After a healthy respite from all deadlines, I'm back with renewed energy for play. Hope you guys still want to play with me!
For those of you in Chicago, Scott and I are going to have a workshop on December 19 at DePaul to play with the bits and pieces we've come up with so far and create more. I'm looking forward to working with some real live people in person and to getting as many of you whom I hardly get to see anymore together in one room. That's going to be exciting. For those of you who can't make it, I hope you'll offer your thoughts here on the blog as we prepare for the playday and then after as we distill it.
As a way of checking back in and seeing what new fodder we might unearth, I was hoping you'd all write a little bit from your own lives and give a glimpse of what's rolling around in your minds these days. It can be related to themes from the play or it can be totally random. Let's just get stuff flowing!
Here's something that's on my mind these days: pharmaceutical ads for mental illnesses. You know the signs on public transportation or in magazines that ask you if you're fatigued, lonely, anxious, depressed,experiencing mood swings, etc? I HATE those ads. Of course, we're all all of those things and it's not because we're crazy... it's because we're human and we're sane...we feel! I can't help but wonder how those ads are affecting the mentality of our society. Once our own sense of sanity starts being chipped away, we don't have much power left. I can't help but think about Brave New World. I hope you've all read that book...
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4 comments:
Haven't, but should. My seventh grade teacher recommended "Brave New World," but then I think the administration must have gotten on her back about its mature themes, because she retracted the recommendation and instead told me all sorts of reasons why it may be too unpleasant to delve into just yet. As a result, I have yet to read it.
And I guess that's what's on MY mind. My fifth grade teacher and I still write letters to each other, and we see her about twice a year, when we can schedule a cookout or trip to the museum. At last visit (late August), she broke the bad news: the grade school has cut the entire ancient and european history programs -- the entire fifth grade curriculum. The fifth graders now learn American history. Just like the fourth graders. And the sixth graders. And both years at the junior high.
Fifth grade was the only year we were allowed to escape from our infant nation's history. It's as if the school considered even ONE year too threatening...god forbid we find another continent's history far more interesting (which I always did). I could hear the anguish in my teacher's voice as she told me the state of things. And I shared it.
Why so much America??
You can't make us love a nation by drowning us in it.
boy, i haven't checked this for so long. i'm so sorry. darn school.
brave new world is an amazing book. i also highly recommend it.
i just finished stage managing a show, and am currently suffering from post production depression, as i like to call it. i guess i've been thinking about that alot, and about how much i'm going to miss every one who worked on it with me.
also i've been thinking alot about how fast time goes by. not in a depressing way. i met my friend for tea at one o'clock one day, and all of a sudden, i looked at the clock and it was 7. this, to me was unbelievable. i had never talked for so long with someone without getting squirmy and wanting to move, or at least checking the time.
yeah. that was the major exciting event in my life this past week.
Yay! You're responding. I think I was having post blog depression.
As for Brave New World, I can see how it might be a bit much for 7th grade, but only for reading it in school. Outside of school, a 7th grader would have a hayday with with it... You know, I'm surprised your teacher's warning didn't send you running right to the book! Now's your chance! Read away!
In fact, it might offer some answers to you Why so much America question... or why the tunnel vision on one country...
Molly, I'm afraid the only cure for PPD is to start another production. I think I've been suffering a mild bout since I left you guys in June. I miss being in rehearsals and working with a group of creative intelligent folks... I'm getting very excited for this upcoming workshop. It will be the first time I've done any in-person theatre since then! Only wish we could find a way to get you here!
Time does pass incredibly fast... even if you're not doing a thing. This used to terrify me. I felt so much pressure to live every moment to its fullest. But now I'm starting to realize that things are happening, maybe even monumental things, even when I'm just sitting still. I think those 6 hours are a testament to what a great friend you have.
I'd say that I've been thinking a lot about distance this week. As I get ready to leave town for a couple of months I'm struck by how it focuses my attention on what I have here in Chicago. There are people I don't see very often, but the fact that now I CAN'T see them makes it somehow more significant. I'm also finding that people seem to be making an effort to spend the kind of quality time that is often hard to make room for.
I also feel like this coming time away is a good chance to get some perspective on my life in Chicago. In the nearly 14 years I've lived here I have never left for more that 2 weeks. I'm excited to see what months away will mean.
I rediscover over and over that distance brings both clarity and appreciation.
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