Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Art, Integrity, and Being True to Yourself

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post, as I've been occupied with other projects. Recently, though, I had something interesting happen that is such a valuable lesson that I just had to share it. This is a little long, but I think you'll find it well worth your time.

Not long ago, I received an email from a young man who is a magic enthusiast and a senior at a large university in another state. He was writing to apologize for having been so 'inspired' by an article on my website on 'approaching magic as an actual art form', that he decided to use a good deal of it, word for word, in a speech he presented for his speaking class, without giving me proper credit for the work. His speech teacher had also apparently found my article on my website and accused him of plagiarism.


He was writing to say that he'd 'disrespected' me by not giving me credit, to apologize and ask my forgiveness, and to see if I might be willing to contact his teachers on his behalf, since he was in danger of being failed on the speech, in which case he would fail the course and possibly ruin his chances of graduating this term.

Here is the letter that I sent to him, also forwarding it to his teachers and advisors. I've changed his name, to protect his privacy, for obvious reasons:

Hi Jonathan,

What a surprise it was to get your note. Sounds like you've gotten yourself into quite a bind...

But let me begin by saying how pleased and honored I am that you were inspired enough by my writing to use it in your speech. And I also want to commend you on your honesty and courage in taking responsibility for your mistake, letting me know about it, and for your apology. I do appreciate it.

It concerns me that so many today seem to be acting with no sense of integrity, honesty, and accountability. Our society has so often become rampant with acts of selfishness, "self-centeredness", and greed, with seemingly little or no need to accept accountability for such actions. And to my mind, these are the very issues that art, in it's highest and best, is meant to address.

So thank you for having the courage to face up to this and to contact me, as embarrassing as I'm sure it must be for you.

(Of course, the possibility does occur to me that you might not in fact be contacting me out of concern for whatever "harm" you've done me, but instead for your own self interest, in hopes of saving yourself from failing the course and not graduating this term, BUT I'm inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt, and for now at least, will assume your intentions are entirely honorable.)

I learned recently that one of the effects that's come about due to the ease of finding the wealth of information on literally any subject that's now available on the internet, is that many college students are finding it much too easy and tempting to simply "cut and paste" their way to a research paper or other course project, and plagiarism is becoming a huge problem in higher education. Many teachers and professors are now having to spend inordinate amounts of time and energy checking, re-checking, and researching students' works to make sure they are in fact original.

Even in journalism recently, periodicals as "prestigious" as the New York Times have been caught in huge controversies over cases of lazy journalists who tried to take shortcuts and use someone else's material rather than devoting the necessary effort to adequate research and to giving proper credit.

Perhaps more to the point in our case, in the world of magic, I really believe that one of the main reasons magic is so often not seen as an actual art form is that so many magicians simply don't approach it that way. Art is about finding and expressing your own unique vision through your work. Rather than putting in the time, effort, and energy to find their own uniqueness, develop a distinctive performing persona, and create original material, many (if not most) magicians seem so often to be satisfied with simply doing the same old magic, the same old way... in some cases even stealing original material from other more innovative performers. As you no doubt know, this type of theft has become a huge point of contention within the magic community.

I don't mean to imply that any of this was true for you. I don't know what your actual motivations were in using my article without credit. (I would hope that it was simply an oversight on your part, an honest mistake, or perhaps simply not being aware of the proper way to give credit in the context of a "spoken" work... all of which are certainly forgivable to my mind, particularly since you are now aware of your mistake and attempting to address it. I've certainly made enough blunders of my own over the years, especially when I was younger.) But I bring up these examples simply to say that I realize these issues are of real concern, and are certainly not to be taken lightly, especially by those in the educational field.

In my own case, the field of magic is not just my hobby, my art, and my passion, it is also my full time career, and the way that I earn my living. And in point of fact, the article that you used is excerpted from a much longer copyrighted work that I sell as a home study course for magicians on how to improve their magic and make it more artistic. So it's actually a source of income for me.

That being said, it's also true that one of my main intentions in offering this work is to help educate and inspire people to recognize magic as the true art form that it can and should be. So, in a sense, by sharing my thoughts in the way you have, you are in effect assisting me in this endeavor.

Would I have preferred that you had given me credit up front? Absolutely. But you certainly haven't done me any harm that I can see, (I seriously doubt that any of your classmates would be in a position to purchase my course), and frankly, I'm flattered that you thought so much of my ideas that you saw fit to use them as you have.

Of course, finding your own "voice", and putting these or similar ideas in your own words would have been a better example of "artistic self expression" on your part, but perhaps this experience will inspire you to do so more in the future.

Yea, OK, you blew it... But don't we all at one time or another! And it would seem you've actually done yourself more potential harm than you have me. In my experience, without exception, absolutely the most valuable lessons I've learned in my life have been ones where I made some stupid mistake that caused potential harm to others, and over which I in turn suffered tremendous personal pain and embarrassment as a result. These have been the greatest source of my own growth and personal advancement. My sincere hope for you is that you will be able to use this experience in that way.

