Notes

I feel like my blog needs an identity, some kind of format I can stick to.... maybe I should go back to the "In which we shall see" bit. I dunno.

In the meantime, I'm finally buckling down to work on my paper, and dropping off a few of my distractions here:

NYTimes Editorial on the British Gov't Response to the Riots

and

Looking at 9/11 in the Context of the Last Decade (interesting, because I'm all about context)


More later!

Motivationalities

Things that are getting me moving lately:

1) My friend Stephanie (whom I really haven't gotten to spend NEARLY enough time with) is making some major nutritional changes in her life (as well as paying herself to go walking, which is awesome) and blogging about it daily. She's inspiring, and I'm considering a juicer.

2) Another family fitness 'competition' - not about weight-loss so much this time (my sister kicked all of our collective trashes last time), but about how well we accomplish whatever goals we feel we need to meet. It really is easier if you're checking in with other people. Let's get it going!

3) I've been added to a Facebook group for my graduating class from high school. 2012 = 20 YEARS. On the one hand, I have a whole year to dread facing all these people I grew up with, having neither spouse nor children nor career to show off - on the other hand, I have a year to really get into shape so that at least I look good at the reunion (provided I'm not working for the Olympics or developing some theatre in, say, Italy next summer).

4) I'm starting another Master's program in a few weeks, and it's on a campus with a student gym. Plus there's an actual campus, so running should be easy, too. Plus it's in a very small town, so exercise and study just might be all I'll be able to find to do! Plus there's really no better time to make major changes in your life than when you're already making major changes! New school year = major change!

5) *REDACTED*
(It's a surprise. You'll find out shortly - if you don't already know - but trust me, it's motivational.)

Exercise! Drink water! Eat fruits and veggies! Sleep!

Fashion History Horror Story

Did you know that nearly everything women wear regularly was first worn by men? It's true. Lace, tights, earrings, makeup, high-heeled shoes (the brassiere is pretty much the only exception). How times have changed... now it seems that men are taking their fashion cues from women.

I speak, of course, of the evil that is "skinny jeans".

For about the last hundred years most men would rather run naked through the street than wear tights, and yet every other twenty-something you see these days (OK, "I" see - admittedly, London might be a little different trend-wise than where you're at... SO BE WARNED, IT'S COMING) has got his legs strapped into painted-on denim. Can male jeggings be far behind? My eyes are shuddering just thinking about it. Skinny jeans don't actually help anyone - they look OK on a very few women, but that's because those women have "ideal" figures anyway. They don't hide what ought to be hidden, they don't lengthen, they don't support, they have no societal productivity. They're just mean. Indifferent, since they're jeans, but still mean by default.

So when did men decide this was a good look to emulate? At best, a man in skinny jeans is some dude looking for his doublet and sword, at worst he's doing a flamingo impression or resembling a chain of really hefty sausage links (depending on which end of the 'build' range he's inhabiting). Jeans are supposed to be our 'comfort' clothes, that item in your closet that goes with anything and makes you look and feel good. It's impossible to look or feel good about a piece of clothing with a built-in InstaWedgie (patent pending).

I do have to admire the ingenuity with which some men have managed to avoid the IW and simultaneously create an even more unflattering silhouette than the skinny jean - I speak, of course, of the unholy union between skinny jeans and saggy skater's pants (culturally translated as 'skater's trou' over here, 'across the pond'). I'm pretty sure somebody sacrificed a goat for this trend, because how else can you explain men wearing something that gives them cankles from their feet to their thighs AND makes them look like they've accidentally fallen into their big sister's denim mini? There's not a woman alive who wouldn't run shrieking from the dressing room after seeing that devilish combination obliterating her body. But they're slouching all over the streets of London (not moving very quickly, natch, since you can't walk fast when your crotch seam is linked at your kneecaps); defiantly slouching, I say, AND upping the fashion ante by displaying above the belt loops no more boxer shorts - oh, no, the new thing for Today's Guy to wear with his barely-hanging-from-his-hipbone hybrid female-repellent jeans are printed briefs.

There's no justification for that.

None.

Everyone knows zebra-patterned tighties went out with the '80's! And good riddance, I say!

