What Does Your Profile .....

... really say about you? I set up this blog and then I went back and read it like I was a stranger ... Immediately I was struck by the oddity of my favorite books and movies. For me, they're kind of an eclectic mix of strange tastes. Well, at least they read that way. So to anyone who may read my dribble here, my "favs" are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my craziness. It got me to thinking though, what makes these books, movies, and music my favorites? The list of books and movies are actually pretty easy -- they're the things that made me feel really good, changed my perspective, taught me something new, or just stuck with me emotionally for so long, in a positive way, that they kind of became part of me.

"Dances With Wolves" is a good example. I know that I'm part native-american -- Cherokee and Algonquin. How big a part? Don't know. What I do know is that as a kid I thought it was a very, very bad thing to be. I mean look at all the western movies I grew up with where the natives were portrayed as savage, drunk, abusive, and often stupid, yadda, yadda, yadda ... and besides, the 60's in general were not really a good time to be brown. When I saw "Dances With Wolves" I was moved because it was the first time I had ever seen native americans portrayed as sensitive, thinking, caring people who nurtured one another, had families and worked together as a community. I went to the theatre four nights in a row for that film.

I read "Treblinka" for the first time when I was 13. It's unbelievable that I knew NOTHING about The Holocaust until I read that book but it's true. An intelligent-beyond-her years drum corps friend of mine loaned it to me -- she now writes for "The Wall Street Journal" btw -- and I can't even begin to describe the numerous ways that book touched me and changed my way of thinking. I read it again about 10 years later and it still had the same effect on me. Thanks Nancy.

Music is a little different ... it's more about how it makes me feel or what it says to me ... literally. If a song has words, I want it to tell me a story ... which is why I like Ice Cube's gangsta' rap and Jim Croce's music. Sometimes it's just about the memories that music brings back. Carole King was popular at an idyllic time of my life so her music makes me feel good (no matter what) and it's great background, when played really loud, for cleaning the house.

Why is there nowhere in the profile to put your favorite plays or live performances? For example, I really loved "Les Miserables" on stage. Why has that never been made into a field show? Ya' know, it would make a fabulous winterguard show!! Well, it's probably been done and I missed it ... I was gone for a long time.

Hmmmm.