Blythe Ennis Interview with Devon Steve – 11/10/2024
Blythe Ennis: We are on board. I know that was loud. My goodness. Okay. So first, I’ll start off introducing you. I I am Blythe, and you are Devon Steve. Wow. Hello. Well, we already went through the pleasantries, so I’m glad you’re doing well tonight. I just wanna start off and get a little backstory on just you as a person, just where you grew up, your education, and things like that, where you started.
Devon Steve: So grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and my educational journey kind of interacted with how I grew up. So, through 4th grade, I grew up surrounded by my family in Cleveland. I went to public school. I was in the gifted and talented program at our public school along with, like, the rest of my family.
We all kinda went through the same, like, elementary school like everyone did. Like, my parents did. My aunts did. Like, my siblings; we all went through the same elementary school. And then in 5th grade, I, like my path went a different direction and I went to the American Boy Choir School, so my focus became music. I became very hyper focused in music and the music experience. And so, so I did that for 3 years and came back to Cleveland, went to university school, which was, well, the American Boys School is a boarding school in Princeton, New Jersey. So I was away from my family for the duration of every school year and would visit only during holidays. So I spent 3 years doing that, and we would travel around the country doing concerts, tours, and things like that for, like, months at a time. And it was it was very intense learning and a musical environment. We are a professional children’s chorus, and so we had to do professional things. We were in recording sessions. We were with top orchestras. We did a concert with Paul McCartney at Carnegie Hall.
Like, we did, like it was, like, that sort of, like, intensity of, of a place. And then I came back to Cleveland. I went to an independent, all boys school called University School, where now I’m fortunate enough to be working, as director of music there. So I did that through high school and university school, and then I moved to Minnesota, attended St. Olaf College, where I majored in, music education.
Then I moved to Des Moines, Iowa and was the assistant director of vocal music and theater arts at Des Moines Roosevelt High School, and did that for 5 years. And then in the process of that, got my master’s in conducting, and then moved back to Ohio 3 years ago to work at university school as the director of music, and in a number of capacities, being on, like, the admissions committee and this and that. And so- I also serve as the faculty advisor for the multicultural organizations. So, I am the person in charge of all of our schools’ affinity groups, in addition to all of my work that I do just as a classroom instructor. Then I also now I work for the Cleveland Orchestra and I work at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. So I’m very, like, entrenched in the music world, but I’ve always been at school or teaching in a school. So very, very much, surrounded by the educational experience. Yeah.
Blythe Ennis: Wow. When you list off all your jobs in one go, it’s so… it’s a lot. That’s weird. So when -you were at- where were you working when COVID 19 happened?
Devon Steve: Yeah. So I was working at Des Moines Roosevelt High School. So I was, in Iowa, and, and that was interesting because so many of my other friends around the country, like, moved back to Ohio. They’re like, oh, okay. We’re just gonna go home. And so people are always asking me. They’re like, oh, are you gonna, like, go to Ohio?I was like, what do you mean? Like, I don’t I don’t live in Ohio. Like, I live in Iowa, so I’m gonna stay in Iowa. So that was it was interesting being, like and then being sequestered, in Iowa, while the rest of my family was in Ohio. So that was a really interesting experience there.
And -and my job also impacted how I interacted with COVID, during that time. Oh. Oh, okay. You you disappeared for a second. Oh, I guess.
Blythe Ennis: Yeah. Absolutely. Disconnected. Sorry about that. Oh, no. Sorry. You were talking about your- your family in Ohio.
Devon Steve: Yes. So so I, you know, I was off alone in Iowa not alone, but, you know, not my family, in Iowa, whereas everybody else was in Ohio in some capacity. So I had to do COVID by myself, and especially the first part of COVID, was in my apartment by myself.
And so I I didn’t have, like, a cohort or how people would, like, do a, like, a group thing where it’s like, oh, you’d only see these people then. You know, I didn’t even have any of that. So I was, like, alone, like, completely, through the first part of it. There are some people who I would see on occasion, but not many. Not many. So yeah.
Blythe Ennis: Wow. What was that like?
Devon Steve: At first, it was like, oh my gosh. This is such a long spring break. Like, you know, I was like, oh, I know, this is so cool. I can watch movies. I watch all the Harry Potters. I watch all the Marvel movies in order. Like, it was like, oh my gosh, this is so great.
And then by the 4th week, it’s like, yeah, okay. Yeah. I’m like, I would love to, like, do something. So I would eventually, like, I would, hang out with people who I also know who were, isolating for the same amount of time, who never interacted with people, and I’m like, okay. You’re safe. And I I I was immunocompromised, like, I I am just in general, because of my, preexisting conditions. So I had to be very careful because, my doctors thought that if I got COVID, they were like, oh, it’s done. Like, they’re like, we don’t know how long it’s gonna affect everything, so please don’t get COVID. And, so, like, I had to be hypersensitive and hyperaware, and I couldn’t drive at the time. So, so, like, I couldn’t go anywhere. I had to get everything delivered, which had its own elements of of caution. And so but I had to do everything delivery. So it was so that was scary a little bit that I’m like, okay, everything I get delivered, I have to wipe down and sanitize and keep by itself and do all of that for many months. And again, there’d be some folks who I would eventually see on occasion, like we do, it’d be like, oh, let’s walk up to the park and we’ll stay 10 feet apart and, like, see people, you know. You know, Drake University was close to where I live, like a block away, so I’d, like, walk through the campus just to, like, be out somewhere, but I never like, I was so hyper cautious and hyper aware.
