What Day Is This?

I've got vacation-head, where I completely lose track of what day and/or time it is most of the time.  But I'm pretty sure it's Friday, and that I'll go back to work bright and early Monday morning.  Yikes.

I've had a great vacation, and done very little that might be considered productive.  I read, like, a third of a book (but oh man, what a book--finally got around to Across the Universe by Beth Revis--it's excellent but a little stressful) and got my new sewing machine set up for some last-minute costumes (our school production of Annie opens three weeks from yesterday.  I also sketched out an outline of the TV Writing and Production course I'm going to be teaching next trimester...but it's a very, very rough one.

Other than that, I've been neglecting work a bit (I'll have a normal weekend this weekend, where I put in a good 8-10 hours of work...you know, those easy-peasy teacher hours.)  I've also neglected this blog.  So:  time for catching up!

First of all, Road Trip Wednesday had a question I definitely did not want to pass by:

February is Black History Month and it's also the month of Valentine's Day. So let's show some writerly love by answering the following question: Who is your favorite African American author or fictional character?

I also wanted to think about this one.  The first character who came to mind was Calpurnia, from To Kill A Mockingbird.  And I do love her.

But I knew I could come up with more contemporary favorites.  Mr. S. reminded me of Sticky Washington, from the Mysterious Benedict Society books by Trenton Lee Stewart.  (Seriously, if you have not read these--do it now.  They're completely hilarious and clever MG mystery novels about a group of gifted kids fighting the good fight blah blah blah stop reading this and go read the books.)

And of course there's Rue from The Hunger Games.  Annnnnd...that's what I could come up with.  I think I'm suffering from Monoethnic Dystopia Syndrome.  I'll have to keep an eye on that.











And today is Friday!  So, let's have some Friday Fives time:

How I Spent My Winter Vacation: A Guide to Awesome Entertainment

by Mrs. S

1)  Since I'm getting ready to teach a TV class, I thought I should probably take one as well.  So I'm doing an online course through Gotham Writers' Workshop.  It's only in its second week, but so far, so good.  The course is structured around writing a spec script, so I've been re-watching the series I've chosen to write, Happy Endings.  I had planned to write for Parks and Rec, but this season they're doing a bit more of a long plot arc than they have before, which makes it hard to write something that fits in.  Anyway, Happy Endings is excellent.  It's like if Friends was faster-paced and sharper and I was the age of those characters when it aired.  I'm looking forward to writing for it.

"Draw an alligator, swimming in a pool, eating Pinkberry."

2) Godspell again!  I went back on Wednesday, and scored a seat in the pillows-on-the-floor-in-front-of-the-stage section through the ticket lottery and the kindness of a stranger, who let me take his winning lottery ticket since he preferred standing room to the (rather tightly squashed) seating on the floor.  So, long story short, I got pulled onstage to do some audience participating, had to draw in front of people (Pictionary style), and had a blast.  Although my students will not be surprised to learn that after the show, when the cast was kind enough to sign my drawing for me, Hunter Parrish looked at my drawing, frowned a little, and said, "Um, alligators have feet."  (For the record, the alligator was swimming, as per Hunter's instructions, and therefore his feet were under the water.  But I digress.)

3) And have I mentioned that Godspell has the hardest working cast of any show on Broadway?  Not only can they sing and dance and play guitar and trampoline at the same time, many of them have other projects going on.  We saw two of those on Wednesday night.  The first was Missed Connections, a very funny (but definitely not family-friendly, so don't get any ideas, students-of-mine) show taken from the Missed Connections section of Craigslist.  On this particular evening, it featured George Salazar, maybe the goofiest member of the Godspell cast.  He was great, and super-friendly.  

4) After Missed Connections, we headed over to see Morgan James do a set at the Rockwood Music Hall.  That. Girl. Can. Sing.  She's got serious pipes and knows how to bring it old school.  She said she'll have a recording out later this year and I'm pretty excited for that.

5) And tonight, we're going to a show that somehow has nothing to do with Godspell!  It's called The Total Bent and it's by the creative team behind Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi Rodewald.  Mr. S and I loved Passing Strange when it was on Broadway a few years ago, and in a wacky coincidence, this show is also designed by a guy who taught at Williams when I was there, AND directed by a woman who directed a show I was in there.  Basically, we HAD to get tickets.  Should be a good way to round out the break.