I just posted this on facebook and thought how ephemeral those posts are -- there a minute and then gone forever. So here it is:
You know, I have friends who are gay and I have all the sympathy in the world for couples who want to get married. They do deserve equal rights. However, I have much more concern for people who are homeless and living in the streets -- maybe dying in the streets.
In Germany, shelter is a RIGHT! Can't we be that civilized? What is wrong with us? We are the number ONE country in the WORLD? And we can't house our people? Tell me what is wrong. I need to know. It troubles me enormously.
Women selling themselves? And they get arrested when they really don't have any other options? This all makes me sick and not so proud of my country.
Yes, we send millions and billions to other countries. I don't mind. We are rich enough to do that. But we can't tax our millionaires and billionaires because our congress won't let them? Because the people we voted into office won't take care of those same people?
Too much is bothering me these days. And the prison system that is becoming a profit system and gleefully locking people away. Not good. We shouldn't be all that proud of how we are dealing with our problems at home.
Tonight I will go to a gathering at the home of a family whose son has been sent to prison for 15 years -- without any evidence that he actually did something wrong. The idea is to start a foundation to help other families in similar circumstances. We don't doubt that they exist. We don't doubt it at all.
Yesterday, I was in tears. A good friend -- a college instructor who went to GSU in the masters program with me -- was unglued. Her son was stopped by Douglas County police for a broken tail light. You want to put that on your list of major crimes. They dragged him out of his car and seven cops beat him close to senseless. Then, they threw him in jail with no medical care for two days. When he got to the hospital finally, his mother was able to find him and bail him out. He is left with various charges that have to be answered in court. WAAAAAT???
I'm working on an art exhibit and short film about sex trafficking in Georgia. It's been said that we are the number one sex capital in the country. Where do you start with so many issues. It's not Denmark that is rotten.
Rereading this piece, I am well aware that it is badly organized, too many problems -- which one should come first? I'm sorry for my country, worried about my children and their futures. Worried about generations to follow. I'm old and have probably seen too much and am too aware that it all seems to be getting worse. Skies are not so blue, storms are worse, trees and green fields disappearing, poisons entering our water and our food...and not enough people who care.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Monday, September 17, 2012
You gotta see this! "The Man Who Came to Dinner"...in Roswell
There is one more weekend to catch "The Man Who Came to Dinner," the brilliant, witty play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman and directed by Robert J. Farley. Farley happens to be the director in residence of the Georgia Ensemble Theatre, a group he has led for the past 20 years to the applause of many.
This production deserves everyone's attention. The skill of Farley's direction is matched only by the talent of the actors, one after the other, who pull you into the wild and wonderful plot. Sheridan Whitehead is the most obnoxious, outrageous guest who takes advantage of anyone and everyone. He's the character you love to hate. No shame!
Years ago, I was cast as the old lady, the ax murderer, when I was in high school. How very strange to be sitting in the audience listening to the lines and going back in time. This play made its debut in 1942 -- even before I was born. No matter, the fun is still fresh and the story as tight and surprising as ever. The beauty of theater is that a new face, a new gesture, a new prop brings with it new life.
Try to get tickets now! Last Friday was pretty much a full house.
This production deserves everyone's attention. The skill of Farley's direction is matched only by the talent of the actors, one after the other, who pull you into the wild and wonderful plot. Sheridan Whitehead is the most obnoxious, outrageous guest who takes advantage of anyone and everyone. He's the character you love to hate. No shame!
Years ago, I was cast as the old lady, the ax murderer, when I was in high school. How very strange to be sitting in the audience listening to the lines and going back in time. This play made its debut in 1942 -- even before I was born. No matter, the fun is still fresh and the story as tight and surprising as ever. The beauty of theater is that a new face, a new gesture, a new prop brings with it new life.
Try to get tickets now! Last Friday was pretty much a full house.
Traffik! A Great Theater Experience!
If anything can rock your boat, this has to be it. Yesterday, I caught the matinee at Four Stages Theater and was thoroughly blown away by the characters onstage. Each one shared a seamy, painful, personal story of how they were connected to the sex trade. Taken from real life interviews writer/director/actor Jacquay Waller conducted before putting the production together, there was the searing ring of truth to all of them.
We shared the experience of a high school girl whose stepfather was selling her and her friends at "parties" while her mother was away on business. A pervert talked about how much he "loved" the two little girls he "entertained" with the permission of their mother who collected $50,000. It makes you want to run to the lavatory and wash just to have listened.
Waller stole the show as a pimp who strutted in his fancy suit and talked about how he "loved" his girls but would kill them -- and had done so -- if they didn't bring the "paper."
In the rest room at intermission, a grandmother confessed to me that she is concerned about her granddaughter and the stepfather who is in the household and "doesn't seem right." Right out of the script.
If the performances on stage were awesome, so was audience participation at the end. Characters paraded onto the stage and the audience was invited to question them -- not as actors -- as the characters they played. Hard hitting comments put them on the spot. Why did they do what they did? Great street language on both sides. There was no fooling around or letting anyone off easy..
