Unwritten

I have a lot of thoughts whirring around inside my head tonight, though I suppose books like Eat, Pray, Love are supposed to do that to a person. They aren't bad or stressful thoughts, at least not yet. The thoughts are more wonders, I suppose, as though my brain has decided to continually play another exciting game of What If...? It's one of those times where your brain won't stop thinking, but you can't really put into words what it's thinking about. The only word I am managing to pick out is the name of a guy, and I am really not sure why his name keeps popping up. I am pretty sure if his position on things had changed since last summer, he would have told me. Truthfully, I can't even be sure that I have feelings for him because my brain won't let me make sense of it. If I am honest with myself right now, it is probably mostly because Ben broke up with me, and he has been there for me... always... for as long as I have really known him. Maybe these faint...

Well, Journeys Theatre Camp 2011 has officially come to its close. To say that it was an incredible experience would be an understatement. Day after day I sit back and watch the campers make new friends, grow, challenge themselves, work their butts off, struggle, succeed, laugh, cry, but sometimes I think it is all too easy for me to lose sight of the friendships that I have made, the challenges I have overcome, and the laughter and tears that escape from my heart during the hours spent in that theater. We set out each summer with the mission to change kids' lives, and we do, which is made obvious by the things that the kids themselves want to share with the world about camp. Personal growth, though, has this funny way of manifesting itself while you are focusing on helping other people grow. Michael Daehn would say that by trying to make other people into big circles, we help make ourselves into bigger circles.... or something like that. You know how at the end of fairy tales, eve...

One decade ago, I was a fourth grader in Avon. I am sure that is just as difficult for many of you to imagine as it is for me. My childhood flew by but not without its ups and downs. I still remember standing in front of my class that year singing songs or reciting the poems from the production of Free to Be... You and Me I was in that year. It is the first show I clearly remember performing, so what better way to make my solo directorial debut than with this very show! The self-esteem and individuality movements have grown exponentially in school programs and children’s media since Marlo Thomas first published this book, but it seems that children struggle with being confident with and accepting themselves even more now than they did before the movement became mainstreamed in the 1970’s and 1980’s. We have become a nation of families that eat dinner in front of the television, children who barely have time to do their homework between all their activities, and an education system t...

We are in the peak of summer here in good old Indiana. The summer solstice passed what, like, last week or something? Yeah... I don't really know. However, I do have an actual point to make with this blog post, so let's get onto it. Growing up, I was never one of those kids who longed for summer vacation. I mean, it was fun... for like two weeks... and when we went on trips, but I spent the majority of my summer days bored out of my mind and almost every summer night and weekend super busy. Looking back now, I have no idea what I did with my summer days. I imagine they were mostly spent talking to friends online (back when we still used dial up and everyone had AOL), and I am sure there was a fair amount of hours spent designing my Xanga and MySpace pages, reading/re-reading Harry Potter, and my brothers and I locking each other out of the house for long periods of time. Incase you haven't figured it out yet, I never answered that summer was my favorite season. I didn't...