June 3, 2010
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The Daily News1 It came across the Facebook lines yesterday that Caitlin has an actual date for her wedding!
2 Isn't it a sign of the times that I got it on an email from K.T.?
3 I can't find words.
4 K.T., I love you!
5 How's THAT fer words?
6 Just amazing.
7 It's beyond me even to TRY to let people know how utterly AWESOME that is.
8 Best wishes to Caitlin and Josh. I am SO excited!
9 Moving on, Part the First: Six thousand things happened yesterday, all of them amazing.
10 But just for a sec, I'd like to take a side trail to Safeway yesterday.
11 This is sad, so get a helmet.
12 I walked in, and this guy who was arguably "special" greeted me and asked me how my day was.
13 I smiled and doffed my hat.
14 I then went into my usual Zen mode of wandering around a supermarket wondering why the heck I went in there to begin with.
15 One sorta raspy shopper kept getting in my way, in his own imbecilic world.
16 Well, I ignored him and wondered again why it was I went in there.
17 AnywayZ while walking through the store wondering what it was I was looking for, I kept hearing this voice come over the microphone yelling, "We have another dollar to go towards curing prostate cancer! WOOOOOT!!!"
18 I instantly recognized the voice as being that of my greeter.
19 Well, I remembered what I was in there for, midway through, but the guy sort of got excited that he was getting people to donate to a good cause. I totally understood the bottom line, and I became proud of the guy. He was getting donations hand over fist, so he kept saying things over the microphone, ending in a "Wooo-HOOOO!" or a "WOOOOOT!!!" I thought it was sorta charming, actually.
20 I made my way to the checkout, and as always, put on my store-macho thing.
21 I daydreamed the wait in line, as always, when I suddenly heard this harsh voice thunder out, "Stop doing that! Stop yelling into the microphone, it's annoying!"
22 It was the loud, obnoxious voice of the imbecile, who was three checkstands over.
23 I KNEW that the checker had been quite excited about getting people to donate, and that he was a bit over-excited, but it didn't bother me. I totally understood. I was really tempted to confront the loudmouth, but decided that he might be a guy who would get into it, so I backed off. I don't need some angry guy to knock my teeth out.
24 I also noticed that the checker who had been so excited was nowhere to be seen. I figured instinctively that he was outside crying.
25 I was right. When I left the store, the poor guy was sitting in the dark, staring sadly into space. I approached him and said, "It's all right man. That guy wasn't mad at you. He was mad at something else in his life and directing it at you. I thought you were great."
26 He just stared off, and finally choked out the words, "Yeah...but still..."
27 I got out to my truck and as I drove off, I gave the guy a slight wave of the hand.
28 People can sure be cruel. Sometimes I'm in disbelief at the rudeness and cruelty of some people. They just have no idea that they hurt someone that badly. Sociopaths, I swear to you. I went home the better man, but I still feel sorry for that poor fellow. Still do.
29 Moving on, Part the Second: I got home right afterwards and had a sort of medium-sized envelope in the mail. It was not from a company, and when I looked at the return address, it was from Connie Guerrero. It was a signed program from the cast and crew of Bullshot Crummond, the miracle Show that literally saved the YB Drama Workshop in the Spring of 2007.
30 It was an awesome thing to come home to, because that group of students continued to keep the Workshop going after I had departed for Evergreen. Prior to my departure from YB. I had announced that my last Show was going to be one called A Love Letter in '05, and in '06 I had brought in Angie and Evelyn from the Pigeon Players to direct a Show. Later, a group of students led by Ellen Nguyen approached me and said that I had promised them a musical the year before, so I did a sort of musical that consisted of my Mom's favorite songs from musicals. We called it My Favorite Things. It was a bittersweet time, but still nice.
31 Toward the end of that summer, I got about three calls from Evergreen asking me to come up for an interview. I then went to YB and told the Principal that I was to be leaving. I assumed that he had already been interviewing for a new Drama guy all summer, since I was clear about my "retirement".
32 I felt pretty bad when I found that nobody had been hired to replace me, and that it looked like doomsday for the Drama Workshop. I contacted Angie and Evelyn, and asked if they could come in and direct in exchange for free use of the Theatre, and they said they could.
33 I then wrote the YB Principal asking if we could arrange the same thing that we had arranged they year before. He wrote back a rather terse email saying that they would have to get in line, just like everybody else. I felt that the tone of the email was almost insulting, since Angie and Evelyn are both such professional and amazing directors. A tradition and a program that was a major part of YB was being swept aside as though it had been nothing. I was upset, because I felt that Drama deserved a LOT more consideration and respect than that.
