ETA Alex Bue and his students went to see Black Panther, the latest and biggest American superhero movie. The event celebrated students’ participation in a storytelling competition at SMAN 11 Padang.

It was a difficult task – the prompt was to talk about “Where you’re from” – but students wrote about their homes with skill and variety. Talents were performed; they included silat (a martial art), menari piring (plate dancing) and singing (of course); students left having done something new and challenging.

Celebration was in order, and unanimously they elected to see the new Marvel movie about an embattled, superhuman African prince. Several students, though from Padang by a kind of technicality (in reality they live one hour south of the city center), had never been to a movie in theaters, so it was serendipitous and significant that one unique storytelling event should be followed by another. Also serendipitous was the movie’s plot, which took place in part in Oakland, California, Alex’s hometown. On the same day that Alex learned so much about his student’s homes, they learned something about his as well.

Alex Bue is currently teaching at SMAN 11 Padang, West Sumatra