Let's just say that there have only been two auditions in these past two weeks since I have been off from the Met Opera. Both of those auditions had 200 girls or more at the beginning. By the end of the first of the two auditions, the only two girls that remained were myself and another young lady. To make things better, we looked completely different and were reading for different parts. Now, there was an entire other (equity) day of auditions for this production, so it's possible the director will cast based on the union talent instead of taking a risk with someone non union.
Still, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping. The good juju took me through to this week, because today I found myself at the end of another audition for a production that may be staffing as soon as tomorrow and sending out calls! Eek!
People who don't do performing arts have a difficult time understanding the crazy unnatural expectations and highs and lows of working as a performing artist. Some dancers may audition (interview) for years to get a good contract, and then one comes along like this gig I've got at the Met. Employment is never guaranteed permanent in this field, and employment periods are traditionally short. So you hold onto a gig that you like as long as you can, always keeping your eye on the next opportunity.
It's exhausting, but it's worth it. And performing artists thrive on support and love and engagement with their craft to keep at it.
I only hope that my country elects a president who shares my values about the importance of education, of exposing people to a wide variety of experiences, and of funding the arts to ensure the mental, spiritual health of our country.
Last week I went to a fascinating New York Magazine election event, where a room full of media specialists tried to get to the bottom of how to make the world a better place. In the past few weeks, I've been doubting the soundness of the decision to spread myself across two things I love so much instead of focusing on one of them. I realized at the NYMag event that it is a wonderful thing that I have the energy to be passionate about and advocate for the importance of many things: education, selflessness in interpersonal relationships, open-minded dialogue, social policy, and the arts, and that those passions have led me to a wonderfully diverse life filled with fulfilling work that enables me to pursue each of them. I certainly may not be able to live like this forever, but I'm going to try like heck for as long as I can!
That said, I asked a question at the NYMag event, and I was flattered that it prompted a complete stranger behind me to suggest I should start a new Twitter or blog based on my question, since he didn't follow anyone on Twitter, but would come onto Twitter for me. My question seemed an obvious one to me at the time "What can we do to promote a shift in the national dialogue, away from the glee of dissecting and criticizing the person, and focused on dissecting and criticizing the policy, without being blindsided by party platforms, so that at the end of the day we can have civilized discussion about what is best for the majority of Americans." But the more I think about it, the more I realize the circus that has become our political structure has dazzled us to the point that we are no longer able to focus on the nitty gritty connective tissue upon which our national identity relies for stability.
To that end, here are some of my thoughts from tonight's debate:
Obama inherited a debt and an economy in the largest crisis since the Great Depression. Bush had a whole eight years to destroy the surplus left by Clinton and send America's economy and debt spiraling out of control to fund unnecessary wars. Any one with a brain can see that it takes more than 4 years to create policies, pass policies, and then have those policies go to effect and show results in less than the time it took for the problems to be made. We have a democracy, the president has to work with the representative government, he's not a dictator. The problem was, we had a representative government (majority of Repubs) who would not work with Obama. These intransigent Republican congressmen held back the growth of their own country for most of Obama's term - solely because Obama's party is not their party - and their bad policies and lack of integrity or awareness of the interconnected relationship between social policies & economic health
share the same platform as Romney's policy.
OBAMA 2012!
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