Glory

It’s dangerous to go alone. Here, take these Links.

NOTE: I’ve managed to include so much miscellany here, that it’s too big for your email. Go ahead and read it in full in the Substack app or on the website, as your email will cut it short.

I’ve never played any of these games, but I’m geeky enough that I know the reference.

Link, Not Zelda*

I thought I’d do a wee link-list for you today, as it’s been quite a while since I did one. When was the last time, let me see… ooo yeah it was way back in 2023, a post named Inspo. In that one, I laid out a rundown of the neatest things that I was consuming: all my best intake (not output) of the time.

Today, I thought I’d do something similar, but make it about my output this time. And so I’ve gathered a bunch of cool things happening with me and/or by me recently that aren’t my own Substack – kind of a rundown of the things I’m doing in the world that you might get a kick out of seeing, if you’ve been enjoying reading all my unhinged nonsense here in my newsletter and want to see how the insanity spreads out into my world from there. I’m hoping the effect will be more like a miscellany or a scrapbook, or a season announcement from a theatre company, than a long list of brags. Except for the first one, maybe. Let’s get into it.

*For those of you not well versed in the fine art of video games, the top image and phrase here is from The Legend of Zelda fantasy adventure games that have been wildly popular for many years, and have evolved in each sequel as game-making technology does. Though the games are named after the love interest of the story, Zelda, the heroic POV character (the one we play as) is named Link. So, like. Yanno. Here’s some glorious Links. Get it? Ahem. I’ll see myself out…

The Mighty Quin

Before I go off about myself and my recent accomplishments, I’ve got to begin by lauding my older stepkid, Quinlan, for graduating high school last month. This amazing young man not only graduated with straight As, but with AP credit as well as several professional certifications in a few different engineering skillsets from his technical school prowess. I love that not only is he such a high achiever in academics, but a high-level professional in a constructive trade as well. Not easy, to accomplish all that, at the same time, no less! I couldn’t be more proud, and his dad (my husband) is chest-bursting with both pride and sorrow, as Quinlan will be leaving us to go on to more glory as an architectural engineering major (and Masters) at Penn State. Go, Q!

I love this pic I took of Q, even though it’s backlit: his dad had just given him a really nice watch for a graduation present, and was explaining it to him. That expression is genuine. He’s a sweet kid.

…something in my eye. <sniff> Okay, on to me!

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What’s the (Boulder) Buzz?

My beloved variety show, Blue Dime Cabaret, recently won the Boulder Buzz award, the people’s choice award chosen by audiences of the many many events held at Boulder Arts Week, taking place in April in my hometown. I’m thrilled and proud, because there were so many performances and other types of art events happening all that week, that it fills me with pride (the good kind) to know that those audiences voted us the most exciting of all of them. The comment I appreciated most was the description of our ‘dazzling performances and inclusive atmosphere’ because that’s exactly what we’re always going for. We had just been interviewed by CBS Colorado right before our Boulder Arts Week show, too, which did add to our hype quite a bit I’m sure. But yay us!

We do have an upcoming show for Pride Month, too, which I’ll be performing in as well as producing. I’m also the casting director for the group, and so not only am I excited to see our Pride, Not Prejudice* lineup on 6/21, but I’m in the middle of casting our July and August shows as well. We get so many brilliant weirdos auditioning with so many spectacles of differing flavors, and it fills me with joy, as much as it’s hella hard work.

*I came up with that title, and I’m pretty proud of the play on words. Makes me chuckle.

My co-producer Brandy is so good at these graphics, and she makes them for individual performers as well. It really makes our promos something special.

Locals Aloud! and Proud

I recently appeared on

Denverse Magazine

’s Locals Aloud! podcast, where I chatted about all the interesting things I do for life if not a living (sort of like this link list, actually), and it was a lovely and a fun conversation. The host, one Anthony Elio, remarked that I was one of the most interesting people he’d interviewed yet, which puffed up the ol’ self esteem quite a bit, I must admit. As hard as it tends to be for me to talk about myself, once I do, it sort of changes my perception of how cool all these things I do are. I mean, I do think they’re cool, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing them, but you know what I mean. Actually spelling it out for someone who doesn’t know me is a unique challenge and can deftly undercut my feelings of persistent impostor syndrome. Sometimes.

For more about this talk and the beer garden I visited after, see my Popination where I begin at the podcast and end at Prost Brewing.

Am I a Ham, or a t’Art?

t’Art magazine has published a few of my poems ere now: I think I’ve probably shared them all here, let’s see…no, I can’t seem to find them via the clunky Substack search function, so. Just know that twice before a poem of mine has appeared in an online issue of the UK-based lit journal. And it’s happened again! This Spring Online edition includes one of the chapters of my memoir!

This is a big milestone when it comes to my memoir’s potential publication (like, at a press type publication), as it’s the first chunk of it to be selected, accepted, and published by a platform that’s not me. Find it here: ‘So This is How it Feels.’

