Vital Recital

My elder son had a guitar recital the other day. To my surprise, he kind of rocked. And he has long hair so he really was feeling the part, I think. Very cute overall. Some of the other kids were actually awesome. It was like being at a very small, acne-covered concert. A close personal friend joined me for the event, which occurred in the junior high room of the kids' Montessori school.

The room was of course filled with books, unconventional seating, and peaceful communication. I used "I feel" statements reflexively upon entering ("I feel like sitting over there would make me feel happy. I would like to hear your feelings on our seating arrangement, too."). During the recital my eyes wandered a bit for the less engaging performers. There was a lot to look at---tres buchets, plants, geography posters, and art made of "found objects". In our home we call that art made of "shit I threw away". Anyway, my close personal friend leaned in close at one point and said, "Holy shit. Is it just me, or is that a Willian Shakespeare action figure on top of the bookcase?" Indeed it was. Resplendent in pantaloons, no less. Fancy and thespian, a difficult fashion concept to convey. Adding to the hilarity, which at this point was stifled out of respect for the acne-ridden musicians, was that an Edgar Allen Poe action figure stood at Shakespeare's side. Literary badasses, both of them.

It's no great reflection upon my character that I had to strain mightily not to arrange them obscenely after the concert. In my mind's eye a tableau of the Bard bent over while Poe gave him "the Raven" would have been probably the greatest moment of 2011 thus far.