Hi Jeffrey!  I just finished your book and felt so compelled to write and now I am on my couch, paralyzed, my fingernails hovering over the keyboard.  This resistance to write feels as strong as my desire to blow my heart wide open and spill words onto this screen.  I appreciate how you included these episodes in your book.  Very real.  Very present at this stage of my life.  Two moments will stay with me from the last few chapters.  They are affirming moments.  Connecting to something bigger, rising above the noise,  expressing our true selves and helping others do the same.  

APRIL 21, 2016: We were all dancing.  “Jill said, ‘Can someone in Sound put on some Prince?’ The music came on and everyone started dancing”  (Tambor, p261).  Against all odds, despite all of the work we had to do, Leah and I too blasted Prince in Kelly King’s studio.  I am reacquainting with the joyful part of dance – the most important part!  I felt it at the end of our performance Friday night and then Sunday at Ecstatic Dance.  I love the nonverbal cosmic connection of dancing in a big group of people (even if that big group of people is miles away dancing at the very same moment – like Tia Nina and the cast of Transparent!  Or, like the global underscore.  

“One by one, each student got up onstage and told their story. … Acting and comedy were about saving lives.  My dad use to say, ‘Be useful.’ This was useful” (Tambor, 268).  This statement gives so much weight to the creative act.  Whether we are acting or dancing, we are not offering extra.  This work is essential.  This work offers many many physical benefits (SO IMPORTANT) while also nudging out potential as human beings (EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT).  My 94 year old grandfather is so stressed with managing daily life – bills, house, appointments, work (!!), etc.  I asked him when he could turn on some music and dance for a few minutes and he laughed it off.  What could be more important than play?  Connecting to your body?  Dropping into rhythms that shake you out of habits and bring you somewhere new?  Being somewhere new?  Asking questions about that place?  Learning more at age 94!  

I love collecting people’s daily rituals and loved learning yours.   Shout out to Nancy Morgan.  I heard your voice in my head and that pushed my fingers onto the keys.