I think it's time to start some kind of Crimes Against Fashion Intervention Group - MY EYES ARE BURNING, and I'm getting a lot of whiplash from turning my head away from vomit-and-laugh-inducing 'couture'. And don't even try to tell me these guys are getting dates... The future of our society is at stake here, people.

Something must be done - and if that 'something' is "Mumuus For Men", well, I'm all for it.



*** I was going to include pictures, just to emphasize the horror, but... I couldn't do it. Your imagination will not be worse than reality, trust me.

Sunday Snippet

Today in Sacrament Meeting the Relief Society President quoted President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

" God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!


For what we love determines what we seek.


What we seek determines what we think and do.


What we think and do determines who we are - and who we will become.

... Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery from the days of Adam until today, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God."   (emphasis added)


 October 2009

Ten Things - Part 10

Oh. OK.

* * * * *

10
TELL THE TRUTH.
The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher’s shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field. It may not be the most obvious place to find either. It’s interesting to observe that in the new AIGA’s code of ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate behaviour towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer’s relationship to the public. We expect a butcher to sell us eatable meat and that he doesn’t misrepresent his wares. I remember reading that during the Stalin years in Russia that everything labelled veal was actually chicken. I can’t imagine what everything labelled chicken was. We can accept certain kinds of misrepresentation, such as fudging about the amount of fat in his hamburger but once a butcher knowingly sells us spoiled meat we go elsewhere. As a designer, do we have less responsibility to our public than a butcher? Everyone interested in licensing our field might note that the reason licensing has been invented is to protect the public not designers or clients. ‘Do no harm’ is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. If we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.

* * * * *

Actually, on what may be a related note, today I saw "The Globe Mysteries". It was a version of the old (medieval) mystery plays, or dramatizations of Bible stories, condensed down to a select few including: Creation, Cain & Abel, Noah's Ark, Abraham & Isaac, the Birth of Christ (along with a very odd comic interlude about stealing a sheep), Miracles, the Crucifixion, Resurrection/Ascension to Heaven, and the Last Judgement. The choice of the play had to do with the year's theme, that of The Word of God. It was a little strange, though, to be watching a play of Bible stories that wasn't actually about the Bible or the stories. It was just a play. The performance came off as hollow and wordy (fortunately, the Angel Gabriel was really hot*) - this was a piece that misrepresented itself, I think. Mystery plays cannot really be produced as if they were "just" plays; they are far too intrinsically bound up in the intent to teach religion to be shown without the religion. This show rang false, even though it was very cleverly staged - it was a piece that was untrue to itself and therefore could not be true to any audience (to - ironically - borrow a Polonius moment). We must tell the truth to ourselves in all that we do as well as to others.




*Why, yes, I did happen to end up on the side of the "damned" during the Last Judgement.


For the last time

Ten Things - Part 9

In the interests of full disclosure (and in part to see if people really are reading these) I wanted to mention that I saw a matinee today of  "The Glee Concert Movie: in 3D". I very much don't care for 3D. The movie was fun - I think all 10 of us (girls) in the theatre enjoyed it. The four pre-teens behind me were having a blast. And the Mini-Warbler is hilarious/adorable/going to oust The Biebs before he's 10. (The kid's a YouTube sensation waiting to happen, if he's not there already. I'll check.) (Oh, yeah. He's there.)

* * * * *

9
ON AGING.
Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’ I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last. Then I heard a marvellous joke that seemed related to rule number 10. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said ‘This is a meat market – we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher now irritated says ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘Ok. Got any cabbage?’




 * I love that joke. I always tell it with the rabbit hopping into a store and asking for "gwapes", though. I don't actually know what "rule number 10" is. Something to do with persistence, maybe?




Linky link

Ten Things - Part 8

8
DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant garde is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point. One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.


Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you. 


Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read ‘ Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.

Essay essay essay

Ten Things - Part 7

Honestly, drawing can be a fantastic way to communicate in so many more situations than you might think.

7
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and he says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relevant pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered – I don’t know how - that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.




Bein' responsible

SUCCESS

I GOT THE AUTOGRAPHS.