And then 2 months after that, I was, like, on a ride with someone who, like, they were fine, but then they -then their mom was like, oh, I have COVID. So I’m like, oh, okay. So I was like, that’s someone who, like, they were fine, but then it was like a whole thing. So then I was like, oh, I really don’t want to get COVID. So for the next 2 weeks I really didn’t do anything and I, 3 times a day, I did my temperature, I wrote down any symptoms that I have, and I did that for a full 14 days, after that because I was terrified. Like, I was like, this if I get this, this is the end. And so I was, like, very hyper aware, hypersensitive, to everything back then. But I so after that, then I was really didn’t see anyone. Like, I was like, okay. So I’m not gonna see anyone.
But, then I then I I got more realistic, and I was like, I have to see humans. So so, like, my best friend from Minnesota came down, but we both, like, for 2 weeks in advance, we were like, okay. We are not going to do these things for when you come down. And he drove down, it’s like, okay. You weren’t exposed to anyone. I wasn’t exposed to anyone. We can hang out together. And so that was nice. He came down for a weekend, and we, like, went and drove around. And we went to, the covered bridges in Madison County and down in down in Madison County and Iowa.
And so it was, it was nice to be able to have those moments, but those are few and far between when they happened. But most of the time was spent through the extended spring break through to summer break, and then, like, for the, like, it was spent in isolation, and I probably saw maybe 4 people that entire summer.
Blythe Ennis: Wow. Yeah. Do -do you feel… what did you feel was harder? Was the paranoia or anxiety about getting it or the isolation? Like, how did you deal with with both of those?
Devon Steve: I think the paranoia was more intense because people didn’t know what would happen to normal or, people who don’t – are not immunocompromised. Immunotypical. I don’t know. You know, and so for people like me who, like, when I got, the flu in 9th grade and then it turned into a kidney disease, that then got me out of school for, like, 2 months. Like, they were like, maybe we shouldn’t, maybe we shouldn’t get COVID, especially because right before COVID, like February of that year, that’s -I got so sick again with that same disease that I had in 9th grade came around so they were like you really cannot get COVID. They were like you, you, like there’s no way. Like, you cannot do this. You have to be, like, super sensitive. So that was more terrifying. The isolation, I kinda just got used to. But then I, like, refocused what it meant to be together with someone. So whether it’s on the phone, or FaceTime I did a lot of phone calls on FaceTime, excuse me, during that time. And that was really helpful, because I was able to stay connected, and I was used to that. I was used to my friends being everywhere else between boarding school and high school and college and undergrad. Like, all of my friends are all over the country anyway. And so I just maximized on that experience of having to maintain digital relationships with people and just kind of expanded on that. So that one wasn’t as hard to deal with as much as it was just the everyday freaking out. And then after having that first, like, COVID exposure to someone who really, like they really were being very safe and their mother was being very safe but it just you know it just happened like what do you what can you do? And so like that really shut me off even more to, again, where I like did not see another person from I, I mean I would say like June until we have to start preparing for school in like I think we went back in November, so, like, October. Like like like you did not, like, spend close proximity or really see anyone.
Blythe Ennis: That’s a really long time. Yeah. What did that, like, do to you?
Devon Steve: But it made me well, it it was more of a hindsight, sort of experience in that, like, I was then so grateful because the first people that I saw after that were, my colleagues at school, Rose Dino and Jennifer Luft, and both of whom I just loved dearly. And so they were the first people I really got to see when we went back to school like in hybrid setting and so it was just like I like valued seeing them so much.
And it was again, at first, it was like, well, what do I do? Like, I’m like, I’m alone. But, so at first, it was like, oh, this is bad. Like, my sleep schedule was nothing. It there was no schedule. Like, I I did I just slept whenever. Night, day, it didn’t matter. I would just sleep. I would eat whenever. There was no regulation of that. I was watching TV constantly, you know, and then actually -actually, I’m gonna put a caveat in what I said. So just remember the derecho hit, in August. That was what I had- then I had to see people because then I didn’t have power for 5 days, and I forgot I kinda blocked that out. No. Because that was very terrifying because I was with different people every day so that I wouldn’t if, like, if I was with 1 person, I and they end up having COVID, then I would avoid that person and then go to someone else. So I was with 3 different groups of people in 5 days, which in hindsight, I don’t know if that was better or worse, but but they also didn’t want someone around the whole time. So I didn’t have power in the middle of all of this in August. Oh my gosh. So, like, so then I really couldn’t, like, watch TV or do any of the normal things that I did. So I did see people during that time, but it was also like, I’m staying with them, but we stayed at a distance. Like, we wore masks and we, like, did not like, it was not more than one of us in a room at a time. And so it was like, like, we’d call, I would still communicate with people. Like, they’d be like, okay. We unlock the door. And then they’d be like in the room and we’d like FaceTime communicate. So, like, I saw people, but it wasn’t really seeing them. It was, like, using that because it was, like, okay. Well, you have power, so let’s and it’d be, like, they would sit stuff out for me. They’re, like, okay. Like, we put some food out, like, you go get it, like, after a while, then you eat it, then let us know when you’ve eaten and then put it away, then you can go in your room, then we’ll come out and eat, and then we do it. So it was like all of that while everyone’s still stranded all around the city because no one knew who was gonna get power because, like, the person who I stayed with on the first night had power, after that big storm blew through, and then that next day, didn’t have power anymore. So then I went to someone else’s place on the other side of, Des Moines, and then, you know, then I stayed with them, then I’d hopped over to someone else.
