Monday, June 27, 2016

Almost Showtime!

February 23, 2009

Radio Serial Update

For those of you who have been following my exploits since last year, you'll recall one of my secondary projects was to write a radio serial.  I found four students willing to undertake the project with me.  It has taken a while, but I'm proud to say the first episode is “in the can” or, I should say, “on the disk.”  I heard it today and although I didn't understand much because it's in Russian, the voices sounded great and the special effects were nicely done.  A couple of script adjustments had to be made because of language, but nothing that altered the intent of the script.  For instance, I made a joke about a notebook (one you write notes in) and a notebook (laptop computer).  But, it had to be changed because “notebook” as a computer doesn't translate the same in Russian.  No one would get the joke. 

What makes this project so satisfying, aside from the fact that everyone is nice as can be, is that most of the people involved are teenagers. The voice of the 43 year-old father is 15.  The 21 year old daughter is 14.  And they sound fabulous.  I've been told they really liked the script and love their characters.  And it didn't take them long to start behaving like actors.  They've already started making demands.  The actress who reads the role of the mother wants to have an affair. Actors are the same the world over.  :-)

The 2nd episode has been written and is currently being translated.  I'm in the process of writing the third.  School resumes tomorrow after a two month break, so hopefully my student writers will be back on the job.  The station wants six episodes recorded before they put them on the air. They are also going to produce a “making of” show, which should be very interesting. 


The radio serial we created and produced at the local community radio station defined my Peace Corps experience. Not surprisingly, probably, because it involved playwriting. It was a true collaboration with a group of eager locals who were as dedicated as me to make “Kok Asman” a worthy project. We all expressed our opinions on topics and changes to the scripts. I recall only a couple of times when I had to override their suggestions, mostly because they, the actors, thought more in movie mode than radio drama. Their ideas would have been better off filmed than broadcast on the radio.

In the book I give all the background on the family in "Kok Asman," episode topics and some information on the "making of" project.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

My Peter Finch "Network" Email

February 21, 2009

One (fill in the blank) American

I couldn't find just one word that succinctly fit the title for this entry.  Some that came to mind were disappointed, pissed, jaded, cynical, fed-up, expatriated.  I'm definitely angry, but that's such a futile emotion when dealing with the US government that I must let it go.  I think, no, I know my perspective of our (not so) great country has been significantly altered (and may I say I've been enlightened) by the views of non-Americans.  They are not all Kyrgyz, either.  While most have been Central Asians, I've also talked to Germans, Australians, Russians and a couple of Brits.  They all gave me insights into America that I had not seen.

If you didn't take five minutes to read the article I sent you the other day, you should.  It should come as no surprise that even a money-hungry corrupt government like this one, after so many broken promises, finally said to our military, “Get the hell outa here!”  We are so full of bullshit when we want something and actually always have been. It started with “all men are created equal” and went downhill from there.  All our talk about protection of human rights and the installation of democracy the world over is unadulterated crap!!!  All we really care about is what is best for American interests, and those mostly concern commerce.  I'm not basing this rant on a single newspaper column.  Or the killing of an innocent Kyrgyz civilian.  I am also reading one of the most fascinating, compelling and utterly disturbing books of my lifetime, “A Problem From Hell:  America and the Age of Genocide.”  Many of you are probably familiar with it as it won the Pulitzer (published 2002).  Samantha Power chronicles how the United States (and many other “democracies”) stood by and watched genocide being committed throughout the 20th Century, beginning with the Armenians by the Turks in 1915.  This was followed by the Holocaust, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Hussein trying to erase the Kurds in Iraq, The Serbs, Rwanda and now Sudan.  In every case our government had a political reason (or several) for not getting involved.  Example:  When Iraq was killing Kurds, the state of Kansas was shipping like a million tons of wheat to Saddam.  Yup, we were feeding the army while they were committing genocide.  Nice.  And why were we playing nice with a maniac?  Because we both hated Iran.  Strategic interests aside, how can we, as the biggest brute on the block, sit idly by and watch groups of peoples being eradicated?  History tells us that as long as it wasn't Americans gettin' whacked, who cared?  We ain't gonna lose soldiers if we don't stand to lose something really valuable.  Like access to cheap oil.  Oh, so that's why we came to the aid of Kuwait.  But, never fear, we are always there after the fact to rebuild.  Of course, we are. There's money to be made in reconstruction.  Lots of it.  And you can see we did squat under both republican and democrat presidents to make lives better in those countries, so that made no difference, except to some construction companies' bottom line.  Then for some silly reason I watched “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”  I need say nothing about how we screwed the Native American.  All I'm saying is yeah, America has many positives, but “all that glitters is not gold.”

