Reflecting On The Past Year

The old year has passed and the new year begins. I feel compelled to offer a reflection on the year that has passed. In a late-night pedagogical debate with Mr. G I think I may have loudly asserted that reflection is necessary for any learning, and that, in fact, all learning takes place through reflection. Although this world of blogging provides a constant opportunity for reflection, I cannot pass up the opportunity for a meta-reflection. So, for 2006, I present "Roses, Thorns, Things That Just Were, and Themes of Note."

Roses:

• Wrote my first play, which was produced at the Mae West Fest in Seattle in May.
• Got to see my wonderful ZPJ sworn in to the NYS Bar Association and start his first real law-talkin' job.
• Got my first Teaching Artist gigs in NYC and had my first residency experiences.
• Took some kick-ass classes in Theatre of the Oppressed, Devising with Young People, Shakespeare with YP.
• Went to a 3am rock concert in the Lower East Side at which Ryan Adams performed under a pseudonym.
• Took classes from world-class practitioners such as Dorothy Heathcote, Jonothan Neelands, Tony Goode, and the rock-stars at CAT.
• Met notable authors Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers, and Jeanette Walls. Got hugs from two of them. Only paid $6 for one of the hugs.
• Saw such beautiful theatre as The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Three Penny Opera, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Fortune Teller, Fear Up, and Kagemi.
• Had parents, in-laws, and friends visit and provide me with the excuse to do things like go up the Empire State Building, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, go to the MoMA some 7 or 8 times, picnic in Central Park and do all those other things that you're supposed to do when you're in New York but which I never actually do unless I have guests.
• Celebrated my second anniversary.
• Successfully completed my thesis proposal and all my grad school coursework.
• Facilitated my first professional development workshop.
• Participated in the Number The Dead demonstration.
• Dressed up as a pirate for the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, even though I didn't get there in time to actually march in the parade. I will, though. I will.
• Had NYC directing debut with the puppet delightfulness of The Light Princess.

Thorns:

• Spent a lot of time in unpaid positions doing work that never saw the light of day.
• Saw such mediocre theatre as Burning Cities and Mycenean or, as it is know in local circles, Mycene-crap.
• Struggled with blood pressure issues and mean people in the Women's Health clinic.
• Took ass-sucking classes such as Thesis Seminars, Proseminars, and other such courses that called themselves seminars but weren't.
• The UCAIHS.
• Had personality conflicts with directors of things that I work for.
• On more than one occasion went over two months without being able to have a weekend with my wonderful ZPJ.
• Spent two months looking for a bigger and better apartment, got rejected by one too many, and now suffer from a cynical and broken heart.
• Spent (and continue to spend) a great deal of time, energy, and money on a black cat's mysterious illness which has caused her to lose half her body-weight for no apparent reason and requires daily administration of medicine and subcutaneous fluids.
• Made an emergency visit to my hometown after my mother appeared to have a stroke.

Things That Just Were:

• Coordinated the 2006 Face to Face Conference.
• Started a social activism group called "Play:Act, a creative collaboration for change." Said group has been inactive longer than it was active.
• My Grandfather passed away after a long and unhappy illness.
• Got healthy and lost 10lbs and then started school again and gained it all back.
• Our friends and family are greeting their next generations- happy and beautiful children- and we are too far away to having a meaningful role in these experiences.
• Although my mother's health is not as bad as initially thought, she is still not as good as we would hope.
• ZPJ's new career has provided financial stability but is seriously impacting my street cred as a starving artist.
• Serious questions raised as a result of a series of experiences with the NYC school system- struggling with issues around structures of power, privilege and opportunity for urban students.

Themes of Note

• Is busy-ness good or bad? The struggle between passion and the need to nap.
• Illness and health. Both can interfere with a busy life.
• Rest vs. Movement
• Starting things and then not finishing them.
• The wanting of a better lifestyle.
• Professional trajectories.
• Trying to make the most of an amazing city, and realizing that no one person can.
• Pushing through. Faking it until you make it.