Sunday, December 4, 2016

Sometimes You Need to Note The Good Times

Had a great weekend!

Friday:

Watched my Contemporary Theatre students at Boston Conservatory at Berklee further develop their show with Double Edge Theatre. That goes up next Sunday. Details to come. That evening I took in a performance of THIS IS OUR YOUTH produced and performed by Musical Theatre students  from BoCo in an apartment.

Saturday:

Worked with my teenage acting students at Walnut Hill School for the Arts...and then I got an offer to add on another advanced acting class in the spring to deepen the work with some of the more experienced kids. That night I drove with Katelyn to Old Sturbridge Village...and ate more than I should have.

Sunday:

Helped out Katelyn's family work around their house in Connecticut and then went home to laze around, watch the season finale of Westworld and then prep for the end of the semester and an upcoming audition.

Now...sleep...maybe.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Lost Memories.

I've been going over my old blogs, some other loose writings I've kept around the house, and notes I have on receipts and napkins.

Some of my writing is truly laughable and terrible...well...most of it is.

Still, I wish I had written more, and put more of it up here if only for the lone fact that my brain has become a blender and I can remember next-to-nothing of things that have happened.

I have 12 wonderful students right now at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and it pains me to even allow myself to think that some of them might fall away into the lost sewer systems of my cesspool of a memory, but, well, there you have it. I'm looking through some writing and just noticing fragments of thoughts, shorthanded notes to myself that I can no longer remember what they meant, lost and forgotten loves, jobs, and worries.

Actually, the worries stayed.

My prose hasn't gotten any more concise, or any truer, but I hope I can come back to this form of sharing myself with myself.

New Reality

The news is beyond depressing...only slightly more depressing than seeing "news" reports that still focus on the "Clinton machine" that apparently is still an evil, and powerfully menacing thing, even in defeat. 
Apparently I'm supposed to blame Democrats for the republic's now quick unraveling, and not a whole host of thugs who have spent the last 30+ years spreading disinformation like a virus, while defunding education across the country so most people can't tell the difference between what is and is not a lie.
Apparently I'm supposed to agree Trump doesn't mean what he says except when he does.
Apparently there is no more truth. We're "post-truth." But even that's a lie because we just went back to old tactics with that choice.
Apparently if you care that nothing makes sense you're just "too sensitive," but not sensitive enough to care about people in a conservative bubble because your liberal bubble is too powerful a bubble...despite the fact that it has lost all three branches of government.
Apparently it's now time to register religions to big government, but not to the bad kind of big government...just the good kind...even though no one can tell me what either is.
Apparently it's time to surrender my sanity, faith in humanity, and last semblances of decency.
Thank God I'm a damn moron.
It would be terrible if I could think and feel the pain of these thoughts.

A Post About My Fiancee and The Election from November 9th

I've been working hard my entire adult life, struggling to simply get a footing in my career, or to make a difference in my personal life and the society around me. 
Tonight I am watching a misogynistic, racist, xenophobic bigot born with a silver spoon in his mouth who proved in three failed debates that not only was he was massively unprepared and uninformed, but that he didn't deserve any executive office...and now he possibly will get enough votes to win the office of President of The United States of America. His ascension to even this point makes me want to vomit. It proves that all the years of hard work, education, constant attempts at decency in my own day-to-day life (and sometimes failing) guarantee nothing in the realm of political desires, and especially in the face of the whims of mob mentality. I've been let down not only by total strangers, but those I used to look up to from years gone by who voiced their support for a sociopath and a bully. 
I'm proud to have supported a candidate with integrity and decency like Hillary Clinton, and I would do it again. I'm also proud of my fiancĂ©e Katelyn Dix who also supported her with so much sincere hope for a better future for not just our home and the family we hope to have, our immediate community, or the country, but also the world. Katelyn is a wonderful example to everyone around her and the type of adult others should aspire to be, just like Hillary Clinton is. 
This night is shaping up to be a big letdown in not just my political hopes, but also my faith in the judgment of most of the world's humanity. The citizenry of the United States is on the verge of a terrible misjudgment on par with that of other countries around the globe in recent years. I have belief in education, art, God, and humanity that cannot make sense of any of this, nor square tonight's events with those who CLAIM they believe in these. Still, my faith in common decency, rationale and logic are shaken, but not destroyed.
I may be truly terrified for our world now, but that is why the work at home is now more important than ever. So many have decided to elect a virtual madman as a world leader...and if there is any hope for our future it begins at home. I have, at home, someone who will continue to be a great example to her students, her family, and everyone around her with her intelligence, decency, creativity, and strong spirit. She deserved a champion like Hillary Clinton, but I have no doubt Katelyn will be a great example and champion to others around her no matter what happens.
We all must be...especially since so many irresponsible people have wrought so many ill decisions upon us in the past year alone. There can be no falling into the abyss of despair and giving up. I look at Katelyn and she never gives up. She works harder whenever she gets knocked down. Those of us who had hoped for a better world can't fall down. We have to get up and keep working hard no matter what.
Our work will lead us to peace. Whenever your faith wavers look to the great examples at home like Katelyn.