And all during this time, I had to use an Uber, which was terrifying, but the Uber drivers were, like, very like, they had the windows were down. They had a, like, a shield in the middle. So I really you know, so again, I saw these people, but I never, like, spent time with any of them. That was just to, like, keep everyone safe. And so that was, like oh my gosh. I forgot about that. That was wild to try to navigate that with no power. I forgot about that storm too. That was the least on my mind, honestly Yeah. That year. Right. Of that- of that insane time, I forgot about the, like, land hurricane. But but yeah. So that that was, like, kinda smack dab in the middle of it. But but, really, that didn’t, again, I didn’t really count that as being able to hang out with anyone because we were still sequestered into different parts of, like, their apartments or houses and stuff like that.
Like, I went over my friend’s house, and she was house sitting for someone. And she was like, okay. Like, you have the main floor. I’ll have the entire basement floor, and then, like, just let me know when you need to leave, and we’ll, like, try to coordinate a proper, like, exit because, again, I still wasn’t driving at that time. So it was – so it was a lot of, like, almost like, oh, I get to almost hang out with someone. It’s like I know they’re in the house, but I don’t get to see them or hug them or be face to face with them. It’s like, we’re on Face Time in someone’s house. Like, it was just it was wild. It was wild. 0 out of 10. Would not recommend.
Blythe Ennis: Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. That’s that must have made it like, you mentioned when you went back to school, that must have made even just work feel like a completely different kind of thing.
Devon Steve: Oh, yeah.
Blythe Ennis: What was it -what was your experience going back into school after all that?
Devon Steve: Yeah. So we were- nothing was how it traditionally was. Classes were very untraditional. So for our music classes, our program used to be divided into 8 choirs, and each choir had a class period. But what they did this- that year was if you were enrolled in any choir, you were just grouped into general choir, and that was it. And so general choir online, to start, didn’t make any sense. Yeah. We had to be very quick. We spent a lot of hours trying to craft what that could look like, and we it was fine. It it didn’t hurt anyone. I’m sure someone liked it. I don’t know. I I wouldn’t do it again. But it wasn’t great. A lot of YouTube videos because we couldn’t sing together. It was all like, okay. Mute yourself and then sing along. Okay. How’d you do? Okay. Great. You know?
And, like, preparing for, like, All-State auditions online, it was, like, how do you help someone if you’re not in the same room? Well, we we got very creative with it. So, like, doing we we would we found out that doing, like, asynchronous, like, voice lessons was the best way to go about it. So, I would give my students a task to do. They would record themselves doing it. I would grade it, and then they would try it again. And then it was like a back and forth, sort of asynchronous voice lessons, because trying to do it all at the same time was difficult. We could do some things all the time they, like, like, were at that level where, like, where they knew the songs and stuff like that. Then they’d be like, okay. Sing along with your – with the soundtrack of or or karaoke track or whatever you’re doing. But then I’ll take notes. They’re like, okay. Do it again, and we’ll do that. And we could do that somewhat live, but most of it was performance, feedback, doing another performance. And that just and that was one aspect of it, when it was completely online.
And I I – kudos to our superintendent of schools, doctor Tom Ahart, who, like, fought the governor every step of the way to make sure that all students and staff were safe and did not have to go to school. But Kim Reynolds, the governor, hated this and forced legal hand to the superintendent who eventually stepped down at the end of that year because of it. But forced legal hand to require that we go back in person at least part time or that we had to offer an in person option, which meant that teachers then had to be in. And some students wanted to go in. Though, frankly, when that happened, a very few of our very few of our students were in person. So we ended up doing – we had 3 classes a day. There are 4 class periods, but 3 classes a day. The first and last one were online, and then the middle one was in person. And when we were doing the in person class, we have to the setup for everything, we cleared out the entire choir room. So so it was, like, completely empty.
We had to put on the floor giant squares where students could sit, and they could only sit in those squares, and they could only enter and exit down specific pathways through the room. And in between classes or after classes ended because the 1st period class was an orchestra class, so they were actually doing music. We had to spray – we had to do, like, like, air purifier there, then we had to clean off every everything, every single class, that used anything. And we weren’t allowed to have more than one person in, like, our offices because our offices were kinda small. So, no one like, we had to communicate. Someone wanted to talk. They’d have to stand at the door. Like, I’d open the door then sit at my desk, and then they could talk that way. So that was a lot going back in person, being masked and everything, and everyone remained masked.
