Have I "lost the thread"?

 That quote, from a one act play by Tennessee Wiliams called The Purification. I directed it my senior year at Hopkins---my final statement, you might say. Much of its intense verse comes back to me often---I can still see the whole production in my mind, at the Hopkins Barn. Felt that way this morning---sightly cut off--not sure how I want to deal with my present situation. Have movies replaced people in my life? Is that okay?

Yesterday morning---sightly advantage of no work until 4 to finally head to Brooklyn. First to my bank, which has a branch on Fulton Steeet which is the southern border of Bed-Stuy---walked on the street after my deposit---mostly black people in and out of the different stores---looks like a poverty area, but you know that in my streets in the neighborhood, brownstones are going for almost 3 million. Amazing contrast, isn't it? Stopped off at a nice coffee shop on Franklin Avenue--then took the bus west to the BAM area. A very specific goal there---to check out the new Arts Library across the street from BAM Fisher. Nicely put together with a lot of room---kind of unspecific grouping of different arts---movies, poetry, some fiction--a small shelf for plays---but actually a nice group of plays written by playwrights of color. Made me feel good since I had just completed The Exception to the Rule, a terrific play by Dave Harris, about six black teen agers serving detention. Very well written, missed the production about a year and a half ago at the Roundabout small theater. Should have a life after--but so many plays come in and out; that is New York theater now.

returned to Manhattan and went to the library to do my work. Today maybe only one student---tomorrow---Saturday possibly a few more--things are changeable there. As for my "arts participation" this weekend--a friend, whom I have not seen since the pandemic is in a play---Exiles, by James Joyce---may check it out, depending on my stamina--also this morning must embark on my journey to Spanish Harlem to the drugstore that supplies my Ostomy supplies. Tasks, tasks, they never end--will report soon.

Played out....

 A strange day----my one day off from the work that I do. Yet unable to make a complete plan---tired, yet not tired enough to simply remain in the apartment. Reading several books (Oh, how I love libraries!) all of interest yet none that I really need to keep me going. Do you want to know what they are"

Henry Roth---A Star Shines Over Mount Morris Park---growing up Jewish and poor in what is now Spanish Harlem--living with a mother and father who were married by arrangement in the "old country" and who now live in constant rage with one another yet unable to break the bond. This is the family that Roth's young protagonist grows up in and observes and tries to survive the incredible disharmony between the two. I love Roth's writing---his attempt at functioning under these family circumstances.

George Buchner---Danton's Death-a play written in the early nineteenth century about the downfall f Danton, the "hero" of the French Revolution. Quite a slog--a very sluggish translation but still hope to finish it soon.

Hari Kunzru---Blue Ruin, a novel--about as different from Roth's work as one could imagine. About a lost relationship---the narrator writes in a cold, deliberate style that is sometime arresting---I am moving through it slowly.

Shakespeare-Titus Andronicus---the next of his plays that I am re-evaluating. One of his earliest---could have been written by Marlowe? Possibly---anxious to look for phrases and images and ideas that link up with his later plays.

In addition to these four a play by a playwright of color that had a successful production post pandemic at one of the city's institutional theaters but has not been heard of since---have not begun it, and a novel by a female playwright that I have wanted to read for a long time, but having read the firsts few pages, not to sure that I want to continue. So there we are.

And so it goes---maybe, if I have the strength a movie later---time moves quickly we shall see.