Rest In Peace Windie

poor windie cat

my elderly cat (18+ years) is not doing so well today. My mom found him this morning with his leg caught and it seems that both rear legs have lost all power.
He’s at the vet and is going to stay there over the weekend to see if there is any improvement. If there isn’t we may have to put him down. It’s so difficult. He is old but he is fully aware. Watching him this morning trying to maneuver without use of his rear legs was just heartbreaking.
anyway. that’s going on.

oh and

my theatre collage will keep updating in spurts as well.

a week in the life: sorry guys

I’m just not in a blogging place these days. Maybe I’m too busy. Maybe I’m becoming to introverted. Whatever the case is, I just don’t feel the urge to blog.

It’s taking me longer to process my ideas and then once they are processed I don’t really feel like writing them out.

I don’t want to say goodbye to the blog but I know you are all getting tired of the half written posts and apologies.

but not sure what else I can do right now.  I think the blog is going to go on hiatus until classes start. If something comes up I may post but don’t expect much. And this, I swear, will be the last apology about it.

In the meantime though here’s what I’m doing:

The 2009 Capital Fringe Festival runs from July 9 – July 26 and during that time i will be found in the box office coordinating the volunteers.

Want to volunteer? Please do! Fill out this survey to let me know your availability.

And Dorks on the Loose return with a new show Facey Facey Face Face. Tickets go on sale Monday and once I have that link it will go up and obviously you should all see it!

And Forum Theater is busy with Dark Play which also opens July 9 which also you should all see.

If you want to know more about what is happening in my life give me a call, send me an email, make plans with me. I may be anti-social on the web but I’m trying not to be in real life.  Let’s have a real conversation.

Oh, and this was written while listening to the new Stuart Murdoch project God Help the Girl which is being streamed for a limited time on the Matador Records page. I enjoy muchly.

green days

have you all been following the situation in Iran? I find it fascinating.

I don’t really know how to talk about it or write about it.  Without being there, without having an Iranian friend by my side to guide me through the intricacies, it is overwhelming to just follow twitter feeds and blog postings.

Just so, I suggest taking a look through out the day at Andrew Sullivan’s blog on the Atlantic. He has done an amazing job of keeping up to date and filtering with the bits and pieces of news.

And also I just wanted to make note of Twitter responding to how it’s being used in Iran by changing their maintenance time so as not to stop the flow of information during daytime in Iran.

I hope the situation ends peaceably and I send out hope to Iran that they can create a society that reflects all the people not just the religious extremists.

week in the life of a grad student: summer makes me blog lazy

sorry I’m just not feeling the urge to write.  This week has been similar to the one before. The Confrence of Jewish Theater happened. There were some highlights to that: Donald Margulies, Judith Malina and Itamar Moses were all interesting and in their own ways inspiring. I’d like to write something up but I don’t know if I’m ready to yet. I have lots of thoughts swimming around my head about Jewish Identity and Theater but their having a hard time (my thoughts) staying in one place and letting me grab hold of them in words. The other news of the conference is that I have been made a board member. My responsibility towards the association will be mainly working on next years conference, though I have volunteered to help rewrite the mission statement.

Other than the Jews, I’ve spent my week hanging out with friends old and new and enjoying New York. I’m starting to get sad to leave. I’m excited, of course, to be back in the district, and excited to see all my DC peeps, and my family. But, things here are good and a month and a half away right now feels inconvenient.

What else? I’ve been reading and enjoying Kafka’s short stories.  Goal for the summer to read all Kafka in preparation for one of the director’s projects next year.

So, that’s what I’ve got at the moment.

a week in the life of a grad student: this weeks routine

I’ve had a nice routine this past week. Today is the last day of it, though maybe it will be similar at the end of next week.

I’ve woken up around 8:30. Made some oatmeal and tea. Sat in the living room until sometime btwn 11 – 12 doing work on stuff for the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas and the upcoming Association for Jewish Theater Conference (this article has a really comprehensive look at the world of American Jewish Theater for those interested).

Then at some point between 11:30 and noon I leave the house and take a walk (with a little bit of running) in Central Park. I wish the running was a little bit more as I watch people go by me but I just don’t understand how people do it. After a minute of running my knees and ankles start smarting so I have to stop. It’s just too much pressure for them. At least I can walk. And walk I do. Everyday it’s been a different route getting lost in the vastness of the park. Everyday I fall a little more in love with Central Park and all the nooks and cranny’s and the way it changes around every bend.  Today I walked down to the Reservoir and circled it before making my way home.

I make sure I’m home around 1 pm and make and eat lunch while watching Anthony Bourdain on the travel channel. Today for lunch I had toast topped with Avocado and salt and a salad of cucumber, onion and radish tossed in some red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.  Yesterday I made a pasta out of garlic, radish greens, radish, onion and raisins. I like throwing things together.

I go back to the computer around 2 pm and do some more work on the Jewish Fest, Conference and the Fringe Fest in DC. I take a nap and read for a couple hours and then go off to the theater.  This week I went to a reading of a play by one of the playwrighting students at Columbia.  I’m going to be working on it next year and this was my first look at it. I’m very excited, the play, though still needing some attention, is clever, sweet, funny and heartbreaking.   I’ve had a couple more post-show discussions at the Festival (my last one is this Saturday).  Last night I was Waiting for Godot on Broadway. It was really a fantastic and engaging production. I am thrilled I got the chance to see it.

Really, this isn’t a bad life at all.

first glimpse at my new place

these were all taken with my phone so are blurry once the room is completely done I’ll take real pictures.

and then of course there is the dog:

sudden interest in theater news

The Washington Post today has four theatrically inclined articles. On a Tuesday. Is this sudden interest on the part of the editors due to Obama? Is theater finally something that those who don’t work in it care about?  Or is it just a coincidence.

Blue Sky Puppet Theater, ‘Legacy of Light’ Actress Sidelined, After Plodding Start, ‘Tartuffe’ Rollicks, Olney Shows Off a Radiant ‘Glass’ Act

week in the life of a grad student: ask and ye shall recieve

so, you want to hear more about my goings on, at least according to those who responded to my survey.  An interesting thing I noted about the survey – no one said that they didn’t care (which is good) but many visitors to the site didn’t respond at all. Does that mean the don’t care but are too lazy to fill out the survey? Or that they are totally indifferent.

So, goings on. It’s been a busy week and my legs hurt. These two points are related.  I moved this week. I moved around the corner from my old apartment. Instead of moving in the traditional way where you pack everything up and then do it all in one fell swoop, I’ve been moving slowly. Taking a couple bags filling them to the brim and walking over to the new place. Emptying the bags, putting things away, walking back over and doing the same thing – again, and again and again and again.  And as I mentioned before, there are stairs lots of them. My legs and back hurt.

BUT, I have a great new apartment and I love my room. It’s fantastic and comfortable and I think I’ll be very happy in it.  There’s a dog, Athena who is the sweetest thing. But I’m still getting used to having an apartment that smells like dog. I’m guessing in a couple of days I won’t notice the smell anymore but at the moment it’s getting to me. My room is dog free, but the living room which I’m in now is much more the dogs room than my own.

So other than the move I’ve also been working on the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas. I have been putting together and moderating post-show discussions.  I’ve done three so far and have three more to go this weekend. Then three more in the week to come. I’ve been enjoying them. I haven’t done post-show discussions since my time at Theater J and it feels great to be in front of the audience again.  It’s also nice be seeing a lot of theater again after the past two weeks of taking a break.

Yesterday I saw a play by one of the columbia playwrights directed by one of my fellow dramaturgs.  It was a very impressive undertaking with a non-existent budget. So bravo to them!