And, but the governor really she did not want anyone masked. She did not want people social distancing. Iowa never shut down. Like, other states shut down. Iowa never shut down, and the economy was worse for it. Like, she she was like, oh, well, it’ll make the economy better. The economy did not get better. In fact, it got worse. People were dying. Cases are rising, but I will say we had that entire school year, 0 cases from our classroom, of COVID. And it was amazing, like, because we did what we were supposed to do. We kept people distanced, we cleaned everything regularly, we remained distanced, we instructed in a specific way, and they were singing, in the in person class, which was a lot more fun than the online class. They were singing during the in person class, but, like, again, at a distance. And we never stayed in one place at a time. So after 20 minutes of singing, we would then go over to the band room, which was then spaced out there. We’d clean off all that stuff, then they go to the band room, then we’d clean off the band room. We would go back to the choir room. We had to do, like, a back and forth, every 20 minutes. So that was the – that was only the second quarter. So then then, in the second half of the year, we were like, okay we’ve had good practice. We did all this. Let’s try to have an after school choir. So we were able to bring back our gospel choir, our chamber choir, and show choir with the same rules of the class. So, we had to be distanced. We had to use a variety of spaces. We used the cafeteria. We used outside. We used the classroom. We used the band room. We used so many different places we had to clean off everything, we did all that, oh, and we used the auditorium, like we used so many spaces and places to rehearse because kids wanted to sing again, You know? So we had to do something. And so they all were made masks. That was never an issue, and no one ever fought it. And we did that, rom around January, February until May, and then we ended up having a small performance in the gym. Everybody was spaced out. We live streamed it, and then students were allowed to invite 2 audience members, and they had to sit spaced out in the gym. So it was like, if we – we had, let’s say, 30, 30 people in the chamber choir, so then, like, 60 people were able to be in the gym, but it was completely spaced out. So, and even still, with all of that, we had 0 cases the entire year. And it’s because we did what the science told us to do. We studied -the American Choral Directors Association put out studies, and mitigation efforts for us to research and to implement. And they said if you implement these things, things will be fine. And so we did, and we brought it to the nurse who our school nurse was also the head, like, COVID coordinator for the whole district for some reason. I don’t know how that worked out. But she was. And and we ran it by her. We ran it by our principal. We ran it by the performing arts coordinator, and they said, okay. If you do everything right, we’ll support you. And we did everything right, and it was a great year.
I wasn’t able to be at the performance because then that disease that I had, the year prior right before COVID, I got again at that point, so I couldn’t be there for the performance. I had to watch it on livestream. That, I will say, was perhaps the most isolating time was being in the hospital during COVID for 2 weeks and not being able to have any visitors because they were restricting it to only hospital staff. But I got my own room, and I was kinda chilling. So I didn’t have to, like, share my hospital room. But, like, but that was I think that was more isolating than, like, than the year prior, with all that. But that was a lot. But that was, like, the experience of, like, teaching and doing all of that. And then I had a student teacher doing all of that. Oh, also I had a student teacher during the last part of that. So having to coordinate all of this with another full adult made it that much more complicated. So there were 3 of us who had to, like, be very cautious about how we interacted with any of us. So it was it was, it was a lot. It was a lot, trying to teach during the COVID year, not to mention the insurrection that was happening in the middle of a class that I was teaching. So like that. Like like, literally, like, mid class, like, I got a notification. I was like, oh. Oh. Oh, there you are.
Blythe Ennis: Hi. That was the- Say what? The- Oh, you’re cutting out. Okay. During a class?
Devon Steve: Yeah. Yeah. It literally, like it was one of our online classes, and I’m like, everyone, we’re gonna stop class because, the oh oh, it went off again. Oh, okay. Okay.
Blythe Ennis: Thank you for your patience with my technology. I don’t know what’s going on.
Devon Steve: It’s okay. It’s okay. But, yeah, I was like, so the capital’s under attack, so I think we’re done with class for the day. like, I was like, please go look at the news, watch the news, and we’re done for the day. Like, that was it. Like, I, like, I had to just stop teaching. I’m like, what? We’re gonna talk more about Mozart during the insurrection? Like, what? So that was that was that was a, that was a moment for sure, but, you know, so it goes. Wow. No.
Blythe Ennis: That is the most unprecedented year of teaching I have ever heard of. I mean, I guess, among all that what was your impression of the the students’ experience? Like, was the morale low?
Devon Steve: It definitely wasn’t on the front side. Like, when we were doing only online choir and we never had an in person option, they really- even our high flyers were like, boom. Like, they were like, well, I don’t wanna- I don’t care.
And we still had, like, All-State auditions even though we weren’t gonna do an Allstate choir. They still did Allstate auditions. And so, like, normally, we’d have Oh, Hello? Do you hear me?
Blythe Ennis: Yes. I can hear you. It popped out again.
Devon Steve: Normally normally, like, we’d have we get, like, 20 people audition for Allstate and, like, 4 people did. We’re like, that’s fine. You know? So that was that. And they got into Allstate. Like well, 5 people auditioned, 4 got in, and they were like, okay. Cool, I guess. You know?
