ART SKOOL DAMAGE : Christian Montone: Checking In

Quietly and in small increments, the days lengthen.

A weeks-long deep freeze is starting to subside.

Hello Folks. It’s Monday the 9th of February and I’m at work, helping students with their projects. Last night’s Bad Bunny performance is on everyone’s mind. My high school art students keep asking me how I felt about it and have been sharing their perspectives. Some kids are watching it on their phones for the first time or rewatching it. A few kids thought it was “mid” (and I definitely disagree as there was nothing “mid” about that Halftime Show) but what’s interesting is for the most part, kids who loved it or are even perplexed by it keep going back to rewatch key moments so they can discuss them or understand what they meant. They’re willing to look at it cinematically, which is very encouraging and shows a lot of intelligence on their part. Two different students separately said “People could study this like a movie.” Another said “This was Broadway at The Super Bowl.” Even students who couldn’t understand the lyrics seemed to understand the overall message (how could you not?) and those that have said this to me have reacted to it very positively. One kid said “It was all about unity and diversity and I loved that.” I keep telling them this: “What you just witnessed was a cultural reset. You may not know it now, but later you’ll realize that last night was one of those moments in pop culture history akin to Elvis or The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.” Yes, I told them to look those moments up and have been giving them cultural context. I’m still shaken up (in the best way) by Bad Bunny handing the Grammy to the child representing his younger self. The kids clocked that too and they all seemed to appreciate the message on the screens which read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” Guess what, folks… The kids are alright and I’m beginning to think we’re all gonna be okay. I, for one, have NOT been this hopeful in a long time. Thank you, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. We ALL needed that. Congratulations on a truly historic performance.