I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
But thank goodness for that!
As part of my education degree at Winona State, I had to take an Oral Interpretation class. There were two professors who taught it, but I didn’t care about that. I took one that fit neatly in my schedule and, as a result, met Vivian Fusillo.
I have been thinking often of that class and its marvelous professor. My alumni news highlighted her recently-published memoirs, and I just had to get a copy. As I read it, I have been able to discover a woman who has lived a charmed life and had more unique experiences than one could expect from a person who grew up in a town of 100 people in rural Kansas.
Vivian is 95 years old and, according to some old college friends, in failing health. I did some math, knowing that I took her class about 30 years ago, and marvel at her vivaciousness when I first met her. Add to that the fact that she continued directing plays at Winona State well into the 21st century, and it’s no wonder that the main stage in the performing arts center is named after her!
I still remember the first day of Oral Interpretation. Vivian walked into the classroom and had on a necklace with various animals carved out of small pieces of wood. A giraffe stuck out to me for some reason. She handed out a syllabus and talked about what we would be doing: learning to use our voices. It seemed like a strange concept at the
time, but using our voices to read, especially those of us who were elementary or English teachers, seemed so straightforward.
Oh no, not so! Every class period, we had to do a reading in front of the class. Vivian would direct us to redo something until we got it right. For some people, that meant they spent a very long time in front of the class; they just couldn’t grasp how to change their inflection and cadence. I felt particularly bad for one young lady who always seemed to be the focus of Vivian’s ire. This girl and I had a racquetball class together as well, and that future phy-ed teacher bemoaned the fact that she had to take Oral Interp.
I met a good friend in that class, Rachael. For our first exercise, we had to bring in an object that represented us as a person and explain it to the class. I brought in a thumbtack, stating that even though I was a small thing in the world, if you ran into me, you would notice. I happened to be standing in the lunch line at the cafeteria the next day when I heard, “Thumbtack!” Rachael didn’t remember my name, but she remembered my object, and a friendship was born. (Her object, by the way, was a Mickey Mouse clock.)
Rachael was a theater major, and she was destined to have much more time with Vivian Fusillo than I did with my one class. To this day, Rachael will go to Winona to visit with her former mentor and is cited in Vivian’s book with applause for this great woman. There are many, many people who will tell you Vivian was a major influence in their lives.
I am one of them. One quarter, one class, but that made all the difference in who I am today. I am a better teacher because I can engage my students with my reading prowess, thanks to Vivian. I announce sporting events because I’m not afraid to use my voice in different ways, thanks to Vivian. If you pay attention, my announcing voice is different from my teaching voice is different from my conversational voice, thanks to Vivian. In fact, I could hardly get out a whisper one year, thanks to a nasty cold, but I could still announce because Vivian had taught me to use different muscles for different voices.
But the biggest muscle she unlocked was one of creativity. This woman, who was the basis for the character played by Ann-Margret in the Grumpy Old Men movie series, forced us to go outside our comfort
zone. She made us come up with ideas we never could have dreamed of before. She pushed us to be unique.
Creativity is what I hope to inspire in my own students. In two years with me, they will do many creative writing projects. They will blog frequently, coming up with cool discussions and ideas. They will do the hardest type of writing: coming up with something from nothing.
When I started class with her, I never would have imagined my final project in that class. We had to have a theme and 3-4 different readings revolving around that theme. I chose Spider-Man. I read from a comic book, an essay, and a poem. I also used the piano in the room to plunk out the theme song from the cartoon series. By the end, I was leaping from desktop to desktop with a mask on my face, proclaiming that I was Spider-Man!
I wish I had video of that. Not just because it would be fun to watch myself at 20 again, but because I’m sure I’d get a look at Vivian’s face one more time, beaming at her magical ability to inspire creativity in others, and sending another success story on their way.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is folkmoot, which means a general assembly of the people of a town, as in, “The folkmoot had gathered to honor the legacy of Vivian Fusillo and her contributions to the creative community of Winona.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!