But they they remained steadfast, and they tried to be connected. So, like, like, our chamber choir, we every year, we’d have a chamber choir party. And that year, we did it virtually, and it was so cute and so fun. The chamber choir president and vice president, we still did secret snowflake, and we, like, passed gifts around. And so what everyone had to do on one day was a coordinated effort, and they drove the Caitlin’s dad drove all around the city. But everyone was instructed to put their secret snowflake gift outside their house, and then the president, Caitlin, and the vice president, Emma, would go and pick up your gift and then leave your assigned gift at that person’s house. And so then, we all had a coordinated time where we’re gonna have a Zoom chamber choir party, and everybody wore a sweater and, like, brought their -got their own cookies and cocoa and stuff like that. And then we, like, opened presents together, and then people thanked each other. It was so nice. And, so we were still able to have a little bit of camaraderie. Then we played, like, online. We did, like, jackbox games, if you know what jackbox is. We did, like, jackbox games together, like, online, and that was super fun. When the movie Soul came out, we did a watch party with Bridges, the gospel choir. And so the gospel choir kinda got together and watched Soul. And then when we were able to go in person, then it was like, oh, this was so so -they- we tried to still maintain the community of some of the choirs, throughout. So then when we went back in person, they kinda knew who each other who they were, and they knew what their face looked like before, because then when we went in person, we all had masks. But, you know, the most experience for most people was you’ve seen them in masks and then you see their full face. But this was the opposite, which was really nice because then they got to actually know each other virtually and stay connected in that way. So we would do that. And then same thing with theater. We’d have theater gatherings once a month, as well. And we also we actually did a theater production online. I don’t remember what the production was, but it was, like, an online theater production, which was really cool. We also did, oh, we did a gospel choir concert that was a compilation of, like, the history of the gospel choir. And so they were, like, samples of, of, like, different years of the gospel choir. And so we, like, premiered that on Facebook live, and, like, thousands of people tuned in to watch that and were, like, commenting and, like, were connected with the gospel choir. Instead of having a fall concert, we did that. It was, like, kinda set up like a PBS special. So, like, there was a narration. We had credits. It was everything. Like, it was it was really great. So we were very creative in making sure that we still did everything we needed to do. And even at the end of that year, myself and my, teaching partner, Rose, we would often record, like, a graduation song or, like, perform some sort of, like, tribute to the to the graduates. And so then we did it online. And so we had an online recording that we did together. We did For Good from Wicked, and we recorded the parts, and then we coordinated it and made it. And it was like, oh my gosh. And we even had, like, our award ceremony online, and we, like, had music and everything and pictures. And, like, we prerecorded it, so we each were assigned, we, like, wrote a script, and we each recorded it. And then, I edited it together and then put it online, and then everyone tuned in to watch the award ceremony. So people were commenting like, oh my god. Congratulations. Good job. Blah blah blah. And so we would send- we sent all the awards out in advance to people, and so then they took a picture of themselves with the awards, and then they got to send in their picture with the award. So they kind of knew in advance, but other people didn’t. So it was really nice that we got to show them. It’s like, Okay, here’s the winner of this award and this award. And people were very supportive in the chat. And it was really nice. Like, it was it was hard, but we were – community was such a huge part of who we were as a school, and as a program. And so we were determined to still create community virtually. And that really worked. And and so as we continued into the year and then when we brought on the student teacher who, you know, of course, throw a student teacher into the mix, but they still gotta get their degrees too. So I don’t, you know, but I’m I’m not gonna say no. So I’d be curious to see what her experience was like. But but, you know, it was -it was still like we were determined to maintain that community. And so the students, while they were disheartened by their normal classes, so many of them were so happy when they got to come to after school choir. And most of our after like, members of our after school choir were people who were in the online classes, and so then they got to actually be in person. And then they actually got to, like, yeah, participate and sing. And it was so much fun. And, I mean, it was quality stuff. Like, they were like, we were still able to do a lot of great music, and it was so worth it, during that time. But it was it was great. So we did not feel a severe lack of community during that time. We just had to be creative about it, and I think, and it came from not just us, but from the students who wanted to do it. So, so, yeah, we were so able to to do what we needed to do.
Blythe Ennis: I definitely teared up a couple times during that. That just sounds so lovely. I know I remember seeing some of it happen on on Facebook and everything, but to hear about it from your perspective is just lovely. I mean, from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success.
Devon Steve: Yeah. Yeah.
