The Parable of the Butler

There is much I'd like to say and little I can about the death last week of author Octavia Butler. Fortunately, Rob Stauffer had much of value to say. Elsewhere, we were discussing the fact that for me she was one of "ours" as in SF/woman/writer but many others who don't consider themselves part of the SF community, or perhaps don't read SF at all, felt ownership of her as black/woman/writer.

I give that just as context for the opening. Here's what Rob had to say.

Well, I thought of her as an "ours" for sf and for being one hell of a great writer who helped me to grow as a teacher in the New York City public schools. Once while combing through the book room at our school I found a set of really old dusty copies of Kindred -- only enough for one class. But I asked if I could teach it, and the assistant principal said sure, what the heck.

The students were astounded that such a good story would be taught to them in school. The following year, I asked my AP if he could order enough for the three classes I was going to teach. Well, we had some problems getting it in -- I don't think it was approved by the Board of Ed or some such nonsense -- but my AP wheeled and dealed, and leaned on the printer pretty hard (we always get those hardcovers-made-out-of-softcover books that have to specially printed for the schools [Specially bound, actually; they strip existing paperbacks and add new covers. --Ed.]) and the printer actually hand-delivered them to me just in time to start the unit.

After I had taught the book (and a number of my students had raced on ahead of me to finish the book), one of the students told me how great the story was and asked where she could find more. I told her about Octavia Butler's other books and about other writers she might like. I also told her to make sure that she told the AP how much she had appreciated the book as well. One day while I was sitting in the teachers' lounge, my AP called me into his office and, with a stunned look on his face, told me how a student had thanked him for getting Kindred into the schools -- a shock I was worried he would not withstand. He told me in his 30+ years working in the public schools, no student had ever thanked him for a book.

I also taught Dawn in my science fiction class (thanks to some donations from this list and others[NB: All the copies were donated. Maybe someone will teach them now, maybe someone will discover them in the book room in a couple years...--Ed.]). The students were puzzled by it at first, but they grew to really enjoy the story and all the questions it asks about us.

I also taught the essay in Dark Matter about why blacks should read and write science fiction. We had many great discussions and even a semester-long debate about whites using black characters and vice versa. We read Mike Resnick's Kirinyaga because it was mentioned in the essay and discussed whether it was appropriate or not for him to have written it. I also picked up So Long Been Dreaming -- Nalo [Hopkinson] and Uppinder Mehan's fine book (which I will be using next year here at ASU to teach Postcolonialism and Science Fiction) and talked about the backgrounds of so many different writers. The students seemed impressed that people like them could write and be published, which in turn made me realize that for all the times I had thought of myself as an outsider, I had never thought twice about the doors that were open to me, like becoming a writer or finding people like myself in the books I read. Many of my students were outsiders who had no such support system.

The day that Octavia Butler died, both my AP (who is now retired) and I sent each other the news item in email and added our thoughts about those moments we shared at Sheepshead Bay High School over her work. So when I think of "ours" in relationship to Octavia, I also think of all the teachers who really need her books in their classrooms and all the students who need her works (and of course the works of all great writers, no matter the color or gender) to find their doors into society. I hope that her works become the kind of classics that are taught perennially in the schools and that they spark many people to come and join the grand conversation that is reading and writing.

--Rob Stauffer