Shannon Writes...

Glasgow, Day 1.

NOTE: I tried a few different layouts to get photos to look less stretched, but none really worked. I suggest you open this page to full screen mode. That'll help!

After we left Edinburgh, we drove to Glasgow, with just a quick stop on the way to see Roslyn Chapel and its beautiful and mysterious 15th century stone carvings. Unfortunately, you can't take photos in Roslyn (it is inudated with tourists because of its prominent appearance in both the movie and book The Da Vinci Code), so the next place I have to show you is St. Mungo's Museum and the Glasgow Cathedral, which we scooted up to after getting lost finding, and finally checking into our hotel in Glasgow.

That's the museum on the left and the cathedral tucked away a bit on the right. It probably does not come as a surprise to readers of this blog that I have LONG dreamt of going to this museum. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite small, and did not have the fantastic religious art collection I had been expecting. However, there was an elephant goddess. : )

 

The exhibits that were up were very interesting. I liked one that compared different religions in how life passages were marked the most. This quote is from that exhibit.

 

That seem like the perfect lead into the cathedral, which you can spot from the museum's upper windows.

 

As has been stated by me several times before on this blog, I love cathedrals, and could, should anyone want to pay me, write a series of essays or plays set in them. So, of course, I liked this cathedral. But what I especially liked is that the nave of the cathedral has been cleared of pews and chairs, so you really get a feeling for the breadth and depth and height of it.

See?

 

The stained glass, while nothing spectacular in design (that I was aware of, anyway), glowed in the late afternoon sun.

 

Down in the crypt, where I think they worship most Sundays, is St. Mungo's tomb. It has a stunning full-color embroidered cover on it.

 

And just next to and behind the cathedral is the Glasgow Necropolis. Dad and I really cannot get enough of those rococo 19th century tombs.

 

Here's the beautiful cathedral from the mysterious necropolis. Oooh, Glasgow, I miss you.

Note from an Audience Member

Faith, the woman who put together the show at Circle, sent me this note from a friend of her who was in the audience on Saturday. Check it out, and you can still buy tickets at www.circleplayers.com for shows on Friday and Saturday at 8 pm!

"I had the pleasure of attending this performance on the second night. I can only strongly encourage those who love theater to pick up their phone and dial the theater (or better yet use the website) to get tickets immediately. If theater worked in a world of justice the remaining performances will be sold out! Ms. Reed's work demands attention. There were more than a few moments that were nothing less than master classes. The author is brilliant, insightful and a bit devilish with her audience. She seems to have great fun and wisdom in prolonging dramatic payoffs with rich dialogue. This author does not make mistakes. Ms. Reed clearly will not allow you off the hook just by showing up; she has the audacity to challenge you to conjure thought. She throws down this gauntlet unapologetically and offers an opportunity to rise to the challenge. This is not material for the sitcom set. She provokes, she teases, in less talented hands it could dwindle to condensing. To work with her will provide you with the proper theatrical reward: intellectual drama. Comedy that will challenge those values that may be just a bit too comfortable. If one can only break rules by knowing the rules, truly Ms.Reed knows the rules well. If my personal opinion is of any value, I was particularly struck with "Bonnie and Clementine, on Their Way to the Grand Canyon, Explore the Limits of the Dramatic Form". Perhaps, some of the plays could be served with some edits. One play could have benefited with more consideration for the unique sightline challenges of the theater. Without my program I do not have access to the entire cast but the direction and performance was absolutely first rate. Completing the bookends for the evening Cathy Zouves' direction of Faith Dowgin and
Bob Evans in "Horatio & Ismene" is that master class, the perfect blend of beautiful and intelligent writing, visionary direction, fearless actors and a perfect stage to bare so much with so little. Faith Dowgin should also be congratulated for producing and making a project like this possible. Ms. Reed's work will continue to speak for itself. My sincere hope is these plays will continue to see more timeon the boards."

Circle Players' Show.

Last night was the opening night for Circle Players' production of five of my one-acts, under the title, "Words of Snap, Crackle, and, Um..." and Jen kindly drove herself, Vic, Roo and me out to see it. Coming on the heels of an entire month of intense emotional experiences, this one was almost overwhelming, but also wonderful. I am so appreciative of the amount of care that went into the production -- there were sets! and lights! and music! and costumes! the actors knew their lines! nothing had been rewritten! tone was correct! All of these things are big, big deals to playwrights. I love the collaborative nature of theatre, but it's scary to give your words to someone else and see what they do with them. I couldn't be more pleased with what Circle did. 

