Creative Infusions in the New Year – Finding the Next Words Indeed

A New year’s visit from Ivan Talijancic – Thai tea and pannetone, and reminiscing about our theatre adventure in Croatia last year, and learning about the program he leads in England. Academics across the world share so many of the same responsibilities and challenges. I would love to be in a program led by this amazing artist and talented theatre maker!

Murry’s New Year’s tea party in Pasadena and stimulating conversation with so many of the best theatre artists in Los Angeles! It was totally invigorating.

A brand new experience for me at 65 – being the star in the recording studio! I have begun recording the audio version of my book, My Heart In My Mouth; Finding the Next Words. The experience of recording my story and having the engineer who is helping me in the studio hear and respond positively to my story has been gratifying. I also love the different muscles recording and telling a story requires. Old acting muscles.

I’m reading/listening to an interesting book by Patricia Leavy entitled The Artist Academic about Arts-based Research practices, in which she talks about the difference between being a writer and an author. This year I’ve come smack up against that difference and am finding my way to discovery of the joy of promoting/marketing the book I so enjoyed writing.

January brought me word about a new show starting in April with very old friends. Stay tuned for the announcement!

I almost took a spontaneous jaunt to Florida to intersect with friends. That trip was postponed and will happen sometime in the future. It in no way diminishes the support and love I’m sending those friends.

Had a birthday – I’m finding myself this year on the metaphoric Route 66, now celebrating it’s 100 birthday. The morning of my birthday, I awoke to a thoughtful message from my friend Bob, with a You Tube clip of Nat King Cole singing “Route 66.” After I stopped laughing at the appalling captions on the clip (get your kicks on rude sex to sex), I settled in to enjoy the artistry of Cole’s quartet and the wit of my friend Bob in matching the song to my birthday morning. Seemed like a great way to start the day and year.

I had a spectacular birthday this year, including a celebration with cake offered to us all by Rick, one of the intrepid long term volunteers at the LA Regional Food Bank, and followed the next day by a lovely dinner party at my friend Rob’s DTLA aerie. Though the party wasn’t specifically for my birthday, I felt generously celebrated this year. Of course birthday celebrants always appreciate FB on that day. Thanks for the many FB greetings I received!

My buddy Norma joined me at the Food Bank the following Tuesday and it was great to have her there. Hopefully she will grace us with her presence again soon! I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I’ve gained from this two-day-a-week volunteer opportunity. The other day at the foodbank, a young woman came and sat down with “The Regulars” and was bemoaning (for her generation) the difficulty of knowing where to start to get involved. Here’s the link!

Wearing my “Do More of What Makes You Happy” T-shirt on Saturday, I found the ease in following that directive resulting in a beautiful hike with USC pals at Ernest E. Debs Park and lunch at the Levant Bistro. Most of my compatriots took advantage of the Dine LA special, which included a lovely turmeric soup, Batata Hara potatoes (so yummy!), a choice of wrap with a lovely side salad, and dessert! Here are some of the pictures from our group. I had breakfast instead due to my time crunch. Note: The entire table has to order the Dine LA menu to partake. The reason we were able to do differently was by dividing our tables into the regular menu folks and the Dine LA folks. (Sorry, Judy!)

After lunch, I drove directly to the Landmark in Pasadena to see the Metropolitan Opera HD production of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay based on the novel by Michael Chabon, at the invitation of Norma. There, I saw college buddies Dave and Caryn (alas, no photos!). From there, I drove home and finished making dinner for friends and family to complete an action-packed and joy-filled Saturday.

In the meantime, so many of us seek the adequate words to express our disgust over what is happening in Minneapolis and other cities where the current administration continues to break the laws granting us the right to gather and voice our first amendment rights. The recent murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE thugs in Minneapolis are a sober reminder of just how off the rails our government has gone in one year under DJumanjiT (credit to Jimmy Kimmel). The level of chaos and confusion is staggering.

I haven’t been writing a lot because as you can see, the top of this post is so cognitively dissonant to the bottom that it seems irrelevant when facing the societal and political disrepair of our country. On my birthday, my brother and his wife and I went to get into some “Good Trouble” in Burbank and stood for a few hours along side the street holding signs and listening to the positive responses from so many drivers driving by.

Yet it feels so insufficient to the challenge. I know the murders of these onlookers/witnesses in Minneapolis are intended to silence the rest of us, and so I continuously urge myself to not lose hope about the impact of our presence out in the community.

So, Finding the Next Words. What the hell are they?