Blythe Ennis: But I guess, like, leading into, you know, into that school year, there was also that summer of of 2020. There was a really kind of big resurgence, of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was kind of a racial reckoning, I think, that, appealed to many more of the masses than had before. So while you were, you know, a lot of us were at home, just on our phones, we kinda saw the same stuff. Those that are on the same side of the Internet saw the same stuff, and I I wonder what your, you know, experience not even in 2020, just in general with the with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Devon Steve: Yeah. Well I – so 2014, I think, is when it really, found its legs. So I was an undergrad at the time, and, my college, St. Olaf College, was known for social movements and working towards social justice. And, actually, I got, in addition to my music work, I got a concentration in race and ethnic studies and was also very involved on campus. So I remember it was winter like December 2014, and we had what was called a die in, which meant that you would take up physical space on the ground of a public area. And so we, there were a couple incidents, and that’s the first one. So that was that was the first protest. There were many more, but that was the first one, and we staged it during, what was called the St. Olaf Christmas Festival, which is this, like, international Christmas festival. Thousands of people attend. I mean, like, each concert has, like, over 3,000 audience members. It’s, like, huge. And we do 4 concerts, and we decided that that was the time to stage a die in was while people were walking in to the Christmas festival. So- and our conductors supported this, and that was, like, huge. They said the only rule was, like, you can’t be in your choir robe and do it. They’re like, that’s kinda like you know? For them, it was, like, kind of sacrilegious. We were like, it kinda helps, but but it was like they’re like, yeah. You gonna get dirty. They were like I think, like, part of it was like, you gonna get dirty. So they’re like, but you can do it. Like like, we’re not gonna stop you. They adjusted all of our warm up times and everything. They were like, they – I remember my conductor literally said, “okay, we’re done with our warm up for students who wanna go and participate in the protest. Now is your time.” And so they literally built in time into the structure of our like, of the concert to do that. Audience members said no. And they were – they complained. They thought that we were taking up too much space, being too loud, even though we weren’t. We were literally silently lying on the ground with our eyes closed. And, like, for – there was a specific amount of time based on, like, very specific incidents. So there were, like, different time periods for that. And so we interrupted and there was a form of silent protest, but we interrupted the Christmas festival. And it was not sanctioned by the music department, but definitely wasn’t fought. And and so that was powerful. That was my first time really being involved.
And then years later, there were major incidents on our campus of, of racial hatred and and all sorts of various hate crimes that occurred and so for a weekend we shut down the entire campus. It started on a Saturday evening. I remember I was at dinner with my friends Gabe and Stuart, and I hadn’t seen them in months because I’m a student teaching. It was like our time to be together. Someone came into the cafeteria and, like, had a megaphone to sit up on the table. It was like, and, like, like because, like, at a- and I heard everything she said. Her name was Shivani, and she came and spoke. She was like, you know, this campus has done this and this and there are this and there are oppressors and this is. It was like, if you stand with us, leave now and go. And so I got up and left, and David Stewart eventually came. So I was like, okay. Like, glad you came to your senses. But, you know, you know, white people. I don’t know. But so, but but I immediately I was like, I haven’t see you all in forever, and that’s gonna be on hold. We’re gonna have to wait to see each other a little bit longer. And so we – and word got around, so a number of hundreds of people left the cafeteria. We blocked the cafeteria. We filled the entirety of the student center. Like, every inch was filled. Every people were standing in hallways, staircases, everywhere, and we demanded that the president come and address us in this moment. And so the president, the chief diversity officer, came and addressed the student body that evening. He was in Wisconsin, and we forced him to come from Wisconsin back to St. Olaf to address the students. And so that was Saturday, and we all stayed in the student center. Like, he came. He spoke. It was whatever. It was very performative, but, you know, he was brave enough to come speak to all of us, very angry people because all of these things were happening. So we left and came back. Everybody had sleeping bags and tents, and we, like, camped out in the student center, through that night. And then all on Sunday, everybody just kinda stayed, laid, had got their got spaces where they wanted, laid down, had blankets, sleeping bags, tents, whatever. We took over. Then that Monday, I couldn’t participate because I was at the student teach, and I’m like, I I couldn’t I I couldn’t, like, sacrifice my teaching license. I was like, oh. Because if we missed a certain amount of days, then we are immediately disqualified from the program. I was like, there are other great people fighting this fight. My physical presence right now doesn’t- like there are other great people out there so I need to like do what I needed to do to make sure that I didn’t like lose my future because otherwise then what is all this fighting for, like, if I can’t get my teaching license. So during the day, then, the students then took over the administration building. And all of those same students have marched over to the administration building, filled the building, took over the building. They canceled classes for the day. They had to. They canceled classes for the day. The students marched to the president’s office and made, like, demand demand demand. And, and while I was student teaching, I, asked my host teacher if I could talk about what was happening at St. Olaf to the students who lived in that town. And he’s like, absolutely. I will just stand in the room with you to show solidarity and support, but you are welcome to start every class with a conversation with us. So he was so supportive. I will always love Kyle Eastman. He was a great mentor. And, like, that moment, he really he really went even higher for me because he didn’t try to stop me. And and, like, he was so supportive of the conversation. And with 1 choir it kinda got out of hand and he, like, he took it over and was like, if you have any issues with this, you can come sit and talk with him. It’s like, you better work. You better work, mister white man. I love that. Fierce. It was great. And then after that, things were still going on that evening. So I was able to go back to campus and still participate in, like, other events that were happening. And so they planned for a people of color faculty and student meeting, in one of the giant lecture halls. And so that room was filled and, like, everyone was there, like, teachers of color who I’ve never met before were there. Like, everyone, everyone, everyone was there for that. And so that that was, like, a huge moment, and and students were still protesting up up to the end, up to our graduation. People would would would not shake the president’s hand. They walked by him and did not acknowledge him. He’d have his hand out, and they’d just keep going. They got their diploma. They left. Boop. Jump. They’re gone. I wanted to do that, but my mother told me not to. She was like, you better shake that man’s hand. Oh god. And I told her about it before, and she was like, I get it, but she was like, you better that man’s hand. Especially because he also, like, he took the time many times for me. Like, I had a personal relationship with the president. Like, I was invited to the president’s house for dinner many times, for, like, random events, like, 2 or 3 times, like, within my undergrad time, like, I had private dinners, like, with him and, like, some, like, civil rights leader. You know, they were like, oh, put the black person up. But, like, they they invite us to these, like, very special dinners and things. The associate headmaster at my high school wrote the president a special like letter when I was applying to St. Olaf, he like wrote him a note being like, hey, look out for this student, he’s coming your way, like blah, blah, blah. So like I’d had a personal connection with him in a way that other people didn’t. And he was an old white man who was, like, moderate and not saying that that excuses him, but, like, he wasn’t actively trying to, like, be a racist, he just was because of his environment. And so, like, for me, it was like, I know I know he is, like, not actively – he’s just old and that’s not an excuse, but it was a good moment for us to hold him accountable. But my mom was like, you better check that man’s hand. She she was like, you shake that hand. You look him in the face.
