Margot's Movie and the Necessity of Many Lives

Daily I am reminded of the major oversight of creation (evolution, whichever), but the single life per participant on earth is an ongoing problem.

Daily I'm faced with the talent of others and the amazing possibilities of collaboration.
Only to remind myself that I've already committed myself to this project w. Chris Brown,
completing WELLSPR?ING, a musical for children to submit to festivals w. composer Jeff Adler,
producing BLACK OUT with my students at ASA-- and taking the GRE's in Dec. to apply for
doctoral programs for 9.2009.

Anyway, reading the Flatlander responses byMargot Harrison, reviewer for SEVEN DAYS, Margot the Movie flashed before my eyes. What a great screenplay in her story of the city
kid transported with Prof. Mom to the North Country.

If the creater (ok evolution) had graced us with multiple lives, I'd finally sign up for that
Screen Play WRiting class at NYU and convince Margot-- also a novelist-- to recreate the story so we could bring Flatlanders to the big screen.

But with the few years we've got, we have to pass up on so much brilliance, those glinting neurons on the edge of consciousness that shimmer with promise, but then just fall like shooting stars between synapses.

Hey, what am I going on about-- hers will be a great story for Flatlanders' Vermont.

Thanks so much, Margot!
*****
I enjoyed meeting you, and I'm glad you're running with this idea. Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Things get pretty busy around here!1. When, from where and why did you move to Vermont?I was 11 and living in Manhattan, W. 116th, when my mom started getting part-time gigs up at Johnson State College (she was a pro musician then and taught flute). After some commuting via Amtrak, she decided to buy a car and move us up here for real.2. If your Move to Vermont were a movie, describe the opening scenes and images as the credits flash across the screen.A highway in 1979. A U-Haul. A little girl romping on a hillside covered with white pines. Oh, and the opening credits of Battlestar Galactica (original series), because when we moved to VT, we also got our first TV, which was quite a milestone in my life!3. List 5 first impressions of Vermont.Uh... green stuff. Ten-cent ice cream cones. Fuzzy pines and lots of ferns. Tons of churches for such a small town (they've since become part of the Vermont Studio Center!). Bears (fear of).4. Describe the first problem you encountered and how you coped or overcame it.Junior high school was the problem. A huge problem. Particularly gym class. I tried to overcome this by buying the proper clothes (chamois-pronounced-chammy shirts from the Woolen Mill, hiking boots with red laces), but I would not say I overcame it. More like grew up and fled it forever. I vowed never again to be in a situation where my worth was determined by my prowess at soccer and b-ball.5. Tell the most compelling story of those first weeks in Vermont...Finding my mom sitting by the creek outside our apartment complex when it was totally dark outside. She said she was meditating-- which was nothing unusual, this being the '70s and all. But in the city, you don't meditate outdoors, at night! In fact, for the first few weeks, I was terrified of the thick country dark, especially because there was this movie called Prophecy out that summer, about a rampaging monster in the rural woods. I didn't see it, but the THOUGHT sufficed. Anyway, at the time, I was floored by my mom's courage! But soon I was roaming the woods after dark, too.