And I did it after sitting through a bizarre French magic show/circus/puppetry experiment/performance art piece (probably for children). Plus, I didn't lose a limb OR break a nail! (It was close. I won't lie. Those fan mobs are NUTS.)

Finally, something AWESOME I can check off my list. I love days that include progress.

Ten Things - Part 6

6
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
I think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvellous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide.

But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.

Citation, you got it

Put it in Writing

At the end of this post there will be a chance for you (the audience) to respond, so start thinking about your answers now.

* * * * *

Last night I went to the Globe Theatre and saw a production of Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton. This is notable for a few reasons: I did the cheap-ticket-groundling thing and stood the whole time (are we just too lazy to do this kind of thing in America?); they don't usually perform non-Shakespeare plays at "Shakespeare's Globe"; the performances were pretty fantastic (and it was fun to see some of the same actors I've seen in other plays in repertory at the Globe - yay, RSC!); and while (or 'whilst', rather) the script was very good, it wasn't completely brilliant (as I would hope from something that signaled a huge departure from the Globe's status quo).

This afternoon I took in a matinee of a French film, Sarah's Key. (I figured it was time I saw something from European cinema, it stars Kristin Scott Thomas, and it looked at least a little depressing - which obviously means it will be good for me.) I thought it was a pretty good film. There was enough English to keep me engaged, I didn't mind the subtitles for the French, Kristin Scott Thomas really is excellent, and I quite liked the interchange of the two story lines. (Also, the girl who plays Young Sarah was riveting.) HOWEVER (spoilers!) - with such a compelling basic story, who decided it needed all the soap opera stuff heaped on top? KST carried her storyline and was always interesting to watch - how much better could it all have been if she'd been given simpler, more emotionally true writing to work with? WHY was there no dramaturg working on this movie?!?*

The point: excellent acting can elevate almost any piece of writing (a phenomenon we see with nearly everything Peter Gallagher** does, for example) - but the talented presentation of a piece of work does not generally make the work itself any better***. Wouldn't it be more effective to produce pieces of really good writing showcased by really good acting? I know this seems obvious, but if it's so clear why isn't it happening more? Avatar = great production values, terrible script. Twilight = built-in fan base, all the money they could use for the production - they couldn't afford quality writers? I don't know how many times I've walked home after a show and said "That was nice. Too bad the script wasn't better."

This is an area that at least one group I know of, Pinnacle Acting Company, focuses on - and their intention to produce award-winning and verifiably well-written shows is one reason (I believe) that their productions have been nearly consistently excellent, despite the shoestring budget. They usually manage to recruit skilled, talented actors and directors, true - and even the best theater practitioner benefits from really good source material. (Go see their shows.)

* * * * *

So: what plays would you list as the most "well-written"? You don't necessarily have to be talking about a production, just the play itself. Let's accept that Shakespeare's plays are in a class of their own (although they're certainly not perfect - fodder for a different discussion). Please list your recommendations in the comments: plays you've read, plays you've seen and thought, "Wow, great script - I'd like to read that!", rumors you've heard of really terrific writing...  written 2000 years ago, or written yesterday. (I also accept honorable mentions of the best-written movies, as well.)

Come on people - all suggestions considered!





*And WHY do people keep allowing (SPOILER!) Aidan Quinn to cry on screen? SO. Awkward.


** I call it "the Peter Gallagher Effect". Consider Center Stage II: Turn It Up - it stars two of the least-talented actors I have ever seen (they were obviously cast because they can dance, not because they can deliver a line - any line - effectively), but when they each played a scene with Peter Gallagher it was like they were magically yanked up a few levels closer to his. The power of his charisma (and eyebrows) is such that it makes even the cruddiest of actors seem believeable, if only for that one scene. (If they had been in a scene TOGETHER with PG, I don't know that even his mojo could have withstood the great sucking black hole of badness that is their respective acting ability. But I digress.)


*** One exception I saw recently was a production of Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, in which the direction and one particular performer's interpretation solved, in subtext, the plotting problem that has troubled audiences for many years. Good show.

