A month ago, I got a jury duty postcard. For many years, this meant panic time. This year, when I’m working on a project called Citizen Joy, I had to untangling my habitual reactions. “No, I won’t panic, I won’t rail against this unfair disruption of my life, I won’t try to get out of it. Instead, I will find the joy in jury duty.” It worked. I showed up early, found a good … Read More

“I have learned that “feel the feels” is best done by moving…shaking off anxiety by bouncing on my rebounder…expressing rage by beating a foam bat…catalyzing tears by curling up in a ball on the floor and listening to a sad song.” – Andrea Howe, my old friend and colleague, responding to the May Gazette. “Downsize! Why didn’t you downsize? We’ll be here the rest of our lives, going through your stuff.” – A lyric … Read More

The last couple of newsletters have focused on the Citizen Joy project so this one is in a more personal vein. Last year, when my family was going through some tough times, I put together a quick emotional exercise to use when found myself in the all-too-familiar state of floating in anxiety. This is the cadence: Feel the feels. Hold the hope. Set firm boundaries. If I do it well and actually feel what … Read More

“I chose to become a citizen of the United States. When I took the oath of allegiance, I was surprised that something that from the depths of me surfaced. I think that being gay has a lot to do with that – I’m not used to being recognized or being treated in certain way, and all of a sudden, I’m treated as an equal and I’m welcome.” That’s an excerpt from an interview I … Read More

Thank you, thank you for your answers to the questions in last month’s Gazette – they helped me, and my team, move Citizen Joy! on fast-forward in February. I have another request this month, but first, here is where we are now: Citizen Joy! will use live interactive shows + on-line artistic challenges to connect people across the country based on shared ideas and commonly held beliefs about… a. …what brings us joy in … Read More

It should always be this easy! Last month I wrote about wanting to spend more time in “good gangs,” dynamic groups working in the arts, consulting, and political worlds. Viola! Since then, I’ve been invited to join four great teams. On the political front, I’m starting my own gang for a project inspired by a theatrical event at another moment when autocrats were on the rise — in 1936, the Federal Theater Project staged … Read More