practice pronoia

So, I wrote a pretty passionate letter to the editor last weekend about this slimy campaign tactic a local politician was using.

Today, I get a complimentary letter from an artist about it—it just so happens his work is hanging at a local RECORDING studio owned by one of my fellow teacher’s family members. I JUST looked this place up on the Internet to inquire about getting a gig there as a studio musician for commercials, etc.

How’s THAT for weird?

Ok, so last year I had a college student intern as my production stage manager. His adviser (who’s a lighting guru at the local university) came to observe him, and was impressed with the quality of the production, but was appalled at the poor lighting (as was I—we had a real HACK last year for a lighting designer).

So, this year he signed on with us! And all because I took on a college student last year….the good stuff comes back around, no?

...though I don’t recall any recent pronoia events, let me share one that happened a few months ago.

I had just finished directing my school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz”, and had to take a road trip down to Yonkers to return the lights we had rented from Altman. I brought my favorite partner in crime, my mom, and as it was a beautiful spring day, we decided to drive into the city to explore.

On a whim, we decided to talk a stroll in Central Park. As we were walking, we heard the music of the carousel, and decided to take a ride on it. We bought our tickets, and as we stepped on the carousel, “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” began to play. During our entire ride on the Central Park Carousel, only songs from “The Wizard of Oz” played. All my mother and I could do was laugh and cry out of sheer wonder.

As we stepped off the carousel, “If I Only Had a Brain” finished, and a normal carousel march started. I walked away feeling that God had just given me a precious gift.