34 I won't go into too much of that, because it gets pretty ugly, but this group of students led by Sarah Mae Brooks, Cam Bui, Trinh Le, and Suny Um gathered a strong group of actors and crew people, approached the School Site Council for some funding, and then proceeded to mount a complex production that required a lot of tech, and a tremendous cast. They achieved all of it, and with a little help from myself, Nhat Vu, and the music teacher, Paul Zawilski, pulled off a miracle Show. That Show was Bullshot Crummond, and in my mind, remains one of the most amazing Shows in the long history of the Workshop. It deserves more than a simple mention in the DN, and I'll explain why in a second.
35 I understand from having talked with Paz Rocha a few weeks ago that YB was in the middle of doing a production of Noel Coward's Blythe Spirit, but could get little more info, and with all the busy surrounding me in the past three weeks, I never was able to find much out about it, except that it is still going pretty strong.
36 I hope to connect up with YB next year and see where they are in terms of Drama. It really stopped me when Rocha told me it was still a tradition. I wish I hadn't been so busy, and that I could have gotten over to see it, and to find out how things were going over there. Perhaps I could catch someone in the coming days, but we are WAY busy this time of the year, what with the race to get grades done, and to close the semester, say good-bye to Seniors, and all the rest.
37 Anyway, I would like to thank Connie for sending me the program, and to thank that entire wonderful group of students who took the program I built through the years with my heart and soul, and kept it going, despite all odds. They also are clearly responsible for all the joys and lunacies the current program is enjoying, and the memories they helped seed. I would also like publicly to apologize for having given them some harsh criticism when they got a bit frivolous with the ending of the Bullshot. I had admonished them for getting carried away with changes they put in.
38 In many ways, that was my own fault. I had been coaching from afar, but one thing I forgot to coach was the tendency of high school groups sometimes to fall into the frivolity of wanting to change the ending to a play, rather than giving what theatre people call the "illusion of the first time". It gets old doing the same lines over and over, and sometimes groups want to do that. I stopped most Shows from doing that over the years, but still, it was alwaya something I just didn't like. My thoughts at the time were that they still had one more Show, and to keep it artistic and professional, and I stuck by that.
39 They were hurt, and I remained stubborn that they should always remain as professional as possible. I was trying to teach them a lesson, and looking back, I imagine I handled it incorrectly. I should really have thanked them to a person for keeping the history of the Drama Workshop alive and thriving. So to the Company of Bullshot Crummond: I know it's a day late and a dollar short, but I apologize for that. You worked your asses off on that Show, and I now offer you my heartfelt apology, as well as my personal standing ovation.
40 I wish to do that now, at 5 a.m. on a balmy Thursday morning in 2010.
41 To the Company of Bullshot: you will all remain in my heart more than you'll ever know. I see on Facebook that many of you are going to colleges and universities, and all doing well. To say I'm proud would be an understatement. To say I am humbled by your awesomeness would also be. Your Show was special, and always meant a lot to me, and now to a new generation of students.
42 I wish to thank you, with all my heart and soul. I am still proud, and will always be proud of your miraculous efforts. It means more to me than you'll ever realize. And Connie, thank you for sending me the signed program. I shall cherish it always.
43 Moving on, Part the Third: Last night late my daughter Nicole watched a video of the kids in her class telling why they love Miss Harrington. I looked over and saw the look on her face. One of the toughest things about being a teacher is saying good-bye. The kids all had wonderful things to say. It was cute, because they are kindergarteners, and some would say things like, "I like her necklace..." But others said such beautiful things. One student said, "I like Miss Hawwington's niceness..."
44 Nicoley sent me the link, but my computer wouldn't open it. I'll give you way more on this in tomorrow's DN. But hearing all those kids' beautiful comments, and watching my daughter bloom into a wonderful teacher is about as good as it gets. She is a teacher down to her soul, and the end-of-the-year stuff can get pretty emotional, especially for someone who poured her entire being into the profession. I felt her bittersweet pain last night. She loves her kids, and it was all over her face.
45 Nicoley, you are every bit the teacher, and in so many ways, way better than all the standards and boushit this profession can toss at you. Despite it all, it is and always shall be about the students. I could see the love in her eyes last night, and I could also see her heart being drawn into the greatest profession out there.
46 Wow.
47 Well, before I start blubbering over the keyboard, I'd better get some sleep. It's 5:30 a.m. and I hope to get at least another half-hour.
48 Miles to go before I sleep, but I'd better sleep anyway.
49 Have a beautiful day.
50 Peace.
~H~
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