen services, I think it can be easy to overlook the Rachels. They may come into the library and seem to have all the answers already and our focus remains on those teens who are not so confident. But Rachel's development is equally important. This is why it is vital to try, as much as it is possible, to know each teen, whether it is only for a moment or for a longer period, depending on often s/he comes into the library.
Young adults are often made to feel unwelcome. In Glee, the kids are in the club because they don't fit in anywhere else. However, the club is now giving them the confidence to branch out. Kurt, the effeminate boy, has joined the football team and come out to his father. (On a side note, the show's handling of Kurt's coming out story arc was one of the things that brought me around to truly liking the show.) The jock and the cheerleader have opened themselves up to accepting others' differences because of glee club. Likewise, the library can serve as a place for young adults to hang out with peers who they normally wouldn't. I see this as an inspirational start.
The important thing is to first provide a space where they are welcome.
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this post was a pretty interesting take on the show glee which i actually saw one episode off, shockingly because I don't watch tv ever.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point about Rachel (even though she's kind of a jerk) not getting the attention she deserves because she's talented and has it all figured out- or so it seems. Maybe she should join the football team too.
It's hard to make sure you're doing everything you can for all the people you serve. Really hard -- because it's so tricky to be objective and honest with yourself about how good of a job you're doing (uh, or not doing, as the case may be...). Beth had some thoughts about overlooked teens, too: http://beths777blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-2-boundaries-and-stereotypes.html
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