As this tweet got big, I should allay one likely concern. It is not 12th night + 1 ‘autistic’ role. The teachers send us the script but my understanding is this followed a process where the children created and adapted their own characters, based on their strengths.
— Naomi Rovnick 歐蜜 (@naomi_rovnick) February 1, 2022
The drama group have now done this v good blog about how they work. They don't audition the kids but adapt the environment for them and build their confidence. (Performance at work is often linked to self esteem and feeling accepted too): https://t.co/0OzQ7bevHV
— Naomi Rovnick 歐蜜 (@naomi_rovnick) February 2, 2022
When I moved to Colorado, I ended up teaching acting classes to all age groups, but one of my favorites was my evening adults class. I had folks across ages and careers – you probably wouldn’t be surprised how many electrical and mechanical engineers have a deep artistic side.
One semester I received a phone call asking me if I would be okay if John joined our class – John has Down Syndrome – and really wanted to take the class. I thought about it for a day. I wasn’t worried about John, I was more concerned I would fail him. But I was up for it if he was.
It was the best class I ever taught. My students lined up to be his scene partners, and we all thought outside the box in order to make it successful. He brought joy and laughter and talent to each night. And on the last night of class, he told me it was one of the best experiences of his life. It was one of mine, too. I cried all the way home.
In wildlife news (good news site provided by Madeleine) LA is getting a wildlife crossover:
In the U.S., over a thousand wildlife crossings help animals navigate the human-built world, allowing them to bypass hazardous infrastructure like highways, train tracks and aqueducts. But less than two dozen of these are overpasses, and most are in fairly rural areas. L.A.’s will be a groundbreaking test case: a wildlife crossing designed to help big cats thrive in an urban environment.
Scheduled to begin construction this spring, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will traverse the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon just west of Los Angeles. At a whopping $88 million, it’s a costly bridge. But advocates say it’s absolutely necessary to maintain the unusual habitat that is Los Angeles, a city where large wild animals and people coexist in close proximity.
Colorado has several successful wildlife crossings – not to mention the Elk who routinely use the crosswalks in Estes Park.
Dan B sends me fun stuff to share….which reminds me, Momsense, I am planning on photographing Nick and Nora in the scarves I have, it’s been a bit crazy lately, but maybe for Mardi Gras. Here’s a duck in a bowtie.
And last but not least – Trixie Belle had a vet appointment and weighed in at 54 lbs – 5 lbs more than Bixby at the same age. We may need to start a pool on how tall she’s going to get and what her final weight will be. She reached a major milestone this weekend. I have to elevate the dog water bowls to keep the ducks out of them. This weekend, Trixie could finally reach the raised bowls, so I removed her bowl from the patio steps.
Trixie Belle at 17 weeks
As always, I welcome your Acts Of Kindness emails…
RSA
What a sweet and uplifting pair of stories about acting. Thanks.
Ken
Wonderful story. Based on my one community theater experience with Shakespeare, the kid’s next role should be Ross in Mac— er, the Scottish Play. The character does nothing but come on stage to tell the audience all about the exciting battles that were to big to actually put on stage. The original “Major Exposition here…”
cbear
Both your and Naomi’s acting stories are just absolutely beautiful, TaMara. THANKS!
eclare
What wonderful stories! From the plays, to the animal crossing, to the photo of Trixie. Thank you!
SiubhanDuinne
Love this new series! Thank you, TaMara.
Also, nice to see that Miss Trixie Belle is finally beginning to grow into her paws and ears :-)
Roger Moore
I’m really excited about the wildlife crossing in the LA area. This is something people have been working on hard for a long time, so it’s great to see it’s actually getting somewhere. It’s also great to find that people actually want to live in close proximity to a predator like the cougar. LA is one of very few big cities with a resident big cat population, and it’s something we should be excited about.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
L.A. is replete with cougars. Oh, you mean the four-legged kind.
//
wenchacha
A teacher friend has worked with teens with autism. She has them play improv games.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
So, does that make this weekend a Super Bowl Safari?
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
As The Beach Boys might have it, a Turfin’ Safari.
Gin & Tonic
The part about wildlife crossings reminds me that a few years ago a mountain lion was struck and killed on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. Through some genetic analysis, IIRC, wildlife experts determined that it had come from South Dakota. There are some rivers to cross on the way…
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
That’s what freight trains with opened door boxcars are for. Cats like boxes.
;)
Spanky
@NotMax: Hobos aren’t all that tasty, tho they’ll do in a pinch.
HumboldtBlue
Speaking of ducks wearing bow ties, here’s a video simulation of a massive rogue wave recorded in 2020.
