That Evening Sun

I feel re-energized. This weekend I spent a day at the Act One Film Festival watching movies and projects completed by other Act One alumni and listening to panel discussions. I was particularly impressed with That Evening Sun. It should be released in November, so try and catch it if you can. The story is compelling and the acting is strong, particularly Hal Holbrook and Ray McKinnon. I think it's the only time in a movie that the filmmakers used a sex scene (between a husband and wife with no nudity) in a way that was not manipulative, gratuitous, or meant to titillate. I can't quite explain it, but it was really well done and interesting in terms of character.

Now, I'm not much of a networker and am a little shy about approaching new people in large groups, but just through catching up with friends, getting to know new people at the barbecue and asking them questions about themselves because I was truly interested, I ended up having some cool discussions. As a by-product, I had about five people request to read my script, which I think has gotten much tighter over the last couple of months. Best of all, I had a great conversation with a guy currently in the writing program who had worked at some sort of mentorship project in DC, which he found out had ties to a Christian secret society. Being fascinated by anything remotely cultish, I was all ears. It turns out I had heard the name before because my friend's husband is involved and they, in fact, contributed money to my mission trip to India! I want to do my own research on the group, which is a men's fellowship group, but wowza, it was interesting.

As for the screenplay, I just heard back from the Nicholl Fellowship. They got about 6400 submissions and only 321 were in the quarter finals. I was encouraged to hear that all of the responses from the readers who read mine were positive, although it finished just outside the top 1000. That ain't too crappy, though.

This Saturday I'm going to my 20-year high school reunion down in Orange County. Seriously? 20 years? I 'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to and what they look like now. The gifted and talented program I was in in 5th and 6th grade is also getting together for a pre-reunion reunion. That's the part I'm most excited about. We had a lot of great experiences together in our non-traditional magnet. One of our teachers was Mr. Ayers, a creative, inspired guy with a handlebar mustache. In his class we performed some of Shakespeare's plays, wrote sonnets, and did musicals (I can't believe I still remember the words: "Oh my darlin', oh my darlin', oh my darlin' Cinderfella! You were true blue, Buckshot wooed you, and you got yerself a fella!). In 6th grade we had a full on mock society in Mr. Cowen's class where we all had jobs and there were lawyers and a judge. We'd put kids on trial for things like cutting in the handball line or talking in class. It was kind of kickass and awesome. Mr. Cowen would always read us books after lunch and periodically take a handful of kids to the mall for lunch as a reward when we did well or earned points. They were incredible teachers, men and role models and I'm grateful for the memories and everything that they passed on to us all.

I also want to ask one dude a question at the reunion: Why did you punch me in the stomach at the water fountain in fifth grade? Did I provoke you somehow (I can't remember) or did you like me? Just curious. No bad feelings, but you didn't adjust the power of your punch because I was a girl. I took a hit that would have taken the air out of any fifth grade boy. He's the little blonde boy, second to last picture on the school photo below...