Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Writing Rehab

If I was to help recovering drug addicts I would suggest that they all get five cent notebooks and pencils and write their pain. Writing is the best gestalt theater exercise I know.

It wasn't SAFE for me to write as a child since my parents were ALL OVER ME. But as an adult I can write with freedom and abandon. Watch out world. I even make noise!

Growing up in the snobby suburbs of Westchester noise was the taboo along with anger and fat. Not much has changed. The wives of stock market guys were social X-rays, playing tennis and having drinks at the Yacht club. Alcoholic smokers who nagged their children and then asked for comfort when their husbands ran off.

I ran as far and as fast as I could. Crossing a few state lines was all it took. The wealthy are AFRAID of poverty. I could have hidden in the local slum. But that wouldn't have been far enough! A friend of mine from a wealthy family lived in a loft in Worcester. His family drove to Maine every summer never once stopping to see him or his art. The wealthy are petrified. Ha!

I am the reverse. I am petrified of wealth. I was horribly abused at the hands of money. I was lucky to find the authenticity of my Northern Rhode island town. If you were to ask me what I want from life I would say I found it. Because I am fulfilled I am thinking about ways to help my city. I can offer my energies and crazy ideas. I can reflect my LOVE of the CITY and the people back to itself.

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