So True and Oscars, together at last

Yes, I confess, I am watching the Oscars - WHILE EMAILING AND BLOGGING during the commercials so it's okay. After So True this afternoon, I was a basket case, and this is perfect, mucho schlock and glitter. The nice guy that just won for "Inside Out" told kids that if they feel sad or scared growing up, you can't control that but you can always make stuff. "Make stuff! Make movies, art, write!" YAY! Someone says something meaningful! So far there has been exactly ONE mention of the American election - I thought there would be Trump jokes galore and only Andy Serkin has mentioned him. Enough with the black stuff already - let's talk about loathsome lunatics loose in the world and gaining power.

Now the Weeknd (HATE misspelling it but that's his choice) is on - a talented Toronto boy with his strange clump of hair, like a large Brillo pad on the side of his head, singing in front of 900 million people.

The So True show is always so exhausting that half way through I say to myself, maybe I should stop doing this. I care deeply about the writers, about the show itself, the way it all comes together. This morning one of the writers who has struggled with serious issues in his life dropped out, and I asked our trusty and ultra-charming MC Jason Allen to look in his files for a replacement story, which he did, two hours before the show. The readings were wonderful, the stories rich, funny, achingly true.

And then I stand up and somehow sum it all up and tell a story of my own, and though apparently it doesn't show, I am a nervous wreck. It's hard. But they tell me it works. I'm not sure they're telling the truth, but people say nice things, as did one of my current students who read today.

Thank you so much for today. For your leadership, your intellect, your sensitivity, and your faith in your writers; for your faith in me. I can't begin to explain how my life has changed since I began your class. I remember reviewing the course outlines and the teacher profiles and feeling: hmmm, this looks like a good fit. Little did I know that it would reopen a part of me that had been closed off for years; bring it out into the light of day.

I'm so grateful for the experience, and for your beautiful story of "arrival". No notes, perfect depiction of new motherhood, and spot-on delivery...how do you do it?

Makes me feel like an Oscar winner myself! I am proud of you all. Thank you for being there, writers and audience alike. 

Now here's Mark Rylance, one of the best actors in the world, and a beautiful, gracious, generous speech. I'd expect no less, though when he won two Tony awards in NYC, he recited weird poems. Not tonight. Louis C.K. is spot on as usual. The head of the Academy, who just happens to be a black woman, quotes Martin Luther King as she begs Hollywood to make films more diverse - as if that's the most important issue facing people of colour in the U.S. today. This whole thing is nuts. If Donald Trump is elected President and the world blows up, who will care what colour film stars are?

Dave Grohl sings one of Macca's masterpieces, very beautiful. Little Jacob Tremblay - what an amazing kid that is. On we go.  Gaga and gang - pretty amazing. Wow! Oscar is dipping into meaning. There's hope.