Chance = Change

Yes, the 2nd of the recitals i was assigned is now completed, performing yesterday at 5:00 pm...and I continue to learn from each one I work on....my darling Peter joined me at the one yesterday too, just as he did to the one last weekend, and , if nothing else, it gives us the "excuse" to go on a nice dinner-date afterward, even though we don't need an excuse...what we need is the impetus! We are so comfortable in our home, it's hard to get us out of it, once we both end up in it together after busy work weeks! By joining me at the recitals downtown, Peter not only helps me make cogent observatons about the work done, but takes me out to a nice dinner at our favorite cozy Washington Square Coffee Shop: simple but delicious basic cooking! I love their fresh salmon! And they serve enough for me to make two meals out of!

Anyway: thank you Peter, dear husband, for putting yourself through the rigors of Graduate Recitals for my sake. I appreciate the company.

Meanwhile: a "catch-up" for you faithful readers: Peter's adorable parents are here, attending a Montessori Conference in Midtown Manhattan, though staying here with us. Patti invented and maintains the Peace Table, and Charles helps her run it, where they sell many terrific books, for children and grownups, about Peace and how to make it happen. The merchandise is lovely, and the money earned from its sales goes to financing more Montessori Peace Teaching activities around the country.

This trip, however, to celebrate Charles' retirement from 30 years at Ford motor Company, they are staying an entire extra week and we can have them all to ourselves. This is good, as they are two of my very favorite people, in-laws or not! Incredibly interesting and deeply good people, and it is simply fun to be with them! Peter is even taking 2 days off from work (which they gladly granted him, they appreciate his hard work so much) and we can do fun things , like take them to the Rubin Museum,etc. Then the three of us: Patti, Charles and I, leave on Sunday the 11th: them to go home to Michigan, and me to fly to Paul and Steve in San Francisco for my week of fun in the sun with them!!! Peter and the pups will be here at home alone together....The guys have booked us into a sweet place in Carmel for 5 or 6 days and i am promised gorgeous weather and wonderful shopping! I can hardly wait. Spring Break taken seriously! NYU is on Break from March 10th -18th.....

But before then, I must make sure one more recital is produced well: this one an Undergrad one, for Jenna B. and since she is so talented and fun, this one will be fun to oversee. Her Character Study is Rosabella from THE MOST HAPPY FELLA and she is lovely in her work so far...I had her in my Acting Class last semester and i know her spirit well enough to know that the recital will be a good one. Energized and welcoming.

Early in my teaching (and blogging) career, I was advised never to mention or discuss the work of my students. Too many sensitivities and hurt feelings might result., at either being mentioned or not being mentioned. And so, I have habitually written about them using only their first names and last initials. And even that may be too revealing for some critics of the practise. However, how can I not write about them? How can I not discuss those things that have been the essence of my growth as a result of having worked with them? And how can there be harm in discussing them with the love and respect I feel for them? Because it IS with admiration and affection that I experience them and the work they do to more fully realize their potential as performers. I see the problems...I know the insecurities...and I also know how trivial the college years and even grad work, will end up being in a artist's life: in years to come , they will hardly remember any of us, or what they did in their Recitals. (At least that is how it has been for me...perhaps I am being too presumptive to think it will be the same for them....) True, each of us who teach them may leave a kernel of something they will carry with them...and some of us may even be more influential that that...but it is vanity to think we matter much in the long term. And this is how IT SHOULD BE! Because LIFE WILL TEACH THEM WHAT THEY TRULY NEED TO KNOW....we are only preparing them to be able to be open to what comes next. To be able to listen. The "rights" and "wrongs" of now will soon disappear in the haze of actual experiences they encounter along their personal roads. So, how truly important can all of this be, as we wag and worry about how well are we teaching them or how well they do in their Recitals? It all goes so quickly. AND I FEEL PRIVILEGED TO BE WITH THEM FOR ANY PART OF THEIR JOURNEY....and why should that be? BECAUSE EACH OF THESE WONDERFUL STUDENTS ALLOWS ME TO SEE ANOTHER PART OF MYSELF IN THEM......as much as they say i give them? They give me so much more. I hope they know that. They teach me. Without question.

NYU is a very wonderful place. People who teach there range from brilliant to deeply interesting (at the very least), and I feel fortunate to among them, even for a short while. A couple of weeks ago, I had to join the Adjunct Teachers Union, a branch of the UAW...hello fellow Auto Makers! And this is good, as I respect Unions and what they have done for the average worker in this country. I have always enjoyed a good relationship with my performers unions, and am a Union Gal all the way down the line. this does not, however, serve as any predictor of how long I will teach there, or for that matter how long i will even stay in NYC! But it is what must be for now, and so I joined with a glad heart. I wonder if that Membership is any good on the West Coast! If I go to San Francisco and teach there? Hmmmm...maybe same Union, different Local? Hmmmm...come on,Ev...stop putting carts before horses here....

For now..'bye.....