A Visit with Fornes, A Car Ride with Barnaby

(Why am I naming days?) (And what does it mean to “Help build the honeycomb?). 

8/12/13, Day 13, 614: A Visit with Fornes, A Car Ride with Barnaby

Yesterday was many things, including the first day it rained while I worked on our new terrace in the morning (today is the second day). The rain and I are intimate, so this was a special thing.

But the name of yesterday comes from two blog posts that were independently moving, but together, offered a profound bookend of life. First, I shared a TCG Circle post from Anne García-Romero on visiting María Irene Fornés. The post movingly describes how, in spite of Fornés’ Alzheimer’s, they were able to create a kind of theatre together, and she ends the essay saying, “She continues to show me that always, the artistic spirit endures.”

The second post came from the other end of life, with my friend Sean Williams posting about a car ride with his young son Barnaby. Their conversation, about religion, theatre, fiction and non-fiction–about the meaning in life and how we find or create it–feels oddly connected to Anne’s post about creating theatre at the bedside of Fornés.

From the moment we gulp in the air to wail to the last clutch of consciousness before we sink into nothingness, we are always asking, asking; always reaching out our hands to be touched; always rising into our eyes when the right music plays; always longing and searching, and it is this longing and searching, these questions in the press of our selves against whatever will return our touch, this is what I’m writing about, always.

So…
…looking back at yesterday, August 12, what small things did I do to help build the Honeycomb?

• I continued the #Trayvon series on the TCG Circle. If you want to write for this series, or any TCG Circle series, email me at gschulenburg@tcg.org.
• I asked my Senators to not allow offshore drilling in the Atlantic.
• I was an appreciative audience member at a reading of Zack Calhoon’s Paint, directed by my wonderful Heather. Zack has a really exciting new second act to this play, and the actors did lovely work.
• I added my name to a petition to call out climate deniers in Congress. 
• I contributed to the new #TheatreTalk series led by Kanjy and the Lark.
• I signed a petition asking the owners of Ask.fm to increase site moderation to prevent cyber-bullying that can lead to suicides.
• I ate vegetarian, including veggies from our local, organic CSA.

Technique never stands still: it only advances or retreats…

I read that seemingly un-Google-able quote in an old guitar book of mine many years back, and it stuck with me. I’m using it now to create a new section to publicly track my progress on several practices that require discipline to advance technique…and sunlight is good for discipline, so:

Writing: 1 day in a row
Yoga: 1 day in a row
Spanish: 1 day in a row