Panoply choreography

Today I participated in the preliminary round of Panoply Choreography Competition. I took a tap piece called "stop and smell the roses" about how you sometimes have to get out of the daily grind and "smell the roses" in order to be able to keep going. I got nowhere per usual, but it was fun. I'm not entirely surprised because a. I'm very non-traditional and odd and b. I honestly wasn't entirely sure that the performance was good enough to give a clear picture of the choreography -- the gist of the piece definitely came across, but I don't know if the whole picture did.

Anyways, conceiving a piece and developing it over time is always a fun process, and I will keep doing it until I can't--even if I never get so much as an honorable mention. As much as I would really like a little recognition, It's not about that.

When I was freshman in college, we had to do reviews of dance shows, and one of the required ones was a faculty choreographed show. My ballet teacher, Bill, apparently didn't like the way we wrote our earlier dance critiques and was giving us an explanation when one of the theater majors blurted out "Will you give us an F if we bash your piece?" He very calmly turned and said "No. I didn't put it [the dance] out there for you. I put it out there for me." That changed my whole way of thinking about dance and choreography. Prior to that my dance experience had been performing something or creating something for the purpose of winning a competition or otherwise getting praise. Now, I create for me, even if it means spending a lot of time on something that I perform only once for a small crowd. That's 1000 times better than having something in me to say with dance and never saying it.





P.S. I would like to give a shout out to Sanspointe who has a piece in finals tomorrow. Michelle Wittington, the founder of Sanspointe, has made Panoply Choreography finals several times and has won both category and overall awards. I am definitely looking forward to seeing their piece tomorrow.

bothersome budgets in the state of alabama

I found out today that the proposed budget for HIV/AIDS for the state of AL is significantly lower than what our health state muckity-muck official guy is recommending. The problem here is that it is also much lower than what is required for federal matching funds... meaning our federal dollars would be cut in half. Bad news for everyone. In theory the budget passed the senate today but it can still be changed before it is made final. I wrote an email and even called the office of a state senator. I hate phone calls like this because I am much more articulate in written form, but I called anyways because this is important. I was much more articulate in writing, but I made one guys phone ring one more time about this thing and maybe that will help.

If the budget isn't changed, I don't know what will happen to my job, but more importantly, I don't know what will happen to our clients. The people who handle most of the contracts for the provision of HIV services in this area seem to think it will mean waiting lists for meds and other programs for those who cannot afford basic needs like medications, dr appts, housing, etc. I would honestly give up my job if it meant that the money would go directly to the medication programs.

The "population" I work with is one of the most diverse and amazing I have ever had the privelege to work with and it would be a shame for any of them to be in ill health because of stupid money nonsense. People with HIVwho get on a good medication regimen and keep up with their healthcare, generally live a full life and have a full life span -- dr's in hiv are more worried now about aging than they ever have been. Most of the clients that I see in my office that have been in the hospital lately have been in due to surgery on a broken hip or due to cancer or something else completely unrelated to HIV. This honestly could change in this state if the budget stays the way it is. No good.

the many things I have been up to

I have been a busy bee. I set up an etsy shop and a blog for hippybeads. Hippybeads.com will be comeing down within the next couple of weeks, so update your bookmarks accordingly. I have not gotten many of my pieces moved over yet, so email me if there was one you liked and would like me to list on etsy.

I also set up an etsy and a blog for a new business I am opening for high quality jewelry. The respective blogs explain the direction that each one will be going in.

There's lot's more, but those are the 2 things I wanted to let you know for now.

Neat Article on the town I live in

Check it out here

Santa Letter '08

Santa,
I don't know how you did it, but you read my mind last year. I asked you for help walking my dog and getting my former students down for a nap, but what I really wanted was for mom to feel better, for my husband and I to have stable jobs and stable housing, and for my Dad to realize how important our silly shopping trip at the end of the year is. I got it all. Thank you.
Since you’re so good at fulfilling wishes, this year I expect that I will become a better chef than Emeril Lagasse, one day I will wake up and my house will be a gigantic castle filled with butterflies and purple glitter, My husband will write publish and article in JAMA on me being a medical miracle because I am so brilliant and creative, and in the morning, I will come downstairs and be greeted by a hippopotamus named ahboo with that tornado of fur we call a pet never to be found again.
Thanks in advance,
your favorite hippie princess,
Hillary


There was no reply this year due to this being printed out and since "santa" was staying here for Christmas and he came downstairs after I did.

Christmas with me.

Turkey? nope
Leftovers? nope
dirty house despite hours of cleaning? check
Sick husband? check
Consuming mass quantities of sweets despite constantly berating myself for being overweight? check
Holiday Meltdown involving cursing at family members? Check
Understanding family who doesn't threaten to take away my presents despite that I don't deserve a bit of them? *sigh* check.

Three THREE wishlists AH HA HA HA !

Chris'

Mine

Mom's