Stability

…I don’t know why I bother; the aim should always be for “balance”, not something level and static. The autumn holiday chute from Halloween- which is now virtually stitched to Christmas shopping (gliding over Turkey and Stuffing), rapidly rattling us through New Years, into the back wash results of many manic compromises, debilitating family encounters, and possibly humbling overdrafts- has now idled into the slow grade of mounting another year.. I’d handily been keeping sight of the days I made my way through; come late October I suddenly found myself on a hurtling roller coaster of deadlines, advancements, impediments, vistas and victories; and now it is late January. …time to account for the end of 2010; I’m feeling like narcolepsy had touched my shoulder, and released me three months later.. This isn’t the case; the truth is that work in the classroom, work on In The Shadow of the Phoenix, and a vortex of anticipations surrounding burgeoning acclaim for The King’s Speech, have consumed time in a way I’d never experienced before. The school year is now in its lurch to June; the students I’m working with have grappled with their imagination and gripped stories which are being melded to music; visionary beasts on shimmering crystal islands have voice and melody; a genie wishes, and a little girl works magic; and a class identifies African American singing pioneers, and create a video documentary of the investigation. …in the personal career sphere.. The development of In The Shadow of the Phoenix has migrated from the frame of a “three part” serial – to a “six part” serial. Writing out Episode One, and then putting together the mosaic of a treatment that explains the narrative arc of the subsequent five episodes has seen me banging on the computer, almost ceaselessly, for the last 45 days.. Then there is the advancement of The King’s Speech; now enveloping 14 BAFTA nominations! ..So; the immediate wrestle, of creating structure for the serial, is accomplished; students work happily towards their deadlines.. ..and in the pause, I keep perspective; as the many gifts of good fortune, balance with reality and the truth of living; giving understanding to how fragile it all really is..