Fight Master? I hardly know her…

I’ve mentioned this before in my Fight Clip Club series, but it’s really happening now: my article titled ‘The Fight is the Story’ will be appearing in The Fight Master Summer issue, coming out in mid-June. It’s an SAFD-only periodical so it’s not readily available to read for the layperson – it’s more an academic journal than a magazine. But a different version of this article has appeared a couple times here in Zuko’s Musings, under its OG title, ‘The Fight is the Story.’ Read it in that format if you like. It’s good (as

Emily Spinach

would say).

I was published in this journal once before; an article called ‘I Do My Own Stunts,’ pieces of which you can find nestled in my Substack extended essays, ‘Realism’ and ‘Method,’ if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

This is the cover to the last time I was published in the Fight Master. Spring 2014.

Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Oh My)

My latest fight choreography gig was for a strange comedy: Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike at the Theatre Company of Lafayette. In it, I concocted less actual fight scenes but more scuffle slapsticky bits, as well as one reverse striptease. It’s a little community theatre in a little lovely town and I have a soft spot in my heart for them, as I’ve worked with them a few times in the past, as well as have written for their holiday play festivals a few times too. They’re pretty high quality for a little penniless community group, and they always choose really good seasons, too. They’re a nicely cut smallish gem in the Denver/Boulder metro area arts scene, and I always like playing with them, even if they can’t pay me very much. Thriving and vibrant arts are worth it, sometimes. They open tonight! Oh, and for more about how I choreograph silly shenanigans (as opposed to fights), you can check my Popination up in Conifer when I worked with StageDoor.

You can just tell the level of shenaniganry here, can’t you?

Life is Suffer-ing

Back in the lockdown part of the pandemic, I was hired by an old college theatre friend who’s now a filmmaker, to be the stunt coordinator for her new film, a woman-centered Fantasy film called Suffer. Thing is, we were in lockdown, so I couldn’t go traveling over to the set to work as a stunt coordinator normally would. So I did my fight choreo for them via Zoom. It was wild. I recount a little bit about this in a recent Random Movement Pic, so check that out if you like. But there’s some great news about this film:

Suffer is going to premiere in the Paris Fantasy Film Festival in June. And I couldn’t be more excited. Here’s the teaser trailer: Suffer Teaser —looks so cool, no?

Very cool old school looking poster for Suffer, eh?

Those Who Can, Teach

I described what I was teaching in that last link collection, so I’ll do it again. Here’s what I’m just finishing teaching this week (all courses I teach at DU are online):

Writing and Healing

This is a Masters level course for their Professional Writing program, all about writing for not only therapeutic purposes, but developing memoir and other personal writing styles for publication. We cover memoir, journaling, personal essays, autofiction, and poetry in this class. I first taught this course by chance right when I was just beginning my memoir project, and the course material really helped me in that process. Here’s the course description:

In this course, students evaluate theoretical and practical aspects of written expression as it relates to healing. Students analyze foundational concepts of healing through the lens of contemporary creative literature. Students apply these concepts to their writing practice through journaling processes, written therapeutic strategies, and poetic techniques aimed at cultivating self-awareness and personal growth. Through a course-long inquiry into the concept of “healing,” students will learn to articulate how their writing processes enhance their writerly identities and develop a practical set of therapeutic, expressive techniques for everyday use.

Visual & Physical Communication

I was coincidentally teaching this course in that previous link-list ‘mess’ay, so you can go there to see the official course description. This course is one of my favorites to teach there: it’s all about nonverbal communication, presence, microexpressions, body language, and all that fun jazz. This field is one of my professional specialties, and that’s why I like it so much. Here’s an older essay of mine where I go into some detail about my expertise and work in body language:

By the way. This may or may not be the last quarter I teach. Enrollment is way down, and at our last faculty meeting, they all but told us there’d likely be not enough classes to go around to all of us that are still employed there. As we’re all adjuncts in that department, none of us are technically getting fired, but. I’m not holding my breath that I’ll be given a course again anytime soon. I’ve been working at DU in that department since 2002. How do I feel about this? Complicated, that’s how. Anyway. If you’re interested in reading more of my feelings and experiences being f**cked over by my adjuncting career, that’s what my memoir is for. Find the whole thing plus GLOSSes on each chapter, in Saturday Morning Serial.

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To Conclude:

None of these things are making me rich or famous, but they are keeping me busy. So I guess that’s okay? Are they covering me in glory? I dunno: can it be called glorious if it doesn’t cause either of the above things? Can one be glorious without being famous? One certainly can without being rich I suppose. Anyway. Let’s conclude this list of curiosities with a song and dance, shall we?

CLOSING NOTE: This is probably my favorite shamanistic number that the Leading Player has in the musical Pippin. It’s chilling in its juxtaposition of cheery hoofer stuff paired with horrific violence. And Ben Vereen is a master of this terrifying contrast. And whatever you think of Fosse’s work as a choreographer (what with current biopics and memes and etc.), this dance number is phenomenal. For more about why I love this musical, read my first overview of ancient sacred clowning, ‘Shaman.’