What's In Your Book of Grace? Here's what's in mine:
a CIT (creature in trouble), or perhaps, whether female or male, a DID (damsel in distress) was in my bedroom this morning
at 545 when i was sitting in bed blissfully writing. Seeing the waterbug, which is what it was (and still is, i think)
i did not scream. It was running from the lamp lit room into the darkness of the closet.
"if you run into the dark, you will die there," i said.
I doubt if it heard me, over the sound of its fear. or its feet. those long legs it has, with the pointy hairs.
"come out into the light and I'll help you out," i said.
but i don't speak waterbug.
I kept writing and, me, being afraid of the bug kept both eyes on the closet should it come towards me
i was writing and not looking at the page. hmm.
I went into the living room, "come in here and I'll help you out," i said
moments later, there it came. Like a pet. my pet waterbug.
I put a drinking glass over it. slipped a piece of paper underneath.
"you look familiar," i said
"You've never seen me in your life," s/he said.
"You look familiar," I said
"Are you saying that all us waterbugs look alike?" s/he said
(we were speaking, conversing. the whole thing was kind of miraculous at this point)
I walked towards to the window. Inside the glass, my pet bug was gently going bananas.
"You look familiar," I said.
"How can that be?" the bug whimpered.
I removed the slip of paper and shook the glass.
"I'm only looking at your heart," i said.
Kindly my pet waterbug did not crawl backwards on to my hand, but bravely
flew away.
Right on & Pass it on
oxox
SLP
Friday, September 17, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Back from Tokyo,Myanmar,Phnom Pehn, Seoul
What's in your book of Grace? Here's what's in mine: I'm back from my beautiful trip. I was away for most of the month of may which included my bday. I landed in Tokyo and was met by friends, scholars & professors who are translating some of my work. Then off to beautiful Myanmar where I met new friends, awesome artists, taught some classes, gave some lectures, learned a lot, ate great food, then Cambodia and Seoul where it was more of the same but nothing like anything I'd ever experienced. That's the short version. I couldn't post while I was traveling. In several spots internet was tricky and in Myanmar it was pretty impossible. So I'm playing catch up now. Bear with me cause it just may take forever. Here is a mangosteen. Right on and pass it on xoxo SLP
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Another Waterbug
What's in your Book of Grace? Here's what's in mine: Another waterbug in my apartment tonight! And, instead of squishing him, I caught him and released him back into the wild. I did this the first time on Easter Sunday. And now again tonight. I may be getting good at this. Funny what skills you can develop. What skill might you begin to develop today? Right on & Pass it on xoxo SLP
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
What's In Your Book of Grace? Here's what's in mine:
27 April 2010: A friend emailed me yesterday. Mr. Lyle Brennen. He is fabulous and teaches Physics. Years ago, in high school he was my favorite teacher. He had, and still has, a way of brilliantly communicating aspects of the seen-but-unseen world. He moves you to love physics. He moves you to want to be a physicist. I can still hear his voice in my head. He made a mark. A good mark. Mr. Brennen tells me he's retiring soon. Who will take his place? No one. No one can take his place, although, of course, they'll hire someone to teach his class. Also, his excellence makes me wonder about teachers these days. And about the state of (mostly public) education. From what I read, the public education system is not in a great place. Well. I know, from the teachers I talk with, (when I go on school visits) that the majority of them are highly competent. And I also I know that they all need our support. Cause it's our kids they're teaching, after all. Another thing: send out a shout to a teacher from your past. And thank them. Yep.
What else is in my book of grace today? The store had 2-for-one toothpaste.
Sometimes it's the little things.
Right On and Pass it on.
xoxox
SLP
What else is in my book of grace today? The store had 2-for-one toothpaste.
Sometimes it's the little things.
Right On and Pass it on.
xoxox
SLP
Sunday, April 25, 2010
What's In Your Book of Grace? Here's what's in mine:
I haven't written in several days. My friend lost his job. And then there was the volcano that has left lots of people stranded. I'm realizing that in writing a Book Of Grace I'm opening up the question: what gets included and what is excluded? And, again, what if everything were in the Book of Grace? And/or what if, by putting something in the book of Grace it was made better/ whole/part of the whole. There is an alchemy at work here. And I'm no where near figuring it out. Well. I'll savor the trip. Right on & Pass it on. xoxoSLP
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
In My Book of Grace: April 14
What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
14 April 2010:
My friend Sama got the results back from her biopsy today.
The results are normal. That's a blessing. And Sama is a mighty saint.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
14 April 2010:
My friend Sama got the results back from her biopsy today.
