I adopted him yesterday from the shelter in Genoa. He's a needly little guy and quite the talker, but he's sweet and adorable. (This is the best picture I have, I can't get him to stand still long enough!)

By my god they are just TOO CUTE. I want a kitty of my own so bad...

Looks like they basically agreed that the number of crew at load-in could be a lot more flexible, that pre- and post-show calls could be extended some without initiating a minimum call (I.E. so they could call crew at an hour and a half to show and not have to pay a full four-hour minimum for that extra half hour.) In exchange for some of the concessions made on the behalf of the Union, the techs will see a higher than standard pay raise.

Dammit, I want a pay raise! I'd go on strike, but no one would give a damn.

I don't see anything terribly earth-shattering here, but some of the fall-out remains to be seen. I just hope it doesn't start to establish a precedence of justifying cutting into job security with paying more per hour. The temporary contract will be voted on by the members of Local 1 in the middle of December.

So I Finished this a while back and just never got around to writing up a summary. I've pre-dated my entry so that I can have a timeframe reference later, though, so don't get too confused. The following is a review of Marriage, A History by Stephanie Coontz.

What a phenomenally interesting book! As a reasonably well-eduated person, I've always been aware of the changing nature of the concept of "marriage" over the past several centuries, but never have I seen it explored in such detail with such a keen eye to trends and data analysis.

Coontz is a scholar of relationships, for lack of a better phrase; she's written a number of books on the recent history of the American Family and the potential it has for the future. In this prodigious undertaking, she goes all the way to the beginnings of man and continues forward to the present day.

It's a interesting to look at how many different types of relationships have born the title of "marriage" - initially a way of forming tribal or familial groups among early man based on the needs for survival, the idea of marriage evolved into political alliances among the upper classes and a necessary team for the division of labor in the lower classes. Although, she shows the reader that even in ancient times, there was love, intrigue, and passion in these political alliances.

As anyone with a IMSA Perspectives education can tell you, nothing in history happens in a vacuum. As people began amassing more and more resources, they became more concerned about who would get it when they were gone. Thus steps in the Church, more strictly defining what it means to be married, and beginning the tradition of church weddings that we still practice today. Despite its formalization of the relationship, the Church still considered the state of marriage a necessary evil, a runner-up behind the state of celibacy. The rise of protestantism revived the love in marriage, and a recognition of the partnership aspect of marriage.

In the Victorian era, she chronicles the rise of the single bread-winner household, an arrangement that started among the less affluent because it was often more economical to have a person at home preparing goods, watching children and running the household in what was undoubtedly an exhausting way of life. Like most things, people tend to warp a rough situation into a status symbol, and thus it became with the rise of consumerism that the man became burdened with the often overwhelming task of providing for the family and woman began to feel trapped in their own homes.

I really should stop here, or this is just going to turn into am old-fashioned book report. Suffice it to say, she's quite through in her analysis of the historical data with only a mild flavor of feminism.

I have to admit that I was a little overwhelmed by the depth of the research and data here. About a third of the text is devoted just to notes.

Nevertheless, I would highly, highly recommend this to anyone vaguely interested in the subject. It's a well-crafted work with clear and concise arguments that provide a facinating picture of how we've loved and what we think about it changes how we want to love tomorrow.

As those of you who pay attention to the news may or may not know, IATSE Local One (Broadway stage technicians) has gone on strike. Add that to the Writer's Guild strike, and it's a hell of time to be in the entertainment industry.

I can't say that I blame anyone involved in either of these strikes, but it's a shame that the parties have been unable or unwilling to come to an agreement before this measure was taken.

Regardless, I'm going to be paying close attention to how these strikes play out and the changes made to their respective contracts, because I know that it will have important ramifications for all of us working in the industry, especially those of us on a contract basis.

