Perpetually Curious

My final read of the year (oh, wow, I didn't realize I hadn't done one of these since 2020's list. What is time.) I read 48 books in 2024, slightly off my goal of a book a week, but not too shabby over all. As always, some books that will stay with me, some that were meh-for-me, and a bit of "book candy". This list is not the complete list (you can check my Ig highlight for that) but instead, the ones I really enjoyed or meant the most to me for this time of my life. These are in chronological order to when I read them. Memorable: Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel This new book is a fantastic antidote to our current chicken little the sky is falling media culture (which he actually talks about it "Crazy is Normal. Calm plants the seeds of crazy.") The chapters are short, so overall a quick read, but one packed with thoughtful points. I'm pondering writing my own post about "The grass is always greener on the side fert...

I took the middle of November off social media--a detox, if you will--for lots of reasons, starting with the overwhelming panic and hysteria going on. I needed a break to settle my own heart and nerves, plus to try to sort out my own thoughts post-election.  The couple of weeks leading up to the election were tough in our neighborhood because, due to yard signs and group events, we discovered just how conservative our neighbors are. So I was already grieving the lack of camaraderie with our neighbors. But "neighborliness" is also something I've been thinking about for 8+ years, how at least in the places we've lived, "knowing" our neighbors is basically waving as we go by, if anyone happens to be roadside. Even before 2020, the individual family had moved life into the house or backyard, removing the happenstance meetings that led to developing helpful relationships with your neighbors.  Fast forward to Nov 6: my problem-solving thinking goes to why are we a...

 pg 8 "Community arts aren't about art as a sign -- a noun, an object. They are about art as symbol -- a verb, a process. Those of us engaged in community arts work understand our work is about creating a process that invites individuals to participate in and experience the arts on a personal basis. It is, in essence, a paradigm shift from "art as product and citizen as patron" to "art as process and citizen as participant."  "Community arts development is and always has been about relationships. It is people-oriented. It has a long and valued history of individuals taking the initiative to promote self-improvement through self-expression and self-education."  pg 9 " Art is an invitation for people to tell their stories and to listen to the stories of others. Community arts experiences create places where people can gather together and celebrate their story as a community."  pg 49 "Remembering our heroes, organizational and communi...

I was listening to a recent episode of the Tim Ferris podcast and the guest, happiness scholar Arthur C. Brooks, was discussing death meditations. And the little lightbulb in my brain turned on with the thought, "We need to talk more about death in theaters." I know, I know, that seems like an illogical statement because it feels like we're always talking about the death of theater. This whole summer has been filled with articles and op-eds from across the country about how large regional theaters are dying in major cities. But that's not the kind of death Brooks was talking about, and in reality, it isn't death these articles are complaining about, either: they are trying to stay alive in a “E’s just resting” fashion, to find some kind of life-support for the theaters, to keep them going, receive new money from new audiences or donors, new shows, new gimmicks to draw more or different people in the door. Anything to keep from dying. We don't talk about death...

Director and cast of "Othello," Deep Dish Theater, 2011, Chapel Hill One of the questions that comes up over and over in my work--supporting both theater and other arts genres--is the idea of the "professional." What is professional theater, or a professional writer, or painter, or poet, or dancer, or improviser?  Much like the term "success," we've conflated "professional" with "earning money." If you have earned a lot of money from your art, you are a "professional" "success."  Odd, in that we also equate the term "selling out" with "earning money" and that has a bad connotation.  I think, though, Steven Pressfield's idea of "Professional" is closer to the truth, and why so much of the Triangle theater scene is so damn good, is actually professional quality.  Pressfield talks about the Professional Mindset being one of doing the best work you're capable of at all times...

Various sizes of buildings, with some sort of seating arranged in rows, facing a slightly raised platform. may have curtains around the platform. people --primarily men-- take the platform to orate to the audience seated before them. A plea for donations is made at some point, either before or after the show, which may have music and will definitely have directives masked as stories on how to be a human in this day-and-age. children will be seen, maybe, but definitely not heard. the men in charge will believe they have been given a special gift for leading this particular group of people. and the people, for whatever reason, will also believe this. and this group of people will believe that their building and person and each other are completely different and somehow better than all the other exact same groups around their town/city/county/state/nation. If theater wants to be treated as church and church as theater, then both are getting exactly what they have been setting up for the p...