Tuesday, Apr. 13, 2004
If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?, posted at 10:00 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I just spent the better part of the evening sending out my first house concert e-mail in ages. I feel like this is a sign that I'm returning to normalcy, so I'm happy about it. Sam Shaber comes and performs on Friday, and she's really good, so hopefully I'll get a decent turnout.I feel like my readership has changed a great deal in recent months, so I'll explain briefly. House concerts are a way for small, independent musicians to gain new audiences and have a night on their tour to help pay for the other nights, many of which they'll be in the whole. Performers come and play, they get offered a place to stay and food to eat, and they play a concert for 20-30 people who show up. Everyone pays a certain amount, generally cheaper than going to the movies, and the performer gets to keep it all. The audience is then treated to a very intimate show with a lot of interaction with the performer and no smoke or rude talkers. It's a cool, win-win situation (much like if I married the Polish girl, for example).
Anyhow, anyone is invited, and they're pretty fun, so if you're in the Baltimore area and want to come on Friday, shoot me an e-mail or a guestbook entry and I'll give you details. All are invited, and bring friends. Sam is really good.
There's a good article in an old edition of City Paper about house concerts here. I am not amongst those interviewed, as I didn't even live in Baltimore at that time. I don't think. All these years run together.Returning to hobbies like this after the winter I had makes me feel good. In this year of bloody eye gauze, pirate eye patches, and fuzzy vision, coupled with healthy doses of heartache and job anxiety, plus financial strains and a schedule that allowed very little time for reflection, contentment or a social life, I forgot some of the things that make me happiest. Since baseball started and I've stopped waiting tables during the week, Life has been returning this month back to a much more normal state, and I'm feeling like I'm almost back to the point I need to be. I'm working out, I'm seeing friends, I'm organizing my life. Spring is here; winter is over.
For lo, the winter has passed
The rain is over and gone, the time of singing has come,
The voice of the turtle is heard in our land,
the fig tree puteth forth her green figs,
And the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance.
Ernie Harwell used to start every new baseball season with that little biblical poem, and it really seemed appropriate today despite the torrential rains that Baltimore is facing right now, threatening my kids' baseball season. My fresh start is in full swing, and ain't nothing gonna bring me down. (And, believe me, I'll share some news sometime shortly that could have easily brought me down, and still weighs on my mind, but I think it'll be okay and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
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Hilarious day today with my students.
We were having a class discussion about how the town of Maycomb bonded together when Miss Maudie's house burned down. Neighbors helped get her stuff out, and Miss Rachel offered Maudie a place to live in while a house was being rebuilt. It was a nice little demonstration of a small town coming together in a time of need.
Anyhow, kids started jabbering about whether that would happen in their own neighborhoods (text-to-life connection, natch), and eventually this loudmouth girl (black) said, "You can't let black people move in your house like that. First it's staying a couple days on the couch, then it's a year and they never do the dishes and they're going through your drawers every day." Kids chortled in agreement - all black kids, as there's only one white kid in the whole class and she was silent. So I said, "Let's not stereotype, okay?" The loudmouth (but funny and basically sweet and I like her) girl said that it's not stereotyping, and they're allowed to anyway because they're black and talking about other black people. So I told them the story about Josh a few years ago, when he was supposed to stay for a week on the couch to look for a job and it turned out to be three months and he never did any housework and didn't pay rent and he was white. And the whole class is rolling and I probably crossed a bit of a line there but it was still well worth it because it stopped her from stereotyping and anytime I can offer myself for laughter to my students at my own expense, I'm happy. Any time I can be on my job and be laughing so hard I feel tears in my eyes, and then the moment I want them back on focus, they're there immediately, then I figure I'm successful. It was a good day.