Fame and Gravy…
My cousin sent me a gift… a shimmery, delicate butterfly that I hung above my desk, that hangs behind me as I write this…
I dabble in feng shui a bit, and tried to decide where to put my new winged beauty. It was my husband who suggested the area by my desk…
I did some research first, just to be sure… and found out that butterflies are associated with the “Fame” area of the bagua, given their ability to metamorphose into something so beautiful…
When I sent my cousin an email thanking her, and explaining this, she sent me a You Tube video with the “Fame” theme song… You remember it:
Fame! I’m gonna live forever!
I’m gonna learn how to fly high.
I feel it coming together…
People’ll see me and cry!
…Baby, remember my name!
I remember hearing that as a young girl… I still hear it in my head from time to time… but I know from experience now that you do pay for it…
It doesn’t necessarily happen in the School for the Arts like it does in the show credits… it happens in life. It means getting your heart broken so you can write about it… learning to pick yourself up after hearing “no” over and over again… building the solid foundation and network you need so that fame doesn’t mean that much anymore…
And I think I can honestly say that’s where I am… Playwrights don’t get famous like Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller did… and I’m kinda glad… The pressure finally got to him in the end, and Tenn killed himself because he was so paranoid that everyone hated him.
I want my work produced now, and long after I’m gone, that’s true… but I want to have a normal life, like the one I’m building with my family and friends now…
Instead of it being the meal, I finally understand that fame is just gravy…
–Sue
Add comment May 13th, 2008
