The world is on fire and I’ve largely missed it. Is there a greater mark of white privilege? I am not ok for reasons that are personal and not even a drop in the ocean that is the grief and rage of systemic hate and oppression. “I’m not racist!” We who are complicit in upholding […]
Category: Life
Swallow my Pride and Buckle up for the Ride
My adult life keeps making me eat my words. I’m not. I can’t. I don’t. I don’t sew; I don’t knit. (Spoiler: I now do both of those.) So, so many I-can’t’s locked up in theatre, in being onstage. So much fear of being asked to do something awkward, embarrassing, uncomfortable when those described everything […]
10 Things I’ve Learned in Lockdown
Reality hasn’t felt quite real since 2016 when a reality TV buffoon went from national joke to international menace president. No sooner did he remove CDC experts then a global pandemic landed in the US. We’ve reached the apocalyptic segment of this dystopian novel we’re living. And it feels like I’ve read this one before. […]
Goals backward and forward
I have a habit of setting new goals for myself every year. They’re not resolutions. Resolutions are “I want to get an agent.” That’s what I want to happen but not something I have much control over. Goals are my roadmap for getting me as close as I can get under my own agency. These […]
The Sound and the Story
I’m still figuring out how to even talk about the last few months. Despite the fact that I don’t feel like I’m grieving, I’ve had a practically pathological avoidance of anything to do with Gram and dealing with her death. This avoidance has snowballed to include most forms of communication. And writing. So I’ve been […]
Thoughts on New Year’s Eve
Pausing work on another, longer blog post about what I’ve been up to in order to acknowledge the changing of years. Of decades, even. This time of year makes me extra introspective and saying good bye to an entire decade? Yeah, I’m in deep. This has been a decade of loss. My dad, an uncle […]
Goodbye, Gram
I always told Gram she’d know she was in trouble when I stopped giving her shit. I always gave her shit. My husband would listen to me on the phone with her and often just had to walk away shaking his head at what I said to her. In my defense, he didn’t hear what […]
Overachiever
I’m in a play. (Midsummer Night’s Dream!With so many amazing and talented people!) Back onstage for a full production for the first time since my daughter was born. This would be enough all by itself, but I am an overachiever. TW: pregnancy loss, profanity, current state of the US Not only am I a primary […]
Nostalgia Stories
Nostalgia can be good. But it can also be bad. Like cheap hot cocoa mix with the tiny dehydrated marshmallows: I want it for the nostalgia, but invariably the marshmallows either have the crunch of chalk or dissolve into air like the illusions they are. My husband and I had this conversation tonight and it […]
Happy New Year’s Resolutions!
‘Tis the season…for making resolutions and setting goals! Once upon a time, I made new resolutions every new year and each one went the standard way of New Year’s resolutions: they quickly faded from memory. But over the last several years, I’ve become much better. Most of my tracking and public accountability is over at […]
Melissa Burkart 