The last thing I need is another reason to spend time at the computer. But after setting up a blog for by wife, author China Galland on a different blog host and then discovering that it had a pretty inconsistent interface -- meaning we'd never know what the thing would look like after we posted it -- I thought I'd switch to "Blogger" and see if we could do any better. But in setting up the account, I found myself putting in my own name and information and, thus, find myself writing a blog.
I am a 61 year old actor, writer and director who, for the past 28 years, has been a principle member of Traveling Jewish Theatre a company I co-founded. Besides writing for the theatre, I have published short fiction and non-fiction in several places. Some of both can be found on my website.
Besides the existence of TJT, I am most proud of: a play, See Under: Love which I adapted from the novel of the same name by Israeli author, David Grossman; my enduring marriage; my growing relationship with my children and grandchildren.
I am working hard not to fall into despair about: the likelihood of a Bush-instigated attack on Iran; the worsening state of Israeli-Arab relations; the long shadow still cast by slavery over our attempt at democracy; our violence toward the earth and toward our fellow-humans that we seem incapable of ending.
I am comforted by language as it is used by authors like Phillip Roth, Toni Morrison, David Grossman, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others; I am comforted by my friend Norman Fischer's translations of the Psalms; by the stories and teachings of Jack Kornfield; by the life I encounter underwater when I dive; by my co-workers, my wife and family who also struggle with the paradox of finding hope while remaining vulnerable and responsive to so much preventable suffering.
If this blog thing actually works, I might come back for more. I might invite some of the above-mentioned co-workers and family to post topics. We'll see.
