This is my first blog entry of the year, and the first in the middle of an experiment.
If you’re reading this, you may be doing so because the blog automatically posts to my Twitter feed. But I won’t see it; I’m two weeks into a six month break from all social media. I’ll appreciate you reading it and retweeting/sharing these words if you choose.
It’s strange not to see news and pictures and opinions and jokes from everyone I know and work with every day. I truly miss it. But I’m super curious about what the break will show me. I’m already enjoying the texting and emailing with friends, and I find that my interactions may well be more personal without the middleman. Maybe it just feels that way – time will tell!
I just finished up performances of PAGLIACCI in El Paso. I know my colleagues put a lot of great stuff out there on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and I missed being part of that. I want to crow about our show! We had five role debuts, a non-proscenium space with a ton of personality, a small band who played their faces off, and a dream audience who stood and cheered for us both nights. I love how El Paso Opera is figuring out how to bring its audience back each time by building trust and bringing surprises. My colleagues Justin Lucero, Corey Bix, Amber Monroe, Levi Hernandez, Antonio Cruz, and Brian Downen were a total joy to make story and music with.
Back to Cincinnati now to start the semester at CCM and there’s so much great stuff ahead. I don’t like the idea of NOT using every resource possible to market performances, brag on colleagues, and shine some of that spotlight on myself (I mean, that’s real). But I’ll keep writing about everything here and hope that you see what my friends and I are up to. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with friends and colleagues in Toledo, Charlottesville, Houston, Louisville, Tennessee, and Washington DC in the next few months.
And meanwhile, in Cincinnati, the hours formerly known as screen time will be filled up by some new pursuits. Tango lessons. An online General Psychology class. A couple of writing projects. A couple of new recital programs.
More than anything else, I hope to rebalance the ways in which I reach out to this vast web of amazing humans.
That’s what I have to say on this slightly sleepy plane ride from Texas to Ohio. So now: how are you?
