Update on various things

The Indy Convergence has come to a close, and now I have a little time to breathe in between teaching and rehearsing for Pirates of Penzance with Indianapolis Opera.The Convergence is just the sort of brain food my artistic side had been craving. I met and collaborated with wonderful artists from various disciplines and participated in numerous workshops and brainstorming sessions. I got to know some of the quirky and often pointed poems of Kenneth Patchen, not only by reading them in books, but by reading them (one poem in particular) aloud with actors and doing contact improv movement inspired by his picture poems.This all culminated in a performance on February 28, which included the short chamber opera, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, which I directed. I wrote the story and co-composed the music with Meredith Gilna, a composition student at Butler. We barely got the music finished when we were already staging, and there just wasn't enough time to do as much with it as we would have liked. But thanks to the miracle of theatre and having some wonderfully professional collaborators, the performance went very well and got lots of laughs from the audience. This was the fulfillment of a dream for me--to see an idea I had grow and come to life and have the support of collaborators and a wonderful environment in which to take it for a test spin. I had an idea, and got what I needed to make it happen--sort of like a Make-a-wish foundation for artists, only you don't have to be terminally ill!In other news, I have gotten back into writing, at least somewhat. I started writing a story I've had kicking around in my brain tentatively titled "The Golden Larynx." Right now it's a cool idea without much of a plot, but I have a possible direction to take it in to at least get me started, and probably won't know what the real plot is until I finish a draft and take a closer look.Athena is still with us, though declining. She gets around the house better than she did a week ago when she was almost too weak to walk, and I think this is due to all the baby food we've been giving her through a syringe. She requests food in her bowl and will sometimes take a few bites, but not nearly enough to sustain herself. I suspect there's another medical issue besides the failing kidneys, but at this point it doesn't seem wise or worthwhile to subject her to all sorts of tests and she's far too weak to be anesthetized to check out her stomach. I'm trying to make the most of every chance I get to spend with her and hug her and hear her purr.