Somewhere...

Hello world,

Thinking about lots of things today.  I haven't read any articles yet for the coming week, although I really should. Procrastination doesn't seem to end when the school year ends.  How unfortunate.

Nevertheless, I've been working on another project of importance: a play.  It's been difficult, having so many play ideas bouncing around in my head, but a blessed difficulty.  I could be totally devoid of imagination, and that would be sadder.  The play that I'm working on now is currently 31 pages.  (For those of you who know of my one-act play from PCDS, that play was 8 pages long--15-20 minutes long.)  It's also a pretty personal play, I would say--but when are my plays or any written work not personal?  The play travels backward in time to key moments in the friendship between two men.  It has to do with (unrequited) love, marriage, self-discovery, and personal freedom.  It's also a musical.  I have written lyrics to the songs, and even though I can hear vague music in my head when I think of the lyrics and especially the emotions of the songs, I definitely don't have the ability to compose the music.  Perhaps someday...  Or if and when the play is published, it's up to the directors to find a composer, similar to 12 Ophelias, the play I did this past spring.  Ah... good times :)

Speaking of theater, I'm super excited about Macalester's upcoming fall play, Naomi Wallace's The Inland Sea.  Briefly, it's about a village of British people in Yorkshire, England, who face challenges surrounding the changing landscape of the village.  A landscape artist wants the villagers to move, but the villagers don't want to move, and the diggers are stuck in the middle of the chaos.  It a serious, thoughtful play, and it's the first play I've read by Naomi Wallace, and now I think I love her.  Definitely auditioning!!

Which brings me to my next topic: London and study abroad.  For those of you who don't know, I've decided to opt out of studying abroad.  There were lots of reasons that went into my decision, but I ultimately felt that I would have a better experience staying at Macalester for the fall semester.  If any of you are curious to know more, feel free to contact me individually, and I'd be more than happy to chat.

Finally, THANK YOU, NEW YORK!!!  Thank you for your sense and your acceptance.  I honestly don't understand discrimination.  My mom and I were texting about it today.  She said, "Differences scare people."  Analytically, this makes sense.  That, or "change," in another word, is one of the many reasons that I chose not to study abroad.  However, in the words of Cabaret's Sally Bowles, "I think people are people."  We're all living in this world that is paradoxically small and large at the same time; either way, we're sharing this world, so we might as well get along, right?  Just a thought...  In any case, 6 states down, 44 to go.

My post title today alludes to two songs that I feel are appropriate today for me.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, they carry similar ideas and feelings.  And one is obviously fitting for the gay movement.

"There's a place for us, a time and place for us.  Hold my hand and we're halfway there.  Hold my hand and I'll take you there, somehow, someday, somewhere."
-"Somewhere," West Side Story


"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."
-"Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz