My Time Machine

                                                   

 

 

Took a time machine by way of Jet Blue this past week.  My trip to the past included two significant events:  a Mel Brooks “concert” and a visit to Brownsville, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. 

Mel Brooks is history, but way more amusing that any textbook I ever had to read.  His story goes back to the early days of Brooklyn and through show business in America at some of its finest moments.  He knew them all; not surprisingly at 91, most have passed on.  He still has boundless energy and can tell stories without a prompter (unless you count the guy one stage with him who occasionally got in a word or two).  His legacy is a wealth of the best in musical comedy and comic film, including “The Producers”, “Blazing Saddles”, and “Young Frankenstein”.

The second event was a precious gift from my brother:  a trip to Brownsville.  The main goal was to visit the Stone Avenue Library and get a picture of the statue you see above.  As a child, I visited this library which I now know was the only one of its kind.  One of the last Carnegie libraries built, it was the only one of its kind, a Children’s Library.  In my elementary school years, I read constantly and had to replenish my books every few days.  We were only allowed to check out 4 so I was a regular.  It was a short walking distance from my home; in those days even young children walked everywhere by themselves.  I remember being in the 2^nd or 3^rd grade and walking home with a classmate.  The statue in the picture above was in the lobby and it felt like an old friend.  It looked like Cinderella to me; I don’t know what the sculptor named it.

This visit, I saw the signature “R.H. Park” inscribed and with researched learned he was a rather impressive 19^th Century artist who did many white marble statues as well as numerous monuments around the country. 

Being who I am, I felt it was necessary to announce my presence to the staff in the building, which is now also known as “Brownsville Heritage House” and services as both a community and cultural center.  The librarian, originally from South Carolina, was very friendly and went out of his way to introduce me to the center’s director, Miriam Robertson.  Turns out Brownsville Heritage House is a NYC version of our own Okefenokee Heritage Center and Miriam could be the “sister from another mister” of OHC’s Elizabeth Welch.  Miriam was even interested in the possibility of doing “God’s Trombones” or maybe even “Purlie Victorious”.  How wonderful that would be!

As if that wasn’t enough, turns out that Miriam’s mother, Iris, was in my high school graduating class and I spoke with her over the phone.

To top it off, we walked to our old home, 297 Dumont Avenue, in the Brownsville Houses public housing project.  As we stood there, I struck up a conversation with an older Puerto Rican gentleman who had lived there 40 years.  We talked about hurricanes, family and his plans of moving to Florida in the future.

Sounds, smells and sights are the real time machine.  Sometimes you just have to take the time to remember why you do what you do and in the end, who you really are.

 

Waycross Theatre Noir

                     

 

There have been comments that we, Purlie Productions, do “dark plays”.  It’s true, our topics have been racism (“Purlie Victorious”) and the Holocaust (“The Diary of Anne Frank”).  It  is also true that our current production is also about the Holocaust, although from a different perspective.  It is a story of the legacy left by those who lived through those times and the impact that continues to be evident to this day.

Waycross has two other theater companies that largely produce shows that are solely for entertainment.  There is nothing wrong with entertainment for its own sake.  All of in PP like to be entertained by music and comedy as well.  But there is nothing wrong with a little enlightenment thrown in as well.

The story told in this play has comedy as well.  Our characters are complex people that come alive with their faults and virtues.  But us humans have dark sides as well.  If that wasn’t true, there wouldn’t have been a Holocaust.  In addition, no one can say with any certainty that this couldn’t happen again.  Watching the neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville should make us chill with recognition and wonder how this happens. 

We want you to enjoy our play, but we also want you never to forget what happened in our not-so-distant past.  Hatred of the other is not just a one-time historical event, it is an ongoing legacy.  Slavery is over in our country, but our African-American citizens still carry the memory.  We don’t shoot Native Americans any more, but we don’t treat them like equals either.  Our current leader has made it clear what he thinks of Mexicans, Muslims, and now, Puerto Ricans.  I have to assume he isn't much worried about Jewish or black people either.

We want you to love our show.  Not just for the “message” but for the comedy, talent and creativity of our cast and crew.  Yes, I am seriously prejudiced in that I think that we have a cast of the most dedicated and talented actors (Tom Strait, Julianna Lacefield, Emily Beck and Kyler Austin) ever to grace a stage in Waycross.  We operate in the “Macgyver”* (or “MacGruber”)**Theater” (actually the Studio at the Okefenokee Heritage Center) due to the hard work and creativity of Lamar Deal.  We have professional quality light and sound due to the efforts of David Bruchie (assisted by Warren Wilson), and have the best set we can muster within our limited budget thanks to Lamar and Samantha Bruchie.  We are a small but mighty group!  Come see us!

