I can finally say that I’m an award-winning playwright!  I’ve come close a couple of times.  One of my plays was a finalist in two national competitions.  But as a proud pinko-type I don’t usually worry over awards, which to me have always seemed like false measures of talent, often based on politics and gossip rather than merit.

Of course, now that I’ve been awarded my outlook has changed.  I was very surprised and flattered when my name was called during the reception at the Southampton Playwriting Conference on July 30th to receive the Southampton Playwriting Scholarship.  I was thrilled just to have been accepted into Marsha Norman’s class at the renowned Conference.  I had no idea awards were given each year and I really had no idea they’d even consider giving one to me.  Thank you, Conference Directors, Stephen Hamilton and Emma Walton Hamilton, and the rest of the awards committee.

The Southampton Playwriting Conference was very inspiring and I was honored to meet so many talented writers.

Debbie, Andy, Keni, and Randy dramatizing something dramatic.

Marc and Merry

“I never let schooling interfere with my education.” -Mark Twain

And I say, “Don’t let politicians continue to contaminate and interfere with our children’s future by making the school system much worse than it already is.”

Steven Brill’s article, “The Teachers’ Unions’ Last Stand: How Obama’s Race To The Top Could Revolutionize Public Education,” published in today’s New York Times Magazine, rallied for Obama’s plan to waste billions of dollars on charter schools when the money could be better spent by being directly and evenly distributed to public schools that are already in existence.

I don’t think anyone is disputing the fact that many of these charter schools are implementing effective and innovative learning strategies for our kids.  My beef with the new policies, most of which really just echo Bush’s Orwellian named “No Child Left Behind,” also falls under “accountability.”  Forget test scores, the real question, Arne Duncan and Barack Obama, is how do you justify abandoning public schools who lack the resources to improve their systems?

Brill interviewed politicians and other rich, Ivy League policy pushers (including Jon Schnur who runs New Leaders for New Schools) and only two union leaders.  What was missing from his article was a realistic perspective.

Though to be fair, I was pleased that he interviewed Senator Bill Perkins of New York, who was quoted in the article as saying it’s “stupid and unfair to blame unions when the reason the schools in this community are failing is that they lack resources. . . . the president is wrong.”  At least there are a few good leaders who have the courage to stand up for what is right.

But how about also interviewing some actual teachers, who are on the front lines giving their lives for poverty-level wages in overcrowded, under-resourced classrooms, who are now being additionally penalized by an administration that claims to be Democratic and representative of positive change?  How about interviewing the children who will now have the power to test their teachers out of a job?

These so-called reformers of education (who I will now rename “ruiners,” which appropriately misuses the noun because I am a product of public education) want to eliminate job security for teachers and only pay teachers based on the test scores of their students.

If test scores are the determining factor of school funding and whether or not teachers can keep their jobs, why aren’t these ruiners and writers of puff pieces that praise the ruiners writing about the tests or at least asking questions about them?  Who makes these tests and how do they decide which multiple-choice questions could be so important that they hold the future of society?

Brill spent one sentence admitting that most people understand that tests are flawed, but he stops there.  We are supposed to simply accept that these flawed tests are a great tool to improve our education system.  Why would we put so much stake in something that is inherently flawed?  Perhaps we are so far gone, our education system is so warped that this has become the kind of illogical reasoning that we’ve grown accustomed to.  Or perhaps Princeton University wasn’t offering any classes in tests and measurements when this leading ruiner / flawed-test-lover, Jon Schnur, studied there.  He’s the one who came up with “Race To The Top,” which pitted state school districts against each other to drive up flawed test scores in order for a mere two states to receive a fraction of funding.

What’s really going on here is what always happens.  We don’t ask the right questions until after the disaster, when it’s too late.  When will we learn from our mistakes?  When will we learn?  We have an administration who’s self-congratulatory and spends more time on spinning the illusion of change than actually taking action (Guantanamo, anyone?).

The occupation and destruction of Iraq is the most recent example of not asking the right questions in a timely manner.  The Bush administration claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and no one asked how he and his administration knew that.  Now countless men, women, and children have died as a result of information that was not questioned and simply taken for granted.  Are we so naïve that we simply believe words that come out of a politician’s mouth?  Apparently, we are, and this is why we need to improve our education system.

