When I was in elementary school, we used to have to take those timed math fact tests in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Do you remember those?  Cheap paper with dark green printing?  If you tried to erase a wrong answer, the paper ripped.  I don’t even think that the order was randomized from sheet to sheet.  I could be wrong about that part, but I remember those tests. Vividly.

In a summer when political conversations have been dominated by genital pics, seemingly hearing impaired Congressional leaders, and questionable leadership at the Presidential level, I finally got a positive charge this morning when the New York Times ran an article by David W. Chen about NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s potential bid for mayor in 2013.  For me, it’s the first glimmer of political hope I’ve had in months.

As a working theatre maker and a teacher of theatre, I’m really tired of people trying to do my job.  The Great Debt Debate is just one more moment in recent American political history where our national leaders are working harder to make this situation dramatic than they’re working to solve the problem.

So once again the talks surrounding the US fiscal crisis broke down last evening with Obama and Boehner hurling strong phraseology at each other, placing blame, and spinning their wheels.  Media outlets are reporting that the “silent majority” is dissatisfied with the job that our national leaders are doing.  One poll reported 80% of Americans feel this dissatisfaction.  We’re not talking about party lines here.  We’re talking about people feeling like their elected officials don’t deserve to get re-elected.

As New York ramps up to begin marrying gay and lesbian couples on Sunday, July 24, Frank Bruni of The New York Times shared a story of one gay couple and their two children that drove the importance of this new legislation all the way home for me.  Much to my embarrassment, I found myself getting a little choked up as I read it on the subway today.  You can read it by clicking here.