Working with Charcoal

Recently my art has taken a 2D turn.  I've been exploring charcoal and having quite a bit of fun with it.

Theatre is...

Theatre is the people who are involved, the friendships that are created, the hard work you put into it, the hours of hurry-up-and-wait, the memorizing, living in a another world for just a little bit, the rehearsal, walking through the process with a great director, and the click you feel when you finally get your character.  It is the moment before you step on stage, the audience, the way a show takes off and seems to fly, the applause, the bittersweet knowledge that there is one less time to do this, and the stories of near misses and mistakes that only the actors know.  Theatre is the difference between a first show and a last show, the memories that are made, devoting yourself to something so fully that it consumes your life for a little while, and knowing that you have succeeded in making art.  That is theatre.

Theatre centers me.  Just stepping into a theatre brings a sense of calm I don’t get anywhere else.  To me, a theatre feels alive.  It is a place where stories are told and art is shared. 

Storefront Theatre has a “use what you have” mentality that appeals to me.  The act of creating out of almost nothing is a fantastic feeling.  It adds a new level to the stories that you can tell.  Sometimes, less is more. 

I know I may not be able to act throughout my whole life, but one way or another I will be involved in theatre.  It is an experience that I always want to have again and one that I will remember forever.

Saint Augustine's Confessions Part 6

In this chapter Augustine has been focusing on memory.  This brought several questions to mind.
How much of who we are is shaped by memory?  As we remember things, we change them in the act of remembering.  If we are shaped by memory, can we change ourselves by changing our memories?
Just some thoughts that have been knocking around in my head.

Saint Augustine's Confessions and Way of the Human Being part 4

As I write I often find myself slipping into a very formulaic sentence structure.  Every sentence is exactly the same and it plods along.  Once I have my ideas and arguments laid out I go back and rewrite every sentence.
It is a bit harder to do this when the ideas haven't yet fallen into place.  Instead of reworking what I have I'm erasing and writing completely new stuff.  This paper is like pulling teeth.

Saint Augustine's Confessions Part 5

Chapter 10 is labeled Memory.  I had glanced through it before and it looked interesting and so I was looking forward to reading it.

It is confusing.  I'm not sure I understood much of it.  It is laid out very differently from the rest of the book and it feels different as well.  I don't know if he changed his way of writing or what but it is harder to read.  He is also talking about things that I have never really thought about before and diving deeper into subjects that I have considered.
All in all it is a section that I feel like I have to read and reread over and over.

Saint Augustine's Confessions and Way of the Human Being part 3

Sometimes when I write papers they come very easily.  I know what I want to say and it just happens in a logical order.  Other times it is like feeling around in the dark hoping that I'll stumble across a point I want to make and then fiddling about with the ideas I have until it is in a readable order.  This paper is turning out to be the stumbling kind.

The Way of the Human Being Part 3

The way Martin describes my culture in the Way of the Human Being is not flattering.  In his eyes the traditional Native American culture is superior.  They seem to have the monopoly on the perfect way of living.  He makes it sound as if they have the right idea and we are ignorant people who have lost a key aspect or being a human.  I don't have clearly articulated thoughts on this yet but there is something that puts me on edge.  Maybe because I am not a Native American, for him to completely write off my culture seems unfair.  I don't think that my culture is perfect.  Far from it!  But by writing off my culture I feel as if he is also writing off part of me.