what's going on....

We continue to work our selves crazy arranging screenings and playing the self-distribution game. jumping off bridges will be traveling quite a bit in the coming weeks, and so will some of the Storie Girls.

One of our associate producers, Leslie, has been working on a deal in DC all summer. Note that each screening requires numerous phone calls, emails and followups along with lots of luck and persistance. There are no guarentees, there are lots of false starts, and there are days you feel like you will never get one nailed down. Well, today was a day of victory for our dear Leslie. We learned our film will be sponsored by the NIH, the National Institute of Health, a huge government agency with lots of contacts, connections and cache.
This is huge and will get our film in front of huge, important, national counseling organizations.

Their email said, "Everyone agreed at the meeting that your group has created a film that is needed by the mental health professional community."
Pretty nice to hear that you're needed.

I'm tired today, woke early for coffee with a friend, dashed to an interview than to Trinity and then home to work and mail screeners everywhere and then a Storie meeting. It's time to curl up on the couch with project runway and go to bed early and start all over again. Tomorrow I'm doing a radio interview at 9 a.m. and then Tracy and I rock over to an hour with Matt Daley at KOOP, and then, well something else happens...busy times.

I sense our hard work will pay off...


and now a funny car story...

I took my car in to a body shop for some minor body repair, after a minor fender bender. I picked up my car and noticed a bad noise, grindy noises are never something you ignore, I learned that long ago. I took my car back to the body shop and asked the guy if there was possibly something that was too tight, not tight enough, not quite at spec, etc. He said, that was impossible. He was incredulous. How silly I was to think such a thing, how little I knew about cars, in fact, he didn't even hear any noise from my engine at all.

I told him the noise wasn't present until I picked up my car. He just said, "huh, well, it wasn't anything we did, it's just not possible." Then he gave me a smile that said, "I know more about cars than you do, and that will always be true. I'm right, you're wrong."

I drove away, not happy, a bit steamed and I drove right to the Honda guys where my service manager checked in the car. I got my run in by running back home which chilled me out and put this all in perspective a bit, it's a good thing because later that afternoon, I got a phone call from the Honda guys. It seems that someone, like the body shop guys maybe, had left a big wrench inside my car, somewhere between the transmission and the stabilizer thinymajig (I paraphrase). There was no damage to my car, they just thought it was kind of odd.

This sent a thrill through me. Kat drove me to pick up my car and we stopped by the body shop on the way. I waved the guy over to my window and told him there was a vise grip with his name on it at the Honda place.

Getting your car fixed: Cost of the deductible
Driving around to find about the noise: slightly frustrating
Telling the body shop guy he left his vice grip in my car: priceless!

file under film, life in general

the storie office

My kitchen table is the new storie wing. I work in my little office, Kat works at the big kitchen table. From about 2:00 until around 7 or so, we sit and work, email, write, make phone calls, and yell questions at each other.
It's not so bad. It beats working alone all day.
Today around 6 we took a dog walk break. It was big fun for the dogs and it was cool wiht a nice little snap of fall in the air.

We're working like crazy to get people to the upcoming screenings in Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, and Tuscaloosa and beyond.

I've also been getting the proposal together for Roadside Texas, a project I hope to be shooting about a year from now. Damn, I can't wait!

file under: film

upcoming screenings

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors, we're coming to a theatre near you!

San Antonio, TX – 9/30
Saturday, September 30th
7:00pm
Historic Guadalupe Theater (1301 Guadalupe Street @ South Brazos)
Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at the door.
Co-sponsored by the Bexar SPC
Panel discussion will follow the screening featuring.

Austin, TX – 10/3
Tuesday, October 3rd
7:00pm
Alamo Drafthouse South (1120 South Lamar)
Tickets are $10.00 general admission
Advanced Tickets available at: http://www.originalalamo.com/lamar/frames.asp
Co-sponsored by the Travis County SPC
Panel discussion will follow the screening with filmmakers and actors in attendance.