It was special to share this experience with Roo, Vic and Jen, too. If you read this blog, you know how important these three people are to me, and how relentlessly supportive they are of my work. Vic is an extraordinarily talented performer herself, but there is no jealousy or back-stabbing between us. It was also great that Roo got to see one of the shows I dedicated to him for the first time, too. 

If you are in the NY/NJ area (not to make you feel bad, but my stalwart friend Teenie, who is DRIVING FROM NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS JUST TO SEE THE SHOW -- and *you* won't take the train for 40 minutes??? ; )), please make plans to come to see this show. I don't know when my work will be done again, and it's rare for one-acts to get a second life after a premiere anyway, due to the national theatrical obsession with "world premieres." Let these good folk entertain you!  

Revisions.

Isn't it amazing how the truths we tell ourselves suddenly become untrue? I feel that my self-image has an ever-rotating expiration date, and things I thought I knew about myself expire, to be replaced by new truths. My core remains the same, mostly. But every other layer seems to evolve. It's like Don Henley wrote, in "The Heart of the Matter": "The more I know/the less I understand/All the things I thought I figured out/I have to learn again."

I've had two such experiences in the last three weeks. Both, thankfully, have been positive ones. First, I went on a vacation with my father, and we didn't fight. We still pretty much behaved the same way we always do, but it didn't end in manipulation, pettiness, selfishness and/or silence. And I think this is because I really looked at him. I saw a man who has aged, and will not be around forever, and instead of focusing on the things he does that absolutely irritate me (1. he takes in no written information 2. he will not tell people he cannot hear what they're saying because he's hearing impaired 3. just think about those two in combo.), I thought about what courage and tenancity he has shown, to travel all over the US and Europe on very little money and with a profound hearing loss, poor balance, and diabetes. Yet, there we were, tromping up around the Isle of Harris. So I let go of my anger and coped. It changed my understanding of our relationship.

Secondly, I spent the last four days with jm at a conference. Let me be clear that I have no romantic interest in jm, who is married to an utterly beautiful and fantastic woman who is also a friend. But still, jm healed something in me, by showing me that I can be both independent and myself, and still accept love and care from a man. I have been thinking, for who knows how many years, that I really will have to change myself -- or feel constantly slightly oppressed -- to be in a long-term romantic relationship. But jm's practice of both looking after me and letting me do what I want (while he did what he wanted) and just having sort of an ongoing conversation over the course of the week, shows me that 1) there are decent straight men in the world and 2) I can be in a relationship that I value whilst also valuing me and 3) it might actually be a good, fun thing to be in love.

I am aware that sounds slightly crazy, to get all of that out of eating every meal with two different men in different time periods over the last three weeks, but hey, what can I say? I'm a smartie. : )

Luck!

My friend Victoria tells me that elephants are good luck. She often says "Look for elephants!" when I am off on a trip. With my show opening at Circle Players on Friday night, and several writing projects under way, I am indeed looking for good luck right now -- and maybe you are too. So I was happy to find elephants in Scotland! We had dinner at the Elephant House, where J K Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. It's just around the corner from Grayfriars'. And people have sent it lots and lots of elephants:

 

Good luck to all who need it today!

Book Review: Born Again Vintage

I picked up Born Again Vintage at the library just before going on vacation, and read it a couple nights ago as I was trying to simultaneously get to bed (having been up for 18 hours straight due to the time change in coming home from Scotland) and calm down (having just frantically changed my suitcase from a 2-weeks-in-cold-and-wet-Scotland one into a three-days-at-a-humid-artsty-Long-Island-conference one -- out with the Wellies! In with sandals! Goodbye, cable-knit sweaters! Hello, stack o' t-shirts!). I like to read crafting books in bed. (Hott!) They calm me down and make me feel I have some power over my life. : )

This book is from Potter Craft, a publishing house who is turning out really fabulous craft books left and right, including both the Mason-Dixon Knitting books, one of which is listed over there in my favorite books feature, and the other is Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines . I have another book of theirs I want to review in the next few weeks. They must be employing the best craft book designers working in publishing (along with Interweave Press, another great house). The books are always clearly and well-laid-out, pleasing to the eye and inspiring. I think they make the crafts look good, but not so good that you will surely be disappointed if you do not have an M.F.A. from Parsons and the ability to spend several hundred hours crafting a set of placemats. Achievable pretty. That's what I want.

