you are what you eat

okay, i'm just going to start out by saying that i realize this post may sound like i'm jumping on the bandwagon of the latest fad. it's super trendy to eat organic. everyone who's anyone shops at whole foods. FOOD INC. changed my life. blah blah blah.

but this is important.

FOOD INC. changed my life. (okay, that's a little dramatic.) actually, when i first heard of it, i was like, "pass. i've heard it all before. eating animals is cruel. noted." but then i saw this episode of oprah (i love her. please still respect me, and read on.) and she had michael pollan on - whose book IN DEFENSE OF FOOD i'm currently reading - and she showed clips from FOOD INC.

it piqued my interest.

cut to: tonight. i watched FOOD INC. and i encourage you to do the same. not because i necessarily believe the film presents 100% truth without bias or opinion (because what documentary does?) but because, even with some bias and opinion, it's a pretty eye-opening look at where our food comes from. it's so much more than an animal cruelty issue (which, by the way, it absolutely is - the way cows, pigs and chickens are treated in these huge mass production "farms" is appalling) but it's also what we are putting into our bodies. chickens that are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics to the point that they can't even walk aren't real food. cows that are fed corn instead of grass produce e. coli, so their meat is mixed with "filler" containing ammonia to kill the e. coli. that isn't food. but we're eating it. at alarming rates. and we're becoming fat and diabetic and diseased and it has to stop.

the great news is we absolutely have the choice to stop it. all we have to do is choose to eat fresh food. REAL food. buy locally. eat organically. it's easy. maybe not as easy as going to a drive-thru, but if you see what you're really eating at these fast-food places and where it comes from, i think you'll gladly forego the convenience.

also, whole foods is the most fun place to shop. go there.

and chipotle is a fast food restaurant that uses fresh, local ingredients and meat that is hormone and antibiotic-free. eat there.

i'm not a radicalist. i'm not a hippie. i'm just a person who eats and doesn't want to get sick.

at the risk of tooting my own horn (which is totally what i'm doing) this is what i made for dinner tonight and it was fun and easy and soooo tasty:

veggie pizza, spinach salad and green beans. all organic ingredients purchased at good earth and the organic produce section at target.

(not far)
past*

(no time like the)
present**

(not so distant)
future***

*hawaii was perfect.

we:

• snorkeled - saw a shark. i'm not kidding. also swam with sea turtles like we were old friends. oh yes, and an octopus wrapped itself around my right leg.
• rode mopeds around the island - i had to pull off to the side at one point because i got a hair in my eye. a four inch long hair. it was disgusting.
• drove the road to hana - we swung from vines like tarzan. my dad, dalton and i got some major height. lana got some major laughs. big kudos for at least giving it a go, though.
• got tan - like way, way tan.
• found oprah's house - behold the power of modern technology: step 1 - get your mytouch phone out and go to google. step 2 - search 'oprah's house on maui.' step 3 - click the link that says "she bought the old robinson ranch on thompson rd." step 4 - type 'thompson road' into your gps. step 5 - drive to oprah's house.
• split up: boys vs. girls - dad and dalton went golfing. mom and i went to the spa. we win.
• ate - AMAZING sea food.

**now i'm back to my life and work. and building our new season at SLAC. read: on the computer a lot, doing tedious things; taking little breaks now and then to check facebook and blog.
don't tell.


***up next: 42ND STREET at pioneer theatre company. rehearsals start the end of the month and i'm excited. and scared. (if you just sang "excited and scared" you're a geek.)

untitled

saturday i'm going here:

with them:

to celebrate that beautiful blonde's 50th.

i'm pretty excited.



PS - yesterday i saw a grown woman riding a razor scooter across 7th east.

on my mind

i'm thinking about:

how sleeping in is awesome until it's night-time and you're not tired when you should be.
the BEE and how i miss it already.
how i haven't been watching much of the olympics.
maybe seeing 12 ANGRY MEN at pioneer tomorrow night.
hawaii in 11 days.
starting 42ND STREET rehearsals in a month.
sleeping in my own bed wednesday night for the first time since january 30.
VOYEUR auditions.
whether or not i like the idea of a blind date.
new music.
how if i don't go to sleep now i'm going to be yawning all day at work tomorrow.

bon soir.

can you use it in a sentence?

wanna see one of the funniest, sweetest new musicals?

here it is.

for tickets, go to www.pinnacleactingcompany.org or call Melanie @ 801.674.7956

come. you won't be disappointed.

anne

yesterday anne bogart fed my soul.

i got to listen to her as the keynote speaker of the utah theatre association conference. the things she talked about obviously had to do with theatre, but even more deeply about human nature, society, passion and how to get what you want.

she talked about 7 things. these are the notes i took:

1. follow the pulse.
be in touch with what excites you.
enthusiasm: to be filled with god.
follow what changes you

2. make a mark.
what do you do onstage that is worth people watching?
theatre is a verb: to remember
our job in theater is to create memory for the audience.

3. create the world you want to live in.
theatre's subject is always society.
"can we get along?"
you create a model society in the rehearsal room.

4. finish the sentence.
people who don't finish sentences are of no danger to anyone.
to be an artist is to be articulate in the face of uncertainty.
theatre is a place to practice commitment.
find your own words that work for you.
if you have a dream, describe it.
use words that give value to what you do.
least favorite theatre word: want
"what i want is usually a little perverse and has nothing to do with theatre." - anne :)

5. be unreasonable.
sometimes logic and too much reason can kill theatre.
whatever you do needs to be unreasonably impossible.
starting a monologue is jumping off a cliff - let the scary momentum of falling drive you.
say, "i know!" then make something happen.
allow yourself not to know the answer.
allow the work you're doing to be bigger than you.
CERTAINTY ALWAYS LEADS TO VIOLENCE
show up, pay attention, tell the truth, don't hang on to the results.

6. bring attention where attention is needed.
observer created reality
the quality of your attention to something determines others' attention to it.
theatre: to shine light in dark places.
expand the definition of what it means to be human.

7. cultivate attitude.
feed-forward: going toward something
feed-back: the sensation you get from an experience
good acting: a balance of the two
attitude=posture
your attitude can poison or make magic.
you must have the will to go out and the grace to receive.
there are a lot of things we can't choose; we can choose our opinions and our attitude.
go too close or back too far but the middle distance won't help you.
you must have: passion, something to say, and technique.

listening to her and getting to meet her was inspiring. it cemented my desire for grad school.

thank you anne.

peeved

don't you hate it when you've been craving chocolate all day so you decide that between work and rehearsal you'll stop at a little coffee shop for a double fudge cookie then when you get out to your car and bite into it you realize it's stale? i do. didn't stop me from eating it. but still.