Reading · Good and Beautiful Things

Ephemera collected on my trip to San Diego.

Dear Reader,

A few weeks ago our family settled into our house to wait out the approaching winter storm. When the power went out, we warmed up leftover curry over tiny tea light candles and kept our guinea pig warm by putting her close to the gas fireplace (but not too close).

After about five days the ice on the hill in front of our house eventually began to melt and I had a choice to make. My husband and I had a trip planned to San Diego over the weekend but I had quite a bit of work to do for my theater production.

The two options were pretty straightforward. I could cancel the trip and do the work in gray, chilly Nashville while cooking meals for my family. Or I could go to sunny California and do my work in almost 80 degree weather along with good Mexican food and a view of the ocean.

I wisely chose door number 2.

It turned out to be a surprising and lovely collage of different cultural experiences, rest, and inspiration.

One of my newer traveling habits is to pick up a book at the airport before heading to the gate. Not at one of the generic stores common to most airports but at Parnassus Bookstore. Parnassus is Nashville’s local bookstore, owned by author Ann Patchett, and a while back they opened a location at the airport. This time I chose Writing Creativity and Soul by Sue Monk Kidd. I haven’t finished it yet but here’s a quote I underlined:

“Writing is about who we were and who we are becoming. It’s a succession of leaps and small brave acts. It’s about what we carry and what we lay down.”

-Sue Monk Kidd, from Writing Creativity and Soul

I stopped on my journey between gates at the next airport and snapped a photo of this piece of art, saving it as inspiration for my current stage and costume design. Don’t you love the combination of colors and patterns?

Interestingly enough I saw similar patterns at a restaurant the next night. And then at the botanical gardens the next day.

The patterns that followed me throughout my trip.

We spent an afternoon exploring Balboa Park. In this one spot in the city we visited an art museum, botanical gardens, Japanese gardens, a Comic-Con museum, and went to a theater performance.

One of the art museums was free and pretty small, which was perfect. I was captivated by a new-to-me artist Sofonisba Anguissola. She was one of the few well-known female artists in the Italian Renaissance who was allowed to live out her creative calling. She even studied with Michelangelo. Angussola was known for her portraits and self-portraits. The portrait of the Anguissola below was made by William Baillie in the 1700s. He based it on her self portrait from the early 1500s (the second portrait below). Sadly, the museum did not have a postcard of the portrait.

When I was younger I didn’t notice the absence of female artists in earlier time periods but now when I visit museums I’m always hungrily searching for the women.

Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola by William Baillie based on Anguissola’s self-portrait below.

Self-portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, early 1500s.

The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park, a sign for their upcoming show with Katie Holmes

I was delighted to discover that San Diego had a theater designed as a replica of the Globe Theater in England and even more elated to learn they were offering a free performance the weekend we were in town. After exploring the rest of Balboa park, we headed to Old Globe. The event was a night of staged readings by a variety of playwrights.

We watched five actors play all of the characters in the five plays. They all did an excellent job but the most interesting part was the panel discussion afterward. It turns out the playwrights were incarcerated men (or formerly incarcerated), at-risk youth, and someone from the over 70’s age demographic.

When telling friends and family about this performance here’s the part that chokes me up every time. One of the men on the panel had originally participated in the playwriting program while he was in prison and he currently teaches for the program now that he’s on the outside. He said when he was put in prison it felt like his voice had been taken from him but writing gave him his voice back.

I’ve been sitting with that thought ever since. What a privilege to help give another human their voice back. I’m on the lookout for similar programs in my city where I could use writing and theatre for just this purpose.

(All of this reminds me of an excellent movie about inmates experiencing theatre while in prison called Sing Sing. I highly recommend it.)

He said when he was put in prison it felt like his voice had been taken from him but writing gave him his voice back.

As I said, leaving behind the aftermath of an ice storm was one of the best parts of this trip. Blue skies, clear water, beautiful trees, gardens…we had it all for a few short days.

We spontaneously went kayaking in La Jolla with the promise of going into a cave but due to rough waters we had to skip the cave. It was still worth it just to be out on the ocean. Then we visited some tide pools, which I’d never done before and it ended up being the highlight of the trip.

Tide pools at Point Loma, Japanese Gardens at Balboa Park, view of the boats, and one of the many cool trees.

In the end, I still came back with a lot of work to do on my production but I don’t regret going on the trip.

What about you? What was the last trip you took where you found art, beauty, adventure, and rest? Where would you like to go if you had the time and resources?

Inspiration Collage: books, art, nature, and theater

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