/ Teacher, Teacher/
By Brad Bradley
Taylor Mali's commitment to his dual profession of teacher and poet is so apparent in his solo performance in /Teacher! Teacher!/ that in a mere 50 minutes he qualifies himself as a new-age prototype of this professional amalgam. His current work no doubt is an outgrowth of his involvement on the original /Def Poetry/ as presented by Russell Simmons on HBO television.
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As the eponymous teacher of his title, Mali explores the implications of Horace's assertion that the task of a poet (and by extension, the teacher) is both to instruct and entertain. He is not beyond recognizing that some of the best lessons lie outside the classroom window, and he is very articulate on what he calls "America's love-hate relationship with the teaching profession." He acknowledges his frequent debt to students for inspiration, including one quite visually amazing segment involving the demonstration of geometric formulae. Another, depicting the illness and unexpected death of one of his students, provides a moving and fascinating lesson in itself.
Acknowledging also the stimulus of the Irish poet Yeats, Mali reminds us that true education is not about filling a bucket, but about lighting a fire. That task he is able to do with stunning conviction, and he did so even for this often jaded yet perpetual student-teacher.
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