"We Got The" -- Beastie Boys

prevJul. 10, 2004 - 6:42 p.m.next

So I'm to the point of wanting to help in some way, what's up with that? Where's my apathy? Where's my lack of concern? Where's my blind eye?

It's not even "politics" that I'm thinking of, it's injustice. Suddenly I see wrongs where I didn't before...mainly because I wasn't looking in that direction. Ugh! As a Christian I have deffinately failed in the Helping Others Dept. I don't protest, I don't rant, I don't rave, I don't do anything but turn it back to Cartoon Network. Not that I shouldn't, mind you. Cartoon Network has a lot better programming than CNN or MSNBC^*.

I'm not anti-Bush, I'm not anti-Iraq, I'm anti-injustice, and I'm finally beginning to see more of it around me. I don't want to not care anymore. My problem now is that I don't know where to turn, what step to take next. I've got all this civil disobedience bottled up inside me and no where to place it. Being in Shelby certainly isn't going to help that. This town reeks of apathy and stick-to-your-own-business-ness.

I want to cause a commotion. I want to turn heads and help people start thinking for themselves. Most people aren't happy with the lives they live anyway, so why not give someone something to look towards? But what can I look towards? My faith is first and foremost, but there certainly aren't any churches around here doing anything worthwhile. I was hoping Dad would help in that area once he became pastor, but there's too much administration work to do...plus, to tell the truth, he's too scared to step out on a limb, I think.

So what then? Join the Democratic convention? I don't know...knocking on doors and placing pamphlets under windshields isn't what I'm talking about. I want a MOVEMENT! of sorts...I just don't see one coming. I'd start one myself, but like I said, I don't know where to aim it. Maybe I'm still struggling to find exactly what's important to me with all this "new" thinking going on.

I'm in the brainstorming steps of trying to bring a new theatre experience to Shelby/Cleveland Co. Maybe it's because theatre is the one thing I do know. I want to give something to this area to make them think differently. I guess I'm trying to make their view of theatre that "something." I know it won't end wars or get people elected, but bringing Art to people is important, isn't it? If not, then why am I in this field? Why does Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble exist? Why are there people who would rather go without meals than not have money for their paints, canvasses, performances spaces? If bringing Art wasn't important, it wouldn't have lasted so long. There wouldn't be paintings of hunters on cave walls. People wouldn't be able to actually name museums that they've never been to.

While this post didn't originally start as a way for me to share what I want to do concerning my work, it's become that, so I'll continue. I have 4 one act plays that I want to produce here in Shelby, hopefully sometime in September or October. Right now I'm looking for a space in which to do so...so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I'm going to call the Arts Council on Monday and talk to them. I'm not doing this for my own glorification; I just really want to give something, offer something, bring people together and show them something that might make them think collectively. If not about politics, then about Art, about theatre, about the stories that I have to tell, the stories we all have to tell, the stories that are universal. So maybe stories about a man from Jupiter, two men on Mars, a schizo in the park, and four people falling from an airplane aren't universal, but they're what I have to offer. They're what I can give to those around me. And if we can't be ourselves, what's the point? The universal-ness comes in the fact that we all have something to say, that each of us is different, therefore we all have something different to say, and a different way to say it.

So whether it's politics or plays, I need to be involved in something bigger than me, something bigger than the sum of its parts.

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