JWR
@Roger Moore:
Me too! But it’s taken sooo long to get to this point. Hang in there, P-22, (and other assorted critters.) We’re all rootin’ fer ya!
Kalakal
Thank you for those stories. I’m off to bed with a smile and a happy heart
Another Scott
The first time I went to Banff for a conference I flew into Calgary and got a rental car. I was shocked to see an elk walking across a wildlife bridge over the airport exit road. It’s a really good thing to have and should be much more common.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Another Scott: Do elk roam in norther Virginia? Asking for a friend…
Also: Seattle peeps watch this space. There might be information about a “Don’t call it a meet-up” opportunity tomorrow…
NotMax
@Yutsano
At about the same population density as Oddfellows.
;)
JWR
Dunno if this has been discussed today, but wow, the lack of civility speaks volumes about where we are as a country:
NotMax
Really short notice TCM alert. Coming up at 45 minutes past the hour, one of the best movies involving boxing ever, The Set-up.
Even if nowhere near being a fan of pugilism, still a great film in its own right.
BellyCat
The acting stories are deeply touching. Inverted teaching is a wonderful learning experience. At age 13, I taught a group of adults to swim. Not sure who permitted this absurdity but it was a profound experience for all.
JWR
@NotMax:
I’ve seen that one on the MOVIES! channel and really enjoyed it. (Hey, Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, what’s not to love?) But this bit from Wikipedia tells me it really coulda been a contenduh!
Still a very watchable flick.
Jay
BTW, most of the Flu Trux Klan are “Owner/Operators”.
They own their own rigs, ( or the Bank does), they just have Corporate logo’s based on the contracts they have. They make a fraction of the money they used to in the 70’s, and are independent in many ways from the logo on the door.
They are being named and shamed, along with the logo Corps on their rigs.
BTW, the three chief organizers of the Ottawa protest,
– are long time supporters of Wexit, (Albertistan leaving Canada)
– long time supporters of White Nationalists causes,
– Nazi ajacent,
– ain’t truckers or Trucking Industry Ajacent,
– mostly known for being online Grifters.
mrmoshpotato
@JWR:
Over the air MOVIES! channel? Good ol’ channel surfing.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Punch them all in their fascist cocks, throw them into Hudson Bay.
ColoradoGuy
The Canadian truckers should get the full ISIS treatment. Since their mission is terrorism, they need to treated accordingly:
* Army or National Guard marches up to their truck, points an M16 in their face, and orders them out. They are subdued, handcuffed, and led away.
* Terrorist is marched to paddy wagon, sent to the terrorist court system, and prosecuted accordingly. This was not a “protest” in any legally accepted sense, it was a hostage taking that happened over the course of many days.
* National Guard or Army drives the offending truck to long-term parking in an open field and auctioned off to pay for costs incurred by the city. The vehicle was used in act of terrorism and is no longer the property of the terrorist.
* Repeat until all terrorists and their trucks are gone. If the city, provincial government, or national government are seen as soft on terrorism, there will of course be more.
This is no different than aerial highjacking, or hostage-taking by a criminal gang. The entire city center was both terrorized and taken hostage by an extremist group, who have alteady promised to spread this terrorism worldwide.
If the city or other governments do not act, this will become more widespread, not only in Canada, but worldwide. We should take them at their word, and treat them as the terrorists that they are promising to be.
mrmoshpotato
@ColoradoGuy: Waterboard Sean Hannity in maple syrup for good measure.
bjacques
@ColoradoGuy: spray-paint the trucks with environmental and Indigenous rights slogans. They’ll be cleared out in no time.
Seriously, I hope the truckers are also being ratted out to their banks, insurers, and parole officers (where applicable).
Martin
I’ve mentioned before that my son went to elementary school with Codi Lee, and we know his mom pretty well (she’s wonderful).
We first met him the same way these judges did, passing by a classroom at the elementary school and hearing this 8 year old, I think he was, belting out this song on the piano and then learning who he was. In my city, the elementary schools specialize with different additional student groups – one has a Montessori, one has a gifted program, and my son’s had the students with learning disabilities.
We got quite an education on the potential of children with autism, and was very excited to hear from his mom that he was going to be on tv.
JWR
@mrmoshpotato:
Yep. And all last month they showed Bad Day At Black Rock, another great Ryan movie. It’s a pretty good channel.
Speaking of Robert Ryan, another good one is Crossfire, with the three Roberts: Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum and Robert Young. And Gloria Grahame.
NotMax
@JWR
There are no bad Robert Ryan movies, there are only lesser productions which happen to include Robert Ryan in the cast.
