Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 roundup

My hardworking dedicated French teacher Fatiha

The most positive change of 2017 without a doubt was getting serious about French and taking classes at FIAF on the UES. Which was part of my brand new interest in Canada although that technically began in 2016 with the election of Trump. Along with my fascination for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. I made a few Canadian connections thanks to Brooke Johnson and now I'm continuing with Canada in a couple of weeks with my trip to participate in the Montreal Language Exchange.

I became interested in French politics too, obviously because of the language thing but also through my fascination with Emmanuel Macron. One of my favorite blog posts of 2017 was 21st Century Men: Macron, Obama, Trudeau.
I did manage to do a theater production too, and while the experience was not great in terms of money and the hassle of participating in a theater festival (never again!) I felt the show was pretty good and got a positive, if not very in-depth review.

Jenna Sander & Matt DeCapua in NORMA JEANE AT THE PAYNE WHITNEY PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC
I also discovered in 2017 that James Maguire, one of my great-great grandfathers was a captain of industry in the gilded age, although his whisky distilling empire in Eddington PA was long gone before I was grew up just five miles away in Cornwells Heights PA.

So what's ahead for 2018 assuming we continue to survive the Trump presidency? Well of course there is the trip to Montreal, and then a reading of my play Bete Noire, about Trump's obsession with Obama, and then maybe I'll work on my two English-French plays. On sait jamais.