There's a phrase I heard once long ago in the movie charlotte's web that I feel defines my night right now. It's 3:45. My stomach is empty, and my mind is full. I can't sleep worth a damn.

I've already eaten a bowl of cereal, so that takes care of that part, now I just need to empty my mind. Unfortunatly, I haven't talked to any one person for a good long time all weekend. At least not in any serious manner. So all I have in my head right now are ramblings. The overflow of an idle mind that's used to constant work and problem solving. So I'm going to use this magical medium we call "Facebook notes" to empty my mind a bit. And I'm going to go topic by topic, and I'm going to write in passion, without structure, grammer, spelling, all that jazz, so bare with me, and read it as if I was speakin' it.

1. Directors

Over the past month, I've had enough experiences with directors that I've come to a few conclusions about what they should be. There are several things that a truely great director does, but the key goal is to create the best piece of performance art that can be done on a stage. There's a hitch, however. Y'see, a lot of directors get caught up in their own goals, their own agendas. For some reason, there are a bunch of directors who have lost the point. The point of any sort of performance art, where you got a whole bunch of people coming together to put on one big show, is the people. The point is the amalgam up artistic skill and culture that brings performance art to it's peak. It ain't the ideas of one person. It ain't the goals and agendas of one person. The directors job is to direct. Not to dictate. Granted, there is a lot of work that goes into directing.

One of which, is leadership. Leadership is an amazingly complex thing. Books have been written about it. Many many books with many many readers. Most of it is rather intuitive though, and some of those books are ancient. Which draws me to a conclusion. the concept of leadership has been around for thousands of years. And every principal dictating it's use has been around for a long time. There's no new discoveries in leadership. it seems like such a limited concept. And yet, it's so complex, most people have no clue what they're doing when they're given the opportunity to lead.

perhaps the only reason I draw this conclusion is that basic truth that "power corrupts." I, however, refuse to believe that everyone who is given power will be corrupted. And I could site many sources, Teddy Rosevelt, John F. Kennedy, among others. And yet, so many people, given just a little power will lord it over those around them, and use it stupidly. I'm not going to say from whome I draw this conclusion from, as I would offend many here. But as far as directors are conserned, they need to be leaders. True Leaders. Wise leaders.

And that's my gripe, though I have more personal sentences to add about a couple peoples character I will end it here.

Now, on a positive note...

2. ASP

The appalachia Service project (ASP) is a truly and wholing amazing thing. We do some amazing stuff down there in appalachia, providing warmer, safer, drier environments for those living in poverty, and I'm not sure a lot of people really understand the perspective.

When I go down there, the difference is breathtaking. You go down there, you're in a whole new world. It just reminds me how privaledged I really am. Up 'round here, I got five bedrooms in my house. And two bathrooms. The first year I went to ASP, I worked on this dinky little trailer. It had one bedroom. And one bathroom. And the toilet didn't even work. Up here, my parents got 4 kids. Which is guite a bit. But down there, in their one bedroom/one bathroom house, they got 5 kids. And a cousin was visiting at the time, too. And you know what? Them folks was happy. Not just fake happy, you smile at the nice people come round to fix your house so they don't break nothin', I mean they were seriously happy to have someone working on their house. Granted that was probobly my worst year out of the bunch, cause I didn't know how to do anything, but they were still happy. And that is just plain astounding.

That's all I got to say about that.

Of course, this is mearly an opinion paper without sources and facts, Who knows, I could be going completely insane, and some of my ethics are way off base. Either way, any opinons would be greatly appreciated. Especially, but not limited to, those tagged here. I would enjoy everyone's opinions.