The results are normal. That's a blessing. And Sama is a mighty saint.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
In My Book of Grace: April 13
What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
13 April 2010:
Our Production Stage Manager, Amy, gave me these seedlings last week. They're coming along.
Right on & Pass it on
x0x0x0
SLP
Monday, April 12, 2010
In My Book of Grace: April 12
What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
12 April 2010:
Rehmat just helped me set up my blog. He can also dance. It's good to enjoy doing different things. Even if you're just a beginner at something. It's fun to grow what I call "your second tree." The little tree in your garden that grows along side your bigger (main) tree. Good to give your little tree light too. Yeah.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
12 April 2010:
Rehmat just helped me set up my blog. He can also dance. It's good to enjoy doing different things. Even if you're just a beginner at something. It's fun to grow what I call "your second tree." The little tree in your garden that grows along side your bigger (main) tree. Good to give your little tree light too. Yeah.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Thursday, April 8, 2010
In My Book of Grace: April 2 - 7
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
7 April 2010:
The following day in Michigan I did a class visit where students gathered in the auditorium and we did an open Q & A for about 90 minutes. It is hard to describe why these events are so poignant and beautiful. Maybe because the questions are rarely about literature at all, but about life: they’re starting out on their path and want to hear from me cause I'm a little further down the road, or they've been on the path for many years, and want to hear from a fellow traveler. We talked about how it takes more work to fix something than it does to break it. We talked about what keeps us going in difficult times. We talked about how a basic spiritual practice might just be engaging in kindness. I asked them what might be in their books of Grace. A student lept up and showed me her jeans, on which she had the some paint from every show she'd worked on: they're my jeans of grace! she said. They were a truly wonderful group and spending time with them raised my spirits. As I left town sirens went off because a tornado had been spotted. An oldtimer, seeing my concern, smiled wide as he told me, "twisters never touch down here, cause we're between two rivers."
Right on & Pass it on
Oxox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
6 April 2010:
Last night I gave a speech at Michigan State. The students, professors and people from the surrounding community made an awesome audience. My friends Gale and John were in the house. I’ve known them for many years and, while I couldn’t see the audience as I was speaking, I totally knew where G & J were because I could hear their laughter. Good friends are blessings, miracles, really.
Right on & pass it on
oxox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
5 April 201:
-How difficult is it to try something new? How hard is it to get out of your own rut? I'm asking this because it's spring. And the flowers are coming back along with the glorious insects. Early this morning a large bumblebee flew into my apartment. I encouraged him to leave. He didn't. I threatened him with death. I couldn't. So I waited. When the light outside was brighter than the light inside, he was able to re-orient himself and go on his way. As he flew out the window I was, like, so proud of myself. Then I saw the waterbug. You know, those giganormous flying cockroaches. I screamed. Then laughed because the thing had gotten flipped over and all I had to do was wait until its circulatory system failed (this may or may not be true but the only thing I remember from biology class is that some insects will die if they're on their backs for too long). I waited. Then a small still voice said: "do something different." I could hear my inner voice encouraging me to step out of my own rut. So I got a jelly jar, scooped up the enormous scary
beast and helped it out the window. These encounters with insects
were training wheel moments & the next time I feel overwhelmed by fear, maybe I’ll be able to better hear my small still voice.
Right On & Pass it on
xoox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
4 April 2010:
-Easter Sunday. Ruth, the mother-in-law of one of the show’s producers, came about a week ago, when we had a talk back. She says it's interesting how the show touches different people in different ways. How it moves different people to think about different things and what's cool, she says, is how different people can connect with the play in very different ways. How everyone in the audience has their own lens and how the play, too, works as a lens.
-After the Sunday night show, our last show in the run, a woman named Judy said she had realized that, at the end of the play, we are asked to continue and, through living our lives we’ll make up our own ending. That she was moved to ask herself and in her asking knew the
answer: "How does it end? We make it up. We continue to write the book."
Right on and Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
3 April 2010:
Some friends came to the show today. Folks I've known for many years. Our lives have taken many different turns, some lovely, some less than lovely: That one's latest book, that one's new baby, that one's cancer, that one's divorce. I looked at all of us, gathered
together in the lobby. "This moment is in my book of grace," I told
them. And we all smiled. So what does it mean to put something in
your book of Grace? The character Grace says that she writes down/ gathers "evidence of good things," but when she reads to us from her book we realize that it's not "all good." Do “bad things” have a
place in the book of grace? Do bad people? Is there anything that
does not belong in the book? If so, what and why?
