Life Is An Atom

What are your biggest challenges? Now I could have started in ChatGPT and said, “Give me a metaphor for the challenges I’ll face in 2024,” but I already came up with that (in the shower, of course). I feel that I need to approach life in the new year thinking about the structure of anContinue reading “Life Is An Atom”

It Ain’t What It Used To Be…

What makes you feel nostalgic? Say the title. Then hear the rim-shot for the old joke. I read today’s prompt and thought, well, I can’t answer that. I never get nostalgic for past days. They are in the past and I generally don’t find myself getting wistful over memories (even though I do turn themContinue reading “It Ain’t What It Used To Be…”

If I Had a Sports Team

If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be? To continue the song reference I begin alluding to in the title: If I had a sports team, I’d—actually I don’t know what I’d do. All bets would be off. It might be a sign of the apocalypse. I did follow theContinue reading “If I Had a Sports Team”

The Big 3

Who are the biggest influences in your life? During my Basic Terms lecture for my Intro to Theatre course, I would mention, during the course of talking about Ritual and Archetype, “my three heroes.” The first of these heroes was Joseph Campbell, whom I quoted as having called a ritual, “The enactment of a Myth.”Continue reading “The Big 3”

Where Are the Macros of Yesteryear?

When are you most happy? Back in the early days of word processing, I used macros all the time. You could set them up as you needed, say, for the end of a letter: Sincerely, Stephen A. Schrum, PhD Leave a voicemail on Google Voice for me: 724-835-4074 And then, when you hit a certainContinue reading “Where Are the Macros of Yesteryear?”

This Year…And the Next…

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago? A year ago I thought I would be starting a new theatre company (I did, on May 1), and then there would be this magical sweep into projects and performances. It didn’t happen. Taking the time to build the structure has been useful, and now,Continue reading “This Year…And the Next…”

The Scammer’s Handbook

Wouldn’t you like to get a glimpse of The Scammer’s Handbook? Well, now you can! All you need to do is look at any scam/spam email and you see a part of what they must circulate (I imagine a 3” 3-ring binder) in order to try to entrap their victims. The amazing part for meContinue reading “The Scammer’s Handbook”

Swimming Fish, Catholic Popes

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech? Recently, StoryZ, my new theatre/performance group, gave a Free Improv Workshop. For the 8 people registered, we scheduled 1.5 hours of a little bit of talking and a lot of doing. At one point, someone said, as if she was drowning, “Is this an advancedContinue reading “Swimming Fish, Catholic Popes”

A Tale of Lost “Love”

I suddenly thought about K. last night while waiting to go to sleep. The memories—good and bad—entered my mind like those songs that just start playing in my head even though I haven’t heard them for awhile. I hadn’t thought about her in a long time, and then, suddenly, there she was. I met herContinue reading “A Tale of Lost “Love””

Here Comes Company

What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year? When I worked as Box Office Manager at Shakespeare Santa Cruz in 1990, I was housed in a large room (with bathroom—which had a toaster oven installed there—so many stories from that position!) in the residence of one of the founders ofContinue reading “Here Comes Company”