New Haven, CT – 10/5
Thursday, October 5th
7:00pm
Critereon Theater (86 Temple St)
Tickets are $9.00 (Advanced Tickets Available)

Tuscaloosa, AL – 10/5
Thursday, October 5th
7:00pm
Ferguson Center Theater (University of Alabama
Free – Open to the Public

Tallahassee, FL – 10/6 – 10/7
Friday and Saturday, October 6th and 7th
5:45pm and 7:30pm each night
All Saints Cinema
Tickets are $6.00 general admission

Bethel, CT – 10/7
Saturday, October 7th
7:00pm
Bethel Cinema (269 Greenwood Avenue)
Tickets are $9.00 (Advanced Tickets Available)

Nashville, TN - 10/14
Saturday, October 14th
2:30 p.m.
Belcourt Theatre
Tickets $8

Houston, TX - 10/14
Saturday, October 14th
7 p.m.
Rice University Cinema
Tickets $6 ($2 parking fee)

file under: film

i'm for kinky

Today at our lunch break from the workshop, many of us went to the Triump Cafe for some good ol Vietnamese comfort food.

Kinky Friedman walked in, with a small group of folks. I like that our possible future governor likes good, local restaraunt meals.

I went over to say hi and ask him if he remembered me (I interviewed him for the dogumentary Rescue Me).

He said, "Hi Darlin, of course, I do." I told him I'm voting for him and lots of other people I know are too. He seemed really touched by that and talked about how hard it's been lately with his treatment by the media, of people bringing up things out of context from a long long time ago.

Our current governor doesn't believe in evolution and hasn't been able to get much done in the last four years. He talked his way out of speeding ticket, but doesn't seem very effective in his actual job. The others running aren't too impressive either.

Kinky is a good man, he cares about people, he loves animals and has created a rescue ranch for discarded former pets seeking new homes. He could make a difference in Texas, just by being kind and caring, but he's also funny as hell and even better, he works outside of the political system.

I'm voting for Kinky and endorse him for governor. I'm not any big thing, but I know a nice person when I meet one and I'd like to be able to say our governor cares about people and will work to get some much needed work done for the state of Texas.

Here's his webpage, read his stand on the issues, register to vote, do something crazy and vote for someone who will actually do something good for our state.

file under: life in general

today

So, today at Trinity, I saw some folks I haven't seen in ages. That's how it is working with the homeless. People come and go. Today, some sad news.

Stacy Lynn Sparks, a brilliant artist was murdered in a motel over the weekend. Some kind of drug related thing. Damn it. Stacy was a presence, tall and beautiful, full of spice, said what she thought. I remember one of my favorite paintings from last years Arts from the Streets was one of hers. A single lily in a sea of blue and purple.

Someone had donated a couple of 6 foot long sub sandwiches to the center. As we sat down to eat together, one of the resident poets, L.B., said a prayer for her. He said he hoped her struggles were over and she was feeling love and acceptance like never before. There were tears. There a moment of silence.

We all know something like this can happen at any time. Last year 98 homeless people died in Austin.

It's hard to believe Stacy Lynn Sparks won't wander in the door in a few weeks or months telling me all about what's she's been doing and painting and all about her next big idea.

file under: friends

i'm home and the dogs are crazy.

I'm home.

The dogs are nuts. It's been kinda funny. They come in my office and do a loop under the desk just to make sure I'm still here and they've been sneaking in my room at night and laying down really quiet and well behaved so they can stay and sleep by my bed, which is for them is the coolest place in the whole wild world.

I miss Molly. I'll walk past her spot on the kitchen floor and notice her absence. I'll get a little sad and within moments, Cowgirl will be by my side. She leans against me, looks up at me with what seems like true empathy and pats my face with her scruffy little claws. There is something about how much she wants everything to be okay that seems to actually make everything okay.

I got a sweet voice mail from a friend telling me he knows how hard it is to lose a dog friend and sending me his best. The message really hit home and reminded me that when you have to do something hard, it's too easy to forget that while you're being brave and strong, you also have to find time to be sad. Lucky me, I have Cowgirl.

I also got a call from my friend Kenny up in the North Woods. When he leaves messages he always yells "Stacy, Where are you? Where are you? Come and talk to me!" Then he tells me that they had a freeze up there, a hard freeze and it was cold, let me tell you and he and Pupper might just start making their way down to Texas again.

I don't know how Kenny and I became friends. We would just start talking when he came into the shelter. We both love our dogs, but, there are just some people you feel at home with. Kenny is one of them.

Everytime I get a message from him I feel like the world is a fine place indeed.

file under dogs friends

the thing about travelin

I discovered something pretty central to my personality back when I got my first car, a 61 Mercury Meteor. I discovered that even though my car had alternator problems and the driver's side door didn't always open and sometimes when it did, it didn't want to shut again, that I loved to move around.

I'd tool around the backroads to get to college and back. I'd take little solo roadtrips around Denton and Grapevine, back when there were still country roads there, just to unwind and see something new.

