I had forgotten how nice federal holidays are for the rest of America. Four years at UVa, where they hardly acknowledge the existence of a holiday, kinda made me forget that most of the country stops for a day as seemingly silly as Columbus Day. Regardless, I'm experiencing the full beauty of it this year--remarkably I've had a four-day weekend, which so far I have spent essentially doing nothing. A lot of reading, including revisiting the good ol' Catcher in the Rye. When I first read Catcher at 16, I was blown away at how accurately Holden encapsulated the way I view the world. Upon my last reading, I remember thinking what a whiny little bitch he was. Now, I'm struck once again by the similarities between myself and our misanthropic protagonist...a little disturbing, I must say.

This past week we had our first three performances of Hansel and Gretel's Grimm Tale at area schools, and it has received a good response from the kids. We don't have any more shows scheduled for the near future, though, so it's looking like the show is on an indefinite hiatus. Honestly, that suits me fine; I'm a little burnt out on it at the moment anyway, so perhaps some time away from the show will be nice, and I can discover new things once I've sat with the show for a while. We also just finished our first week of after-school programs, which has really been an eye-opening experience. I haven't had any protracted interaction with elementary school-age kids since I was in elementary school, and even then I was a little ahead of the curve, so to go back and work with a bunch of 9-year-olds in an attempt to put on a short play has been quite the education for me.

The diversity of kids is so interesting. Some fit the stereotype of the rambunctious wild-child who constantly has to be told to shut up and sit down, but some others are so well-behaved, such good readers, and so brave and honest. We played a game in our first class where we went around in a circle and said our names and three things about ourselves we didn't think everyone else knew, and one girl came right out and said that she didn't live with her parents but in a foster family. Another girl said she was born with an angel's kiss, and of course all the kids immediately asked what that was, and she gave a very tactful response. It was amazing to me to see these kids being so open and vulnerable--that's what you need to be a good actor, and sadly that's what gets beaten out of us as we grow up.

It's 1:30 as I write this and I'm still in my PJs. I need to go be a person right now. Out.