What I do

Sorry folks, I've been too busy doing what I do to do this too! Guess it's a good thing I don't have any followers left hanging. Tuesday I covered "Cirque Dreams Illumination," and though ooos and ahhhs were the most frequent reaction of the night, along with OMG, I laughed so hard at clown Martin Lamberti who was able to express himself in complete sentences by the way he tooted his whistle. I mean, he could read the riot act to the audience members he was directing and they cowered at every word.. I mean beep. Then Thursday night I covered "Mr. Marmalade" and to my surprise I enjoyed it considerably and laughed a lot. I know it's pretty alarming. It's about a 4-year girl with frighteningly real fantasies about the world we live in, but it was too funny to be disturbing. So, now, I'm off for Florida where all my laughing will be on my own time....

Another week, another post

It's Monday and packing for Florida has officially begun. I only have half a bed because the suitcase is on the other half. All bets are off when Steve comes Thursday. I can't believe how excited I am about this trip. I went to China and the Mediterranean without getting this psyched. I think it is because I really need to run away, I mean get away from all the serious stuff in life... the economy, the health care debacle, the unending war. What happened to laughing for a living????

Where'd the week go?

Trying to post daily is a lot harder than I thought! Maybe because I've been too busy doing to write about it!
Wednesday I had to finish reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett so I would be prepared for book club that afternoon. Great book. Funny and poignant at the same time. A good example for want-to-be novelists like myself.
Thursday I was indeed laughing at Max MacLean who made a masterful devil in a dramatic reading based on C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." Lewis sets the bar high, not only for good writing but also for good living, if we are to avoid the devil. I've studied that book several times and never get enough. Great lessons there, and a delightful serving by MacLean.
Today, the highlight was interviewing Estelle Parsons who is starring in the tour of "August: Osage County" which is coming to Lansing next month. What an enthusiastic lady. I felt rejuvenated just talking to her.And she's 82! What wonderful lessons life has taught her.

Learning to Forgive

Spent an inspiring hour listening to Immaculee Hibagiza at the Calvin College January Series.A survivor of the Rwanda genocide, this woman has forgiven the people who killed her family and friends. She hid in a 3X4 foot bathroom for 91 days with seven other women and was barely a skeleton when she came out, and yet she can tell a story that is funny and inspiring. This is truly a woman who is listening to God,and I believe God listened to her prayer so that the hostile army didn't find them. What an amazing story! She left us with the thought -- when being kind conflicts with being right, be kind. I know she's on to something. Get right with God and everything else will start to make sense.

Holiday? What Holiday?

I was late before I got out of bed this morning. I had three theater advances due at 6 a.m. I sent off two before I went to bed, along with a promise that the third would be coming at noon. Then I received a reminder from my editor about a fourth story I had forgotten about, even though it's right there in the task list I never look at. I finished story number three -- the upcoming Grand Rapids' Got Talent competition -- just a little later than promised because I decided to get some comments from the martial artist who was set up for the photo. Glad I did because she's a 16-year-old girl with four world championships in fighting with sticks, a Crouching-Tiger-in-waiting. I thought the fourth story -- Circle Presents "Seussical" -- would be a snap, but I didn't get any answer to phone calls or emails to Circle Theater. Impatiently I called Theatreworks in New York, the touring company bringing the show. I pushed 0 for operator, as instructed, and let it ring for five minutes. Must be a busy operator, I thought. Then I realized. It's Martin Luther King Day!