Finding a rhythm

New play will develop slowly, with difficulty, very different from the 6 day wonder, but this is a good way to spend the winter. I need an ending, so I know where I'm going. Some vague possibiilities.

Harriet needs to find a rhythm, do something more productive than play solitaire all day.

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Sock it to 'em

Oregon armed militia are encroaching on sacred land, says Indian tribal leader

http://gu.com/p/4ft6p?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

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Thawing

Finally got out the driveway.

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News conference of the day

The Paiutes of Eastern Oregon reminded the dingbats occupying the wildlife refuge what "returning the land to its rightful owners" actually means!

Oregon standoff

http://wapo.st/22JxEKE

"“The occupiers have used the flimsiest of pretexts to justify their actions — the conviction of two local ranchers in a case involving arson and poaching on public lands,” the society wrote. “Notably, neither the local community or the individuals convicted have requested or endorsed the occupation or the assistance of militia groups.”"

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Tick tock

Why a notorious anti-Islam activist is now fighting the federal government in Oregon
http://wapo.st/1S2cWC7

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Editorial

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
The federal wildlife refuge in Oregon already belongs to the people
http://wapo.st/1RdjpKt

Still iced in

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Surprises

Here I am, the King of Hyperdrama (or something), excited about writing for the traditional stage again. Several factors pushed me ...

Reading the new Churchill play, she is so daring and innovative.
A fat local competition.
Discovery of a new marketing resource and a large number of theaters seeking new work.
The six day wonder, reminding me of the magic, and seeing from results that I am at the top of my game.
Seeing the film Grandma.


Hence The Old Beatnik.
Main character played by 3 actors: 20, 40 and 80 ... hope to end play with all three on stage at once.

About a woman poet who never buys into consumer culture and how hard this is. And the granddaughter who begins to "get it."

Everything in flux.

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Day Two

Public schools in Portland, Ore., closed amid freezing rain advisory - @Oregonian Public schools in Portland, Ore., closed amid freezing rain advisory - @Oregonian

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Revised title

The Old Beatnik

Opening lines? Lola, 1950s, one of her poems ...

O America
if you had kept your cock in your pants
would a thousand ships never have launched?

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Iced in, so ...

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How plays get born

In many ways, but seldom born of whole cloth like the recent 6 day wonder.

This idea with two energies: a title, The Dying Beatnik (a woman!); and a set, an image, which tells me it's a play: a split stage, one half Starbucks, the other a 1950s Beat coffee shop, which I may call Genesis Angels after Aram Saroyan's brilliant book of the era.

A plot line: a contemporary woman in her 20s tracks down her grandmother, a forgotten Beat poet.

Off and running, first phase research...

Brooding a new project

I awoke with a title in my head ... The Dying Beatnik. I think it's a play about a WOMAN beat poet, tracked down by a granddaughter she never knew she had.

The Beats, not the sixties counter-culture, offered the best alternative to the new corporate world. The 1940s and 1950s were the revolutionary decades, especially when ignored by the media, which usurps and perverts what it exploits.

A play of still revolutionary ideas ... The Dying Beatnik.

Much research to do! 5 books put on hold this morning.

A good day to be snowed in.

Insanity

Dow falls 450 points as US stocks plummet on worst opening day in 84 years - @CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/04/us-markets.html

Snowed/iced in

Rare in Pdx but here we are.

Language

Terrorists? Freedom fighters? Oregon standoff poses quandary for media.
http://wapo.st/1Suvvhq

Smart

Portland, Ore., Public Schools to be closed Monday due to weather conditions - @fox12oregon https://twitter.com/fox12oregon/status/683849897833959426

Profits

Two Gun Manufacturers’ Stock Prices Doubled in 2015 Amid Intensifying Climate of Fear: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/D_HOnQB_BxU/

Cowboys

‘I didn’t come here to shoot, I came here to die’: Oregon militia occupiers fess up to local reporters: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/Z421hIuyjbM/

In case you missed it

A reminder from TS ..

http://roundbendpress.blogspot.com/2015/12/poem-of-day.html

Sunday

"Just do it!"

TCU rallies back from 31-point deficit to beat Oregon 47-41 in triple overtime at Alamo Bowl - @espn http://espn.go.com/college-football/scoreboard

Values

In America, rich kids see the doctor more. In the Netherlands, poor kids do.
http://wapo.st/1JQbb35

Ross Macdonald

Great lines early on in novel #1:

The light blue haze in the lower canyon was like a thin smoke from slowly burning money.

Nobody looked at the mountains standing above the town, but the mountains were there, making them all look silly.

Light reading project

All 18 Ross MacDonald "Lew Archer" novels in order. Love his writing and the L.A. setting.

Two new films

Jennifer Jason Leigh: ‘I've been at this precipice so many times'

http://gu.com/p/4f9qh?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

A Republican speaks out

Republican millionaire behind ‘Trump is disgusting’ skywriting: ‘I would vote for Secretary Clinton’: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/Q0ZJcgv7DjE/

Policing

US police have already killed more people since Christmas than UK cops have killed in the last 5 years: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/Pq0muvwjndE/

Myth v. Fact

A wretched example of American exceptionalism: Our poor showing on maternal mortality: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Ps_Dr_FLgq0/-A-wretched-example-of-American-exceptionalism-Our-poor-showing-on-maternal-mortality

Conflict

Rich Californians: You’ll have to pry the hoses from our cold, dead hands
http://wapo.st/1Tkrs7b

Hooray!

TV ratings for College Football Playoff down 36 percent
http://wapo.st/1IJ2CMB

College sports

http://wapo.st/1SrjWaQ

"It’ll be their home on campus, when they’re not in class.” One has to wonder whether the spokesman for Clemson University’s athletic department was able to keep a straight face in offering up that defense of the lavish complex being built for the exclusive use of its football players. That South Carolina’s second-largest public university feels the need — indeed, thinks nothing of — spending $55 million to provide players with a miniature golf course, sand volleyball courts, bowling lanes, a barbershop and other amenities pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with college athletics today."

Perspective

A generation of failed politicians has trapped the west in a tawdry nightmare

http://gu.com/p/4fez8?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Fear

Novel about Jewish-Palestinian love affair is barred from Israeli curriculum

http://gu.com/p/4fejk?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

New film

Quentin Tarantino: 'It's about damn time' US discussed racist past

http://gu.com/p/4ff4a?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Nerd nation wins Rose Bowl

Enjoyed this! My last game of the season, ending on high note. Stanford is a model program, with 99% graduation rate.

Memories

The Bard

Shakespeare's 400th anniversary: 'man of Stratford' to be celebrated in 2016

http://gu.com/p/4faea?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Homesick

I grew up in Pasadena, 2 blocks from the Rose Parade route near its end, with a northern horizon of the San Gabriel mountains. It still feels more like home than Portland. So I get homesick when I see the Rose Parade on television.