dear 2010

1998 called

girl beind me in line at 711: "hey, i love your headband!"

me, "thanks, i made it, actually"

girl beind me in line at 711: "you go girl!"


awesome.

on actors: (for better or worse)
"we traffic in awe and metaphors and are impatient with the ordinary and the expected. we fight inertia of silence and talk too loud in polite locations and there is no Ritalin for us. we don't succumb to psychoanalysis and the voodoo of easy answers. we thrive on complexity and ask that our monsters truly terrify us, that our lovers truly slay us with their passion, that our magicians truly make something out of nothing and hand it to us with smoke and a rakish smile. we seek connections with the strange and Communion with the brave souls seeking the truth- not the entire truth, but a piece of it will do- a coin of truth we can keep in a pocket near our valuables, that we can spend in those frightening moments when we don't know ourselves, when we're in too deep and some clarity would help, some beauty that could redeem and enliven the night. we turn awful experience and bad relationships and murdering office jobs and loveless parents and poverty and addictions and angst and loss and death itself into the fearsome gold of art. we are alchemists and con artists, acrobats and used car salesmen, liars and en lighteners, and we are here to do the earth's bidding because the earth is screaming out it stories and begging for us to write them down, and act them out, and draw her pretty pictures on the face of the clouds."
-Jose Rivera

Okay-
i'll admit it. i get really frustrated and upset that as soon as i tell anyone that i am finishing my degree in acting the first thing that comes out of their mouth is, 'oh, so you could teach that right?"

But, for as frustrating as that question is- and for how much i hate the implication that acting is an impossible career and i am hopeless at it- i must say that i do love teaching. i am afraid to admit this because maybe it means that's all i will ever be good at. But this past semester, i have especially loved teaching, because i had such interesting/incredible/energetic/talented students. They were the greatest reminder to me of how to have fun and still be hard working and excited about what you do. Every day i learned something from them and it was incredible to watch them grow and discover things about themselves and what they do... sometimes the chemistry in a class is just spot on. these guys were right on the button. thanks for the great times, kidos. i will miss you wonderfully.