Moved by Music

Do you remember when Grey's Anatomy did their musical episode about a year ago? I loved it. And the high point of the show was the featured vocals of Sara Ramirez who plays Callie Torres. She has performed on Broadway in Spamalot, and WOW did she ROCK it on this episode of Grey's. 


In this episode, Callie is on the brink of death after being in a terrible car accident. She was pregnant at the time, and her baby had to be delivered via emergency c-section, and the baby is also in critical condition. In this song, Callie's spirit is willing her body to live. I've seen this episode three times now, and I cry like a baby every time she sings this song. It's just so good.



It's not often that I am so moved by music, so I've been pondering why this song so speaks to me. I especially love these lyrics:

All of these lines across my face,
Tell you the story of who I am.
So many stories of where I've been,
And how I got to where I am.
But these stories don't mean anything,
If you've got no one to tell them to.
It's true. I was made for you.


The lyrics made me think about my husband so much, and what a blessing it is to have someone who walks through life with me, and who (God willing) will be with me for the great majority of my journey on earth. We spend a lot of time telling our life stories to one another, and of course we are also writing part of our story together. As I talked about it with Brian, he told me about a fabulous quote spoken by Susan Sarandon in the movie Dance with Me:

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.

I'm so thankful to have a wonderful husband bearing witness to my life, as well as my family members, and some dear friends. We all need witnesses, because all of us matter.

I'm Still Here

When I first started this blog, I bought the domain name "www.starshinereport.com". I was just notified that my initial purchase of the domain name back in 2006 has expired, and that I can renew it for $35/year. It's just not worth it to me, especially because I really don't need a domain name! You can always find me right here at:

http://starshinereport.blogspot.com

So here I am, and here I will be. If you've had me bookmarked before at the old domain address, you might want to create a new bookmark at the above link.

Thanks for being a faithful reader, especially considering that I rarely post here anymore!

How The West was Won

How The West Was Won was my first professional job after finishing acting school. I auditioned for it in New York, and when they called to offer me the job, they said that I would be flown out to Utah and put up in a motel for nine weeks while we rehearsed and performed the show.

It was a fabulous experience! If you ever have the opportunity to spend time in the "four corners" region of Utah, I can't recommend it enough! This is the largest venue I've ever played--an outdoor amphitheater with a natural red rock canyon wall as the backdrop. It was a stunningly beautiful theatre and such a fun show! I got to sing, dance and act my heart out. My entire family came to watch me perform, and I just loved it! 

The above photo of me as a saloon girl with a cowboy was featured on the front page of a local newspaper. :)

I'm so thankful God gave me the opportunity to work this show. What an amazing memory!

Return: to The White Stone

When I lived in New York City, I had the wonderful experience of attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Pastor Tim Keller spoke each Sunday in a way that engaged both my spirit and my mind. He is a true intellectual, and he never spoke to the lowest common denominator. Week after week, I left the church services feeling like both my soul and my intellect had been enriched by what I had learned from this teacher. Many consider him a modern-day C.S. Lewis, and indeed Lewis is one of his great influences.

Recently, Dr. Keller has been writing some very thoughtful and thought-provoking books. One of them is called The Reason for God. Brian is currently leading a weekly group that is meeting to discuss some of the ideas put forth in The Reason for God, and he's also blogging about it at The White Stone. If you're interested in reading some of his posts, he would love it!

To see Tim Keller talking about The Reason for God in an Authors@Google forum, you can watch this video:

Return: to College Theatre

I decided it might be fun to share some photos from different shows I've done through the years. This photo is from the first major production I was cast in at Baylor. I played air-headed maid "Peg" in William Congreve's The Way of the World.

It was an itty-bitty part in a great big play, but I had a ball and found a lot of joy in making this small part a larger than life, living, breathing character. The actress in the photo with me who played "Betty" is Allison Lamb. She is a very talented performer who does a lot of acting work in Charlotte, NC.

More acting photos to come!

Return: To Childhood!

Yesterday, my sister and I got together with our kids and took them on a carousel ride! I can't really remember the last time I went on a merry-go-round, but it was so much fun to relive the excitement and fun and wonder through the eyes of the kids!

Return: To Now (If that's even possible)

Yesterday, I had an audition for a holiday musical here in Houston. There were 40 actors there vying for 9 parts. Yikers!

As we all milled around waiting to sing and read for the director, I realized that with the exception of one other woman, I was the oldest female there! And even though that realization was a little unexpected, I was happy because I very content being one of the oldest of the bunch. It just felt good because I wasn't competing with the myriad of 20 somethings there for the "young" ingenue-type parts.

And it was nice, because I was very comfortable being right where I was, right when I was, at just the age I was.

In a culture that endlessly praises youth, it felt good to be happy in my 37 year old skin!  I got to read for a villainess character, which was super fun and wicked!

I don't know if I'll get cast, but as far as this post goes, that's not really the point.

I just wanted to say that it was rather sublime to feel fabulous "in the moment" of a situation that took me by surprise. The surprise being that there was absolutely no sense of longing to "go back" to an earlier, younger time. The wonder of the realization that "right now" is awesome!