A while back, when I read Wicked, I found that I really enjoyed Gregory Maguire's writing style and looked for more of his work. One of the books I found, that unfortunately sat lonely on a shelf for almost a year because my attention has been drawn elsewhere for so long. That book was Mirror Mirror, which is to the tale of Snow White in the same way that Wicked relates to The Wizard of Oz.

I really love the way that this man writes. He has a way of making his characters complex and interesting without writing in a manner that declares "This Character is Interesting!". This otherwise wonderful trait is sometimes a fault when it comes to dealing with his main characters. If not for the fact that they take up the most time in the narrative, you might not know that they were main characters at all.

I noticed this more in Mirror than I did in Wicked. I sometimes felt, and perhaps this was intentional, that the story was more about the people living and working on the family estate than the family themselves. That's not to say that the main characters are undeveloped, but I felt that I didn't understand them nearly as well as I understood Elphelba. (One of the reasons I was luke-warm about the musical - I felt that they really neglected the core of her character.)

What I did like about Mirror was his usual blend of "science" with mysticism. The female antagonist (formally the wicked step-mother) is skilled in chemistry, specifically when it comes to making poisons, however the "dwarfs" begin their lives as entities of rock that, through the influence/presence of Bianca ("Snow White"). The evolution of these characters into self-aware beings is an interesting look into what it means to be an individual, what it means to be a person.

Ultimately, it was and enjoyable read, but there's good reason it hasn't reached the level of popularity that Wicked saw. I would recommend it if you read and enjoyed his other work, if you're into things that are a little more fantasy-oriented, but not to those that really desire epic tales on grand scales.

My profuse apologies to anyone that actually reads my blog for substance. I hope for your sake you either use an RSS reader or catch the LJ feed.

That said, life so far has been going better than the pessimist in me would ever have admitted. E and I have been living together for over a month now, and we've yet to kill each other ;) We've had a couple of "getting to know you" moments, but we're both pretty level headed adults and we seem to be working things out quite nicely. (She says thinking she might have just jinxed it. Ah well.) I'm still getting used to the fact that I've truly become an adult in the eyes of the world; telemarketers are calling for me now. I've taken a step to the side of the safety net that's been under me my whole life. It's thrilling and frighting all at once.

I've been working like crazy trying to keep my hours up and thus my income up so that I can continue to pay my newfound bills. Been doing surprisingly well, actually. This summer's been the busiest ever, I think. Welcome to the adult world, as it goes.

I've been slowly making in-roads into the world of lighting design in the suburbs. I've designed a show at Circle Theatre, am currently working on designing a show there, and I have just signed up to design a show there that will open in January. In addition, I've signed up to design my first musical ever, with a company I've never worked with before, in a space that's apparently not well suited to doing modern theatre. Lots of renting will be involved. Exciting!

So far this summer I have seen one of my friends get married off, and next weekend E's sister is going to tie the knot. Friends of friends are having babies and it seems everywhere I look people I know are pairing off, trying to pair off, or spawning. Crazy. Makes me feel... adult.

I still haven't made much progress on my new website. I really should get into that so that I can start putting together a portfolio. If i want to continue to work myself into the lighting design realm, I need a place to champion myself.

That does beg the question - do I want to do lighting design? I seem to be good at it. At least, people tell me that I'm good at it and they keep calling me back. I enjoy it. It seems, though, that path would eventually lead to graduate school, if I ever want to break into it full-time. I'm still not so sure that I want to go to graduate school. Although, E and I have talked about, in that sort of "what if" type way, of relocating someplace new and different, going to grad school might just be a good impetus to do that. Either way, I should spend a few more years building up a name for myself before I look closer at where the next fork in the road will take me.

In the meantime, though, I'm looking hard for a way to replace one of my places of employment. It's become increasingly clear that the environment there is one of which I do not want to be a part. It's certainly not the place that it was when I started working there, as is often the case when you work somewhere for a while, but the changes that have been made, the attitudes I've been seeing in people and the very structure of the organization itself have been weighing on me heavily.

