Because I am apparently not busy enough ...

I got an email from a local yarn shop in which they indicated a group would be meeting weekly there to work on
The Smithsonian Community Reef portion of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project. I've been intrigued by the reef since I first heard about it a few years ago and how could I possibly turn down the opportunity to create something that will be displayed in the Smithsonian? So I went to the group on Tuesday night, crocheted a hyperbolic plane, and enjoyed it immensely. I will, of course, try the other two basic forms before experimenting further. It's a good way to use up bits of yarn, too, especially since cheap acrylic actually works best for this sort of thing.

I also got a request in my email today to review a storytelling fringe show for a journal. The interesting parts are that: a) it was a show I was considering seeing, but did not buy tickets to because my schedule is pretty full and it just missed the top 6 on my priority list and b) the editor of the journal is somebody I know quite well from my Los Angeles days.

Chaidentity

I saw my first show of this year's Capital Fringe Festival tonight. I was a little apprehensive about Slash Coleman's Chaidentity because he had done a less than satisfying show on pretty much the same theme two years ago.

What I wrote at the time was "Things improved somewhat when he abandoned the costumes and shtick and talked about his conflicted feelings. His telling about his nephew's growing interest in Judaism was warm and could be developed into a real story." Fortunately, that is exactly the direction he took this new show in. It was a much more straightforward telling of his family's story and the two paths members of the family took after the Holocaust. His mother instilled a fear of his own Judaism in him, but he still felt compelled to explore his Jewish identity. This ranges from experiments in wearing a yarmulke (in rural Texas, where he imagines a woman sneezing is repeatedly saying, "a Jew, a Jew") to listening to his grandmother's nightmares about stormtroopers. It culminates in another generation (his nephew) being able to overcome the silence and bring things full circle.

I found the story satisfying and the performance warm. His obvious emotion and sincerity overcame a few minor glitches here and there. All in all, I'm glad I went.