Community Editor's Notebook: Hamming It Up Around Town

Hey neighbors!

Can a local editor blog, you ask? At Patch, the answer is YES, because we're not just editors here, we're also your neighbors. It's an opportunity for you to get to know me a little better and learn more about Patch, behind-the-scenes. Get the story behind the story, if you will, from my perspective as a community member. 

You may have seen me around Sammamish and Issaquah last week, with my son Lane in tow, doing some of the things we love. I really like to share arts news with you all on Patch because I actually enjoy all the great local opportunities here, and I'm a bit of a stage ham myself.

For example, Spoken Word Poetry is near and dear to my heart. If you follow Sammamish-Issaquah Patch on Facebook, you already know I took a little junket to Paris earlier this year, and one of the ways I relax whenever I'm there is by nurturing my creative side with poet friends at Shakespeare & Co. and writing and performing poetry (or prose) at Spoken Word Paris. So why leave the relaxation and fun in a foreign country?

First off, Lane and I made a stop at the Issaquah Brew House on the Issaquah Arts Commission's last Tuesday evening. We enjoyed hearing local residents let their inner poets out, including a very talented young man, Benjamin Royce, a 9-year-old homeschooler who enjoys writing poetry with his Grandma. He's a smart young performer too; that was a tough act to follow!

(By the way, the brew house makes a great cheeseburger.)

After having such fun time on Tuesday, we made another community appearance at the Sammamish Arts Commission's with ACT Theatre on Thursday evening.

That was also quite enjoyable, and I got to play the part of a young, brash college student. Super fun! The reading was great, and I was impressed with the volunteers who all seemed to have been cast perfectly for their parts, even though we had never before read the script together.

There might have been one little hiccup during the performance when Lane decided he desperately needed to deliver me a note during the reading--via paper airplane.

Luckily, everyone was very understanding and once I got the message that he needed to take a bathroom break, we were back on track. If you have a chance to see the play, I think we all would highly recommend it. (To see more photos from the reading, go to the commission's Flickr account).

So if you see me (and Lane) around town, please stop me and say hi, and if you know of any opportunities for me to ham it up with your group, do let me know.