I used to love going to work there, and now I dread it. I feel like I'm selling out going in to work there. I just can't lose the income right now. I recognize that most people don't love their jobs, but in an industry like this, with pay like ours, your love of the job is what keeps you there; it's what drives you to be part of the best crew many tours have ever seen. It's just absolutely amazing that they seem to think that they can fire their crew, ignore the legacy of their time and experience, and expect it to be business as usual.

It's kinda funny, I was talking to a friend recently about the very beginnings of this organization, and they mentioned that at the outset, they had imagined that the TD would be the only paid crew person and that the rest of the crew would be volunteers from the community. At the time, the thought was laughable; you just can't do the schedule and the level of work that they're used to with a volunteer crew. If they keep treating the crew like they do, however, they're going to find that's all they'll have left. It saddens me, really, I love that institution and I don't wish it harm, I never would. I just don't see how it can continue thriving on the path they've put it on.

I recognize that this has been a bit long-winded, but it's a pretty good summary of the events of the last couple of months. I don't have copious time to hang out lately, but I always welcome emails and calls. I really want to keep in touch with you wonderful people.

Now if we only had a couch....

Spend your airtime on things that, you know, might actually affect us, like, say, Bush at the G8. Not some spoiled blonde cesspool of venereal disease.

Something I've wanted so bad for more than a year is finally here and I'm scared shitless.

Tent Meeting went up with absolutely dreadful reviews. Mostly commentary on the script and theme, however. The set and lighting (the one time it was mentioned) were spoken of positively. So I'll mark this in the "Win" column for me. Not sure where to put it for Circle.

I've been working some things through with work. I've written a contract and it's gone over very well, so we're moving on to fine-tune the language. Not to mention that I got a raise (which means independent living is finally in sight!) and one of the "fifth-wheel" crew-member has left the organization. That always helps a lot. I'm getting the distinct impression that I'm seeing different sides of some of the folks involved than others usually see. I'm not sure what to think about that. Will keep posted.

Thing at the other job are OK. I've been trying to "stick with it" as promised, but since the initial push at improvement, I haven't seen much else. I've been getting the impression that the crew is going to be very different at the end of the summer, but no indication that the organization or structure is going to change any. I'll ride it out and see what happens. If nothing else, it's a good experience to have.

In other news, I took my car in last week to get a maintenance check-up and general once-over. In total, all the work that it needs done is about twice the value of the car itself. However, without most of it, it could get some pretty severe damage. So I had them do as much as I could afford then, and I'm scheduling it for the biggie, a new timing belt, next week and I'm shopping around for four new tires. Just as my income was starting to exceed my expenses... oh well. At least I will know that my car's in good running order when it's all over.

In vanity news, as part of my "invest in yourself" new year's resolution, I've taken some steps toward self-improvement that will hopefully bear results by the end of the summer. I've bought dresses for the weddings I'm going to this summer and it's my intent to look stunning in them. I have to fight the urge to buy new shoes. I have shoes that will work with both, but news shoes to go with a new dress, right?

I picked up Bridget Jones's Diary off the library rack at the train station the other day and managed to read half of it yesterday. I'm not thrilled with it, but it's not terrible. I guess, not being a single 30-something, I just can't really relate to the main character. Her narrative writing style reminds me of how several of my friends write in their blogs. Makes me wonder if they've read it or just happen to prefer the partial sentences and stream-of-consciousness of it all.

I should probably get going. I've got to get ready to run a dozen or so lavs tonight. A middle school production of "Beauty and the Beast". It'll be something.

PS: my scroll wheel on my mouse died after many years of good service. Unfortunately, I can't find it for sale anymore. It's the silver MS IntelliMouse optical with the big back and forward buttons under the thumb and the "just enough but not too much" contouring. If you know where I can acquire one, let me know! I don't want to have to try to adjust to a new, more stupid, mouse.