Blythe Ennis: Wow.
Devon Steve: So, like, so that’s, like, how that, like, ended there. And then it didn’t stop because then, I went to, you know, Des Moines Roosevelt High School, and that school was -has a huge history of protests and social justice and social justice work. And so my work then became active, and then I began to I was able to teach, concepts of radical love and justice to my students who then would take it upon themselves, who helped to lead marches, who were participants of protests, who sang protest songs in concerts, who, like, when I I mean, I remember I had a student once who like, I was, like, going back and forth with him, and I was like, why do you, like, argue with me? He was like, well, you’re the one who taught us how to protest. And I’m like, ah. That’s some shit. He was like, come back and get me. But but he but it did. You know? Whatever. And and, like and it has extended and continued, for those, who were former students who are now, like, fully fledged adults who are in the world doing this sort of work. And so that continued, and now it’s continuing with with my life now and my work that now I’m the faculty advisor for our multicultural organizations at my school. You know, so it’s like all of these things that I’ve been surrounded by and it’s just been a long journey with it. And then the summer 2020 that, you know, that was not shocking to me. It was an awakening for the white people pretty much. And I will always characterize it as that. Like we didn’t, we we knew. We’d already been doing stuff. By the time that – I didn’t – I frankly didn’t think anything major was gonna come up that video of George Floyd. I was like, oh, that’s another thing that happened. Okay. Great. I was like, okay. It’s added to the list, unfortunately. Like, we’ve been doing this work for years years years years, and so, that was not shocking. What was shocking was because people were forced to reckon with it, then white people finally started to see, oh, things are not great. And so it was really great to see and to hear from people who like checked in with me, like people who like were like hardcore conservatives in high school that I was, that I knew like called me during that time and were like, can you talk to me about this? Can you talk me through this? Like I want to learn. And it opened the door for so many more conversations that never would have happened. And so that was I think the most impactful experience for me was, while a lot of the time we’re, like, you know, my job isn’t to educate you. It’s your job to educate yourself, but, like, I’m an educator so I didn’t mind it. You know? So, like, when white people would call me, I’m like, oh, haven’t talked to you in a while. Hello? You know? Like, every time a a white person who I hadn’t talked to for a while would call me during that summer, I knew what they were calling me. They were not calling the well, they were calling to, like, ask how I was, like –
Blythe Ennis: Mhmm.
Devon Steve: To check-in on me, but also, like, to ask questions. And that was powerful because then, like because, like, one of these people I remember back in 2012, his family, big, big Republican family, lots of money to the to the GOP in Cleveland, and they were talking about how they were gonna eradicate the homeless out of Cleveland and, like like, it was bad. And it was like like, what do you all do? Like, why are you doing this? Like, how, like, how can you do this? And he’s like, well, you don’t have to worry about it. Like, you’re not homeless. Like, you’ll be fine. And I’m like, that’s not the point. Like, you are trying to, like, get rid of humans. Like, this is awful. So then for him 7 years later to call me and, like, to ask, like, what he can do to learn more, what he can do to hear about my experience, what he can do to learn, and to research and to listen, and all of that was, like, very telling and very powerful. That that was huge, huge, influence. It had a huge influence on on on people of all different kind all different kinds of people who, in other ways, would not have been involved or engaged in social justice had we not been sequestered and isolated. Wow.
Blythe Ennis: That’s very powerful. Yeah. I- approaching this project and learning what we’re learning in my class, understand more and more the concept of it it was white people reckoning with it. We’ve been new. Like, we’ve been about it. So, yeah, I I’m curious now hearing that. What what in your, like, experience and opinion, like, how did the- how does the pandemic and and that kind of resurgence and more more awareness with BLM, how do you feel like those 2 interacted with each other?
Devon Steve: I really- I mean, it really forced people to pause the way that they had it before, because they had to. They were forced to pause. They were forced to confront it head on because they couldn’t avoid it. There’s nowhere to go. I mean, there’s nothing to do. It was all over everything. It was, you know, it was, you know and and what really helped was the emergence of TikTok, and not just any other social media, but TikTok specifically and the rise of TikTok in the pandemic aligned with the rise of using TikTok for more than, like, funny little, you know, dancing app.