I can imagine some of your reactions.  Michael's got too much free time over there.  Eating horse meat has made him crazy. Actually, I prefer to think I'm becoming a better thinker and decision maker, but that could be the horse meat talking.  Now, I realize there are dozens of countries worse than America in which to live.  Like, I'd hate to have been stuck in Zimbabwe the past 20 years, but I'm certain there are better places, too.  Places where governmental deception, duplicity and lack of diplomacy aren't the first words people use to describe their country.  And I won't mind searching until I find one of them.

Hey, KP, wanna buy a co-op?


No book I have read, before or since, touched me like the accounts of the genocides. My unfiltered emotion leaped off the page. Eight years of Bush 2 angered me immensely. I eagerly accepted the challenge of defending US citizens to foreigners; I had no defense for the government. The genocide book lit a fuse and there was no way to extinguish it. My feelings had to be expressed.

Also in the book: more on why I became disillusioned and no longer want to live in the US. Ever.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

A Sentence That Describes Me Well

February 15, 2009

Words to Live By

I'm a fairly avid reader and over the years, while enjoying one of my favorite pastimes, I have been searching for words that I feel best describe me.  You know, how I've lived, why I do what I do, why I have the values and philosophies I do, etc.  I've looked in Shakespeare, self-help books, cookbooks, you name it.  Some seem to be a good fit at first glance, but further inspection (introspection may be a better word) deems them inadequate.  I think the major pitfall in assigning a specific quote or sentence to definitively describe us as beings—if it can, in fact, be done to any degree of accuracy and long term personal satisfaction—lies in over-romanticizing who we believe ourselves to be.  Or would like others to see us.  So, although I believe I've found the words that best fit me, they are only my truth as I see myself.   

I found “my” sentence while reading a novel by Chingis Aitmatov, the best known Kyrgyz writer to date.  He is held in god-like esteem in this country, even more so since his death in early 2008 at the age of 79.  He's a fabulous novelist.  The three stories I read centered on peasant life in Kyrgyzstan during communist times and all took place in and near the village where he was raised in western Kyrgyzstan, close to the Kazakh border.  I don't know if these words are his or he borrowed them from someone for his book, but as soon as I read them, I said aloud, “That's me.”

I like the sentence because it certainly describes my writing.  Early on, people asked why this white guy had mostly black characters in his plays.  And does he think he knows them well enough to write them with any authenticity?  Rather than give into the criticism, I stayed true to me heart and wrote what I felt.  I also feel it hits at the core of why I've made the decisions and moves I have in my life.  Now, I realize this sentence may sound to some like it should be ascribed to more heroic figures than myself and I risk being chided, accused of having delusions of grandeur or totally dismissed.  Maybe, if I were on the outside looking in, I would think similar thoughts.  But, I'm not, so I don't.  So, without further ado or explanation, here are my words which I feel I have lived by:

Courage and Risk are born of the Same Mother.

Emotion has always determined what lay ahead for me in life. Well, since I graduated from college, anyway. When a change enters my consciousness, a long drawn out thought process isn’t invited to the mental discussion. 

In the book: more about the risk taking life I've led.