For the current administration to favor charter schools and abandon our public schools that are in dire need of assistance makes me wonder how the administration will approach other urgent issues like climate change.  Since they are prone to only being capable of changing the frame or spin of an issue, much like how a matador changes the angle of the red muleta before a bull (though unlike most politicians, the matador actually takes action and kills the bull – maybe a circus clown who merely distracts and entertains is a better comparison), my guess is the administration will neglect our planet by building a new and improved earth, somewhere close by where photo opps and self-praise can still make headline news, but it will be a place protected under a dome reserved for the rich only, where the rest of us suffocate while standing on the outside looking in.

Nothing would surprise me, except if someone starts asking the important questions, like what are these tests and why should they determine the livelihood of all?

This woodcut print by Edvard Munch is called “Two Women On The Shore.”  I had the honor of seeing the piece in person when I was in Dublin completing University of Iowa’s Irish Writing Program in 2006.  There a rare moments I’ve been fortunate to experience when a piece of art actually reaches into the jaded depths of my soul and moves me on some level.  Seeing this painting was one of those experiences.  The piece haunted me and I was compelled to visit The National Gallery of Ireland where it was displayed several times during my stay in Dublin and finally I wrote a play inspired by the piece.

My play, Two Women On The Shore, received a staged reading in San Francisco in 2007 and a staged reading in Valdez, Alaska last year at the famous The Last Frontier Theatre Conference and was very well received.  In fact, this year the conference is giving the play a full production on May 21, 2010. Two Women On The Shore will close the evening of three short plays, the two other plays are by the great Dawson Moore and Amy Tofte.

Shane Mitchell, the Artistic Director of Anchorage’s TBA Theatre, directs and actors Dennis Cleary, Kristen Fernandez, and Erin Dagon Mitchell star in the piece.  Special thanks to them for their hard work and dedication, and to Shane and Dawson for this extraordinary opportunity.

In Two Women On The Shore a young woman struggles for freedom from the present incarnations of her haunting past.  Evie negotiates between real and imagined ghosts, paying more than she thought possible in her pursuit of a moment’s peace.

The play will be performed at The Valdez Civic Center at the 18th Annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska on May 21, 2010.

For as long as Joe Arpaio has been sheriff of Arizona it has seemed like the state has been living in its own version of the film Dr. Strangelove.  Instead of a General going crazy and setting off an atomic bomb, it’s a racist wannabe cowboy abusing his power by bullying Hispanics.  But now the insanity has spread like a contagious disease.  Governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB1070, which essentially legalizes ethnic profiling.  Now local law enforcement has the unprecedented right to detain anyone who seems suspicious and has the right to stop anyone and ask for documentation.

World War II was not that long ago.  Is our collective amnesia and historical ignorance so vast that we cannot see how we’re modeling ourselves after the Gestapo?  This is not our country.  These are not our values.

America is supposed to stand for freedom and be proud of our diversity.

The Statue of Liberty, what was once the great welcoming symbol to immigrants, displays a plaque with this inscribed sonnet by Emma Lazarus,

“…Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Now it should read:

“Give me your papers, your labor for free,

Your dreams that your children will have decent lives,

Say goodbye to good health and family, come with me,

I’ll send all of you to prison, detained by ICE,

Or be shot by ‘Minutemen’ or deported to another country!”

Something to keep in mind as we unite against this absurdity that has now become law – just as teachers have always been opposed to the Orwellian-named “No Child Left Behind Act,” local law enforcement officers – the individuals, not the egomaniacal leaders- don’t like this law either.  When the Bush administration (another example of living in the film Dr. Strangelove) created ICE one of the biggest opponents, besides we activists and the people being discriminated against and arrested, was local law enforcement.

One of the best things about living in this country is the First Amendment. Let’s use it.  Protesting is about communication and gathering more people behind our fight so that the push is even stronger.

Today thousands of us, all across the US took to the streets, demonstrating against SB1070.  I was in Santa Fe, NM, where I’m staying for the next couple of months.

This speaker, who flew in from Phoenix, reminded us that there are 21 Native American nations in Arizona.  Let us remember them and honor them when we boycott the rest of Arizona.  He also pointed out that the Native Americans have been dealing with immigration for 10,000 years.

