Dear Kerry,
I just watched the movie The Jill and Julia Show (written and performed by Jill Sobule and Julia Sweeney). I'm sorry you didn't get to see it. I dreamt about it, so it played in the "Happy Place" in my dreams all night. The place you and I still meet whenever either of us needs to create, dream or is in desperate need of a hug.
Their show came from that happy place too. It was created, I suspect, by lying on the carpet of the living room; tossing toy blocks down and just trying to make each other laugh. The blocks are all the things in their life that they are trying to make sense of. They turn those anxieties into joy because they have a friend in their sandbox that lights up at the sight of them and wants to play. That joy is infectious. I glowed too.
They both have brilliant things to say, yet it is that glow of friendship and love I took away. Julia talked about how her former coworker from Saturday Night Live, Victoria Jackson, is trying to save Julia from going to hell. Hell?! Aren’t the gates of heaven and hell adjacent and unmarked? It is easy too pick the wrong door but I think Jill and Julia know the right one. If they act out of love and not hate they don't need a sign from God (or Victoria) to know which door to pick.
Mind you, when someone hates you and is calling you too crazy, too Godless, too female, too untalented, too silly, too smart, too black, too queer, too old, too Jewish or just too different, it is easy to pick the wrong door and hate them back. For Jill and Julia, I think they just laugh and enjoy the show. The fool is writing their act for them.
Kerry, I'll be Loving You…Always,
Vincent
Thanks for the write-up. It sounds awesome. I'll have to buy it this weekend and take a look.
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