Right on & Pass it on
xoox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
2 April 2010:
Professor Henry Louis Gates came to the show tonight. It was great to have him in the house. Afterwards we went to dinner. We talked about how maybe the show is not optimistic, but realistic. And we talked about the Grace's process of writing/righting. A friend of his had an ipad (before the official release date). As he showed us what it could do, people from other tables gathered around. It was as if the ipad were fire, stolen from the gods. That would make Steve Jobs Prometheus. And that would make one think twice about that Apple logo with the bite taken out of it. :) “Look at how the ipad shows you the periodic table!” Professor Gates’ friend said and we all oooohd and aahhhd.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
7 April 2010:
The following day in Michigan I did a class visit where students gathered in the auditorium and we did an open Q & A for about 90 minutes. It is hard to describe why these events are so poignant and beautiful. Maybe because the questions are rarely about literature at all, but about life: they’re starting out on their path and want to hear from me cause I'm a little further down the road, or they've been on the path for many years, and want to hear from a fellow traveler. We talked about how it takes more work to fix something than it does to break it. We talked about what keeps us going in difficult times. We talked about how a basic spiritual practice might just be engaging in kindness. I asked them what might be in their books of Grace. A student lept up and showed me her jeans, on which she had the some paint from every show she'd worked on: they're my jeans of grace! she said. They were a truly wonderful group and spending time with them raised my spirits. As I left town sirens went off because a tornado had been spotted. An oldtimer, seeing my concern, smiled wide as he told me, "twisters never touch down here, cause we're between two rivers."
Right on & Pass it on
Oxox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
6 April 2010:
Last night I gave a speech at Michigan State. The students, professors and people from the surrounding community made an awesome audience. My friends Gale and John were in the house. I’ve known them for many years and, while I couldn’t see the audience as I was speaking, I totally knew where G & J were because I could hear their laughter. Good friends are blessings, miracles, really.
Right on & pass it on
oxox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
5 April 201:
-How difficult is it to try something new? How hard is it to get out of your own rut? I'm asking this because it's spring. And the flowers are coming back along with the glorious insects. Early this morning a large bumblebee flew into my apartment. I encouraged him to leave. He didn't. I threatened him with death. I couldn't. So I waited. When the light outside was brighter than the light inside, he was able to re-orient himself and go on his way. As he flew out the window I was, like, so proud of myself. Then I saw the waterbug. You know, those giganormous flying cockroaches. I screamed. Then laughed because the thing had gotten flipped over and all I had to do was wait until its circulatory system failed (this may or may not be true but the only thing I remember from biology class is that some insects will die if they're on their backs for too long). I waited. Then a small still voice said: "do something different." I could hear my inner voice encouraging me to step out of my own rut. So I got a jelly jar, scooped up the enormous scary
beast and helped it out the window. These encounters with insects
were training wheel moments & the next time I feel overwhelmed by fear, maybe I’ll be able to better hear my small still voice.
Right On & Pass it on
xoox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
4 April 2010:
-Easter Sunday. Ruth, the mother-in-law of one of the show’s producers, came about a week ago, when we had a talk back. She says it's interesting how the show touches different people in different ways. How it moves different people to think about different things and what's cool, she says, is how different people can connect with the play in very different ways. How everyone in the audience has their own lens and how the play, too, works as a lens.
-After the Sunday night show, our last show in the run, a woman named Judy said she had realized that, at the end of the play, we are asked to continue and, through living our lives we’ll make up our own ending. That she was moved to ask herself and in her asking knew the
answer: "How does it end? We make it up. We continue to write the book."
Right on and Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
3 April 2010:
Some friends came to the show today. Folks I've known for many years. Our lives have taken many different turns, some lovely, some less than lovely: That one's latest book, that one's new baby, that one's cancer, that one's divorce. I looked at all of us, gathered
together in the lobby. "This moment is in my book of grace," I told
them. And we all smiled. So what does it mean to put something in
your book of Grace? The character Grace says that she writes down/ gathers "evidence of good things," but when she reads to us from her book we realize that it's not "all good." Do “bad things” have a
place in the book of grace? Do bad people? Is there anything that
does not belong in the book? If so, what and why?
