The Civil War In Syria, And Our Involvement In It.

     I posted this on Facebook and got such a response that I thought I would re-post it here.

     I have been reading with great interest about our growing itch to involve ourselves in the Syrian civil war. We are presently approaching the point where Congress and the Senate will approve the President’s request to punish the President of Syria for (supposedly) gassing his own people. 

     This brings three questions to my mind. 

     First, who are we gonna hit? I don’t see good guy-bad guy here. I see bad guy-worse guy here. They keep changing positions, and none of them at all like us very much. 

     Second, we will go in there on the pretext that gassing people is a bad thing. Isn’t the implication there, then, that dropping bombs on them is acceptable? 

     And third, I don’t have enough of the facts. I certainly don’t trust any news service. Everyone seems to have his own spin on what is or should be the proper course of action, based on inside information only a select few posess. For whatever reason, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be the only mature intelligent voice out there, and that truly does scare me. Truth is, nobody wants us there. And, as bad as it is, it’s a civil war. My thinking is that as long as the conflict remains within the borders of Syria, it would be in our best interests to stay out of it. On the other hand, when have we ever done that?

     j

A (somewhat) New Path

     I took back my life a few days ago.

     As a writer, I've enjoyed my share of success. Certainly I've seen a number of my plays produced. But there was always a quality to that effort - everything being a "hands on" experience, up to a point. Then I got my agent who lives in Oregon (I've had two agents as a playwright. The first one lived in South Carolina and worked tirelessly for me. seven days a week.) And, perhaps that's the point - my last agent was selective, allowing opportunities to pass that I felt should have been investigated. (On the other hand, he booked one of my plays at a theatre in Edinburgh Scotland I never thought would have happened, since in it I poke fun - lightly - at the Scots.) The point of all this is that my agent and I have parted company, and I am once again booking my own plays, making my own decisions (and keeping the 15% commission). Shall I find another agent? Of course. Eventually. In the meantime I'm looking, and finding the present situation not entirely unpleasant.

     And I'm starting a new play. The babe and I went to a Farmer's Market last weekend and I bought a loaf of bread from a charming baker who told me she loves her work, and would "bake bread 24 hours a day if (her) husband would let her." With that thought, I was hooked - and am in process of writing a one-act about a woman who gets up at 2:30 in the morning to start a loaf of bread baking, and then goes back to bed. The entire play is dialogue between husband and wife IN the bed. (And for those gentile readers who might be shocked about a play where a man and woman are in bed together, I would point out the fact that since they ARE married, there will not even be the suggestion of sex involved ...)

     For the first time in a goodly number of years, I'm not directing any plays, nor do I have any scheduled in the near future. I would never have thought this - lack - would bother me, but it does! (One of the great secrets of relaxation is to yell at actors for a couple of hours and then go somewhere and have a very dry martini.) As a point of interest, the last theatre I worked for just entered their first play in a contest without me. (They came in at a dismal last place ...)  

     Just this week I got back from visiting my new doctor ... (I've outlived my previous THREE. What does that tell you?} Anyway, I received a completely clean bill of health. (And this somewhat surprises me. I've rarely done anything to actually deserve that.

     ... except perhaps one thing. I love to walk, and am blessed with an abundance of parks nearby. Two days ago I found myself on a pier, half a mile in length, that surrounds a peninsula. The pier is just off shore, and if there's a purpose to it all, I certainly can't find it. There's not even a play here. Fiction, unlike reality, must make sense somewhere along the line.

     And how was YOUR day?


     j