When I moved to Wales for a year, I hopped on trains and buses as much as possible and I even hitchhiked a few times. I learned to travel light and I backpacked around Europe with about two changes of clothes, a hair brush and my ID and dollars in a leather pouch I wore under my t-shirt. I loved being somewhere new and different. I even loved not knowing anyone or having any committments or having to "check in" or meet some crazy expectation. I lived kind of rough, stayed in hostels and ate fresh producers that the farmers sold in town. It was pretty wonderful. I must have looked like a vagabond, or a gyspy, with my long hair and long earrings and faded jeans, but I learned that in Italy, all women are beautiful, even a wide eyed Texas girl who'd been sleeping in hostels and on trains for weeks.

Being a Mom kept me tied to town most of the time, but when I worked in book publishing, they always sent me to the conferences and to little colleges to meet with professors and talk to them about how great our books were. Later, when I worked in software, I trained people and flew to DC and to went on retreats with other project managers and got to see places I wouldn't have seen otherwise like fancy island resorts from which I'd walk or bike away from to go in to town and hang out with the locals.

Later I took Annalise to Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, and then on a long roadtrip from Seattle back to Texas that took us through Montana and Wyoming and Utah and Arizona and New Mexico and dipped down to Colorado and then over to West Texas and down to Austin. Our dog, Keni, came with us on that trip, because it was also our move back to Texas. It made it somehow easier to see up close the space we'd been flying over in our trips from Seattle to Texas and back all those years. Annalise was very curious about the ansazi, so we stopped at all of the major and minor ancient civilization spots in the southwest as well as the big Dinosaur Park. In Chaco Canyon we were caught in a terrible storm that had us almost stuck in the middle of a field full of cows and ancient structures. I remember telling Annalise as we drove through the mud and were laughing and praying and the car was slipping and sliding that this was a situation in which liberal use of the "F" word was understandable and even expected. Travel gives you those experiences that stay with you forever. I'll never forget that one.

I'm remembering all of this as I sit in the Albuquerque airport. I missed my 11:20 flight, and I don't think I've EVER missed a flight. I've come close a few times, but I've never actuallly missed a flight. I'm going to blame this on traffic, Sunday morning fair or festival or something and then some shuttle problems and then security, and even though lots of super nice people let me go in front of them and even though I pulled out my sprint and had even been doing some long runs here in the high altitude, I just wasn't fast enough. I'm not upset, I'm just think it's kind of funny though I hate inconviencing my airport pick up buddies.

The cool thing is, the airport here has free internet access. Free Wifi in the airport - what a concept.

I should be home around 6ish...until then, I'm working and people watching.

file under: life in general

New Mexico

Sky and clouds, mountains in the distance and more sky, more clouds. The air is cool, feels clean and smells sweet. The people are very nice, when I stopped to get a paper yesterday and accidently honked my horn when the car locked an old man looked at me, surprised and a bit offended. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." and he smiled "no problem." I don' think that happens much around here.

The first screening went well. We had people from the suicide prevention coalition and the Jason foundation in addition to our sponsors, the Agora Crisis Center. There was a red carpet and a display of painted handprints that represent all the suicides in the state last year. Before the screening we had a series of little talks and one included a college girl, barely 19, who lost her boyfriend to suicide last year. He'd become withdrawn, isolated himself, stopped talking to her and she didn't know he was depressed, didn't know the last time he called her would be the last time he called her.

People don't like to talk about these losses, and to many people suicide is one of those topics, you just never discuss. We have to talk about it. We have to listen to each other. The more we talk, the more we can try to share the burden a bit. People don't need to walk around carrying so much on their own.

We've made a tough film and it's getting people talking about a tough subject.

In other news: I knew Ann Richards was ill, but I was not prepared for her to go so quickly. She was a bright, intelligent and honest soul who cared deeply and who worked incredibly hard. She did much good work for Texas and she cared for people that many poltiicans forget about, people who can't or don't vote as much: kids and convicts. She did some amazing work in education. She worked on programs for recovery from additiction and for prison rehabilitation.
When Annalise was a baby we campaigned for Ann, I strolled Annalise around or carried her in a little front pack and we walked around and gave people fliers and tried to get out the vote. We saw her last December at bookpeople, while we were Christmas shopping, and I told Annalise "that's Ann Richards". I didn't go up to her, I thought maybe she needed some peace. I wish I'd just said Hi and introduced Annalise to Ann.
Rest in Peace, Anne. We won't forget your work.

