Essays & Advices
Miscellaneous writings
The Bat In The Land With No Birds
“It is possible to become as regular a touchstone in a community’s life as a local baker, or taco stand operator, or librarian…”
Part primer for a new theatre company, part spiritual checklist for anyone wanting to work as an artist inside a community, No Birds offers simple and clarifying questions to help put an artist in the right frame of mind to hunker down for the hard work necessary to create an arts program that will make a real difference.
The book is written in the form of advices, inspired by a proverb or aphorism, followed by queries, designed to prompt you to think more deeply about how you approach your community and your art. Many of the proverbs come from Benji Takahashi, a store owner who wrote down over 400 traditional Japanese proverbs from memory in his own memoir about his life in the farm town of Loomis, California. My theatre company spent five years in what had been his Loomis Mutual Supply Company.
At present, I am out of print, but have an ebook version available upon request for a small fee.
There are other essays of mine which appear on occasion. Look for them to appear here in full or in links.
Best D–n Language Ever
This is an extended essay about how to approach the English language, as learned from my father, Stan Smith, who taught for 30 years at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, but who never stopped long enough to write down what he did so well. It’s yours if you will just sign up here and share your contact information with me, so I can keep you in the loop about my work.