EXTRA CRITICUM

Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation - A Film Review

Would you like to contemplate time, continuity, community, creativity, and spirituality while seeing beautiful images of an architectural marvel? If yes, have I got a film for you: Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation, directed by Stefan Haupt.

Storytelling vs. Story Writing

For reasons that remain a mystery to me but which I sort of expect may reveal themselves in time, we hear a lot about story and storytelling these days. It's not uncommon to hear writers of all forms talk about the fundamental human hunger for good storytelling. And thanks in large part to the efforts of The Moth and others like it, storytelling, as an art form is enjoying a renaissance.

Don't get me wrong. I love a good storytelling. And I love the Moth, whose Artistic Director Catherine Burns, is an old pal of mine. But as much as I may love good story, I love great writing more. And that's what I fear gets too little attention in a world where "content is king."

On Courage and Inspiration

In my younger and more vulnerable years I spent a lot of time with my friend, Carol, smoking and drinking in various venues in Brooklyn.  We lingered long and tipped well, so they were always glad to see us (“Norm!”).

Carol was then in the midst of making her first documentary, the superb Camp Victory: Afghanistan. It took her all around the world, particularly to Kabul and it’s environs. She met many interesting people there - renegades and ex-pats and idealists - and they would occasionally come through New York and drink and smoke with us.

One of these people was a woman who ran a children’s hospital in Kabul. Like many interesting people, she asked more questions than she ever answered. Specifically, she asked me about playwriting.

Between Projects

Sometimes I get sad and I don’t know why. This happens to everyone, of course, and can be caused by anything from hormones to weather. The idea that sadness is a problem – that you are supposed to be happy every minute of the day and if you aren’t there is something wrong with you – is a particularly American mania, and a destructive one at that. I try to ignore it.

Still, when sadness persists, and no cause from my life or psyche rise to the surface, I start to wonder.