I'm reminded of a story of a multi-millionaire businessman who had a personal assistant who made a huge blunder and lost a million dollars in a business deal that went bad. The assistant came to the mogul and said, "I guess you'll be wanting my resignation." Whereupon the wealthy businessman replied, "What? Are you crazy? I've just spent a million dollars educating you!"

I don't mean to minimize the severity of something like plagiarism, which really does need to be taken seriously and addressed when it happens. But I also don't believe in holding grievances or in retribution -- I believe in people taking responsibility for their actions, which from what I can tell from your letter, you appear to be doing.

As to whether you should fail the course over this mistake.... I honestly can't say what is most appropriate, since I don't know your particular situation, the entire context in which your speech is being graded, or whether or not the hardship suffered in failing would far outweigh the error in judgment on your part. I certainly hope this doesn't go that way, and I'm "cc'ing" this message to your teachers at the contacts you supplied. And I'd also be willing to discuss the matter with any of them by email or phone.

Oh yeah... to address your question,... yes, you can feel free to use the articles on my website... Just give me proper credit next time you do!

Finally, I think that most artistic people (and especially those of us in magic), have had the experience of being so inspired by someone else's work that, for one reason or other, seemed to really "resonate" and "ring true" with us personally, that we were tempted to copy it. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But part of growing into a true artist is in learning to discern between being inspired and influenced by someone's work, and simply using it as is, as though it were our own. Often a hard lesson, but an important one if we hope to contribute anything new to the world. I hope you'll find your unique voice as an artist in whatever you decide to do in life.

In any case, thanks for the refreshing dose of honesty, and I wish you all the best in your endeavors. (Please don't be afraid to keep me posted on how this all turns out!)

Sincerely,

Mitch Williams


Now, (assuming you're still with me...) here's the even more interesting part... This is the response that I received from the administrators at "Jonathan's" university. I received their permission to share this, provided that I protected the identity and privacy of the student.

Dear Mr. Williams:

Thank you so very much for your insightful response to our student. I thought you might be interested in my colleague Adam G's reaction. I think you have made his Monday morning! Best of luck in all of your endeavors.

Sincerely,

J B
Associate Dean of the Faculties
XXXXXX University

******************************************
From: G, Adam

All,

What a wonderful reply this magician/artist/educator provided… Through his response, Mr. Williams did what we hope to do when our process works at its best:
  1. Explain the error in a way the student could understand;
  2. Personalize the learning experience for both the violated party and the student that committed the violation;
  3. Identify personal integrity as the violated principle and apply it broadly to explain its importance and the implications of its violation.
Other important elements of his response:
  • By acknowledging that the student’s message could have been motivated by pure self-interest, Mr. Williams demonstrated how doubting one’s character is an easy leap to make once personal integrity has been questioned.
  • By explaining the connection between the student’s actions and his own livelihood, Mr. Williams framed accountability in a very personal way (i.e., loss of personal income).
  • By commenting on how the absence of personal integrity has effected his profession as a whole, Mr. Williams applied the principle to his vocation. For reasons that we well know, this is something that we in higher education need to continue to explore and improve upon.
  • Yet, as is appropriate, Mr. Williams did not comment on the form of accountability the institution feels may be best suited for the situation.
  • Lastly, in one of the most ‘artful’ elements of his response, Mr. Williams left the door open to further conversations with the student so that he would feel ‘safe’ to grow beyond the error.
In so many ways, Mr. Williams did something that we could not do: As the ‘owner’ of the misused material and as someone who the student truly respects, he brought the learning experience to a personal level that we can not reach. For these things – for the gift of communication that he obviously has – and for the time he committed to this student’s learning experience, I am very grateful…. Should your office respond to Mr. Williams, please do feel free to share my gratitude.

Sincerely,

Adam G., Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Students
XXXXX University

Final notes:

Needless to say, I was pleased by this response from the administrators (I've yet to hear back from "Jonathan" as to how it all turned out... though I admit I'm quite curious.) I'm also heartened to realize there are people in higher education who really "get it", and are guiding our young people in such potent ways.

I felt strongly about sharing this, since it's such a wonderful lesson in the important role that honesty -- self honesty, as much as anything else -- truly plays in the life of an artist, and how this sense of honesty and integrity plays out and effects all areas of our lives. As true artists, who have great potential influence through our work, it is our responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard, if we are to have any hope of creating our art with purity and impact.

Part of that responsibility is, to my mind, also about not holding grievances, since had I done so in this case, it would have severely limited my potential influence in the situation. And also, integrity as an artist, and being true to oneself, is about doing what's right not just because it's right, but also because if we don't, it will come back to haunt us, and at the very least, stunt our growth and possible influence as artists.

This story is also a great lesson in how, provided we stay open in both mind and heart, we can learn from one another in deep, profound, and truly meaningful ways -- from both our mistakes as well as our successes. And of course, I've learned a lot from this experience, both about myself and about the importance of the issues I've discussed. So I'm feeling grateful to this young man for creating this opportunity. As Johnny Ace Palmer put it when I shared this with him, it's been quite... edifying.

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