June 23 – Tony Awards, Hiking, Pride at my old high school

Started the week, and ended the weekend, watching the Tony Awards. Few things were as elusive and sacred to me as a teenager than the Tonys. These theatre artists that lived mainly on CD cast recordings and The Rosie O’donnell Show would perform genuine numbers from their shows and accept their awards humbly. To a kid in suburban SoCal, New York City was about as far away of a land as could be. So many years later, and having lived in Hells Kitchen, NYC, and having given trying to get on Broadway a shot, watching the awards is different, obviously. But it still brings me back to the wonder of my theatre kids days. I still aspire to be like them, but I see them all as much more human than I ever did back then. And like any Broadway fan, there’s always a feeling of “it was so great back then…”

I was happy to get back on it with my workouts this week, even if I managed to mildly strain my back in the process. I went for a lovely hike in the chapparel trails by my house. The spring surge in growth has now become a landscape of flowering and bolting plants, some native and many invasives. The ever-metastasizing invasion of black mustard on the California hillsides has almost taken over everything. While hiking, I whisper small encouragements to the native plants still surviving.

Drove by my old high school and saw on their digital marquee “CHS Celebrates Pride Month” with a rainbow flag background. This is the very same school where I experienced a lot of intense bullying my freshman and sophomore years. It was a nice feeling to see that, and I like to think that these kids have it at least somewhat easier than I did. Many of my teachers and coaches back then did basically nothing when kids threw f-slurs at me, I hope these kids at least have more support from their administration.

Finished the week off back at the Fairplex in Pomona shooting their annual Cheers! event. A very SoCal evening of wine tasting amidst their beautiful, bountiful farm site. We had a heat wave move in, but as the sun went down the breeze picked up. I somehow always forget just how hot it gets in summer in SoCal.

Some reading:

Interesting New Yorker article on the photography of Laura Webb Nichols in rural Wyoming. I hesitate to play into the constant myth of women artists as lone geniuses, except for the fact that the history of the photography greats is basically handed over to men. This is truly some fantastic work by Nichols, who seemed to have been frustrated that she couldn’t fully realize her artistic career with her domestic life.

The Seminarian by Hart Hanson, a friend and part of my late stepdad’s work family for many years on the TV show, Bones. Happy to have picked up my copy at Vroman’s in Pasadena.

Some watching:

Ripley on Netflix. I don’t know any millennial who isn’t a fan of the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley. I also like the original novel by Patricia Highsmith, so I was excited to see this remake. It may be the photographer in me, but I just love that it’s shot entirely in black and white. Beautifully composed shots in every scene. Reminds me that I need to get back out and think black and white while shooting.