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

In My Book of Grace: 26 March

What's in your Book Of Grace?
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

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

In My Book of Grace: 24 March

What's in your Book Of Grace?
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

The Book of Grace

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

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

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!