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On Want

So I'm apparently the worst mom in the world. Tonight Beatrix ended up in tears — many tears — because I had told her that if she wanted to do mom and daughter horse camp (which is kind of insanely priced), she had to come up with $25 in cookie credits, or of her own money, or a combination thereof.

So tonight she was looking through the prizes, but the only way she was going to end up with enough cookie credits AND the prizes she wanted was to sell something like 895 boxes of cookies (so now you know where to go for your cookies....)

Which got me thinking about want. It can be such a powerful motivator to achieve, to do your best, to  succeed. It can also be so debilitating when you don't get there. And while today it may be a bunch of girl scout prizes that have an unfortunate propensity for breaking easily, at another time it's a job, or a friendship, or a house.

Sometimes it's even just the one-of-a-kind chair at the corner antique shop that would have gone perfect…
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You're Different in the Woods...

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So I love Ten Thousand Things Theater, and I even get to consult with them occasionally. But I was anxious to see their newest piece, because they've recently transitioned to new artistic director Marcela Lorca (whose work I've loved in the past, but let's face it, she has big shoes to fill...), and because Into the Woods is one of Beatrix's favorite shows, though she's only seen the movie version. So it's with no small amount of trepidation that we headed through a snowy parking lot into a senior center on University Avenue the other night.

I should not have worried.

Into the Woods is such an unusual piece — where just where you think it's going to end happily ever after, well, it DOESN'T and suddenly most of the cast is dead and you are taking a whole new position on what resiliency actually means.

Mix that with a virtuoso one-man music director (though several talented cast members did play instruments as well), incredible costumes by Sonya Berlovitz,…
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1099s - No Need to Fear

I don't write much about my work in this blog, which is perhaps a mistake. Really, the only time you get a sense that I am really busy is when I don't write much, like during January when I am completely overwhelmed with getting everyone's tax forms out. Every now and then I think about starting a business-related blog, but I know I would never keep up with that, either. So, like my somewhat pathetic Pinterest feed which seems to be all about cocktails and kids birthday parties, there's not much here about what I think about what I do — ant what I spend the majority of my time on. Which means, if I'm writing about it now, it must really be on my mind.

I've just spent an especially rocky January arguing with people about 1099 vs. W2 payments (that is, contractors vs. employees). So, based on that, and with hopes of a less rocky future, here are a few thoughts:

1) 1099 is not simply an alternative kind of payment — it's an alternate kind of work. I say this v…
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We're Not Gonna Pay Rent

Rent is an ingrained part of me. I remember when it opened, when there was all kinds of buzz about "WHAT is this show?" I saw the original cast, with my friend Kristen in it, even before she moved up to play Maureen. I've probably seen it, including the live and movie versions, over 20 times, and the lyrics have blocked out enough of my brain space that I'll probably never perfectly do the journal entry to release TRNA correctly the first time, but I can spout every word of La Vie Boheme.

And I've brought up a daughter who feels the same way, and who has seen the movie and a live production. And who puts up with me every time I explain to her what the AIDS epidemic was like, or how much it meant to have a trans character like Angel as a lead, or even what it means to have a cast of a musical that were POC and just people, nor in specific roles like Porgy and Bess. She's been to New York a few times, but trying to describe NYC in the 1990s is probably still so…
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Weave

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Photo by Imranda Ward. Image by Rosy Simas. McKnight Fellowships/MANCC Residency 2018. From the Weave website (referenced below).

This is not a "review" per se, because unless you are heading to Alabama, or Hawaii, or Philadelphia, or DC soon, you had one chance to see Weave here, and that was on January 12 (but, judging by the number of people I knew that I saw there, you might indeed have been there.)

It's much more a commentary. I've known Rosy for a long time, and every now and then I'm lucky enough to be able to help her out by reading over a grant or running some financials for her, which makes me feel like I am doing the tiniest bit to help her have time and space to create. But I have to admit that it gave me a real chill along my spine to stand in the back of the Ordway lobby and have one of the panelists in the pre-show discussion talk about "Rosy's style" and "body of work." Because she's gotten to the place where both of th…
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Guest Post Link - On Enrollment on the Randolph Heights Page

I've been busy blogging today. This is what I put on my daughter's school's page about why enrollment is important, even if you think class sizes are too big

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Bear Necessities

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When my father was dying, I worked hard to get him into Our Lady of Peace Hospice, because I knew it would be the right final place for him to be. That's been the right choice for so many reasons, including the fact that they check in with you in the months after your loved one's death to see how you're doing. Today, Beatrix and I attending a teddy bear workshop, where we were able to make a bear from my dad's old shirts.

The whole experience was great. Kathy and Diane, the volunteer seamstresses that were assigned to us, were very sweet (and also fast!) They guided the work, but we were able to add our own touches, like writing a note on a  little wooden heart we enclosed inside the bear. We picked a few of my dad's favorite shirts, so we have greta memories of him wearing them.

Thanks to our speedy seamstresses, the workshop took about half the time scheduled, and gave us a really good chance to talk about my dad and why we were making the bear in his memory. It&#…
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