file under: film, life in general, jumping off bridges

settled in and happy

today I crossed from the Pacific NW leaving from the Mapleleaf neighborhood in Seattle, to the airport, through the sky to Salt Lake City, down again and up again across the Southwest to Albuquerque, and down again. Then I drove from Albuqueque through the mountains to Las Vegas, walked around took pictures, walked some more, drove around, drove out to see the World School, met two amazing lecturers there and took more pictures, went to a little peace chapel with windows made of prisms and saw the evening NM light refracted all blue and gold into the room. I went back out to Las Vegas and am now settled in Coralles NM at a place called the chocolate turtle. I'm telling you I have the best job in the world, I don't get paid much, but damn do I have some kick ass adventures! I haven't even begun to describe today, I'm just happy and tired. Tomorrow I have a meeting on set then a drive to Sante Fe, then the screening.
And now, it's time for sleep.

file under: jumping off bridges, life in general

Seattle and beyond...

Wow it was great to be back in Seattle even for a day and a half. Annalise and I moved to Seattle in 92 and stayed for 7 years before heading back to Texas in 99. The last winter there was the rainiest on record and I just couldn't take it. I still love it though. Seattle is almost always lush and green and growing, the water, ferries, coffee shops and bookstories, it's a great town to get lost in. I got lost a few times, but I was mostly just seeing my old haunts and visiting old friends.
My old house looks good, my nextdoor neighbors are still next door too.

The first day I had lunch with one friend before going off to admire another friend's new baby. Then I had dinner with Meg and her brand new husband. I also go to see one of my fave dogs, Leo. He was one of the ice storm puppies that I bottlefed. I shipped him up to Meg three years ago, she's about the only person on the planet I could have given him up to. He seemed to remember me and and he's very happy.

My Seattle friends are doing well. They are falling in love and having babies and buying log cabins in the mountains. I love it and it fits right in with all my own transitions. I love knowing people who I might not see for years but fall right into step with when we meet again.

file under: friends, jumping off bridges, life in general

The day of the screening I slept in later than planned as I'd stayed up the night before talking with old friends. So, I didn't go to greenlake park to run, I just ran around my friend's Jeff and Shelly's neighborhood. It was chilly and people were out walking in their polar fleece as I ran past in my tanktop and shorts. It was cool, but it felt amazing.

Later I headed out to visit with my old neighbor and we caught up over coffee, then I saw another old friend before heading back to the Hall to get ready for the screening.

We had a small, devoted crowed. It was one of the first cool nights of the season and it was rainy and messy, and a Wednesday night. Our audience included some film folks, some friends and some we found at the universities and suicide prevention groups. It was a good screening and will lead to more screenings.

This a.m. I was up at 4:15 to make it to the airport for an early flight to Albuquerque via Salt Lake City. I got into ALB around 1:00 and then headed north to Las Vegas for some scouting.
Here I sit in a little coffee shop in downtown Las Vegas, NM that has free wifi and great cookies.

I'm tired, a little bit fuzzy headed, but the cool air is clearing things up. It's pretty, too. Different than Seattle, as different as geography can be from Seattle, still pretty and very friendly. I'm off to go scout around before heading back to my B&B tonight and then getting up in the a.m. and continuing the adventure!

Molly W. Worthy b. ? - d. 9/9/06

Molly Wolly Worthy is at peace. Somewhere she can walk and run and wag her tail and play with stuffed toys and eat whatever she wants whenever she wants.

My vet is wonderful and they were compassionate, they understood, even as she lay there before him, he could see she was still sweet, still happy and he said, that's how he believes dogs should leave the world so they remember happy times.

I agree with him, still, being the one to take her in, to decide it's time, will always make me wonder just a bit.

They did let me bring her home and I dug a big hole under the rosemary bush. The ground was soft there, it was where she liked to hang out sometimes. I didn't think I could do that, manage digging a deep enough hole for her. Somehow I did. As I pulled her out of the car, heavy as she was, I knew that this was something I could do, should do, would do. It might be against the law, but it's the right thing.

Years ago when my horse, my first love, really, Golden Diamond, had to be "put to sleep" for health reasons, I had my first big heartbreak. I watched her go, too and I saw the weight of the world leave her eyes and I knew that she could be free to go whereever we go when we're done here. My old cat Maggie, after 14 years with me, I had to take her in, too. Saying goodbye to her, the cat who'd seen me through high school and college and who held her love at a distance until she'd crawl on me and sleep with me, that goodbye was another one I said alone.