;)
Martin
@BellyCat: It’s not just wonderful, it’s actually necessary, at least according to most educational theory. Teaching others is critical to structuring and cementing your own understanding. It forces you to fill in gaps, to analyze your understanding in a consistent, logical manner that you generally don’t need to normally do.
I had a similar experience my first year in college working for the VA teaching vets how to do math. In some cases, I’m teaching a 50 year old 4th grade math. It was hard for both of us. How you teach a 10 year old is very different from how you teach a 50 year old and it caused me to rethink how to conceptualize some of these things to reach someone whose lived experience was going off to Vietnam when they were 17 and having some intuitive sense of these concepts, but no formal framework around them. They could solve certain problems in a workshop, but didn’t really understand why those solutions worked. And that’s the part I had to learn to bridge.
It was such a good experience that I went out of my way to either tutor or teach every term I was in college and the result was that for the subjects I was tutoring or teaching, I knew them cold. Still do 30+ years later.
Simply put, if you want to learn something really well, find someone to teach it to.
JWR
@NotMax:
Second that! The guy was amazing. Another one that springs to mind is Clash by Night, in which Ryan plays his usual sleazeball character.
I never watched much TV until going on permanent disability in 2007. It’s been downhill ever since.
;)
sab
The hedge trimming deer moved into the fenced yard next door. My pitbull, who used to live there, is distraught. Chill, litle doggy. At least they are there and not here.
Last year, when she lived there, the deer would barely let her leave the deck. Own goal. Don’t bark at baby deer in front of their huge mothers.
Jay
@ColoradoGuy:
we don’t have a “National Guard”,
we have militia’s, suborned to the military, and the military is suborned to the Federal.
So, a city has to ask the Province for federal aid, then the Province has to ask for Federal aid.
ain’t gonna happen until it escalates big time.
There are a tiny shitload of what are nothing more than white nationalists willing to die on this hill. Eventually, because the wheels of justice grind slow, ( yada, yada, yada), there will be severe consequences for the Flu Trux Klan.
sab
@Jay: Interesting when we south of the border get to see that yes it is a different country with different laws and norms, and even different manners.
Jay
@sab:
the Canadian “sorry” can be an actual “sorry”, or it can be the US Southern “bless you” version of “fuck off”.
Corporate has said that in a time of covid we are supposed to be more gentle, helpful, supportive,
so we arn’t supposed to tell people to “fuck off”,
We are supposed to tell them, “ how can I help you to fuck off?”.
sab
Does Canadian nice irk you, or reflect you? I always thought Canadian nice had a large bit of “bless you”, we sound nice but we aren’t always.
ETA :But we will never tell you how annoyed we are.
sab
I am still disappointed from our trip to Pittsburgh years ago when they had the giant duck. Pittsburgh is a wonderful city, but it is really amazingly fucking unfriendly to out of towners. Geography is hostile, and signs and roads are worse.
I lecture my cities planners about this : “You really don’t want to be Pittsburgh.”
Jay
@sab:
I am “Canadian Nice”, right up until I ain’t,
Had a call on the link one day. An a-hole shoved Helen down to the ground in the Isle, ( she’s 70+), and I was an isle away.
Walked up and said “how can I help you?”
swung at me, arm bar, down to the ground,
helped Helen up to her feet, called first aid, called security, walked the perp to the front.
Funny thing, his head managed to hit every steel upright on the pallet racking on his forced march to the front.
sab
@Jay: My daughter-in-law is a saintly sweet person who has spent half her adult life in retail. I don’t know how she does it , but she does, every day. She knows most of her customerd are people who have her same problems.
Her mom died when she was 16, and she has been self- supporting ever since. I am almost 68 and I am in awe of this tough little trouper.
sab
@Jay: I thought so. Canada is nice until people overstep. Politeness shouldn’t be suicide.
Jay
@sab:
because of a variety of factors, as Canadians, our “fuck off” gene, for many, is higher than many other “Nationalities”,
it’s still there.
Jay
@sab:
sweet, helping people is a “cause”,
people diss retail,
I walk into my local Starbucks and as soon as they see me, my order, is in motion. It’s always the same order, and I am nice, remember their names, tip,
Havn’t even made it to the till.
I know their lives, and in a time of Covid, they feed me and give me coffee,
what is not to love and treasure.
Professor Bigfoot
“Canadian nice.”
Have none of you people watched hockey?
Canadians are nice until they throw off the gloves and *go at it.*
Also… students of military history know about Canadian fierceness when “push comes to shove.”
I’ve always thought of Canada as “great friends, really shitty enemies.”
ColoradoGuy
Thanks for the update on the Canadian approach to the trucker sabotage. I imagine retribution will come, in Canadian style.