Day 16-18
Wednesday, May 7th - Day 16
Really really good blueberry pancake this morning. A little light chatter about the Met Gala still…about Joey King.
I went to the library where I leafed through the Charlie White book Monsters again. I realize that this puppet photo is maybe why I ordered hand puppets. It’s scary and funny. Exactly what a play about immaculate rabbit birth scams of the 1700s needs tonally.
Did a little textin’ with Tyler about dry spell casting. Then I wandered past the chicken coop. The girls were in a MOOD. Little raptors today. Lunch was this grilled cheese with smoked salmon. I watched this video of a raccoon trying to smoke a meth pipe and then I decided to walk to town. Not to my beloved Rite Aid, but to the CVS.
It was a little sketchy because it seems like it’s illegal in Peterborough to have sidewalks on both sides of the road. You’re lucky if you get one. I was listening to the hits of 2003 on Spotify to get me in a brainstorming mode. The Charlie White photos of Teen People covers has become sort of a central inspiration for this piece. I wrote this line after lunch, “many people say that the best part of yer teenage years are yer late 20s.” Now I think that Mary can’t exactly see the future, but issues of tabloids are coming out of her vagina every month (periodicals after every period). It’s part of a curse that was placed on her.
The CVS was chaotic now that all of the Rite Aid devotees were there. I was sad about the tabloid selection. I wanted some Teen People issues, but the best they seemed to have was Vanity Fair. Life is so unfair. I grabbed some 1700s period accurate gold hoop earrings and then as I went to the checkout I found the motherlode. Star, National Enquirer, etc. This CVS employee with a thick Russian accent apologized for them being out of date. I said they were perfect. I went to the self-checkout. Then I waited for about six minutes for someone to check my ID for the last of my MacDowell beer supply. Was the Russian woman real or simply a ghost?
I worked a little more on the play…which I’m now calling “Stupid & Sullen” which is what one of the doctors called Mary. Now I’m thinking of having the audience read her sympathy cards, her fan mail, maybe she’s learning to read! I made a few greeting cards at the library. They’re sort of extraordinarily dumb objects. Which is perfect. I think I need to figure a script out by tomorrow and film certain elements on Friday. I want to do a bit where Mary talks to an apple like an iPhone and have projection behind her like it actually works. Maybe the iPhone is another thing that comes out of her. Her vagina is like a magician’s top hat or a clown car…
I shared a bit with Jessica. She said my mind was wild. She was laughing at how I was sharing this with her like it was a secret. Really I’m just sad that she is leaving before this presentation. I met Dantiel outside the library and we walked to dinner which was a really audacious blend of things…these zucchini flowers, cloud eggs, potato pancakes with butternut squash, fiddleheads with onion and garlic. It was a little unreal. Like ooh la la. We had this chia seed pudding with blueberry and a lemon custard.
I went back to the library to briefly do some writing. Then I chatted with Naomi (who was in my studio once before! and reminds me a little of Jung Hae) and Golden. We walked over to the Eaves, she smoked a cig, and then I walked Golden to their studio before trudging back to Pan for a late night shower.
Work from this day:
I made greeting cards for the Toft Play that may not get used
Thursday, May 8th - Day 17
Had a frittata and a waffle. We said our goodbyes to Aaron (after explaining what the Oracle is to him...). I gave him an index card and a pen so he could donate an answer. Mariam and I discussed how we should go. She was explaining that the Oracle has provided a range of answers to different people. She said some have been deep and one person was simply told to “Watch Drive My Car.” Which I think is always sound advice. She agrees to meet up at Bond and we’ll make the perilous journey.
I went to the library and began to work on my tabloid magazine covers. I downloaded images of heart throbs like Jake Gyllenhaal and Brad Pitt and Usher and Justin Timberlake, etc. Then I put rabbit heads on them and wrote headlines for this fake tabloid for 23 year old teenagers. Fun little exercise. I downloaded some music too…instrumentals of Rumors by Lindsay Lohan, a few Aguilera tracks, some 50 Cent, some Lil Jon. All important things for my piece. Pulitzer Prize, here I come…
Ate this huge fish sandwich for lunch. Divine. Kind of a bright citrusy soup too. Then, Mariam and I made our way to the amphitheater (which Dustin so highly recommended!) and wow, this place is so cool. Huge crumbling ruin of a place with this wild view of the woods and distant mountains. We tucked our pants into our socks cause that’s what the cool kids are doing these days. Sat on a little moss that seemed dry until it started to sponge its rainy goodness onto our bums. I saw the greenest bug I’ve ever seen.
We both realized we have no idea where the Oracle is. We ran into some MacDowell employees and they tell us how to get there. We immediately got lost and then Tyson called out to us from up the hill, sitting on his porch. He was like are you looking for the Oracle…are you lost…etc. It was like he was waiting for us to accidentally pass his studio haha.