We, non-Native Americans have come here from all over the world.  Have we forgotten this?

Everyone is in agreement that there needs to be immigration policy reform.  Tragically, the point of contention seems to be whether human rights should be available to all.

Thanks to director Vanessa Lozano and actors Michael Whitelaw and Jonathan Williams Waiting For A Fix was a success.  Vanessa is a brilliant actor, director, and photographer  and I’m proud to report this is our third collaboration.  I can’t wait for the next one!

The play was produced by Bastille Arts, LLC and included in the 16th Annual 15 Minute Play Festival at The American Globe Theatre in New York on April 20, 2010.

I’ve dedicated this play to my father who encouraged me to try to write about redemption.  The play seeks to do just that as it explores the lives of two homeless men in San Francisco.

The best part of the night was the celebrating – before and after.  The show was great too of course, but celebrating has always been my forte.

Before the show my grandparents, Elaine and Murray Gilbert, took me and the rest of the fam to The Algonquin, where my hero Dorothy Parker used to hang out with Robert Benchley, Marc Connolly, Harold Ross, Edna Ferber, Robert Sherwood and others.

For some reason (maybe I got carried away celebrating) I don’t have any pictures of O’Brien’s after the performance.  But it was definitely fun.

Much love and thanks to my family and friends for all of your support and hard work on this production.

Detail Man was directed by the great Paddy Gillard-Bentley of Flush Ink Productions. The event, called She Speaks, raised funds for a women in crisis center in Kitchener and the International Centre for Women Playwrights.

Unfortunately, I had an obligation in Delaware that prevented me from attending the event in person. However, I got to hear the play read by the wonderful actors and I participated in a Q & A feedback session following the performance via Skype. Special thanks to Paddy, Jenni, John, Brian, Bruce, Helen, Nicholas, Andrew, and to the audience.

I’m not usually a Broadway musical fan, but this play changed my perspective and perhaps even my life. After Les Miserables I have to say this is officially my second favorite musical of all time.

Next to Normal is a musical comedy about a family coping with a mentally ill mother. The themes are heavy and complex, but the humor and awesome music written by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt really drives it into a profound and uplifting piece. It’s amazing how a musical with only 6 actors could be so powerful.

Last year the play was nominated for 11 Tony awards and won 3. It should have won all.

Tonight, one of my favorite writers (and great friend) Rhea DeRose-Weiss read from The Neon Artist, which was just published in Volume 16.1 of Fourteen Hills.

Here she is on stage at The San Francisco Motorcycle Club, where the Release Party was held:

The Neon Artist is the title story for her book-length collection in progress. Her poetic language, layered characters, and thoughtful humor remain unrivaled. I can’t wait to read the rest of her book.

Other notable readers at tonight’s event were poet Austin LaGrone from Brooklyn, Gabrielle Myers, Marcus Pactor, Marc Stone, and Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries.

Also present were The Pfeiffer Sisters, whose painting, “Stuck on Morning Thoughts” is the cover of this issue. Here’s the painting in all its real life glory:

We attended the art opening, “Swipple and Gold: Swipple Artists Land on the Left Coast,” at Ever Gold Gallery. Our great friend and brilliant artist, Dennis Kernohan, invited us. Here he is with his masterpiece:

I’m proud to tell you that we have one of Dennis Kernohan’s paintings on our wall at home:

The philosophy behind this piece is honesty. Wouldn’t it be cool if people were more like dogs and could just have authentic reactions to each other?

Other amazing artists in the show are Steve MacDonald and Tim Clinton. I was really moved by the overwhelming talent in the show.

While I’m bragging about my favorite artists, I have to mention Maureen Cavanaugh. Maureen is a genius. She’s based in New York, but has a couple of pieces for sale through the Cyanaa Collection, a San Francisco based operation.

This Maureen Cavanaugh masterpiece, which hangs on our wall, is composed of small squares of paper held together by the paint:

It’s an honor to witness my friends make the world a brighter place with their art.

Shoup Glacier

Even though 90 % of an iceberg is underwater, the title of this photo is “Global Warming.”

Snoozing Otter

Humpback Whale

No Standing

Dawson (the great playwright who made it all happen) and I

It wasn’t really this dark. I had my flash on when I shouldn’t have.