*Named dubiously after the TV show: “Young war hero Angus "Mac" MacGyver has an extraordinary knack for unconventional problem solving and an extensive bank of scientific knowledge that he believes can best be put to use saving lives, both of which come in handy when he creates a clandestine organization within the United States government to tackle high-risk missions around the world. Working under the sponsorship of the Department of External Affairs, MacGyver quietly prevents disasters with the help of former CIA agent Jack Dalton."

 

                                                               

**An SNL parody of MacGyver:  “MacGruber was a recurring sketch on the NBC television series Saturday Night Live, first appearing on the show in January 2007. The sketch is a parody of the 1985–1992 adventure series MacGyver. The sketch stars Will Forte as special operations agent MacGruber, who is tasked in each episode with deactivating a ticking bomb but becomes distracted by personal issues, resulting in the bomb's detonation and (presumably) the deaths of his companions and himself.”

KNEES, HURRICANES, COPS, BOMBS, AND ME

                                                                  

 

 

The following is an effort to diffuse my constant and pervasive anger at the current state of our government and the exponential rise of hatred and ignorance.  The following are current but not necessarily in order of importance:

1. “Taking a knee” -- I have zero interest in football.  I think the country values it way too much and players are absurdly overpaid.  Among their ranks are spouse, animal, alcohol and drug abusers.  Some are decent people who have had some ability and lucky breaks.  Many give back to the society that has been good to them.  Are they not entitled to express their opinions?  Because they are being paid?  They are NOT being paid to salute the flag or stand during the National Anthem.  They are being played to play football.  Which makes a lot of money for a lot of people.  Seems to me that a LOT of celebrities express their opinions about a lot of things.  Sometimes when they are getting paid, also at other times.  Wearing a pin, or a ribbon, is expressing your opinions.  Making a speech while getting an award is expressing an opinion for something you get paid to do.  There’s only objection when you don’t agree with the cause.
2. As per #1 above, it is absolutely true that legally people of color get the short straw.  Not all, but many, cops assume they are thugs.  Or look like thugs.  Or look like they have guns.  It is absolutely true that people of color are fearful of being stopped by the police.  Those who deny this say, “they shouldn’t commit crimes” or “they shouldn’t run” or “they shouldn’t carry guns”.  Funny how that’s only said about people of color.  Last I heard, white people are all about the right to carry, everywhere and anywhere.  What about innocent until proven guilty?  When a cop kills a “suspect” isn’t he the judge and jury?  And lastly, people run when they’re scared.
3. Hurricane victims:  Our “president” (I will use the quotes and small p until he proves he is worthy of respect) has just hit a new low by accusing the people of Puerto Rico of not helping themselves.  This is after he tells the world what a good job our country is doing in helping them.  This is before he has seen with his own eyes the devastation of an island that is part of our country.  And after saying it was hard to help them because the ocean is “very big”.  He played golf while Puerto Ricans (who are Americans, and include children, old and disabled people, by the way) were waking up each day to heat, darkness, no food or water.  The “Jones Act’ prohibited shipping adequate supplies (until it was temporarily suspended) and commercial goods were held hostage at the ports until they were ordered by the Governor to be released.  This is a disaster of previously unknown proportion, affecting OUR citizens.  There has been a meme circulating asking “where was Obama during Katrina?  Playing golf!”  This is not so funny (you do know he wasn’t President then, right?) when you see our current president doing exactly that.
4. Racism:  NEVER FORGET!!  There is nothing amusing or entertaining about old Nazis (unless you’re Mel Brooks) or Neo-Nazis.  White supremacy in all its forms (racism, anti-Semitism, etc) is completely intolerable and unacceptable.  A “world leader” who doesn’t see that or clearly say that is also intolerable. 
5. North Korea:  All I can see is I’d prefer not to leave this life in a nuclear war.  I’d prefer not to see Hiroshima/Nagasaki in my lifetime.  I’d prefer not to see world leaders with access to earth destroying weapons yelling at each other like playground bullies. 
6. Morality:  The man in the White House has a trail behind him of immoral acts—infidelity, sexual abuse, corporate greed and bankruptcy, abuse of employees and other examples of dishonesty and indecency.  I read all the explanations, but I still don’t understand why people voted for him or still support him. 

   
   

   In summary, politically things are as bad as they have been for a long, long, time.  Is it bad enough so enough Americans will see the need for change?  I know we’re getting tired of comparisons to Hitler’s Germany, but hey, it is what it is.  The Germans, including the Jews, fooled themselves as long as they could.  Many died never seeing the light.  For me, I can’t blind myself to what is right in front of my face.  For everyone else—you might want to open your eyes.