Traffik will be going on the road. This was its premiere. The website to follow is www.catchingdreamz.com.
There are also videos out there that The Dreamcatcher Collective, Inc. has created in association with Dreamcatcher Productions.
We shared the experience of a high school girl whose stepfather was selling her and her friends at "parties" while her mother was away on business. A pervert talked about how much he "loved" the two little girls he "entertained" with the permission of their mother who collected $50,000. It makes you want to run to the lavatory and wash just to have listened.
Waller stole the show as a pimp who strutted in his fancy suit and talked about how he "loved" his girls but would kill them -- and had done so -- if they didn't bring the "paper."
In the rest room at intermission, a grandmother confessed to me that she is concerned about her granddaughter and the stepfather who is in the household and "doesn't seem right." Right out of the script.
If the performances on stage were awesome, so was audience participation at the end. Characters paraded onto the stage and the audience was invited to question them -- not as actors -- as the characters they played. Hard hitting comments put them on the spot. Why did they do what they did? Great street language on both sides. There was no fooling around or letting anyone off easy..
Traffik will be going on the road. This was its premiere. The website to follow is www.catchingdreamz.com.
There are also videos out there that The Dreamcatcher Collective, Inc. has created in association with Dreamcatcher Productions.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
About getting famous and loving the paparazzi
This is the whole, naked truth. Sort of. Yeah.
It happened a couple of weeks ago. I struck pay dirt! Appen Newspapers called to let me know I had won the jackpot. I had won a 6-month membership to the YMCA. Whoo-hoo! I drove to their office on N. Main Street and thought, while I'm here, I'll ask if a reporter might be interested in my exhibit at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
Pay dirt again! A very arts savvy young man appeared -- masters degree in Architectural Art and Art History. We sat down, talked and --- voila! I am so famous in this town I can barely make it through the paparazzi on my lawn. The dogs are barking all the time. It's crazy.
It happened a couple of weeks ago. I struck pay dirt! Appen Newspapers called to let me know I had won the jackpot. I had won a 6-month membership to the YMCA. Whoo-hoo! I drove to their office on N. Main Street and thought, while I'm here, I'll ask if a reporter might be interested in my exhibit at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
Pay dirt again! A very arts savvy young man appeared -- masters degree in Architectural Art and Art History. We sat down, talked and --- voila! I am so famous in this town I can barely make it through the paparazzi on my lawn. The dogs are barking all the time. It's crazy.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Gangster Squad -- One Hell of a Book!
I just finished reading this tome and hated that there wasn't more!
By the time I got to the last page, I felt as if secrets that had been kept for decades has been revealed to me personally. If Mickey Cohen came alive again, I'm sure I could recognize him -- and know him for what he was. With all his idiosyncracies, there was humor and absurdity mixed into the brew. The other gangsters were equally three-dimensional and fascinating.
Paul Lieberman spent 20 years putting this book together. It was a labor of love by a top notch writer/reporter. He went after his story and chased down every living member of the Gangster Squad -- hard-nosed cops who bent every rule to go after the mob. It was a war of wits. They did whatever it took to find out what the gangsters were doing and risked life and limb to stop them.
Relatives of the gangster squad filled out details of the past that only family would have known. Lieberman didn't let go of his story. He was clearly in love with the people who cared enough to be good cops. With the tenacity of a born reporter, the author sought out every shred of information, every detail anyone alive might have known about the police and the gangsters.
What gives the book extraordinary color and richness is the tone of it. It is history, but it doesn't read like history. It is a conversation -- a long conversation -- full of juicy details we might have heard if we were standing behind these guys and listening to them plot and plan. Thanks to Paul Lieberman, their stories will not get lost or buried.
As a post script, I have to add that I wrote for the L.A. Times a long time ago -- before Paul Lieberman joined the staff. I wish I had been around later and had the pleasure of meeting him. He is an example of the first class people that I worked with at the Times. They were the best.
By the time I got to the last page, I felt as if secrets that had been kept for decades has been revealed to me personally. If Mickey Cohen came alive again, I'm sure I could recognize him -- and know him for what he was. With all his idiosyncracies, there was humor and absurdity mixed into the brew. The other gangsters were equally three-dimensional and fascinating.
Paul Lieberman spent 20 years putting this book together. It was a labor of love by a top notch writer/reporter. He went after his story and chased down every living member of the Gangster Squad -- hard-nosed cops who bent every rule to go after the mob. It was a war of wits. They did whatever it took to find out what the gangsters were doing and risked life and limb to stop them.
Relatives of the gangster squad filled out details of the past that only family would have known. Lieberman didn't let go of his story. He was clearly in love with the people who cared enough to be good cops. With the tenacity of a born reporter, the author sought out every shred of information, every detail anyone alive might have known about the police and the gangsters.
What gives the book extraordinary color and richness is the tone of it. It is history, but it doesn't read like history. It is a conversation -- a long conversation -- full of juicy details we might have heard if we were standing behind these guys and listening to them plot and plan. Thanks to Paul Lieberman, their stories will not get lost or buried.
As a post script, I have to add that I wrote for the L.A. Times a long time ago -- before Paul Lieberman joined the staff. I wish I had been around later and had the pleasure of meeting him. He is an example of the first class people that I worked with at the Times. They were the best.
Friday, June 15, 2012
We need to make our welfare system work!
I just posted a message on the Obama/Biden website. They asked for opinions and I tend to have a few of those. Among the many issues that concern me, one of the most glaring is dealing with poverty in our country. It impacts the future of our children and unchecked recidivism in our prisons.
Sooo, this was the message I sent which is not likely to be read. However, some of us never let that deter us:
We need a drastic overhaul of the way welfare is handled in the U.S. It prevents people from working instead of encouraging it. Get a job, even a temporary one, and the family is off the rolls without a safety net. Have a man in the house? That is usually the kiss of death. No welfare. Families split up. There is no incentive to keep a father and mother in the household to raise their children together. Men are diminished in status and responsibility.
As a social worker in South Central L.A. in 1966, I saw this and was disturbed by it then. If anything, with the limits that were installed under Pres. Clinton, the system became even more horrific for those who live at its mercy.
A change in the welfare system could mean a radical, uplifting opportunity for our underclass. Make it a safety net for those who work, not a walk of shame for those who can't make it. If Pres. Obama wants a legacy, this could be it. In addition, of course, to healthcare reform.
Sooo, this was the message I sent which is not likely to be read. However, some of us never let that deter us:
We need a drastic overhaul of the way welfare is handled in the U.S. It prevents people from working instead of encouraging it. Get a job, even a temporary one, and the family is off the rolls without a safety net. Have a man in the house? That is usually the kiss of death. No welfare. Families split up. There is no incentive to keep a father and mother in the household to raise their children together. Men are diminished in status and responsibility.
As a social worker in South Central L.A. in 1966, I saw this and was disturbed by it then. If anything, with the limits that were installed under Pres. Clinton, the system became even more horrific for those who live at its mercy.
A change in the welfare system could mean a radical, uplifting opportunity for our underclass. Make it a safety net for those who work, not a walk of shame for those who can't make it. If Pres. Obama wants a legacy, this could be it. In addition, of course, to healthcare reform.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Paper Dolls -- Hands that rock the cradle rock when they paint
Jill Kettles put together "Paper Dolls," the art exhibit that is opening at Defoor Centre this Sunday night, 5-7 p.m. "No one is drawing with their blood, no one is slitting their wrists," she promises. "There is a lot of hope, a nice colorful group in a good mood."
Helen Ferguson Crawford leads the pack of emerging women artists selected to star in this summer show. Her sophisticated work teases the eye with abstract landscapes that are built on wide open spaces and lush, gentle colors. Trained as an architect, there is hardly a building in sight. Perhaps that is the ultimate in escape, open fields where it's okay to run and shout. Pinks and peaches feed her palette and warm the soul.
Casey Olsen, a self taught artist who knows her bayous captures the beauty of, again, the wide open spaces. Hers are more conventional, but also inviting to the spirit of adventure. It is hard to resist the sheer beauty of the scenery she has selected. Her presentation makes you want to be there. Olsen has a definite gift for pairing color and composition.
But it's Terri Levine's work that welcomes you into the centre. Her paintings laugh and sing and shout at you. "Jazz Man" plays loud, wonderful music that you can almost hear.
An exotic guest, Adriana Antequera is flying in from Venezuela. She and Kittles found each other on the internet. Paintings she has packed in her suitcase -- landscapes from her part of the world will be part of the show.
Kittles shares that she found most of the participating artists online. And, I found her and this interesting show online, too.
Helen Ferguson Crawford leads the pack of emerging women artists selected to star in this summer show. Her sophisticated work teases the eye with abstract landscapes that are built on wide open spaces and lush, gentle colors. Trained as an architect, there is hardly a building in sight. Perhaps that is the ultimate in escape, open fields where it's okay to run and shout. Pinks and peaches feed her palette and warm the soul.
Casey Olsen, a self taught artist who knows her bayous captures the beauty of, again, the wide open spaces. Hers are more conventional, but also inviting to the spirit of adventure. It is hard to resist the sheer beauty of the scenery she has selected. Her presentation makes you want to be there. Olsen has a definite gift for pairing color and composition.
But it's Terri Levine's work that welcomes you into the centre. Her paintings laugh and sing and shout at you. "Jazz Man" plays loud, wonderful music that you can almost hear.
And her series of small, almost raucous paintings are conversations and events in themselves. These are another example of how less can certainly be more. The lively, active inventions that Levine shares with us could be acquired separately -- but like separating a flock of ducks -- why would anyone want to do that? They are so wonderful together.
An exotic guest, Adriana Antequera is flying in from Venezuela. She and Kittles found each other on the internet. Paintings she has packed in her suitcase -- landscapes from her part of the world will be part of the show.
Kittles shares that she found most of the participating artists online. And, I found her and this interesting show online, too.
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