This past week came up big. I FINALLY got an article that I spent a long time on published. Online.

It’s a “healthy” read and  (I must say) quite informative. I pitched my idea to Paige Brown at SciLogs, and they liked it. Took a while for the Library to approve it, but I feel satisfied at the results. Paige didn’t really edit too much. She could have. But, my ego says, “why?”

I did a reading at the Fells Point Corner Theatre today. It was a historical play about the Palestinian/Jewish conflict. I had fun. Played a Palestinian Diplomat. Something tells me that I could be doing more. We’ll see. Haven’t read somebody else’s stuff in ages. Nicole LOVES when I do outside work, particularly in theatre. Here’s a video I made for the “Welch Library Battle of the Bands.” We only had 1 hr to rehearse (the rules). I bought a used skirt and Nicole cut it short, THUS my “homemade” kilt. We’re so bad we’re good.

Ohhhhh Lawdy…….. we havin BIG FUN at the Welch Medical Library, folks. There are 3 other libraries who’re doing Celtic-Themed songs. I’ll post ours to Facebook on St. Patrick’s Day. Did love the kilt though. The “Lord of the Dance” song is by Sydney Carter. This is the week that I’m taking off for my Birthday. I always feel so full of optimism in March. I always think something good, something special is coming my way. And why shouldn’t I? I don’t know how old I was when I started thinking this way, but it sure stuck. When I say “something good” I mean a creative opportunity. An ARTISTIC opportunity. I’ve been asked to direct another video for the Center for Education Resources at Hopkins University. But I’m aiming for something a bit more grand. “Zulu Fits” was performed in 2011 at the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, and that feels like so many, many ages ago. Unfortunately, I’m too USED to this process. Waiting, that is. I’ve written another play and who knows when Zulu will rise again.

So in the meantime, I apply myself to a little this and a little that. And March is still in full swing. The Video is a regular Hootenanny!

 

I wanted to add this nice, little nugget that fell my way this past week. My twitter pal Kimberley Barker at the Claude Moore Library at Univ. of Virginia asked if I would fill out a questionnaire she’d put together. I did. But, I didn’t know it would fall under a “Spotlighting The Awesome” heading. It did. And here’s what it looks like.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s good to be king………..

 

I saw this little fella up close in Druid Hill Park on March 9th. A gorgeous & sunny day that took me and my red KONA around the city. I rode through a bit of Mt. Washington, crossed Northern Parkway and got on the new section of the Jones Falls Trail and then came down into Woodberry. Worked my way back up through the park, round the reservoir and then out of the park and up Liberty Heights. 14 miles of what felt like continuous headwind. But this is great preparation for my “official” spring riding for my Birthday. I plan to do the airport ride (50-some miles), along with some long rides in the city and county. Will share pics.

I got close enough to pet him, but he darted away. Next time, lil fella.

Hopefully, I’m not being premature about this project. I’m trying to bring it to Hopkins and I’ve persuaded the Hopkins Office of Cultural Affairs to get involved, and they’ve agreed to pay the cost of bring “Telling” to town. It’s still early, but I could be directing. We’ll see. It’s been a pretty long process and I hope all the logistics fall into place.

I’m working on completing “B-Side Man,” especially now that I’ve gotten a bit more feedback from my friend Katie Kramer who suggested I “go long” (or words to that effect, meaning I needed more). So I am. And here’s a short excerpt about meeting my wife Nicole:

“Here’s what I know. If you’re in a relationship, no matter how comfortable you are, matter how happy you are, matter how alive, joyful and sexed-up you feel…….if you don’t see that person as someone you could take that next step with, then you already compromised. Next step ain’t gonna happen. I felt like I was in a Henry James novel. One where the innocent American traveler goes to Europe, then comes home disillusioned cause Europeans was just gritty and tribal, not classy and elegant. So they reflect on who they were in the past, who they are in the present and who they might could be in the future. I was that traveler.

When I met that 20-something world-beater I was just standing in a doorway. As the weekend progressed I felt destiny pushing me into the room. She knew me as a guest who arrived with his girlfriend. She could have turned out the lights on the enterprise. I should have turned out the lights. But this traveler had instincts that Henry James could only dream about. No stranger to indecency, I slipped away and found moments with her. She didn’t think I was that disgusting male who did this everywhere he went. I slipped away and saw that our eyes could meet, and gave us each such strange, piercing sight. Needing to push it all down, I lingered. What kind of world we living in where someone staring back at you, can bring you to a crisis point. I came to her in such a wrong way—-and she didn’t budge.”

 

Yessssss, it’s a play. But “B-Side Man” is a story-telling EVENT, my friends. It gets pretty juicy along the way. I’m very proud of it. It tackles Alonzo front to back.

I usually like to bring a picture or two into my posts. Here’s one that I hope to repeat this summer. It’s the 2010 MS ride on the eastern shore of Maryland. I’m doing it again this summer. This picture brings me back to that feeling I had when the ride was over. A hot day, long ride but the successful sensation of DOING IT was like riding the crest of a big-ass wave.We’ll see if I can top that in 2014.