Puppets and Puppeteers

Case study for Participatory Development: As I've seen in my experience (with our student council and also with "taking stewardship" of the hay fields at home), we are set up in a relatively superficial system of "student leadership" or "being our own boss"--there is ALWAYS someone with higher authority playing a prominent puppeteer. It's a bad relationship because the kids know it, so they loosen their grip on whatever influence they hold and become lazy--relying on that puppeteer to jerk their arm where it needs to go. And the puppeteer gets so set on the "system" of strings attached that they lose sight of the fact that they are only supposed to hold the limbs of the puppet upright and watch them move themselves. If a puppet becomes less aware of the strings attached to it and more aware of its ability to direct its own movements, it will move more (that just seems natural in my mind--I even picture the puppet growing muscular from use. And as the puppeteer twitches the strings less, they will find that their shoulders ache less from holding the system up and they will be able to enjoy the smoother, freer movements of their show.”

Who knows, the puppets might even come up with a brand new dance that makes the audience go wild and the show will be sold out for weeks!