two days of work.....

at Friends, free again today, and most likely tomorrow (since school closes at 11) so next time I return there will be either Tuesday (indefinite) or Wednesday (definite). Some sense of an ending, as there always is at this time, yet I am looking forward to next year, to watch how the students (particularly the seventh and eighth grade---whom I have spent much time with) grow.
   The transition from eighth to ninth is a very strong one. I spent a great deal of time with last year's eighth grade---now, I hardly recognize many of them. Why? Lots of physical changes, but emotionally they have moved from the screaming to the diffident. Will this be true for this year's eighth grade, a group I know very well. There are at least 10 students in that group that I really feel I know, or have a (quirky) relationship with. Will they change and remove themselves from my world. Of course, I probably will work less with them as well, since I do more work in the middle school. But it will be interesting to see if those bonds hold, or if they withdraw into a kind of measured teen-age remove.
  Highlight of the last two days was my attending the student one acts---eight of them altogether, presented at 4, both Tuesday and Wednesday. I was impressed by their sense of honest invention. The script visions were totally spontaneous, not copied from anyone. Fifteen minute plays are hard---I really don't like them---and most of the ones that I have seen written by adults, have left me cold---minimal invention or forced invention. There was nothing forced about these fifteen minute works, the conflict was stated early---the focus and where the plays had to move to was very clear. The acting for the most part was very strong. Tuesday's group was a little more focused then Wednesday's, I left the theater on Tuesday feeling  a real sense of excitement--but Wednesday's group was credible as well. There is lots of talent gestating at Friends; it will be interesting to see how it develops.
  That is sort of it for now---not sure what this evening's activity will be---just signed up for Clubbed Thumb's first play of the season for tomorrow night---and might see a play or movie tonight, depending on my energy level around 6. Or maybe it will be nice just to hang out. Will report tomorrow.