By Jennifer Buntjer
Born to a Beatnik mother who ran a hip coffeehouse called the “Purple Turk” located a block from the local college, I was exposed to and listened to folk music nearly all my life—so of course social justice projects and activism shortly proceeded.
I was around seven or eight when I began my “Save the Animals” neighborhood newsletter that I typed out on my grandmother’s manual typewriter. I spent a great amount of time pasting and cutting in grueling pictures and figures concerning how many hours an animal suffered in a trap. Wanting to reach beyond my local neighborhood street, I saved up S&H green stamps and ordered a custom rubber stamp that said “Don’t wear furs.” I was now able to mass produce my protest onto a thick stack of small paper notes. My mom took me over the all every other week where I casually stuffed them into the pocket of every fur coat I could find in the retail store. Looking back mostly likely they were all polyester coats that resembled furs because I remember a lot of pinks and purples, but it didn’t matter because I was growing up and modeling my mother’s playlist.
The Playlist
From a wiggly child singing Puff the Magic Dragon with Peter, Paul, and Mary to later a teenager sitting around a bonfire at Camp Shaver and choking out the words to “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.” The lyrics that belted out of my mother’s record player remain the playlist of my heart and the words of Pete remind me of my favorite parts of living on this Earth, to ask the critical questions and work in spaces that continually give back. Thank you Pete for your creative and thoughtful spaces.
I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody…. I feel that my whole life is a contribution.
Jennifer Buntjer is a Ph.D graduate student in the Department of Language, Literacy & Sociocultural Studies. Her research interests are family literacy studies with an arts-informed practice using visual literacy, visual anthropology, sensory ethnography, and documentary studies.