Having said that, I am not totally wild about this book. The idea is to take vintage clothing, not in the best of shape, and mix it together, resewing pieces into new clothing. I like the idea. The execution, on the other hand, is not so great. The first issue I had with the book is that some of the projects are, well, unlikely. Legwarmers? Are we still selling legwarmers? Who wears legwarmers? Who wears legwarmers enough that they would want to cut down a sweater and socks and resew them into legwarmers? I felt the same way about the sweater corset and arm warmers. (To quote my mother, "If your arms are cold, put on a sweater.") I also felt some of the designs were great ideas that were not executed well -- the dress that was essentially taking a sun dress and adding pieces of a crocheted granny square blanket was an awesome, Project Runway-esque idea, but the execution of it was not flattering.

Another issue I have is with the execution of the clothing. Some of it simply does not seem to be well-sewn. I have a friend who designs beautiful childrens' clothing and bags (www.kiristinflo.com) and she is adamant that things must be well and securely sewn. There are some visibly wonky hems here, and the actual sewing advice is extremely simple, too. That's fine if you are an accomplished seamstress, but for those working with raw hem knits for the first time, there should be more to the instructions than just sew this to this. Raw knits are hard to work with! It's tricky to sew an existing collar and placket unto a t-shirt!

However, I cannot find fault with the book's layout and design. I wonder about the choice of cover-photo (even the model doesn't look thrilled to death with what she has on, and there are several friendlier shots of her inside with that design on), but hey, I picked up the book, so it must have worked.

I loved the mini-poncho, which takes a buttoned tweed skirt's waist and button placket and uses a taffeta party dress's skirt as the main bulk of the poncho. Super cute. I also, oddly, liked the short shorts (I can't wear them myself, but I really like shorts as an acceptable dress-up choice, for some reason) made from a party skirt, and the t-shirt blouse that uses a t-shirt collar and button placket with a plain white cotton t-shirt as the main material.

And I really like how the author inspires readers to be less precious about vintage clothing. Although I do think there is something to be said for leaving clothes intact, even with stains and spots (I have my grandmother's wedding suit and I'll never touch it), it's fun to re-imagine things found at thift stores. This book definitely inspires that kind of thinking. Just combine it with a sewing manual (and maybe have a friend like Kiri, who knows what she's doing).

Edinburgh

I'm going to try to post a few photos (not too many -- they take foreva to load, what up with that typepad?? And I have broadband, so it ain't me, babe) from my trip to Scotland over the next few weeks. First up was our first stop, Edinburgh. I was here in 2003 to perform in the Fringe Festival, and saw the city top to bottom then. It wasn't an especially happy time in my life, and I had forgotten how much I really liked this beautiful, ancient and modern city. Here are a few of my favorite places.

Any cathedral in any city is going to be one of my favorite places to sit and think. (As my poor friends who have traveled with me know all too well, right, Kiri?). Here is St. Giles, not technically a cathedral, but, really, grand enough to be.

 

We stayed just off of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. This was convenient, because it was easy to show my dad the places I had acted in, back in '03. I had been in three plays, all together, and one of them, a production of MacBeth, moved from the graveyard (below) all the way up a steep hill to the Royal Mile, and then in and out of the various closes off the Mile. Here's a shot of one of the closes.

 

When we did MacBeth, the guys and I playing the noblemen would stand off to the left in that photo and have a laugh before we ran on. : )

The skyline of that part of Edinburgh is so beautiful.

 

We came by this windy street every night doing the show. I love it; it's my favorite street in the city and I could stand at this spot and look out at all that is happening at the little shops down there all day.

 

The Royal Mile culminates in Edinburgh Castle, here seen from Grayfriar's Kirkyard (a kirkyard is a graveyard), where we began both MacBeth and our children's show. 

 

And another shot of the kirkyard, with all of its 19th and 18th century tombs and stones. So beautiful. 

 

Across the street from Greyfriars' is the National Museum of Scotland. It's free, and definitely wortha visit. I think the best part of the museum (and the only part we had time for, unfortunately) is the rooftop, where you can look out over the city, in four directions. It's the wrong country, but I always think of the movie of MARY POPPINS when I look over Scotland's rooftops. I have another shot of Glasgow that will make you think of that even more.

 

I was sad to leave Edinburgh after only one, sleep-deprived day. On our way out, we went to Princes Street, the main shopping street, which is also near the train station. Looking across the gardens there, I saw the National Museum of Art, (the one with the banners), another free must-see museum. I spent several happy hours wandering through there in '03.

