Monthly Archives: September 2020

Ever so rarely in a teacher’s journey do they find a student that is truly a “star”.  The student hungrily eats up everything that you are offering as long as you keep the stakes on the challenge high.  But as they approach their senior year, and they have rather exhausted your lectures, plays, and exercises – – you get this feeling in your gut that “the student has outreached the teacher” and it is time for them to go.  Luckily this didn’t happen until the last month of his senior hear!!  Now it was time to watch and pray.  I had hope that Juilliard would provide this challenge and make this student sweat, and, of course, I was right.  Jullaird came and went and off they jumped into the insane world of film/theatre!  Patrick Heusinger was my “outreached star.”  The proof was obvious.  You can look him up on IMDP or just trust that anyone who can play the evil foil to Tom Cruise has what it takes.

I noticed today that I have spent the entire week wearing gym clothes – of course not the SAME gym clothes but gym clothes never the less.  I get up and put these on as a not too subtle reminder that I need to go going to the gym.  Smart me!  But when it comes to laundry it is now taking me up to two weeks to justify doing a load of clothes.  I have also noticed that my entire wardrobe for the last month could fit neatly into one gym bag.  Never do I have to go into the closet beyond socks and underwear.  Pants and shirts and suit after suit hang a bit dusty in the closet waiting for some special occasion to come around.  I am going to be either seriously saving money on clothing or seriously beginning to buy uber expensive workout clothing.  The first is more likely to happen.  I will have to check around with other retirees and see what they do with their clothes and even their closet . . .A tiny office?

One of the true perks of retirement is that we get to conduct our chores and business during something that is called the middle of the day!  I can remember from my working days – all of 2 months ago that it was nearly impossible to get those doctor appointments done.  I remember having to use my lunch break and do a little sneaking around to get to the parking lot just as the bell rang.  And by the time I got to the doctors office, I was almost in worse health then before.  Then, coming at the same time as all of the other 9-5 workers, we had to wait forever to be seen. Read more →

“Don’t ignore the silences” is something said by every high school theatre teacher and director.  Students too often think that playmaking is a speed contest in which the one who can get through their lines the fastest is the winner.  I guess the thought could be that if they paused they might forget all of their lines.  Now if THAT is the problem, then their work has even bigger problems!!!  Certainly in the lines – in those decisions and discoveries – lies the most interesting part of the story.  Without this being tended to, one might as well stay home and READ the play.  I also think that, as in life, silence is the one place that escapes lying. .  You can lie all you want to with words – in fact most of speaking is about hiding from the truth and not revealing it.  BUT silence cannot lie.  It is in silence that truth lies.  Truth in life – truth on stage –  all remain silent.  So show me – don’t tell me!

On the day that I drove to the school board to complete all the paperwork necessary to retire, I was a mess.  I knew I was the right age, had turned in the correct number of years, had my savings all lined up – but I was a mess.  I was such a mess that I didn’t even eat my breakfast.  Admittedly, it got very emotional as I was racing to throw all of the papers I could imagine necessary into my book bag and rush out the door.  Before I hit the door, however, I did have enough presence of mind to grab a muffin from the counter and hurry off to the car.  As my mind was racing one hundred thoughts a minute – – as to whether this was the best choice or not – should I just back out – – am I making the wrong decision at the wrong time – – – Read more →