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On Retirement from a Life in the Theater

On Retirement from a Life in the Theater

Tomorrow I’ll pick up my final pay check. It’s my “last day of service” at the great University of Southern California, where I’ve taught in the School of Dramatic Arts for 31 years. I started as a simple adjunct instructor with a single improv class, and I ended up improvising my way to becoming a full-time “Associate Professor of Theater Practice”. Non- tenured… but still impressive in my parents’ eyes, and not anything I could have anticipated or imagined when I graduated college in 1969 with a degree in Frisbee. That’s almost 50 years ago… during which time I grew…

Chicken Little

Chicken Little

We all know the story of Chicken Little, right? “The sky is falling! The sky is falling?” Well, do you remember how that little folk tale and bedtime story ended? I didn’t. So I looked it up. Actually there are two different endings… one much more optimistic than the other. And this little blog entry is about optimism, or…. the lack thereof. Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: “Chicken Little likes to walk in the woods. She likes to look at the trees. She likes to smell the flowers. She likes to listen to…

Finding Myself… at “Mo Ming”. Or… What the Hell is “Mo Ming”?

Finding Myself… at “Mo Ming”. Or… What the Hell is “Mo Ming”?

I don’t know about you, but I was raised to be a good kid. As a child of the 50s and 60s, that meant: going to school, getting good grades, being honest with your parents, getting into the finest college, graduating Cum Laude, becoming a doctor, working hard, getting married, buying a house, having children, making lots of money, retiring and have grand children. No one mentioned the bumps in the road: puberty, adolescence, repaying student loans, dating, co-dependence, landing a job, changes of career, changes of cities, sickness, divorce, doing taxes, Medicare, 401(k)s, disappearing pensions, getting old, cancer, or……

Friendships Across the Aisle, Abridged

Friendships Across the Aisle, Abridged

This is not a political piece. Or maybe it is. It is a piece about friendships. New and old. And how they can make you see yourself, and the world, differently. Especially at the start of a new year, on the East Coast of not so sunny Florida, half way between West Palm and Miami Beach. I’ll start with the new friend. Mr. Bobha. That’s not his real name, but it will suffice, even though the man is not a Buddhist, in fact far from it. He’s a devout Christian, Catholic in fact. He and his childhood sweetheart, now wife,…

Welcome to “Trules Rules”/Test of New Subscriber Mailing List

Welcome to “Trules Rules”/Test of New Subscriber Mailing List

Hi, there.  Sorry if this is the 2nd Test e-mail you are receiving. It is for a different WordPress blog, “trules trules”. You are now an Updated Subscriber of my “trules rules” personal blog, and you will receive occasional (but not too frequent) Newsletter notifications when there are new Posts. You don’t have to do anything. Of course, it would be nice if you read the Blog posts, but hey, I already know, it’s not a perfect world. If you’re not on the Subscriber list and would like to be, just leave your e-mail address on THE BOTTOM of the…

A Good Neighbor

A Good Neighbor

Some people say, “Good fences make good neighbors.” I like to say, “you’re lucky if you find a good neighbor. Especially a good next door neighbor. Especially one who’s lived in the neighborhood longer than you have. One who will keep an eye on your dog when you leave town for a couple of weeks. And especially one who has fought Emile Griffith, ex-Middleweight Champion of the World. There he is. Gravel voice. Boxer’s pug face. One eye. Laugh like a happy machine gun. Eddie “El Gato” Gasporra. Echo Park resident since ‘81. Or was it ’85? Or ’89? He’s…

Terror Magenta

Terror Magenta

It’s been on my mind, really bothering me…. that although in no way can I condone the “terrorist” attacks on America; they’re deeply brutal, frightening, and wrong. BUT…. How can we blow up the San Bernadino attack by these 2 radical jihadists into “the worst terrorist attack on America since 9/11”? Well, ok, 14 people were killed in a small, insular California community. Not good. Brutal, sad, and scary. But there was Fort Hood and the Boston Marathon well before it. And… it’s not the 3000 victims killed like at the World Trade Center in 2001. And…. at least as…

Why the Hell Do I Do This?

Why the Hell Do I Do This?

Why the hell do I write this blog? Why have  written it since 2005? Why have I written my e-travels blog since 2002, with stories as ancient as 1970? What for? It’s not like I get a lot of feedback, positive or negative. Does anyone read it? Does anyone care? And if they do, or if they don’t, or if I don’t know they do, does a tree exist in a forest if no one can see it? Good questions, eh? Why? What for, Trules? Now a long time ago, in 1977, on East 15th Street in New Yawk City,…

TEDx Fulbright 2015 in LA, Sept 26 @ the Broad Stage

TEDx Fulbright 2015 in LA, Sept 26 @ the Broad Stage

I’ve had the good fortune and privilege of traveling abroad twice as a Fulbright Scholar – once to Islamic Malaysia in 2002 shortly after 9/11, and a second time to Bucharest, Romania in 2010. The first time I was a Fulbright Senior Scholar, the second, a Fulbright Senior Specialist in American Studies (Theater).  Unlike most academics, I was not  a “lecturer” per se; rather I was  a teacher of theatrical workshops in solo performance, improvisation, and clowning. Both Fulbright grants offered extraordinary experiences, for me personally, and I hope too, for my students and colleagues in each of these unique…

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