When Molly arrived at my house in 2000, we'd just moved to Austin. She was a stray and I traced her tags to an abandoned house. She stayed with us. She would steal Annalise's stuffed animals and carry them around. She was already arthritic and the vet estimated her age at between 9 and 15. Six years later, she was still so damn sweet and loving. She wagged her tail with vigor, loudly, and she'd bark at absolutely nothing that anyone else could see. She had a lot of good friends and admirers.

I'm gonna miss the old girl. More than I realized, I'm gonna miss her.

It's been a summer of goodbyes, and new beginnings.
Molly this is a new beginning. I am one of those crazy people who believe that dogs have souls and that our job is to learn from them how to be better people, people who take responsibility for our place in the world, people who love them enough to be strong enough to say goodbye when the time is right.

I know there's a war going on and there are people suffering and starving and heartbroken, but I hope her friends can remember her with a quiet prayer and by being compassionate to all the pets and strays in their lives. One day some old yeasty smelly arthritic dog might wonder up to your front door and though you'll want them to go home, though they'll drive you nuts sometimes and pee and poop on your nice clean floors, and steal all your stuffed animals, they'll bring you love, acceptance, hope and some lessons. That's what Molly gave us and we'll miss her sweet spirit.

community

I drove to Town Lake late last night for a run, not late late, but later than usual and traffic on Lamar was terrible and yet I wanted to go but as the time drew on and the cars grew thick, I started thinking about things like who are all these poeple anyway and how could I live here so long and be surrounded by all these cars and all these people and probably not know a one of them and then I looked up and saw a friend of mine from Trinity.

He's one of those guys who always comes in and says, "Hey Stacy, got a joke for ya." Followed by some crazy stupid joke about snails and whales and "watch out she's gonna blow." A funny joke that won't change the world but is still funny and a little bit weird, cause he makes them up. He also loves to share political commentary and tell me stories.

Well, in the midst of the traffic and the craziness, there he was on the corner where I'd just gotten stalled crossing an intersection, even though the light was green, the line of cars wasn't moving. So, I got to roll my window down and he saw me and his face lit up and my face lit up and everything seemed just fine again.

As I watched him cross the street, still smiling and waving at me, I felt at home again in my city.

This morning, I heard from Kenny, a friend from Trinity who calls from the North Woods every now and then to say hey. He has a dog up there, "pupper" who he is absolutely devoted to. Pupper had seen a bear cub and pupper was helping him bring in wood and pupper was doing just great and maybe he'd come back in Austin in a few weeks with pupper, too. Kenny is 60-something and he was the first one to show up for our screening of jumping off bridges at the Paramount. He is full of ideas and kind words and hearing his voice this morning, knowing he just wanted to call and say hi, well, it pretty much made my morning.

It's good to have friends. They always seem to call when I need them, when I haven't heard from them in ages and when I'm too much in my own struggle to pick up the phone and call them.

Today I also heard from Cowboy who reminded me of his upcoming nuptials and went on and an on about how happy he is to be getting married. I'm scheduled to be the photographer and I'm looking forward to it. I also heard from my old college buddy Christa in Florida. She's calling everyone in our college "family" (that's what we called ourselves "the family" ) and arranging a reunion. She needed to talk about our friend who was wild and crazy in her college days who is now a Republican and has a "thing" for Cheney.

People change, but friends, well, they are the best thing in the world.

smiley face stickers and more than enough...

So, today at Trinity, I got stickered by a 4 year old who, with her mom, was seeking help in figuring out how to find Section 8 housing with a voucher, on the bus line, near a good school. It can be done, but you have to have a phone, and a bus pass and you have to do a little smooth talking. Those things will at least get you an appointment. Oh, you also need internet access so you can check the current should.availability of housing right this very minute, which is how we found a possible place in a good area, near a good school, with a landlord who was willing to work with her on the security deposit. That combination is rare and miraculous and as it was all happening, even as I was getting stickered by the little four year old and talking to the landlord, I could hardly believe it. After that phone call I had one smiley face sticker on my head, at or near the "third eye" area, and one on my right hand. I felt pretty cool.

Later, when W. told me a story about...well can't tell you that, he told me it was confidential, but let's just say it was a great story involving drama, buses and radio and prayer. I love it when W. tells stories because he talks haltingly, speech is hard for him. As an actor and mime, a skill learned of necessity, he's brilliant.

