I spent a longer amount of time trying to create this show on Towers of Italy than just about any show since my first few when I was crazy and kept going over and over the same presentation. Finally I arrived at the studio, and I wouldn't say I was totally confident about what I wanted to say. I had a strong desire to "teach" the whole concept of towers to my audience complete with history, background material and, of course, personal reflections. Since I might be reading my notes throughout the show, I asked Ellen to show the towers, but not focus on me so much as I will have my head down most of the time studying notes. The sound problem we had the previous week disapeared, and everything began flawlessly. No community center activity at all. As the day progressed I was a bit nervous that the huge snow storm which was so poorly predicted by the weather service around here, of course, failed to materialize. What a great job, meteorologist. Matters not how accurate you are, you are still paid, one of the rare jobs in the world where failure is not only acceptable, but expected.
Off we went and I tried very hard to tone down my excitement. Of course, the idea for the show came from Franc Palaia's show on his Polaroid Towers, which will appear next week. I thought this introduction of my knowledge and photos of towers would be an excellent prequel. As the show progressed, I kept catching myself making very small mistakes, which as I progressed became magnified in my mind. When I finished, I was my usual exhausted and starving, so got home quickly and when my wife indicated that it was a great show, told her I made a lot of mistakes and the show stank. I even had trouble sleeping thinking the show was a failure. I then sat back this morning and saw it from beginning to end, and was stunned by how good it actually was. Yes, I did make a few mistakes and I will leave it to the viewer to pick them out, but since errors have become par for the course, I should become more accepting of my flubs. After all I am far from perfect, and all of my Italy projects are flawed to a degree. I have come to realize, but never seem to fully grasp the fact, that acceptance of one's limitations and foibles are the key to peace of mind. The mistakes didn't detract from an excellent presentation and it was obvious that I did spend a lot of time on the whole presentation. Ellen did a superb job in every way, as the picture, sound, and timing was perfect. All in all I am quite satisfied.
Next week, of course is Franc Palaia's version of Towers of Italy, so I can sit back a little more relaxed while he does his usual magnificent job. The week after I will reproduce a typical library forum such as the three I performed in Kingston, Saugerties, and Woodstock. I want it on the record and this is the only way I can obtain a professional video copy of my forums, so if you have already seen one, you are excused from viewing, unless you liked them very much. After that I have several shows I have spent a lot of time on such as show Loggias of Italy, Eating in Italy (a light jaunt through, not a culinary presentation, but my own dining experiences over the years), then the Boboli Gardens of Florence, Gardens Throughout Italy, and then Ric's presentation of Tuscania, and the long awaited show discussing the origins of Woodstock Public Access Television with Tobe Carey and Bart Friedman as guests.
My course at New Paltz Lifetime Learning has been expanded to 26 students (from a cap of 20) and I have been communicating with several of them over the past week. I emailed a copy of my course outline which I assumed people would have trouble downloading and printing. I have mailed two of them in the past few days. I am again testing my computer at New Paltz on Wednesday, yet another dry run in preparation for the March 20 first day. Meanwhile I have not heard from Kingston about my offer of a series of lectures on Italy over the summer, so I assume that project is not going to happen. Meanwhile I pursue my desire to get back to teaching math at a college. My website is slightly changed. Have a look. Grazie per la lettura.
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