Not Satisfactory

I just returned home from a performance of "The Merchant of Venice" at
the Trinity Rep in Providence. I went with some very special friends who not
only live nearby but who also subscribe, and I may add without prejudice -
really dear and wonderful friends.

Usually, this company inspires, takes creative risks, challenges you as
an audience member, and can often shed new light on old as well as new
works. Once in a great while - they totally miss and tonight was one of
those times. Yes - this particular play is difficult to produce in our current
politically correct landscape, but this was a major miscalculation and not
a qualified risk.

 A great Portia, Shylock or Antonio can save any production, but one out
of three can not. This was a director's piece in this presentation and the
failure to execute the furrows and plantings of this text did not create
a reality that benefited this piece.

The clowns were over the top and distracted from the dark tragi-comedy.
They suspended any truth that might be told and just did not fit, a major
miscalculation from the director. I was left with more unanswered questions
about chatacter relationships and development. If the text is missing any
of this (which is not typical of Shakespeare) then the director must add this
in the visual representation. So much was missed this way that the tying of
loose ends of the plot at the end were left unexpressed.

Shylock did not break my heart, Jessica's issues were left unresolved, Portia
fell short in the trial scene, Lorenzo was underdefined, Bassanio just missed
the mark. In a work that demands a clear focus on each character and their
individual motivation and then the complicated interrelationships, the director
did not create the needed clarity. So we in the audience could only reach
for conclusions that were not expressed in the performance. It should not
be this way.

Thoughts just after midnight

It is late. I feel a certain responsibility to post. This begs the question - where
am I and what am I feeling just now?

I am thankful for the people who persevere with me and who choose to
accept me just as I am. As a person seeking to grow and bloom in new
unexplored ways, I greet those on my way with gratitude to endure with
me the pangs of personal growth.

My inter-relationships with friends are the map and pathway for my own growth
and perhaps theirs as well. There is a mutuality in this journey. I am so aware that
to do any of this, one must accept the reality that it can not be a solo attempt.
Nurture and growth come in the community of experience and sharing that
opens the portal of new being.

My road is open. I comtemplate new possibilities. I shudder with what might be.
Fractured by my own fear, I still have hope. I surge forth with promise. And
I await the next dawn of possibility.


R

Prop 8 California

I do not understand what some folks are afraid of.
How can committed and loving relationships be
something to fear? And if these same couples choose
to adopt unwanted and marginalized children and
give them a loving, nurturing home, where is the societal
error? Who will open their hearts and homes to these
children?

For those who proclaim the sanctity of life, where are they
after the birth? Who will take care of these children after
they are "saved" from the possibility of a termination of
pregnancy? These questions are not  addressed by the
pro-lifers. So my query is not addressed. If life for its own
sake is saved - who becomes the caretaker of that life? If
we as a society do not choose to fund the social network
to support the lives we hold sacred, what are we saving?

And if we hold fast to our religious calling to care for those
who can not care for themselves, what are we doing when
we turn our heads away from that responsibility?

How is this hooked to Prop 8 in California? I think the
answer is just too clear....

And  the question remains the same. What kind of
society do we choose to live into? And do we all share
mutually in its future? Or do we exclude from fear the
very folks who can bring us forward into that caring,
nurture-filled possibility of the better way?


R

"Old Friends"

In the last two weeks I have reconnected with three different sets of
friends from differing chapters in my life. And each was surrounded
by food and conversation for an extended time, not the grab and go we
so often call connection. Grateful sharing and attentive listening were
always present. This has become a rarity in our oft over busy lives, so
much so that when it does happen, it is like the clean, cold air that strikes
your face on a dry winter day. One knows at once that something different
is coming into your life, something too often lost.

Our lives are so hungry for this kind of communication and connection
with others. Being with old friends is like snuggling into you favorite chair.
You are at once totally comfortable and comforted. I am reminded of a concept
in the lines of T. S. Eliot's play "The Cocktail Party" - the true essence of
friendship is present when after a time apart old friends meet again and you
just pick up where you left off as if no time has passed at all.

That is precisely how I feel about these "old friends" with whom I have shared
more than a meal, more than a hurried moment. We have shared a Eucharistic
Moment, at one with one another. I am grateful for these moments.


R