Right on & Pass it on
xoox
SLP
___________________________________
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
2 April 2010:
Professor Henry Louis Gates came to the show tonight. It was great to have him in the house. Afterwards we went to dinner. We talked about how maybe the show is not optimistic, but realistic. And we talked about the Grace's process of writing/righting. A friend of his had an ipad (before the official release date). As he showed us what it could do, people from other tables gathered around. It was as if the ipad were fire, stolen from the gods. That would make Steve Jobs Prometheus. And that would make one think twice about that Apple logo with the bite taken out of it. :) “Look at how the ipad shows you the periodic table!” Professor Gates’ friend said and we all oooohd and aahhhd.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Friday, April 2, 2010
In My Book of Grace: April 1
What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
1 April 2010:
- A woman and her friend came to the show tonight. The woman is
studying at Hunter College. She uses a wheelchair. Her friend
brought her to the show in celebration cause she's doing really well
in school. After the show we hung out in the lobby and talked about
the show and took pictures. Then they went home, via the bus. When
they arrived uptown, Amy, our production stage manager, was getting
off the subway and arriving uptown on the same street at the same
time. Amy spotted the ladies; she recognized them from the audience
and they all stood on the street corner talking about the play.
-Students from Odyssey House came to the show tonight. I met them in
the lobby too. The show had them all jazzed up. They're writing a
play together and wondered how long it takes to write a play and if
takes longer to write all the "layers" in it. I told them it took me
awhile to write this play, but, since they're all working together,
it might not take them as long as it took me.
Truly, we depend on each other.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxoxox
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
1 April 2010:
- A woman and her friend came to the show tonight. The woman is
studying at Hunter College. She uses a wheelchair. Her friend
brought her to the show in celebration cause she's doing really well
in school. After the show we hung out in the lobby and talked about
the show and took pictures. Then they went home, via the bus. When
they arrived uptown, Amy, our production stage manager, was getting
off the subway and arriving uptown on the same street at the same
time. Amy spotted the ladies; she recognized them from the audience
and they all stood on the street corner talking about the play.
-Students from Odyssey House came to the show tonight. I met them in
the lobby too. The show had them all jazzed up. They're writing a
play together and wondered how long it takes to write a play and if
takes longer to write all the "layers" in it. I told them it took me
awhile to write this play, but, since they're all working together,
it might not take them as long as it took me.
Truly, we depend on each other.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxoxox
SLP
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 30 March
What's in your book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
30 March 2010:
-In the past week I've made three new friends, all 3 of them were born on the 5th of June. If this had happened in a dream we would be encouraged to think on the significance. But it didn't happen in a dream. It happened in real life. And so we are encouraged to shrug it off as an interesting coincidence. I wonder how meaning is made.
Who decides what is meaningful and what is not? There are tastemakers and kingmakers, and each of us also, in our own little private empires. Interesting how we police each other. How we put each other in boxes. But boxes are for the dead -- and a box cannot ever contain a spirit.
-Someone told me yesterday that in the play there are three competing books: Vet's (non)book vs Grace's book vs Snake's book. The unwritten book (old school) vs the manuscript (hand made and singluar) vs the Facebook (video and viral). That's a cool way to look at it.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
30 March 2010:
-In the past week I've made three new friends, all 3 of them were born on the 5th of June. If this had happened in a dream we would be encouraged to think on the significance. But it didn't happen in a dream. It happened in real life. And so we are encouraged to shrug it off as an interesting coincidence. I wonder how meaning is made.
Who decides what is meaningful and what is not? There are tastemakers and kingmakers, and each of us also, in our own little private empires. Interesting how we police each other. How we put each other in boxes. But boxes are for the dead -- and a box cannot ever contain a spirit.
-Someone told me yesterday that in the play there are three competing books: Vet's (non)book vs Grace's book vs Snake's book. The unwritten book (old school) vs the manuscript (hand made and singluar) vs the Facebook (video and viral). That's a cool way to look at it.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Saturday, March 27, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 26 March
Here's what's in mine:
26 March 2010:
We had a lot of good energy in the audience tonight. Students from Hostos and Stanford and Yale and CalArts and others too. Plus some awesome non-students. We had a great discussion about the show.
-A woman from Hostos understood why Buddy would come home with bombs, "not planning to use them, but, you know, just in case he needed them," she said.
-A student from Stanford noted how the play talked about personal history and how hard it is to free yourself from your past, even if you change your name.
-People got to talking about boundaries. How they're both helpful and not. How they're necessary and can be destructive too. In the play Grace asks: "Where do I begin? Where does 'me' start?" As I was leaving the building, Jose, one of our ushers, shared this thought: "Vet irons creases in his pants and he puts boundaries around himself, plus, he works at the Border Fence. To me, it's like we fail to realize that we are a part of all that exits. And that failure destroys what's outside us and what's inside us too. We've got to realize our connection."
-Mom came back to watch the show again. As we walked home she was quoting lines.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Friday, March 26, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 25 March
What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
25 March 2010:
-Mom is visiting for her birthday. She treated herself and went to the Met Museum in a taxi.