J. was there, haven't seen him in weeks. It was a nice moment when the four year old came over to where I was talking with J. and spontaneously hugged him. J. inspires that in people, at least in me and in this 4 year old. He just does. He's sweet and earnest and honest and he needs people to be nice to him, but they aren't so much. Every time I see him, every single time, before I can even say hi, he asks how I'm doing, how's my life, what have I been up to? He carries everything he owns in a canvas tote, he sleeps on the street and goes hungry a lot because people give him a hard time and yet, he always greets me with, "How are you doing?".

A young boy came in, 19 years old, who told me he needs surgery and special foods. He can only eat organic foods and whole grains, things you don't usually find at the shelters, sometimes they have it, but it's rare. He has other issues, too, but as I was talking to him, I quickly realized they were issues that we couldn't fix, not today, not with our limitations. We would need a Dr., some bloodtests, free medication, etc. The boy told me he'd try to go to the free clinic tomorrow, but he wouldn't promise me he would go. My friend Tbone helped by mentioning that the new Dr. at the free clinic was a beautiful Irish redhead who is super nice (which explains why TBone has been getting to the Dr. more often...)
I really wanted the boy to make a promise, but he wouldn't do it. He would only say he'd try to go and was leaning that way and he appreciated my effort to get a promise.

We had cake today, thanks to Whole Foods which provided a $100 gift card for cakes. Each month we'll celebrate birthdays, starting today. Cakes are important. Community is important. Ritual is important too, even silly ones like birthday cake, how else are you going to celebrate your own birthday, your Dad's birthday, the birthday of someone you haven't seen in years, like a kid you had to leave behind or a brother you haven't seen in years. That's why cake is sometimes as important and necessary as soup and bread.

Still, I was wishing we had a little soup and bread, too. At the end of the day, a few people just seemed hungry. A lot of times people come to Trinity who don't like the noise and crowd of other shelters, they are the quieter souls. We only had three sack lunches, not enough, not nearly. I found a sack of food in the pantry and asked our Center Administrator (CA) about it. He suggested we give out some of, it, someone must have donated it.. So we did. I found canned peaches and tuna and crackers for J. An organic granola bar for the boy and for my friend E., a microwaveable beef and potatoes dinner. They were very happy to get the food.

It was then that another volunteer, one who is just leaving homelessnes behind, who is on a very limited income, who has an empty pocket book and a very large heart, smiled and said, to us. "You know, that's my food..". No, we didn't know, and we were chagrined. Of course you're suppose to put your name on stuff, especially on food in the pantry, still, we all get busy and often it doesn't happen. He just said, "They need it, they need it more than I do."

Now, this was probably true, but, I told him, in my well thought out longtime volunteer babble, "we have to take care of ourselves, too, we have to have boundaries." He just grinned at me, (I'm kind of famous there for not doing so well with the boundaries, I go with my gut and I don't always err on the side of the rules and 98% of the time, it's perfectly fine anyway.)
Then I said, something like, let me pay you for what we took, which as soon as I said it sounded stupid and self-serving and he said, no deal. So, I just shrugged my shoulders and went to wash down tables.

A nice lesson in generosity, and in not assuming a sack full of food is extra food and in a very localized version of the trickle down theory, and in gratitude that most of the time, most of us have more than enough to share. Today I got to see again how little things like canned peaches and tuna and microwaveable dinners and smiley face stickers and granola bars can be exactly what someone needs.

A special thank you to Whole Foods and to the man who shared his sack of food.


Here's a link to an article I wish I'd written. I love the ending and I hope you do, too. How indeed do we get our sanity back?

long weekend

A nice long weekend. Today, after a long run and then a quick meeting with the Storie team, in which I told them I'm freaked about Seattle and Albuqueque screenings, feeling the pressure of impending travel and Q&As and well, other things I won't go in to here, I got to hang out at Chadwick's most of the day with little Ella Bo Bella. Wendy is doing a play, Chadwick is doing our color correction and conform and I was there to watch Ella, confer with Chadwick, throw the ball for Roscoe and make myself useful.

While I didn't get much on my to personal little to-do list done, I'm convinced the world will go on anyway, just fine. Ella showed me how to lie on my back on their hammock and stare up at the sky through the leaves of a giant sycamore tree. (I don't know that it was a sycamore, I just know that the light dappeled through the leaves and it was a lovely big old tree, a wise tree.) That time staring into the distance made my day, just looking up through leaves at a cloudy, soft sky.

I guess I'm not all that hard to please at all, am I?

I hope everyone is having a weekend with some of that in it.