Hi, friend.

Dearest scarf, July 12, 2010

You will not defeat me. You bundle of soft wool that becomes unsoft once knit, you will not win. It may take me 20 minutes to knit one inch of you, but it is summer; I have free time. You shall be knit. Yes, I have been working on you for a month. And, yes, you are not yet two feet long. But I will knit you, darn it.

Believe it, wool.

Sidenote, weekend long stomachaches = not fun.

Children Are the Future…Superheroes. July 10, 2010

Working with Juniors is a wonderful thing. A terribly exhausting, obscenely fun thing.

What was our show about? “CATEGORY 5: a musical blown out of proportion” centers on Seagull High, your average run-of-the-mill educational facility with students, faculty, and a healthy student news team. Well, run-of-the-mill UNTIL 4 students receive letters in their lockers, inviting them to join the mysterious janitor’s club. This club has been gathered to help the students discover their superpowers, eventually joining together to save the town from a 2012-style storm. Too bad the gossiping students and fear-mongering media don’t look kindly on mutants! Will the super students save the day? Who will save the super students?

Anyways, the show was oodles of fun. Lovewell shows tend to include everything from angry mob dances, indie guitar trios, razzmatazz soft shoe numbers, and pseudo-political raps. Lots of fun dances, plenty of catchy songs.

I always like trying to figure out what sparks Lovewell shows. This year focused on acceptance and a need to feel useful. These kids are entering middle school, just beginning to face tough academics and more competitive arts education. And, as awful as it is, most middle schoolers are about to discover that they’re not quite as special as the gold stars of elementary school dictated. They’re pushed into their small areas of expertise: you’re good at math, you can be funny, you’re a good musician. Don’t try your best at everything…stick to where you succeed. It thoroughly depresses me that these AMAZING kids (they’re bright and warm and terribly fun) will feel inadequate. These kids (who are ALWAYS smiling) will grow up to be the 99% of high schoolers that always seem to be in a bad mood. They’ll be the same messed up adults that frown on newness and obsess over the dangers of the world (instead of the promises). These kids want to be superheroes now.

Can’t we all be?

Promise Kept. July 9, 2010

I didn’t promise a good post every day. Just something. So here’s today’s something:

1. Family Feud of Harvard vs. Caltech? Wonderful. Especially when they are shocked to find their favorites excluded from the survey of “Most Famous Writers” (pity they didn’t guess Stephen King instead of Dickens) or that “ski lodge” is not one of the top 7 places to find a smart male.

2. I cleaned my room today. This isn’t particularly interesting, unless you’ve ever seen my room.

3. My favorite song of the minute is “Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri. I can’t say it’s a particularly innovative song, but I like the metaphor and her voice is really chilling. I’m about 60% done with the arrangement; I’ve got the bass line/chords down (it helps that she lists them on her website) and now I get to go through and get creative with the more repetitive parts of the song.

4. I should sleep now. More substantive post tomorrow? I’m excited to see the Lovewell Teen show. I think they finished writing it this morning. Über, über excited.

Debrief Me (giggle, giggle)! July 8, 2010

Lovewell Junior Session 1 just ended. And I am absolutely exhausted. I adore Lovewell and I really don’t think I brag about it enough. In under 4 weeks, 9-13 year olds write a show they care about: 2 hours of songs, scenes, and dances that tell a story they love and can relate to. And, as if that weren’t enough, some of the aforementioned nuggets are pretty darn good. We start from nothing; we end with the bounciest curtain call you’ll ever experience.

During the actual process, time pretty much stops. And races forwards. And lingers to the point of exhaustion. Basically, once you jump into a new Lovewell, you live in Lovewell-land. No escaping to friends and stress; you just keep chugging along that crazy roller coaster (our staff handbook refers to stages in the process as a “vortex of chaos” and “frenzy of creation.” no lie. now do you see what I mean?). So, now that it’s over, I feel like a debriefing.

What is the show about? What does it reflect in the kids? How strange is it feeling like an adult? How strange is it feeling like another child? Why do these kids only want to grow up? Can I grow down?

Answers tomorrow. I’m demolished tonight.

New Plan: Be a normal person. July 7, 2010

I have a bad habit of starting noble artistic projects, loving the freedom of working on them for a few days, pausing for a bit, then immediately judging/destroying my own work. I can’t begin to describe how many hours I have spent tearing pages out of old notebooks: poems I thought were dorky, songs I thought were overdone, drawings I knew weren’t good enough. It’s something I do. I’m not proud of it, but I’m pretty confirmed in my ways.

I’m going to try to break that habit.

This isn’t much of a post, but it’s tiny free fall off of my personal cliff. I’ll try to post everyday for at least a month. Somehow I like pretending that the Internet is a bottomless pit that I can just shout into with no repercussions. I like writing. And the Internet’s least useful to me as a bottomless pit. I need to deal with the fact that I need outside criticism to improve my writing/reasoning. And, deep breath, I’m going to give it a shot.

So add me to your blogroll, friends. I’m sick of being your humorous Facebook status patsy.