She had an awesome cabbie from Puerto Rico and, along the way, she says they got to talking and came up with ideas that could solve all the problems of the world. Gold star.
-After the show I hung out with a writer and used to be a theatre critic. These days we hang out as friends and talk theatre and politics into the wee hours. We don't see each other as often as we'd like. Does distance make the heart grow fonder? Maybe. Does familiarity breed contempt? I hope not. When I saw him we hugged long and hard. He knew me when I was just starting out, back when I used to shave my head!
-Students from Baruch College were in the house last night! The play really got them going. The father-son stuff especially. We took pictures of each other in the lobby.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
25 March 2010:
-Mom is visiting for her birthday. She treated herself and went to the Met Museum in a taxi.
She had an awesome cabbie from Puerto Rico and, along the way, she says they got to talking and came up with ideas that could solve all the problems of the world. Gold star.
-After the show I hung out with a writer and used to be a theatre critic. These days we hang out as friends and talk theatre and politics into the wee hours. We don't see each other as often as we'd like. Does distance make the heart grow fonder? Maybe. Does familiarity breed contempt? I hope not. When I saw him we hugged long and hard. He knew me when I was just starting out, back when I used to shave my head!
-Students from Baruch College were in the house last night! The play really got them going. The father-son stuff especially. We took pictures of each other in the lobby.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
Thursday, March 25, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 24 March
Here's what's in mine:
24 March 2010:
-We had some really great questions at the talkback last night:
1)A man asked if Vet, at the end of the play, was included in the
Book of Grace. What a beautiful question, because Vet, as a
character, does some awful things. To my mind, Vet is included in
the Book of Grace.
2) A woman wondered if Grace stays with Vet after the end and what
the play might be suggesting about the cycle of violence and the
victims of violence. While Grace knows that "your troubles follow
you," by the end of the play she has liberated herself.
3) A woman asked if grace might only be the province of womenfolk.
Ah! Nope! We're all in that work together. :)
4) We had some awesome high school students in the house last night!
And a comment that, as the play ends, we're being invited to write a
new book, consider new possibilities.
Right on & Pass it On
xoxo
SLP
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 23 March
What's in your Book Of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
23 March 2010:
-It was mostly rainy today but for a few minutes it turned to snow.
On the sidewalk a little girl dressed in pink ran around catching
snowflakes on her tongue. She was a sweet pink blur.
-I ran into someone. She used to be my student. Now we're friends.
Funny, isn't it, how we keep on keeping on.
-Someone who saw the play asked me "is there really a book of
Grace?" I smiled. "I made it up for the show and so now, all of us,
can continue making it up," I told him. When he heard that he smiled too.
-Guidelines: On Optimism: Optimism takes hard work. True dat.
-Sending love to my friends Dave and Tony in Austin. Tony had back
surgery yesterday. Much love many kisses to them.
-Someone else who saw the play told me: "In my book of Grace, I
would hope that you, SLP, have a beautiful life." Hearing this, my
mouth dropped open. I was so moved by his generosity.
-So, in my book of Grace, I would hope that you too have a beautiful life.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
23 March 2010:
-It was mostly rainy today but for a few minutes it turned to snow.
On the sidewalk a little girl dressed in pink ran around catching
snowflakes on her tongue. She was a sweet pink blur.
-I ran into someone. She used to be my student. Now we're friends.
Funny, isn't it, how we keep on keeping on.
-Someone who saw the play asked me "is there really a book of
Grace?" I smiled. "I made it up for the show and so now, all of us,
can continue making it up," I told him. When he heard that he smiled too.
-Guidelines: On Optimism: Optimism takes hard work. True dat.
-Sending love to my friends Dave and Tony in Austin. Tony had back
surgery yesterday. Much love many kisses to them.
-Someone else who saw the play told me: "In my book of Grace, I
would hope that you, SLP, have a beautiful life." Hearing this, my
mouth dropped open. I was so moved by his generosity.
-So, in my book of Grace, I would hope that you too have a beautiful life.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
In My Book of Grace: 22 March
What's In Your Book Of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
22 March 2010:
Health Care Reform passed last night! And this afternoon, Kiera, age 5, lost her first tooth.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
Here's what's in mine:
22 March 2010:
Health Care Reform passed last night! And this afternoon, Kiera, age 5, lost her first tooth.
Right on & Pass it on.
xoxo
SLP
What's In Your Book of Grace?
Suzan-Lori Parks wants to know: What's in Your Book of Grace? Check out this video and post responses you'd like to share wtih Suzan-Lori and The Public!
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