Gone Fishin'

Dear Readers: as delightful as this charming discussion has been, I must leave you for several days. My wife and I will be taking a short vacation beginning Friday morning and extending through Monday night, during which time I will be staying in a B & B on a working farm where internet access will not exist.

During my vacation, it is my intent to forget all about theatre and blogging and teaching and fill my mind with things that will stimulate my mind, bring joy to my heart, and enrich my soul. Among the books I will choose between:

• On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry
• The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
• Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential by Caroline Myss
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker
• Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes from and Why by Ellen Dissanayake
• The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life by Eric Booth
  

And no doubt my wife and I will sit outside with a glass of wine and cheese and look back over our lives together so far (we will have been married 12 years on August 5th) and discuss what we have discovered and where we might go in the future. And we will have a visit with my stepson and his girlfriend who live in Chapel Hill, and attend the wedding of a former student who once was a member of a group called "The Dead Dramatists Society" who met weekly to discuss the purpose and values of the contemporary theatre. And I will be among people who are thoughtful, generous, intelligent, and gracious.

I will see you Tuesday.