The Arts

Yesterday was extrordinary.... E.M. and I went to a script readin of a play I've been asked to be in. I believe the Director was kind of confused as I have matured/grown up since I was last working on plays with her -- 3 years ago. I'm quieter now, I don't feel the need to be the center of all attention at every moment.

Anyway it was enjoyable.... a beautiful first draft on my generations take of "gay" (loose term with thise group -- encompasses the ENTIRE LGBTQAS community) history propped up by the heart wrenching and beautifully scripted stories told by past generations. Definitley something I am willing to commit to.

After the reading we went over to a cute little coffee shop; now when I say cute I mean.... grimey... but in a cute way... sort of. I suppose it would be one of those places you need to visit to truly understand the atmosphere. We walked in the front door (side door, rather) into a dimly lit pub of types, definitley not your typical coffee shop for downtown Phoenix. There were no business people dressed in suits or heels, instead there were college students and people with laptops who (I can only assume since I have taken on this whole "quiet" demeanor in public, only really speaking to E.M.) were writing, researching, etc. So we ordered a diet coke, split it, and headed of to the "Phoenix Fringe Festival" -- This is the last weekend and it was extrordinary. We are actually thinking of going to one other play today if we can away from cleaning my mother's house for the hour and a half. Last night we watched an almost silent play called 7(x1) Samarai ....It was one man and he acted out the entire show. The gist of the show is the the peasants are working in the fields and bandits of some sort came and took away all the crops (or whatever it was that they were cutting down), so the peasants get upset (both angry and sad) and one peasant decides to go find the Samari ...the first place he comes to he explains his story and they ask for money, he has no money so he is thrown out... the second place he comes to he explains his story and they too, ask for money, he has known and he is thrown out... the third place he comes to he briefly describes his story... then quickly adds the "no money" concept and cowers, expecting to be thrown out. The Samarai says "okay", the peasant says "okay?!", and the samari reassures the peasant by saying "alright". The samari fight the bandits after much blood shed, wins. It was intriquing but wouldn't recommend for children....very few words and no bathroom - I had to remind myself to remain "lady like" as it was a long show.

So we went out to dinner and filled the tank with gas. Then we decided we would goto a second show, it too was completley unplanned... we went and saw A Man, Magic, And Music. A comically told lifestory through the eyes of a black man born in the '40's, with 12 brothers and sisters ...he told his story through song, dance, and tap - he intertwined songs of the decade of which his story was being told... it was a truly magnificent show and aside from one small part I would say it is a great show for children who enjoy music.

So all this culture has E.M. and I talking. We already knew we wanted to take our child camping one weekend every 2 months so we decided that the opposite month we would like to take our child to "childrens" plays ....2 of them ...one every other weekend. And we would like to start as soon as our child can sit still for 15 to 45 minutes (usually the length of a child's play!) I guess our goal is to submerge our child in a little of everything as niether of us were at a young age. We want to take the best pats of our lives (for me being in and watching the theatre, for him camping with family and being a techie in the theatre) and highlight them for our children.

Oh yea, along the same line our child is going to have the opportunity to play the piano at a young age... and will learn to read music, something I am *still* trying to learn.

The goal is to provide better for our children, yes? The best way we can figure to do that is to expose them to a little of everything and support them in what they choose to do!


-Jess and E.M.