Someone recently said to me, “People in ivory towers must never have heard of hard-toed shoes.” This was clearly a dig from a “working man” (really, a lifelong office jockey) who clearly has some disdain for Academia. This is not the first time I’ve experienced this. I started college two years after my high schoolContinue reading “Bias Against Education?”
Tag Archives: academia
What’s Your Passion?
I know a lot of people hate their jobs. And I’m sorry for that. A line I used to say to people was: “I love my work, but I hate my job.” There are times when being a college professor could be very annoying, But the most important thing about that was that I didn’tContinue reading “What’s Your Passion?”
Strange (?) Inspiration Part 2
The musical Man of La Mancha serves as another example of a production that I consider very successful. With its prison set conjuring images of both Western and Eastern theatre, my flexible staging, and the imaginative creation of scenes by adding a few props or costumes, the show served as an excellent example of collaborationContinue reading “Strange (?) Inspiration Part 2”
Strange (?) Inspiration Part 1
A few years back, the music director where I was working and I decided to present the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue, Some Enchanted Evening. For the first part of the process we held vocal auditions and cast the singers with the songs. I then turned to the task of how to stage the piece. NoteContinue reading “Strange (?) Inspiration Part 1”
Notes About Dreams
In a recent blog post I mentioned finding old notes about various things that might become future blog posts. Well, the future is now! Four of the notes begin: “Dream:” and have some mention of what happened in some dream I had years ago. Often when I take notes, such brief phrases are enough toContinue reading “Notes About Dreams”
“She Tipped Me A Crystal”
At Berkeley, we had a summer lunchtime theatre series. Each show rehearsed for two weeks (one week in the morning, one week in the afternoon) and then a week of performances. I directed two shows in two summers: Noel Coward’s We Were Dancing (in the Durham Studio Theatre) and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—which I cutContinue reading ““She Tipped Me A Crystal””
Hand Me the Whiteboard…
Every time someone starts an in-depth explanation of something, or I need to explain something that requires a variety of steps, I ask for “the whiteboard.” I assume at that point that only a detailed diagram will be able to provide any sensical explanation. I always needed a whiteboard when I covered one of theContinue reading “Hand Me the Whiteboard…”
Don’t Tell Me I Can’t
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? One of the quickest ways to encourage me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it, or to speak the more passive phrase, “it can’t be done.” That’s precisely the motivation I’ve often needed to accomplish a goal. ItContinue reading “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t”
Ahhh, Look At All My Fav’rite People
Who are your favorite people to be around? As a life-long introvert who only recently has said, “Screw it, life’s too short, and who cares what people think?” (as I venture into the local social scene to raise awareness of my non-profit theatre company), I would say that the list of favorite people to beContinue reading “Ahhh, Look At All My Fav’rite People”
A Plethora of Miscellaneous
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be? I wrote that title a few weeks ago and saved it in Notes, because I knew it would come in handy eventually. When seeing today’s prompt I thought it was strictly apropos (which would be a bad title for my biography). Looking backContinue reading “A Plethora of Miscellaneous”
MUSOFYR 