Reflections of a Tumbleweed

It's time...

5/14/2018

Come Friday morning I'll be on my way to Idaho, and the Writers Retreat Workshop at Nazareth Retreat Center!

Most of today was spent putting the binders together (see the cover on the right), and in between times devouring the new Paul Simon biography along with my breakfast and lunch. Right now, virtually everything is seen through the lens of the workshop - I had on the third part of a three-part DVD bio of Noël Coward while I put binders together, and as I watched and listened I wondered if it would be useful for the writers to hear him talk about his work.

I'll post a new blog when I return from Idaho, and we'll try to include some photos from the workshop on the Facebook page.

Take care,

Doc

Inspiration...found tonight

5/7/2018

There are times when the world offers one moment of inspiration after another. This weekend offered the magnificent performances of Justify, Mike Smith, and Bob Baffert in the Kentucky Derby. The next day I watched two episodes of one of the greatest TV series ever - West Wing. And then there's the Hamilton/Dear Evan Hansen mashup with Lin Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt, Found Tonight.

left - Lin Manuel Miranda, right - Ben Platt

Rather than me try to describe it to you, take a look for yourself - here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aQykuIaJVI. Not only is it a gorgeous and heart-wrenching musical wonder, but it is also a fund-raiser for the March For Our Lives Initiative.

What's more inspiring - the music, the creativity, or the making it all work for the good? Isn't this what many of us strive for in our lives? To find work we love, that is personally meaningful, and that touches other lives, maybe even changes them?

Lin Manuel Miranda in HAMILTON

It seems to come so naturally, so seamlessly, for Lin Manuel Miranda. My office area is filled with items from his Tee Rico website - https://www.teerico.com/ - which includes items that support Puerto Rico Relief and Hamilton Charities as well as other causes. Probably the one that means the most to me is his sonnet, Love is Love is Love, which he wrote the day of the Tony Awards as his acceptance speech for one of the many awards won by Hamilton. It was revised because the night before had been the nightclub shootings in Florida, and when he shared this sonnet, his voice shook with emotion, and I am still moved when I read it.

It's too easy to say, But that's Lin Manuel Miranda, not me! I couldn't do that. The truth is that most of us have no idea what we are capable of doing, because we don't demand of ourselves that we dig deep and find that which we've buried or hidden because it's safer. I include myself in that group. We all have our reasons, many of them compelling, for why we did so. At times, our survival may have depended on it.

But there is a time when something reaches into that deep space and suddenly there is a hint of light, a hint of inspiration. Hamilton didn't start as a big, Broadway musical. It started publicly at a poetry jam at the White House - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFf7nMIGnE - a night when a young performer took the risk of exposing his dream.

May the light of inspiration find you, and the deepest heart of what matters most to you...

Doc

Lin Manuel Miranda at the White House...

...performing the opening of HAMILTON for an enthralled President and First Lady