Day Four / October 27, 2012

Many years ago, with the draft right on my tail, I wound up on this street in Garden Grove, California.   Rancho Alamitos High School was a relatively new school with need of a drama teacher. That would be me.

Driving by Rancho on Wednesday was sad and sweet.  The campus has changed.  Huge eucalyptus trees that stood to the north of the main campus:  gone.  Fruit trees on the Senior Lawn: gone.  The old sign at the entry to the office with Poco Vaquero: gone.  The lawns are dry.  I could see a familiar sign on the gym.  

I met important people during the five years I spent in E5 and mostly in H2 trying to make theatre with a fifty dollar budget and a great group of kids, some of whom remain my good friends today. The serendipity of life: doors opening and closing by design or by just the chance of where we are at any given time all bring us to this moment.  

At this moment I am grateful for all the moments and odd connections that have led to it. 

Day Four

 

Day Three / October 22, 2012

Brewery Art Walk Autumn 2012

Fall sneaks in and holds off a little for the Artwalk at the Brewery.  I seem to be enamoured with the clouds lately and finding them adjacent to interesting things is a pleasure.  Just before taking this photo, Llyn Foulkes walked by.  He has his Church of Art there at The Brewery and conducts 'services' for attendees.  His 'Machine' is a huge contraption that is made up of Bombay Bicycle horns, a sort of reeded wind thing that is like a sax or clarinet, an electric bass string that he plays with his feet.  There's percussion and he sings/raps songs that are just fun to listen to.   He has an installation up currently or soon at Mat Gleason's Coagula Gallery in Chinatown here in Los Angeles.  The opportunity to see a world class artist in a local gallery is a treat. 

Originally, I was going to just describe the photos that I post here, but it seems that waxing to other stuff may be happening, too. 

There are 26 teeth in this photo of a huge cog wheel.  In the photo, 26.  It's a very large piece of machinery which I can't imagine at work.  A combination I like:  
The Rust. 
The Clouds. 
The Sunshine. 
The Blue Sky.  
Exchanging waves with Llyn Foulkes.  Just a near perfect day.

Day 3.

Day Two / October 21, 2012

This is the studio where I met Eugenia Butler.  It's dedicated to children now.  

For folks not in the art world, her name may be obscure.  She was a dynamic and creative woman unlike anyone I've ever met.  I always walk by this space and remember meeting her work before I met her.  She changed people's lives with her enthusiasm for art and ideas.  

We are less for her passing away but more for having met her.

Day One / October 10, 2012

The clouds bring me back to my youth in Colorado.

Highland Park, California   October 2012

Driving back from a memorial service in Long Beach, the clouds seemed to suggest that a hundred days, a hundred thoughts, a hundred photographs... or so... might be an idea.  How to share pithy ideas without boring the pants off of friends and others is a goal.  Gee, I have a goal!

A beautiful friend once said in a hand written letter to me (remember the post?) that her grandfather had said that when you start to discuss the weather, it's time to close.  The clouds are not exactly the weather, so I want to mention the day today in a cemetery with mostly people I will never know...   and the clouds.  The sounds of heavy grave digging machinery invaded the Philipino Priest's ritual.  Small airplanes droned over head.  Big trucks rumbled through. A huge airliner drowned out some of the little tributes. And, then...  we all just left.  Left behind a small box with a rose on it, alone.  All alone.

The stuff of life that causes our breath to catch, just for a moment, just a little and a tear to well up within us is probably the important stuff.  It happens unawares sometimes. I tend to see it as a sign of something human. 

Did you sparkle today?

This is the first entry.  I feel human now.