We make the journey…talk a bit about applying for residencies, the project she’s working on, growing up near woods, etc. We get to the Oracle which is right outside of Chapman. It’s very clearly a repurposed outhouse with these origami cranes, a little electric candle, tarot cards, and a piece of bark on the wall. Mariam asked her question first and pulled out an answer. Which was… “Watch Drive My Car.” We laugh. She asks if I think she can pick another answer. I say, sure…I think that was the Oracle joking with you…like saying…I heard what you said this morning lol. She gets a much better follow-up answer.
I donate Aaron’s answer first. Then I wrote my question down. Dropped it in the hole. Touched the bark. Connected with the cosmos and pulled out an answer: “All things change. So change.” Ooooh…yes.
We walk to the pond. Talk a bit about poetry. We hop over a few fresh streams. Slop through a few muddy stretches. A giant tree has fallen across the path and we climb through its branches to go up to see the boulder. Mariam says it’s like a troll rock or troll stone…
Back in civilization, I thoroughly check for ticks and take a shower. I crush all of my beer cans in anticiption of my photo shoot tomorrow morning. Some light tidying. Maintenance comes by to check my heating. I call my mom to check on the status of my early Mother’s Day gift (a lavender plant which she loves, bueno).
Dinner is stuffed peppers with turkey, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Leona and Michael talk a lot of French. We discuss the density of English, the way blue didn’t really exist in The Odyssey (wine dark sea, etc). Leona doesn’t believe in astrology which makes sense cause she’s a Leo.
Papatya and Diane presented short sections of their novels. Really cool stuff (a monkey snake and a man who wins his wife in a card game). Then we drank a bunch of white wine and hung out. My rabbit puppets arrived! They are adorable. They’re sort of the opposite of my judge puppet. I did a little more late night writing. Texted a bit with Atlie. I did a recording of what I have so far…because maybe it’ll be a wholly lipsynced performance. Did some out of order segments just to try them (a fight with the moon, a discussion with Joshua Toft, her husband). Also did a little singing with a bunny to “Beautiful” (if you put its face in its hands, you can have it peek from behind its ear…it’s incredible.) Then off to bed!
Work from this day:
Friday, May 9th - Day 18
Woke up a little later than usual. 8am. What a sleepy head.
Went to breakfast and set an alarm to tell me to walk back for my official photo session for the MacDowell website.
Jo came in after I did some more last minute tidying up. She took pictures of me working at my desk, playing with my bunny puppet, in the comfy chair I’ve never sat in before, daydreaming on the porch that I’ve never sat on before, and even leaning against the doorway to Mansfield, a thing I have never done before too. Then in my outrageous Nickelodeon print sweatsuit, I stood before the trees and nature. Blending in hasn’t ever been my strong suit. Jo says Mansfield is a studio for people who need healing energy. Maybe this is part of why I avoid working in there and can only seem to nap in there.
She insists on taking a photo with my phone of me holding the tombstone with Antoinette Nwandu’s name on it. It’s probably going to be the best photo of the whole session. Then I bite the bullet and sign my own name, very carefully…and double checking how to spell playwright…a word I write all the time, but hey, mistakes can happen when you sign something so formal like this!
I wandered to the library where I spent about an hour getting nothing done. Got lunch with Marcus and a group of folks. Jessica and Kyuri modeled all of the MacDowell merch. They belong on the website. Marcus donated seltzers to the group (my hero, truly). Did a little bit of accent work with the group. Someone said I even looked British (it’s all the bread I eat).
I started my laundry and went back to the library where I achieved nothing again. The photo sesh sort of threw my whole rhythm off. I tossed things into the dryer and then tossed myself into my studio bed for a two to three hour nap.
Went to grab my stuff from the laundry room and ran into Jessica. I folded stuff and we talked about the TV shows we watched as kids: Rugrats, Doug, Rocket Power, Aaah! Real Monsters. I told her about the monkey who lived in mirrors and ate children (my imaginary enemy). I showed her my room at Pan and she showed me hers. Then we walked to dinner. SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS.
After dinner we played a physically challenging game of Pig, led by Dantiel. I lost my phone which was devastating, but I was very brave about it. Then we pushed our minds to the limit with a game of Trivial Pursuit…it was a pretty outdated version. Questions about who played Gene Krupa in The Gene Krupa Story. Or hideously racist like, “Which state has the most Indians?” I leave the room and someone gets a question about Arthur Miller. Life is so unfair…
Mariam wiped the floor with us, but it was so much fun.
Walked back to Pan with Jessica. We hugged three times. She promised to send me her manifesto. I said maybe her cactus music could be in my play one day. That would be sort of beautiful. I took a shower and after I got dressed, I wrote her a poem on an index card. I went up to her room and gave it to her. A fourth hug and more talk of the bunny puppets before I went to my studio. Couldn’t sleep so I watched two episodes of Work of Art.
Work from this day:
Another really good nap