You can take the girl off the campus, but you can't take the Flunk Day away from the girl! I overslept this morning,woke up, got the email and suddenly understood why.

And of course, in true Flunk Day form, I have rehearsal this evening ;)

My best to all of you Knoxians out there. Hope your Flunk Day is fun and safe!

Powerful words written by a good friend of mine with a gift for metaphor. They deserve to be reproduced.

I know it's been a few days since the events at VT and I've posted since, but I keep reading what people are saying about why this young man did what he did and I'm finding myself developing and remembering some serious concerns I have about what the "aftermath" might be and the state of things in America.

Some good friends of mine that were creative writing types are justifiably concerned about what parallels might be drawn between this young man and writers everywhere. His prose has been characterized as "dark" and "disturbing", and that is being cited as a "warning sign" of a disturbed mind. Now, I won't deny that crazy people can write some crazy shit, but certainly not everybody that writes crazy shit is crazy. I don't see anyone advocating locking up Thomas Harris; he's certainly not going to go about eating people and that's certainly disturbing writing.

I can only hope that students refuse to censor themselves, refuse to stop exploring "disturbing" themes and ideas out of fear of profiling. I hope that the educators reading this uncensored work are engaged enough with the authors to recognize the true character of their minds.

And that engagement is something that I might say is the single biggest factor that leads to the sort of social isolation that we see in cases like this. It's horrible that in a society that prides itself on the high quality of our educations, lifestyles, and institutions, we are so woefully unconnected with each other.

I had the gift in highschool of a faculty and staff that were engaged with their students and observant of more than just the grades they gave. I suppose we were different, in that we were away from home, but that consciously or unconsciously took on the role of surrogate parents. In a culture that almost encourages absentee parenting, and certainly doesn't shun it, we need to be even more acutely aware that our children are "well adjusted".

I was reading an article on the website of some newspaper and alongside the article was a comment posted by a user. The comment said, [I paraphrase a bit, emphasis mine.] "We should not be so concerned with the man that did this and more concerned with the other students. We taught them to be cowards." I just couldn't believe what I was reading. If anything, we're teaching them to be assholes with little fear of reparation from their actions.

The speaker was right, in that we do need to be concerned with the students. The "loner type" is as much of a result of shunning by his peers as it may be any of his conscious decision. Most "loners" such as this young man, wanted nothing more than to be included. One article cited a former highschool classmate recounting an incident where he was nervous about reading aloud in class, and when requested to do so, was taunted and told to "go back to China." When and how did we develop the idea that this is acceptable behavior?? When I was in middle school I was taunted mercilessly by a group of students. When confronting the administration with that fact and the lack of interference on the behalf of the staff, one administrator said, and I'll never forget it as long as I live, "They're just kids being kids and there's nothing that we can do to stop it."

Now I bet if the actions of these tormentors, both mine and his, were brought to the attention of their parents, they would find the behavior at least somewhat distasteful and make efforts to put a stop to it. I'm not saying that America's parents are all bad parents, it's that they're not being given and they're not seeking out the opportunities to be parents.

Of course, as we see in the aftermath of any major incident carried out by a single individual or group of homogeneous individuals, I'm concerned about profiling of immigrants. This country already has a hard enough time dealing with people that seek to share in its prosperity. Thank god he was here completely legally or the shit-storm would unlike any we've seen for quite a while. I hope I'm not offending anyone when I say this, but white Americans are notoriously bad at identifying the races other than their own and tend to lump related cultures all together as one and the same. (I reference the "Go back to China" comment.)

And, of course, we come to the "violent music and video games" argument. Reporters are fond of pointing out the similarities between some of his images and those of a popular Koren cult movie. And of course reviving the "violent images make violent people" argument. Now, I don't know where I stand on this. The problem with this issue lies in the individual characters of the observers. Some people can maintain that awareness that this != reality, but some are the types that *do* "get desensitized" to it. I've seen types of personalities, mostly male, that see something on a game or movie and think "hey that's cool" and internalize that idea. They eventually develop a mentality and vocabulary full of these violent images. I've SEEN it. This, of course, ties back to parents.