Review of Anne Boleyn

Ten Things - Part 5

5
LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’






Linky full essay blah blah

Bonus - Little and Great

When people talk about seeing a world in a grain of sand, they may be on to something.

At x250 magnification, even the smallest irritations can actually be works of art.

* * * * *

In other news, and apropos of nothing, when I walked in to church today I was immediately asked to play prelude music as the accompanist had "overslept". The chorister was a little taken aback when I said "No" - I gave in (of course) and ended up playing for nearly 15 minutes while we waited for the actual pianist. She didn't show up, so I played for Sacrament meeting, rest hymn and all. It wasn't terrible (I kept up the tempo, no matter what) but it wasn't good, either. Annnnnd daily piano practice goes back on my 'to-do' list! (Kids, listen to your parents. PRACTICE THE PIANO.)




Original and other images here

Ten Things - Part 4

4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything - not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn’t want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past.
Unfortunately in our field, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.




As always, full essay here

Ten Things - Part 3

3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC. AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life. 






Full essay here

Ten Things - Part 2

2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.




Full essay here

Ten Things - Part 1

I just ran across a remarkable talk by Milton Glaser, given in London in 2001.  I want to share it with you a section a day, so that you have a chance to think about each point. That's what I'll be doing.


Ten Things I Learned

1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.

Full essay here

Unbelievables

- I can't believe that I'm still regularly having to wear a jacket. In August.

- I can't believe people seem to think skinny jeans are flattering.

- I can't believe leggings (and tights) are considered acceptable alternatives to pants/trousers.

- I can't believe I let myself wait until the summer to do 'touristy' things.

- I can't believe I'm suddenly living in a war zone.

That last one is the most unreal. Hampstead looks the same as ever, clouds blew through an otherwise pleasant, sunny (if a little chilly) England summer day, people are still out and about (carrying on), and yet...

And yet.

There is a communal tension. I can still feel it, 3+ floors above the street, tucked away in a house off to the side. Stores on the high street were not only closing by 5:00, they were emptying out display windows and packing up shelves of stock before closing the security grilles. One jewelry store even posted notices in the windows saying 'all stock removed', just in case... well, just in case. Walking down the street there are (were) small clusters of people talking together: 'closing' 'hear' 'go?' 'police' 'riots' 'say' 'home' 'cafes' drifting sporadically away from whispered conversations. There is (was) a larger group standing near two Metropolitan Police listening to them talk about... something, while other pedestrians (like myself) who really wanted to stop and ask 'What's going on? Are.. they... coming here? What have you heard? What should we do? Everything is going to be fine, right?' kept moving instead, not wanting to seem panicky or overly concerned or un-British.

I still can't quite figure out how/where this started. A peaceful protest gone bad, over the death of someone who may or may not have been a gangster/drug dealer/party fiend/choirboy. The idea of racial tensions, at least, have been pretty definitively shot down (no pun inte... er...) - it's either the disenfranchised youth rising up and acting out in the only way they can, or a (possibly organized) group of opportunists seizing the moment to loot and burn and destroy, trusting to safety in numbers and using social networking to produce those numbers... none of which actually seems to have anything to do with the initial protest. No one seems to know. The government wants to stop the violence now, figure out the reasons later. Even then, though, will anyone ever be able to say 'THIS is what happened, and WHY'? It's all rumor, speculation, exaggeration... In fact, don't listen to anything I just said. I don't know, either.

Wars and rumors of wars, indeed.

It's unbelievable.

Riots in London

I'm fine. I haven't seen or heard any violence, just been monitoring the news online and the paper. As I sit here in my room at 8:30 in the morning, though, I can hear sirens outside and... I wonder.

Penny Red talks about the rioting in London


It seems a little trivial to be working on a paper and figuring out which shows to go see. I should be doing something. Cleaning up something. Talking to somebody. Listening to someone. Holding someone accountable. Observing, being present. There is a message here, a story, - dare I say it? - a play, and I (a dramaturg) should be finding out what it is. I forget sometimes that theatre is more than entertainment; theatre has always been about social change.

Things don't get much more theatrical than the last few days in London.




And at the end of it all, I am very, very glad I don't still live in Peckham.


Watch out for falling turtles,

Cyd