On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic. - NYT

I love this bridge... it really is beautiful!

On May 23...

On May 23, 1934, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, La. - NYT

I am sorry friends for the lack of postage lately... I am busy working on an AWESOME show for the T. Schrieber Studio. It's called You Can't Take It You, by Kaufman and Hart. I am really proud of the show. Its really well acted and the writing is so good. It has such a great old-timey feel to it because it was written in the 1930's, of course. If you want more info about it: click here Check it out! its running into June...

Now once again, i am packing up my life as a gypsy would, to begin my annual migration to the summer stock... This year I am going to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival... I will let you know how it is...

A Bientot...

Tossed and Found...

I think that this USED to be a chair



A toilet seat in between two mattresses... obviously that's where it should go...

'They called me the hyacinth girl.'

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
- T.S. Eliot 'The Waste Land'


(So I just missed National Poetry Month, so sue me... but I am feeling the need for poetry in my life lately... SO thought I would share...)

Happy May Day!

What are we actually celebrating on May Day? That's what I asked myself today... and you know what happens when I get curious... I go to Wikipedia and look up stuff...

So here is what Wikipedia says:

"May Day is May 1, and refers to any of several holidays celebrated on this day. May 1 was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures, and many elements of these holidays are still celebrated on May 1 today, such as the Maypole. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer: hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was "midsummer."

In the Roman Catholic tradition, May is observed as Mary's month, and May Day is usually a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this connection, Mary's head (in works of art, school skits, etc.) will often be adorned with flowers. Another May Day tradition (fading in popularity since the late 20th century) is the giving of May baskets, small baskets of candy and/or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors' doorsteps.

May 1st is also the optional Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The feast was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workers a model and a protector.

In the United States, May Day is officially observed as Loyalty Day.

May Day also refers to various socialist and labor movement celebrations conducted on May 1, unrelated to the traditional celebrations, to commemorate the Haymarket martyrs of 1886 and the international socialist movement generally. The latter event is an important holiday in Communist and Socialist countries.

May Day originally became associated with labor in Saint Louis, Missouri because the contracts for the summer construction season were signed on May 1. This economic practice spread to Chicago and other American cities.

In addition, May Day in the United States is commonly regarded — at least by certain groups — as a commemoration of the execution of the Haymarket martyrs who were arrested after the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, Illinois, which occurred on May 4, but was the culmination of labor unrest which began on May 1. The date consequently became established as an anarchist and socialist holiday during the 20th century, and in these circles it is often known as International Workers' Day or Labour Day. In this form, May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement.

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian Europe, as in the Celtic celebration of Beltane, and the Walpurgis Night of the Germanic countries. Although the pagan-oriented celebrations faded as Europe became Christianised, a more secular version of the holiday continued to be observed in the schools and churches of Europe well into the 20th century. In this form, May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing the Maypole and crowning of the Queen of the May. Today many Neopagans, especially Wiccans, celebrate reconstructed versions of the old pagan holidays on May 1" (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day).



Interesting... Speaking of the rise of Labor Parties...


I saw The COAST OF UTOPIA by Tom Stoppard at Lincoln Center Theatre last week... (Which is about the pre-revolutionary thinkers of Russia in exile who do their part to incite the Russian Revolution...) I chose to devote a whole day to seeing all three of these AMAZING shows and it was quite an event. The Plays are, like all of Stoppard's work, is very well written and funny with that biting bit of dry sarcastic British humor that i adore... and the design is beautiful. Simple and striking and very well done. And even though it was about, idk... SEVEN HOURS of theatre. It was still such an amazing experince and I would totally do it all over again... not to Mention that BEST part... Tom Stoppard and Jack O'Brien were actually in the audience (along with a melange of other random stars like Nathan Lane and Eric Stoltz)... and after the last company bow just as the applause was about to die someone yells 'Author' and there was another 10 mins of clapping and then just about when that was going to die Tom Stoppard and Jack O'Brien came walking down the isle of the theater and walked up on stage and took another 10 min encore bow/kiss and cry with the actors, etc...

In my entire life of going to the "theatre"... I have never seen anything like this happen before... I can't, I don't have words for how amazing this was to see! Wow... I am so glad I went on that particular day... what luck!

Incidentally... if you have the opportunity to see this show before is closes than i highly recommend it!

Tossed and Found...

This week was amazing in the world of trash...

Yes, that's an OVEN in a dumpster... wow.
Books on Parenting...

More Books... I particularly loved the way they were so artfully arranged and the title of the book is, "I wish I never met you" in case you missed that...

Doesn't this look like someone's living room? on the side of the street? weird...

the darling buds of May...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 18, by William Shakespeare