Love At First Sight

Todd, an old friend of mine from Miami, was visiting LA with his parents as their other son who lives here just had a baby. Todd took them to the Farmer’s Market on 3rd – one of my favorite places to get lunch and interview people. I’ve known them all for about 20 years but don’t get to see them much since I’ve been living on the other coast. It was nice catching up but I had to make sure they did one more thing before they left LA... let me interview them. I like what happens when you put couples together on camera. I think the interviews come out great, there’s a lot of subtext, and I love ending the videos with stories about how the couple met.

Gail is a retired teacher, and Michael is a partner in a law firm in Miami with his son, and my friend, Todd. I think having his son as a partner in the firm has allowed Michael to steer closer to retirement. He and Gail purchased a second house in Pennsylvania and Michael has started teaching Principles of Taxation, a fall semester course at Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University. Although to me it sounds like one of the most mind numbing courses I could ever imagine having to take at college, it seems tax attorneys enjoy it. Of course that’s why they’re tax attorneys and I’m writing a blog.

Gail and Michael, married for 39 years.

The College Counselor

Pearl spent 39 years working in high schools. When she wasn’t teaching, she was working as a college counselor. You know those “College Fairs” they have in schools – the ones where representatives from the universities show up at your high school for a day? She was one of the founders of that program. When asked to help launch the first College Fair, it was her idea to bring in out-of-state schools so the kids would be able to see what other options were out there for them. That’s not a bad legacy to have left behind. She spent her working years educating the youth and helped lead them towards an educational path beyond high school. Although she’s been retired since 1984 she’s still invited by former students to high school reunions from every school where she’s worked. Not only did my high school college counselor not help me make any decisions, I couldn’t even tell you her name.

Pearl, age 85.

To Vanity

The SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Film Society screenings are always a good place to meet interesting people – especially the older actors who have been doing the grind for many more years than me. As you may have seen in my other postings, the older actors are very different than some of my other older friends. There’s definitely a vanity with the actors that I don’t see with many of the older people I interview. I’m an actor so I can’t deny that a part of me must also be vain, but I generally lean towards the humble. And when I meet vain people I notice it’s harder for me to bond with them than it is other people less obsessed with themselves. Yet the more I listen to other actors, and the more I see how much of a struggle it is for all of us to survive as artists when so much of our success is out of our hands, I understand the focus many actors put on themselves. They – We – are putting ourselves out there every day, auditioning for strangers, performing anywhere and any way we can, while often getting much more rejection than we do praise and acceptance. It’s no wonder that the seemingly shallow things become important to many actors – their faces, their bodies, and their youth. They work hard at roles, reveal their deepest emotions in order to give a great performance, and then are often judged on the superficial. You can either allow every critique of your work and your looks to chisel away at your self worth, or you can fight back by being prideful – not conceited, but proud of who you are – in spite of the often daily rejection we actors face. So, here’s to a little vanity and here’s to the people who spend their lives struggling in order to make a career out of entertaining the rest of us... Actors.

Kathy:



Danna: