T-3 and counting. Three tech/dress rehearsals before Richard II in unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Things are coming together so I am going to put on my best Geoffrey Rush from ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and assume it will all work itself out because it almost always does and that’s the magic of theatrical live performance. I do have to give kudos for my cast and staff for holding on to my fever dream of an idea about having this play about the abuse of power leading to the collapse of a societal order being used to mirror how those same dynamics are playing out in today’s world. It will be up and running and I’ll have had some audience feedback the next time I write one of these epistles and I guess I’ll know whether the show is a success or a craptastic flop. It takes really bright, talented people to create a theatrical disaster. The unimaginative and untalented just create mediocrity and not the disastrous flame outs that become theatrical legend.
I had my annual review this past week. I am gainfully employed for another year. Neither UAB nor the VA seems dissatisfied with how I get my job done. As I’ve been doing it for them for nearly three decades, I more or less have it figured out. I guess this is my penultimate review. I’ll have another one next summer but I plan to be retired before the summer of 2027 comes along. Of course there’s a lot that could change between now and then. Things remain unstable in federal agencies, academia, and health care due to the caprices of the current administration and I haven’t a clue where we’ll all be heading next month, much less a year and a half from now. I’m being encouraged to continue thinking outside of the box and coming up with new ways of positioning senior care in a constantly changing environment. I don’t mind a challenge but I think this one is beyond my capabilities.
As Richard II exits my life, I have to figure out what’s next to keep the creative juices flowing. My publisher remains out of pocket so the writing projects for him are on hold. My last few auditions haven’t led to any results. I am in talks for a few projects for the fall that won’t require a cattle call audition. (Good – I hate them and I’m not especially good at them). I do want to take a trip abroad in October of some sort but haven’t gotten anything narrowed down yet. I’m thinking something relaxing with some beach time but we shall see. I also have to get out to Seattle to see the family this fall. It will all puzzle together somehow and around about Halloween I’ll be looking at my schedule and lashing myself for my usual over commitments.
There hasn’t been much happening in covidland recently. Antivaccine voices are being magnified for political reasons and I’ve read things blaming covid vaccines, specifically spike proteins for everything from new onset schizophrenia to liver failure to increased asthma this summer. (First and second, not a shred of scientific evidence and third more likely due to heat domes and air quality). From what I can tell, vaccine will be available for fall boosters for those who want them (and only about 15-20% of the adult population is taking advantage) but given the actions and rhetoric out of DHS and CDC I wouldn’t count on much for next year. It looks like Kennedy is going to remove the regulations and laws which have shielded vaccine manufacturers from liability (a necessity to keep them in business in our litigious society). If that happens, manufacturers of all vaccines are likely to start withdrawing from the US market. Catch up now.
And that’s how this administration is operating to exert control across society. It’s actually rather clever. They’re not directly telling an institution what they can or cannot do, they are placing levers of power over the flow of dollars so that institutions will police themselves and fall into compliance with the political will of the current executive branch. Media companies are being blessed with ‘bias monitors’ as a condition of federal approval of mergers and acquisitions who, if they do not like a news story can trigger federal sanctions. Universities are accepting federal monitors who will check on admissions and hiring to prevent forbidden DEI practices or their federal funding for research grants and the like will be withheld. Critical voices are rapidly becoming complacent. And inconvenient truths are being erased. Take H5N1 bird flu. CDC is no longer tracking cases or spread. If it starts human to human transmission, there will be no early warnings and we won’t be aware of an emerging pandemic until it’s far too late to do anything to try and stop it.
Trump continues to turn the White House into Mar A Lago North. The pictures of the unsightly patio over the former rose garden lawn have done nothing to alleviate my fears over just what all else he has planned for the residence. And we found out this week that he is going to raze the east wing (no huge loss) for a huge gilt ballroom which appears to be modeled on Versailles (showing that he has no understanding of the neoclassical design of the building and its decor). I’m sure we will soon be treated to pictures of him on a dais smiling over a ballroom full of over dressed sycophants. It brings to my mind the old trope of the glittering ball just before the revolution that’s a mainstay of old Hollywood and potboiler novels. We’re reaching a revolutionary inflection point – inequality, hoarding of resources, an armed populace. It may get interesting in a year or two.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 