Blythe Ennis: Yes.
Devon Steve: The dancing app, it was like, oh, this could be informative and we can give information. And I think all of that, like TikTok, George Floyd, pandemic, and, like, Trump versus Biden at that time. Like, it was like all of those things happening at once created a space where, good prevailed, almost, and people really took time to reflect on themselves and become better people. They reflect on themselves and became, or recognized, their queerness. They recognized their relationships with people of color. They recognized their relationships with politics. I mean, there’s, you know, big time streamers who, at the time, were conservative, who during that time did switched from being conservative to being liberal. There were so many people who had transformative experiences because of this, like, perfect, alignment of all of these independent events that then came together and forced a transformation out of everyone and forced the transformation out of of the relationships, of people themselves, of how we interacted with each other, how we interacted with the world. I mean, pollution went down so people recognized that and reckoned with all of that, you know, seeing dolphins swimming through Venice or whatever like happened it was like oh my god.
Blythe Ennis: Yeah.
Devon Steve: Like so many things, you know, with that, our like praise for teachers, for nurses and other frontline workers, our appreciation for things that we took for granted. There was this transformative moment that, again, all the stars, everything was in perfect alignment, that was so incredible in terms of like being like incredible, like unbelievable, because it won’t ever happen again and I don’t think it ever has happened in the past. And that’s difficult to reckon with seeing as how, like, that was so transformative and yet it did not stick. And that’s I think the hardest part to now see 4 years later. It’s like not only is it evident in how the election turned out, but in just like how people forgot and if and if you tried to bring it up again, oh, they forgot but, like, it’s like, okay. “Well, that time was traumatizing so I’m not gonna talk about it. I wanna close close myself off from that. I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna think about it. It was not relevant. Let’s forget about COVID. Let’s forget about all that.” Like, it was a hard time so people don’t remember. And so they choose to forget, and with that, they’re choosing to forget the transformative experience that they likely had. And that’s essentially what’s what we’re dealing with now.
Blythe Ennis: Devon, that is so interesting. I have not thought about it like that. So now what do you think now is kind of the most telling of that?
Devon Steve: I think the social progress that was being made in 2020 stopped. It’s like we got so far and then it stopped. We did not keep it going. We did not keep the train moving, because it was it was cool to be to to protest. People went to their first protest ever in life, marching through the streets, like, for the first time ever. Young folks, older folks, the first time ever. It was cool to be a protester. It was cool to be with it. It was cool to participate in social justice. And now it doesn’t have that clout anymore because it takes work to maintain it. People didn’t really wanna work. They just wanted to have a little bit of fun, and they wanted to be like, yeah, march. You know, they wanted to do their little chants, and then be like, oh my god. That was so good. Like, I can’t believe I did that. You know? And then and now it’s like, okay. So you did that? Great. What else are you doing? So people didn’t do any of the work, and, so it all stopped because because no one did any work. And by no one, I mean the white people.
People of color have continued to lead these movements, specifically black people have continued to lead these movements, and when you look at who voted for Kamala Harris, overwhelmingly, black people, and not just because she was black, but because there was- because we’ve led all the social movements that have happened, you know, that have benefited all the different groups of color, and they we’ve worked together to support each other to to help to lead those. But in the United States, black folks have been on the front lines of all of these- women, especially black women. And, when the other folks stopped working, the black women kept working. They kept doing it. They couldn’t do it all themselves, but no one else wanted to support them through the work because it was work and the world opened up and they were like, oh, well, I wanna go back to Starbucks.
Blythe Ennis: I wanna go and see movies again. I’d rather not go to a protest. You know, so it was it was- Oh, it wasn’t solved? Wait. Yeah.
Devon Steve: Right.
Blythe Ennis: Sorry. I completely interrupted you. So sorry.
Devon Steve: No. No. No. But like it is so true. Like they they just assumed it’d be solved and it wasn’t. And now we’re seeing what happens when, and we’re living based on this election, we’re seeing what happened over the last 4 years when white people, did not continue fighting alongside everyone else. Numbers of people of color continued fighting, black folks, Latinx folks, Asian Americans, like, everyone kept fighting, doing their part, but white people stopped backing it because this is a white problem. This is not a people of color problem. The things that we’re going through in this country are white problems and white people have to reckon with it and fix it. Like, racism is not a people of color problem. It is a white person’s problem because white people are the ones who are perpetuating the system of power and oppression. So white people have to be the ones to solve it, and they don’t want to. So they don’t. And so then we end up with a fascist, like, wannabe dictator running the country because it’s too much work. So that’s that’s my take on it.
Blythe Ennis: You explained that really well. I really appreciate hearing that. Like, that is that’s a level of a lot of the people that I’ve had conversations about this with are people either my age or younger. And, obviously, some white, some not. But I think, like, they just don’t have, like, literally the prefrontal cortex development to be able to, like, put all that stuff together. So it was really powerful to hear all of it all in one go. I feel, very satisfied with, stopping this so I can talk to you like a normal person. How does that sound?
Devon Steve: Yeah.
Blythe Ennis: I’m gonna stop the recording.
Devon Steve: Yeah. For sure.
Blythe Ennis: Thank you.
Recent Comments