In sillier news, the Olympia City Council held their annual retreat last weekend. (We’ll have a full analysis in the next issue.) The silly part wasn’t the event itself, but rather that Councilmember Karen Rogers took to Facebook a few days beforehand, for her first post in months, to voice “concerns” about the event. She wrote:
I just learned from the Olympia city manager that the mayor wants to invite a Japanese traditional dancer to the council’s annual retreat to teach the council the “rebirth” dance. I have some concerns with this, that some in the community might find it offensive. What do you guys think?
Really? A community that celebrates Bon Odori and has a sister city in Japan might be offended by councilmembers learning a Japanese dance? When asked to elaborate, Rogers said:
I have three concerns. The first being that it’s a work retreat and that the community might see this as play (when many in our community are truly struggling). The second is that this could be perceived as having religious connotations. The third is that the previous council members could be offended. It seems dicey to me, especially when the council already has too much to cover in 1.5 days.
Frankly, we feel a touch embarrassed to respond seriously to this, but here goes: First, we don’t begrudge councilmembers a few minutes of fun amidst more than 13 hours of work. As one of Rogers’ friends responded to her, the council is bound to engage in some kind of team-building activity, so why not a dance?
Second, the dance originates in the Buddhist tradition, but anyone who perceives some objectionable religious imposition in this is far too sensitive for human society.
And third, every new council holds some minor ceremony marking the beginning of their term, so why would any previous councilmember be offended? A rebirth ceremony, if it signifies anything beyond mere show, is clearly a genuine attempt to move past any lingering resentments. Granted, it could also be interpreted in a bitter, sarcastic light – but who would take the time to make the circuitous journey of logic to come to the bizarre conclusion that the ceremony is somehow, still, about them?
Oh, look there! Right on cue, a previous councilmember – the defeated Rhenda Strub – chimed in to the Facebook conversation to register her offended-ness:
The mayor want [sic] the Council to have a rebirthing ceremony? What a great way to disparage the service of former Councilmembers like me. How about adding an exorcist?
[Insert your own exorcism joke here. Bonus points if the joke mentions flogging. Double bonus points if you remember why it should mention flogging. Triple bonus points if the flogging involves a blood sacrifice. And you automatically win, and get to be ODA Person of the Year, if you know an exorcist who does pro bono work.]
In case anyone out there has any lingering concerns, we can report that the council actually did learn the dance, most of them looked goofy doing it, no one got hurt, it didn’t cost the taxpayers a single penny (the dance instruction was donated, and none of the staff in attendance got paid beyond their fixed salary), and the council got its work done.
And a video is on our website!
Rogers did not voice any concerns during the dance. She also was the only councilmember who did not participate.
This city and city council face significant challenges, but rogue dancing isn’t one of them. We’ve praised Rogers in the past for promoting greater communication between the council and the public, and social media can be a great forum for communication, but not like this.
“Japanese-dance-gate” was worse than a mere insignificant waste of time. Such crap actually degrades the conversation, stirring up people who are looking for something to complain about, without contributing anything substantive that might better inform either the council or the public. We hope this is not the kind of public “communication” Rogers is planning for the future. Her time would be much better spent focusing on how to inspire her fellow council members to productive public engagement, perhaps by modeling it. ◙
“What a great way to disparage the service of former councilmembers like me”
I think the voters did a good enough job with that.