One night, in a moment of instrospection, I had this thought: Whoever thought that the child of a single mother raised on welfare would earn a doctorate and later travel around the world? It probably happens more times than I’m aware. (I hope so.) But for me, it seems like an extraordinary thing. When IContinue reading “How Did I Get Here?”
Tag Archives: professor
Some Directors…
One of my favorite Berkeley directing stories concerns the professor whom I would later fire from being my dissertation advisor. He was directing a show and my good friend Mike Foster (whom I met as a student in a class I was TA for and who later became a close friend) asked a question ofContinue reading “Some Directors…”
God, Luck, and Planning
Often I hear people claim that, “God put me in the right place at the right time!” I have never heard anyone credit God for delivering them to the wrong place in their lives. Others of course attribute success to luck, which I guess is as mysterious a force as a deity. And I rememberContinue reading “God, Luck, and Planning”
Night of the Burning Posse
This is another of those crazy memories that just pop unbidden into my brain. At Temple University, the theatre majors were a pretty closely knit group. Oh, of course there was gossip and back-biting (I quote myself: “My mother always said, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, or go intoContinue reading “Night of the Burning Posse”
Commence to Begin
I’m always amazed to see kindergarten, middle school, and all other kinds of milestone graduation ceremonies. This never occurred to us when we were kids. We moved straight from grade to high school. Our grade school was grades 1 to 8, and when grade 8 was finished, there was no ceremony. For us there wereContinue reading “Commence to Begin”
To Paraphrase the Alien in Plan Nine from Outer Space:
“All you faculty are stupid!” We often see a dichotomy between an upper and a lower class. And sometimes this division is false, but persists nonetheless. For example, on an academic campus, we may see a prejudice on the part of maintenance workers who look down on the faculty. I never did. My first realContinue reading “To Paraphrase the Alien in Plan Nine from Outer Space:”
Journey…Into The Past (Lives)
Years ago, when I was an undergrad at my first college (a small private that proved to be inadequate for my proper theatre training—hence my transferring to a real theatre program at a real school), I heard this crazy metaphysical thing: how to see what you looked like in your past lives. The method wasContinue reading “Journey…Into The Past (Lives)”
I Hereby Resolve…
A few years back I read an interesting article on New Year’s resolutions. The author suggested that, instead of resolving to do more in the coming year, one should do less. It’s like the scene in the movie Birdcage when they are turning the apartment into a straight-looking residence, and Val says, “Don’t add; subtract.”Continue reading “I Hereby Resolve…”
Whistling Backstage, Dark or Not
There’s an old tradition that one does not whistle backstage in a theatre. Like most theatrical traditions, you don’t question it, but nevertheless I often wondered about it. And for years I taught the reason for this in my Intro to Theatre course; I don’t know if I read this, or just made it up,Continue reading “Whistling Backstage, Dark or Not”
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?”
