Happy Friday!

I hope that it's been a great week! Hard to believe it's Labor Day weekend already. The older I get, the faster summer seems to go by. I hope that yours was a great one!

Here's what else I've been into this week:

PODCAST

1619
The New York Times Magazine has presented a fascinating series called The 1619 Project. It was four hundred years ago this year that a pirate ship called The white Lion landed on America's shores and traded twenty captured Africans as slaves in exchange for supplies, thus beginning the trading of black people as chattel. The project tells the story of the black experience in a way I've never experienced. It also goes into great detail about how systemic racism was devised and continues to be a factor in the disparities in wealth, education, opportunity and general living conditions between those of European and African descent to this very day. The project is now a podcast that drops on Saturdays. Give it a listen and, give the NYT project a thorough reading. You'll be amazed at what you learn. I sure was.
LISTEN.

BOOK

They Called Us Enemy
If you know me personally, you know that I've been a fan of the original "Star Trek" series since I was a spaceward looking ten-year-old. I knew George Takei as Mr. Sulu on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. In recent years, we've seen that he is so much more than that. He's an activist and advocate for equal rights. He's also a survivor of the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

In his new graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, Takei vividly recalls the morning when he was four years old and armed soldiers showed up on the porch of his Southern California home ordering his parents to gather him, his younger siblings and whatever they could gather in ten minutes to be imprisoned for the crime of sharing the same ethnic heritage as those who attacked Pearl Harbor. It's a story that is upsetting, disturbing, infuriating and ultimately uplifting as his parents do what they can to provide a sense of family and normalcy under the most demeaning of circumstances.

As with 1619 I learned history that I wasn't aware of such as the idea for the internment of those of Japanese ancestry was conceived and trumpeted by then California Attorney General Earl Warren. Warren would ride this wave of xenophobia to three terms in the California governor's mansion before ultimately becoming chief justice of the most progressive US Supreme Court America has ever known. A court that placed emphasis on the rights of the accused and the concept that you are presumed innocent until you are proven guilty. Talk about your contradictions. Read this book! You can get it here.
READ IT!

MOVIE

Don't Let Go
Went to the press screening of Don't Let Go, the story of an LAPD Homicide detective whose brother, sister-in-law and adolescent niece are brutally murdered in their home. Things get creepy when the detective (played by David Oyelowo, who was so wonderful as MLK in Selma) starts getting cellphone calls from the dead girl. Turns out that she's somehow connecting with him a week before her murder in his time. Together they work to solve the crime and prevent her family's demise.

If it sounds familiar, it is. It's very much like the 2000 Dennis Quaid picture Frequency where a father and son communicate over a 30 year time gap via shortwave radio to stop a serial killer. If you liked that movie, you'll like Don't Let Go.
MAYBE.

FAVORITE PURCHASE OF THE WEEK

Cuisinart BFP-703BC Smart Power Duet Blender/Food Processor
My ancient blender finally conked out in the middle of making a strawberry smoothie so I went on Amazon to find a new one. This one is GREAT. It's got 7 speeds, doubles as a food processor and it's reasonably priced at under $70. It's the best blender I've ever had and I can't recommend it highly enough!
You can can check it out here.
BUY IT!

PERFORMANCES

Here's where you can catch me on stage in the coming weeks...

Upcoming Shows:

The Great American Sh*t Show: Monologues on life in the era of Trump:
AUGUST 31: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 8 PM - Save $10 with code RuleOfLaw
SEPTEMBER 21: Altarena Playhouse, Alameda, CA, 7:30 PM

Not a Genuine Black Man:
SEPTEMBER 5 & 26: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 7:30 PM
SEPTEMBER 11 & 18: The Stephanie Feury Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, 7:30 PM
SEPTEMBER 20: Altarena Playhouse, Alameda, CA, 7:30 PM
SEPTEMBER 28: Tabard Theatre, San Jose, CA, 8 PM

The Waiting Period:
OCTOBER 5: Douglas Morrison Theater, Hayward, CA, 8 PM
SEPTEMBER 8 & 22: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 2 PM (FREE!)
OCTOBER 12: El Cerrito High School, El Cerrito, CA (FREE!)
OCTOBER 26: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 8:30 PM (FREE!)
OCTOBER 27: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 5:30 PM (FREE!)

Grandma & Me: An Ode to Single Parents:
(Workshop performances of my newest play)
OCTOBER 19 & NOVEMBER 2: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 8:30 PM
NOVEMBER 16 & 23: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 5 PM

The Jewelry Box:
NOVEMBER 30: Douglas Morrison Theater, Hayward, CA, 8 PM
DECEMBER 1: Altarena Playhouse, Alameda, CA, 5 PM
DECEMBER 6 & 7: The Marsh, San Francisco, CA, 8 PM

Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!

Copie

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