Back in November 2023, my new play “CURSED: The House of Atreus” was produced at Contra Costa College under my direction. Yes, that is the institution I worked at. The play was entered to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region …
00050: THE KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Read more »
I must start by saying I do not like jukebox musicals very much. I have many reasons why I don’t like them, but mainly because they seem to be created with little originality, following a simple, uncomplicated, and very predictable …
For several months now, actually more than a year, many of my fellow theatre artists, theatre colleagues and I have been discussing the, now very popular issue of the unwanted audience participation incidents. I’m sure you know what I’m talking …
By the time some of you read this entry I will be at the airport. Or maybe I will be on cloud nine, or perhaps I will already be in Venice, trying to recall my rusty Italian language, one I …
I don’t know if you ever saw the TV show “What Not To Wear.” It was a reality series where to fashionistas ambush a person nominated by a family member. This person had its own unique fashion but in the …
I moved and I said to myself that I was going to write about that but never did. Then I said I was going to write about something else and I didn’t. I was also scheduled to do a “before …
I started running while attending college. Mainly because the first time I went to the college’s gym, I found myself very intimated by the other college guys who seemed to have muscular bodies, making them look like Adonis. A nerd, …
It’s 2006 in Arizona, USA and I’m attending a social retreat with my fraternity brothers. One of the fun activities we’re doing is tarot card and palm readings, and I just think this is a silly game I’m willing to …
Lately I’ve been incredibly quiet. I’ve kept myself from socializing and engaging with my inner and outside worlds. I have, for example, stop posting things on my social media outlets. My last post on Instagram was on April 30. My …
I have not written in a long time. I take that back. I have written… a lot. But I have not written for this blog. My last blog entry was April 11; I’m just one day shy of a month …
It’s been a week since my last post. I did this on purpose because I wanted some time off from writing my personal feelings on the page. This doesn’t mean I have not been actively out there in the meta …
Today I woke up feeling good. And then, suddenly, I just started crying. I know I’m happy but there are moments when I simply start to cry out of the blues. I have been dealing with a lot since October …
Day 20, twenty items My calendar says that today is March 20, 2021, the beginning of spring. Most importantly, today marks 20 days of my 30-day 2.0 Minimalism Challenge. That’s right. I’m into the first twenty days of the challenge …
Last night my husband and I watched a new film from Taiwan, Your Name Engraved Herein. The film is about two high school students falling in love. The themes explored in the film, as well as the message, triggered memories …
10 days, ten items I’ve reached the first ten days of my 30-day 2.0 Minimalism Challenge. It’s been easy. I see something I had not used or seen in a long time, off it goes. It makes me laugh because …
It’s very strange but today, being the first of March, feels like a brand new day to me. I mean, I know it is a new day but I sense a force of positive energy and a desire to shout, …
The last couple of weeks have been very emotionally tough. As I said in one of my earlier posts, I use writing as a tool to deal with my feelings. Yet, I have not written much about the burden I’ve …
27 days, twenty-seven items I’m getting closer to the end of my 30-day Minimalism Game/Challenge. And the more I continue to clean, the more stuff I find that was once useful but now can be removed from my life. Because …
25 days, twenty-five items These two boxes have books, 122 books to be exact. Books that have already been claimed and will be delivered soon. I wanted to celebrate 25 days of the game/challenge by posting about some of the …
24 Days, twenty-four items Like everyone else, I had posters to decorate my walls since I was a teenager. Then, as I went through undergrad and graduate school, I obtained posters that said something about me in relations to my …
I got my heart broken when I was a kid. I was in elementary school maybe in third of fourth grade. I don’t know; I don’t remember. My older sister had a best friend who used to come over the …
23 Days, twenty-three items As I declutter my home office, I’m finding that I have stuff I bought many years ago and I never used. In the image, for example, on the upper right corner there is a book, a …
22 Days, twenty-two items I still cannot believe the amount of stuff I have accumulated in one single room. People, I have eight days to go and I still have not touched one quarter of my home office and the …
21 Days, twenty-one items Wow! I’m getting rid of posters and things I have kept for years. And no, I’m not talking four or five years but 16 to 20 years. Somewhere among those posters, there is one of me, …