 

Last photo, of a bench plaque in the Princes Street Gardens. Yes. I love this city, too.

Scottish Thoughts.

 

I've been traveling in Scotland since Wednesday, and loving it. The last time I was here was in 2003, when I was acting in several shows at the Fringe. It was a time period in my life that I don't remember fondly, and my memory of how often I felt out of place and confused about who I wanted to be clouded my memory of the beautiful city of Edinburgh. It's been unexpectedly very healing to go back and see it again, with new eyes.

As I said, Edinburgh is a staggeringly beautiful city, and I will post photos when I am home again... and I highly, highly recommend it for a visit. The people are friendly, the restaurants are not overpriced and reasonably good, and there are many stunning things to see. We also went on to Glasgow a day later, and I was stunned by this lovely city too. While it is more modern than Edinburgh in some of its architecture, it, too, has gorgeous Gothic and Victorian buildings, friendly people and many worthwhile museums and restaurants. And don't get me started on the shopping.

In Glasgow, there are two restaurants called the Willow Tea Rooms, which are recreations of the designs Charles Renne Mackintosh (Glasgow's premiere artistic contributor) did for them at the turn of the last century. We ate there for lunch, and it was wonderful. A real old-fashioned tea service. I took a photo, above. The waitresses in their black dresses and white aprons. That kills me. I want to order a hot toddy and ask them send round my driver. Or, alternately, wonder when Emma Thompson's character enters.

Anyway, whilst sitting in the tea room, I began to think about how much I had changed since 2003. I no longer want to be an actor (although I am not half-bad!). I no longer freak out about many of the things that freaked me out then. I eat so many more foods. I fly off the handle less. I take offense less easily (I still take plenty of offense, sorry, my long-suffering friends who listen to me complain, but not so easily). In 2003, I had never written a play, except in school (and that one wasn't finished). In 2003, I hadn't yet had a conversation with Roo in which he told me I was really good writer. In 2003, I held onto grudges much longer. I had not really learned to forgive. I didn't have a blog. I didn't like salsa, or bacon, or dolce de luce. I was still scared from 9/11. I hadn't taught at Stella yet and met the girls who changed me so much. My grief from my friend Sally's death was still very strong. I had not met Kiri or Magda or Chris or Liz or any of several other people who made my life richer. My grandmother was still living at her home on top of a mountain. Nancy had not had cancer. My brother wasn't married yet. Avery and Susan Faith weren't born yet. Mel hadn't met Robert yet. Ryan had not met Gordon. Vic had not met Jen.  I don't think I had ever gotten paid for anything I had written yet, except maybe a couple of articles I wrote for The Lutheran magazine in college.

Life was really different. It wasn't worse. But different. I was different. I like me better now. Scotland was great then and great now. : )

A few notes.

Dear Lady at the Bagel Place,

I did not ask you for a chocolate muffin with cream cheese. I asked you for a chocolate cream cheese muffin. You misheard me. No big deal, except that you then said, several times, that you didn't understand why someone would want a chocolate muffin smeared with cream cheese. I do not understand that either. That is not what I ordered. You made that up in your head.

Best wishes,

Shannon

Dear Lady at the Cell Phone Store,

Shrugging only communicates nuance if you are a trained mime. You do not appear to be one. Look into words.

Yours,

Shannon

Dear Guy at the Gym,

Yes, I can see you. Both in the mirror and in real life. Stop it.

Smooches,

Shannon

Dear Everyone in the Weight Room at the Gym,

I understand the need to rest between reps. I do not understand how one might get confused and just sit on gym equipment that other people are waiting to use. Or, worse yet, have a conversation with someone while just hanging on on the bicep machine. Stop it.

Sincerely,

Shannon

Dear Grandparents Walking Up Garfield Place Along With Your Grandkids,

I celebrate your time together, and am so glad you live close to your grandkids and/or they are visiting you since school is out. I do not mean to terrorize you by walking too close to you. However, I hope you do realize, I did not get my suitcase, bag of books and laptop and purse out in order to stroll up a hill in Park Slope in 80% humidity. I am quite sorry, but I am in a hurry to get to the subway. Thanks.

With all best wishes,

Shannon

Dear Megabus,

You are cool inside. You are not crowded. You have free wireless. We drove through Harlem. I was able to nap. I think I am in love. Will you marry me, Megabus?

Yours 'till  Niagra Falls,

Shannon