At all serves to make me grateful for the good that came out of my own experiences as a kid and even more grateful for the people around me that supported me and the few friends that I did have and the balancing effect that they had on my life. My heart goes out to the victims of those that died that day, and those that continue to suffer. Even more my voice goes out to those that identify, at least in some part, with the shooter. May you find the hope and compassion that you need before it's too late.

America, I recognize that it's asking a lot, but please be smart and be nice.

They found our minivan! It was towed to an impound in Bensenville, and when they ran the VIN they discovered it had been reported stolen. It's being processed right now, fingerprints and all that, and we should get it back fairly soon. Good news. Although, I get the impression that my parents had sort of resigned themselves to the situation. I think they might have even seen the insurance payout as GIVING them money, and planing to manipulate it, much like we did with the fire. It's an OK idea, but really, we need the reliability of the van, not whatever 2 or 3 k car they might have bought to replace it.

In other good news, I've been throwing myself into the show I'm designing for Circle Theatre right now and I'm very, very excited about it. The production values are going to be really high, even though our budgets aren't. I'm excited about being out in "real world" theatre. I had the realization last night that this is the first time that I've really been part of a professional production team. I'm an adult, considered as one of a group of adults, and I've been ACCEPTED. It's an amazing thing and I'm in love with the rush.

I was telling E about this last night and said that *this* is why I went to college for theatre. *This* is why I work three jobs and long hours. I'd forgotten it. I'd given in to despair, but the creative process has been re-affirming for me. I'm happy and excited again.

If you're in the Chicago-land area, I highly recommend you come to Circle at some point. They do amazing work with limited resources and create fabulous art. Easily accessable by eL! www.circle-theatre.com

That's not to say that the problems that have been concerning me are gone. The fact of the matter is that most of them haven't gotten anywhere. But at the moment, I have neither the time or energy for them. I'm still working on them when I can, but I I'm trying very hard not to let them get to me right now.

Still no progress on the relocation front. It's becoming very apparent that it needs to happen soon, but we've yet to find something suitable and in our price range. We had an interesting proposition floated to us last week, but I don't know that that's going to come through. That's ok. We'll keep looking.

I just got done watching a documentary on Ralph Nader. Boy was that interesting. I hadn't realized how much he'd done, what influence he had in American Politics besides being "that crazy guy that lost Gore the election." Granted, the documentary was obviously made by people that support his positions and mission, but there's a fundamental element about the man's passion and dedication that you just can't skew. Incredibly interesting, and I'm very glad that I saw it. The film's "An Unreasonable Man" and I recommend that you try to find a place to see it. There's another showing at the Raue tonight, but I imagine that you probably won't be able to get there in time. ;)

Since I wrote last, have finished I Am Charlotte Simmons and I do have quite a bit to say about it. Perhaps by the end of the evening, I'll have something up that might be of interest. I'm debating whether I should switch back to non-fiction, as I have a backlog of that lately, or continue with fiction, as I have received several books as gifts within the past couple of months, and it's only polite to read them promptly.

I have also decided that, come hell or high water, I am going to see a concert this summer. I have a little bit of means with which I can do so and I really want to make this happen. Besides, I know that I can write it off on my taxes!

Speaking of taxes, those with complicated situations aside, I just do not understand why it takes people so damn long and so much *anguish* to do their damn taxes! For the vast majority of people, it's a couple of pieces of paper and a math problem and you're done! And with the proliferation of computer-based tax pref utilities, there's even less room to whine in my opinion. So why, in god's name, are the post offices open 'til midnight, and the whole country accept "tax drama" as an acceptable excuse for anything? *sigh*

I'm going to go find some dinner now, and then back to the grind. Take it easy my friends.