19 Days, nineteen items My family never had enough money to afford a “family doctor.” We always went to social services center to get medical attention. Needless to say, I had to figure out on my own what was happening …
Every time I go to Mexico City, I go to the theatre. There are two main reasons: 1) I’m a theatre artists and 2) my late friend Luis and I loved going to see shows all over the capital. The …
I’m four years behind this post. And if you want to know why, I ask you to read the entry titled, “000 29: Intentions,” where I explained what happened regarding this event. So, what I’m recalling now is from memory …
16 Days, sixteen items After 15 days of playing the 30-Day Minimalism Game, I’m starting to notice an awareness about the stuff I have in the house. This morning for example, I was in the bathroom and I noticed there …
Throughout the years, I have set up many intentions, plans, goals, yet many of my desires have ended right at the beginning: at the intention, at the plan, at the wish. This has happened for many reasons; some intentions are …
Day 15, fifteen items I cannot believe I made it half way through the 30-day minimalism game (challenge!) It has not been easy, mainly because I have to move things from one end of my home office to the other …
00028: The Midpoint of the 30-Day Minimalism Game! Read more »
I was taking a shower when I heard one of my dogs bark, then I heard a whimper. Not wanting to take any chances, I stepped out of the shower. There were no problems. One dog was not allowing the …
Day 13, thirteen items I have to acknowledge that I became a little too confident at the beginning of the 30-Day Minimalism Game by counting several items that were the same type of items as one single item. Now that …
Less than a week ago several (more than three) members of my family tested positive for COVID-19, among, my mamá and an aunt. Why so many people you ask? Because my mamá’s house is a multi-generational household and those who …
You know how strange and awkward is to have someone say, “let’s meet for a cup of coffee,” meet and then tell them you don’t drink coffee? Trust me, it is awkward. The last time it happened, well, it was …
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… actually it was just two years ago in my own house. For some reason, maybe it was one of those days, I had a very strong desire to own a …
For many years, family and friends have sent me letters, postcards, and birthday cars. There was a time when I would make an effort to send “thank you” notes. I have not idea when such practice ended for me. In …
For many people, the pandemic has become a polarizing issue where some people believe the virus is real while others believe it is fake. Within those that believe the pandemic is a real health threat, there are people who follow …
Because of my age, this may be very strange to many people, but I love Harry Potter. I love the books; I love the films, and I love the Harry Potter Universe. I’m not a fanatic, and by that, I …
When “Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch” came into the scene in 1991 with their song “Good Vibrations,” I immediately felt in love with the group and their music, and I secretly went bonkers over Marky Mark. Seeing him shirtless …
Day 4, four items In the fall of 2019 (which seems like ages ago), I was directing my own play “Frida Kahlo: The Woman; The Artist.” It wasn’t a smooth experience because people kept dropping the show and replacing them …
Every time I visit my mother, I look around her house and see that every surface, every corner, every wall, every space is her house is filled with stuff that has taken over her living space. We have talked about …
Day 1, one item. About two years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a conference by and for people of color. I did not attend alone, there were many other colleagues from my college. After a long day attending …
I have given myself the challenge to declutter my office in conjunction with playing the “30-day Minimalist Game,” which asks to get rid of items for 30 days non-stop. Not only that but the number of items you get rid …
Lately I’ve been thinking about the phrase, “carpe diem.” No doubt mostly everyone has heard of this phrase. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry. The phrase was introduced by the Roman Poet Horace, which means it’s a Latin …
A couple of months ago or so I saw a Netflix documentary titled “My Octopus Teacher.” It has to do with the relationship between a man and an octopus he befriended while snorkeling. It is a very cool documentary; you …
(Versión en español: #carlosmanueldicelaverdad) Wintertime brings out “the blues” in me. I think the medical term is “seasonal affective disorder (SAD),” which is the result of feeling sad and the feeling of having no energy. Those who work in the …
(Version en español: carlosmanueldicelaverdad) It’s now the year 2021 and I’ve been spending more time at home due to the pandemic. And since it is also winter time I tend to spend more time reflecting on my life, what I’ve …