A heaping helping of blog

The past couple of months have been so busy that the days have mooshed up against each other like so many gooey marshmallows between the graham crackers of blogs.

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged lately is because I’ve put a lot of time and energy into an effort to re-open the libraries in Josephine County. Kevin Widdison’s column in The Daily Courier (www.thedailycourier.com) about how shameful it feels to live in a community without a public library really said what I‘ve been feeling and motivated me. I often used the library before funding fell away and it closed. He organized a gathering on July 26 because of community response to his column, and I jumped in with others. I’ve learned a great deal about nonprofit law, creation of organizations and working with people over the past several weeks. I’m pleased to have met some good folks, and it’s encouraging to see the progress that is being made despite odds. I'm glad there are people out there like Gene Lucas, who are willing to share what they've done (http://www.genelucas.info/library) to inform and inspire others. I plan to continue to help as I’m able.

My time has also gone into the Rogue Independent Film Festival, now less than a month away. It’s been fascinating to help put it together, and I hope it’s a great experience for everyone involved. I’m eager to meet those who have made the 48 films to be shown; I hope many are able to attend. I started out as a secondary screener for the festival, giving a second opinion on films that were passed along to me as potential ones to be included, and I’ve had opportunities to help in other ways. It’s especially exciting to me that the festival is going to include an educational aspect, including a student discount.

Personally, helping with RIFF has taught me a great deal, including viewing the submissions I did see. I appreciate the talent, energy and hope out there. I know how it feels to not be accepted by a festival, and I sympathize with the filmmakers who weren‘t included. While some submissions could use improvement in areas such as storytelling, technical quality and craft, in some cases choices came down to discussions of balance for the overall festival. One of the challenges was figuring out the schedule and what might go well together. I wish more could have been part of RIFF. As it is, the festival added another night to the originally planned three days of films.

I initially offered to help with the festival after running into Greg, the owner of the Rogue Theatre, in the grocery store. We talked about the upcoming Billy Bob Thornton concert, for which tickets had just gone on sale, and my interest in independent film. I went to the concert on Aug. 24 with some friends and had a blast. We had great seats in a packed house. Greg sent over this photo of Billy Bob Thornton and impressive guitarist Michael Shipp.

I had the recent opportunity to immerse myself in creativity lately, and it reminded me of the need to charge my batteries by experiencing and appreciating what others have done. I get so busy that I let too much time pass between taking in a concert or a play or a museum or an art gallery. I recently used some vacation time to visit the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, a fascinating place I could have spent more days exploring. Nice folks, too, considering that I realized at closing time I’d lost an earring somewhere in the museum and they found it for me. I also had the opportunity to attend several plays this month, including a Barnstormers production of “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and several Oregon Shakespeare Festival productions, including “As You Like It,” “Gem of the Ocean,” a much funnier “Romeo and Juliet” than I ever remember the play being, Lisa Loomer’s emotional and amusing “Distracted” and “The Tempest,” whose cast includes “Sixes and the One Eyed King’s” own Orion Bradshaw. It is so much easier to create if you’re plugged into the creative grid, feeling that exchange of energy.