#i mean the 3rd of the five minute plays *i* wrote at college was also half an r&g fic (in a different way) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

agentravensong · 7 months

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so, fun story: the playwriting professor i had this past year, my senior year of college, and really liked -- the one i quoted in this r & g are dead post -- has written some plays themself (not a surprise, i'm sure).

i asked them a while back for a copy of the script of what is, as far as i know, their only full two-act play, to read, for funsies. they finally sent the most recent draft to me a couple of days ago, and i just sat down and read it. i knew going in that it would be about two women in the modern day trying to discover what happened to the crew of a ship that disappeared in the artic in the 1840s, with one of the women being a young musician and the other being an older and more jaded scientist.

i did not know that in the half of the play set in the past, the two main guys would be a ros and guil duo. a love and rhetoric duo. in way over their heads, constantly getting on their crewmates' nerves and often wounding each other but, at the end of the day, reliant on each other and only each other. playing silly games to pass the time and keep their wits sharp. stuck on a boat, together, even. and, spoilers, but, they don't get a happy ending in this one either. doomed by the narrative, as it were.

which is to say: i knew i was going to like it, but, man. i cried.

(and to be clear, the stuff with the two women in the present was great too. there are even parallels to draw between the two sets of protagonists, because that's good writing for you.)

the even crazier thing is, i looked up this professor online after my first class with them in fall 2022, which is when i not only originally found out about this play, but also learned that marian call had written music for it. marian call being an indie musician i learned about back in 2020, whose ep Swears! specifically hit hard for me back during my Fail Semester (don't ask).

what a fucking coincidence, right?

anyway, i listened to the song on her bandcamp that she wrote for the show after finishing the script, and let me tell you: that song already slapped (i've listened to it plenty since first finding it), but with the full context? fuck me.

the worst part of all this is that there is literally no one else i can talk about this play with. other than my professor, whom i shall be emailing shortly with my brain worms thoughts.

...though i suppose i've said enough in this post that other people could probably do some digging and at least find the song, if they wanted to.

...and i suppose if any mutuals (or fellow r&g heads whom i've previously interacted with) wanted to read it and asked me for it... as long as the file wouldn't be too big for discord... what would be the harm in that?

#narrative nonsense #could i have predicted that the professor whom i knew loves ragad would have taken such a chunk from it for their original play? perhaps #i mean the 3rd of the five minute plays *i* wrote at college was also half an r&g fic (in a different way)#i even wrote in some direct r&g references explicitly hoping that my professor would catch them and see what i was going for and feel thing #and now they've gone and uno reversed me in the most spectacular fashion #i can't believe they didn't warn me. i can't believe they tricked me into this. (/j)#now i'm just remembering all the times we've talked about ragad together #in particular the time they proposed that it might have been even sadder if guil left first and ros was alone at the end #they really put their money where their mouth was with that one huh.

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funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

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I'm W. Garth Callaghan, 'Napkin Notes Dad,' and This Is How I Parent

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/im-w-garth-callaghan-napkin-notes-dad-and-this-is-how-i-parent/

I'm W. Garth Callaghan, 'Napkin Notes Dad,' and This Is How I Parent

Photo: Napkin Notes Dad

Ever since his daughter Emma was in elementary school, W. Garth Callaghan would jot down inspirational quotes and bits of dad wisdom onto napkins and slip the notes into her lunchbox. It became their special thing, their way to connect. He wanted to make sure Emma could read a note from her father every single school day until graduation—even if was no longer around to write them.

Callaghan has been diagnosed with cancer five times since 2011. He believed that these napkin notes might eventually be the only thing Emma would have left of him. He wrote the memoir Napkin Notes: Make Lunch Meaningful, Life Will Follow, which Reese Witherspoon is adapting into a film. As he prepares to send Emma off to college this fall, Callaghan reflects on how he parents.

Name: W. Garth Callaghan Location: Richmond, Virginia Job: Napkin Notes Dad and author Family: Wife Lissa and daughter Emma (18)

Tell us how Napkin Notes began.

When Emma was younger, I worked in a typical office setting, and missed eight to ten hours of her day. I wanted to connect with her more than my schedule allowed, so I started writing napkin notes and sticking them into her lunch when she was in kindergarten. Sometimes I’d pop in a cookie or a piece of candy to make her lunch special. I wasn’t sure what mattered to her, the note or the treat.

When Emma was in 2nd or 3rd grade, I was in the kitchen prepping her lunch while sipping my morning cup of coffee. I hadn’t yet written a note. Emma scooped up her lunch bag, peered in, stomped over to me, and asked, “Napkin note?” That’s when I knew it mattered to her, and I committed to putting a note into each lunch.

Photo: Napkin Notes Dad

I have been diagnosed with cancer five times. The first diagnosis came out of the blue and turned our world upside down. After my third diagnosis in 2013, I made a promise to write out all of the napkin notes Emma would need up until high school graduation.

I am by no means perfect, and there were days life just didn’t work in my favor. I have driven a note to school more than a few times. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have to ask the principal, “Can you please get this note into Emma’s lunch bag?”

Take us through your morning routine. What are your best tricks for getting out the door?

I have been taking daily chemo now for well over four years. My chemo brain is strong and I easily forget things. The key to any successful morning is planning, and that starts the night before. I review my schedule as well as the family schedule. I follow the same routine each day so that I am less likely to forget something.

Once everyone is set, I take a few minutes and write at least 800 words before starting work.

Photo: Courtesy of W. Garth Callaghan

How much outside help do you get as a parent? Who or what can’t you live without?

I’d like to think that we don’t need more help than any other typical family, but I know that my health impacts so much of our lives that it’s impossible to survive alone. Our friends and church family step up to help with carpooling, delivering egg drop soup when I am nauseated, fetching prescriptions or groceries, and even raking our yard. I am happy to say we don’t have to lean on everyone all of the time, but we couldn’t make it without this strong support circle.

What are the gadgets, apps, charts or tools you rely on?

I am a self-professed geek and love gadgets. I can’t remember everything I need to, so my Google Pixel is never out of my sight. I love the pictures this phone takes! I use Wunderlist for to-dos (chemo brain!) and Evernote for cataloging. I keep all of my medical records on Evernote so they are easily accessible for me at any time. I track health issues with PatientsLikeMe to help others with kidney cancer.

Has becoming a parent changed the way you work?

Being a parent has made me realize that work is important, but not nearly as important as raising the next generation. I work so that I can be the dad who never misses a softball game. There was a time when I traveled quite a bit for work, and I wrote out napkin notes before each trip so Emma always had a note in her lunch.

What does your evening routine like?

Fatigue is the biggest side effect from my treatment and I really need to wind down after 7 PM. During the school year, we’d often be at the ballfield until late evening and I’d spend my time doing my favorite thing: cheering Emma and her team on. Now that we’re in a permanent off-season, I am an avid reader and try to read a few chapters of something. I am in the middle of Mindset by Carol Dweck. Next up is Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

How do you decompress?

I love to play video games. I play any version of Halo on my XBOX One, and I play Star Wars Galaxies on my PC.

I’d like to say I am also an avid gym-goer, but I am not as good as I should be. My oncologist told me today that I should act as if I am training for a marathon and has motivated me to step up my game.

What’s been your proudest moment as a parent?

A single moment??? I can’t. I just can’t. I am tearing up even remembering all of the moments that I can easily list off. Like …

… the time when Emma was the incredibly kind and gentle coach playing Buddy Ball with the special needs team.

… the time when an impossible-to-stop hard grounder was hit to Emma at shortstop, and she caught it and effortlessly backhanded it to the third Baseman without even looking where the player was.

… the time when I asked her if it was okay to write a very personal book about our lives and she responded eagerly, “Oh Dad, I want you to write the book!”

I work so that I can be the dad who never misses a softball game.

What moment are you least proud of?

Emma was about 18 months old and was jumping on her bed. I told her to stop jumping there. Why did I do that? Did it really matter that she was jumping on her bed? I lost my cool and told her if she jumped on the bed, I’d spank her. She stopped, looked me straight in the eye, and jumped some more. What could I do? We sat together in her room, both of us crying and I swatted her bottom once with just enough force to crush my heart.

What do you want your kid to learn from your example?

I want Emma to know the value of trying and failing, then trying better and failing better.

What are your favorite funny/weird/special family rituals?

We have this weird thing for an overabundance of fall produce. We pick pumpkins at an “All You Can Carry” pumpkin patch and have perfected the art of carrying more pumpkins that we can remotely use, all for $10. (The trick is to load the first layer of pumpkins stem side down.) We also pick our own apples at an orchard in Charlottesville. We pick so many that I have to make two trips to the car! I think our family record was over 70 pounds.

One very funny, weird thing about us and our dear friends: We sing the diarrhea song together, but only when camping. I don’t think we’ve ever actually had bowel problems out there, but the song is funny to sing around a campfire.

Has anyone ever given you a piece of parenting advice that has really stuck with you?

Rachel Macy Stafford wrote a piece on the most important six words you can say to your child and I took that advice to heart. It changed my perspective immediately and I started to practice it at the very next softball game I attended.

The six words: “I love to watch you play.”

What’s the hardest part about being a parent?

Learning to fail well in front of your child.

What’s your favorite part of the day?

I know this will be corny, but every part of every day. I have metastatic kidney cancer and the likelihood to become cured is practically zero. Whenever someone asks me how I am doing, I always respond with, “Each day on this side of the grass is a good day” and genuinely mean it.

How can parents find ways to connect with their kids?

Find the small thing, the ritual, that’ll be just between you and your child. It could be anything! Try flying paper airplanes from the second story window, wearing the same T-shirt to the movies, memorizing a favorite story word-for-word, or learning how to dance in tandem like they do in the movie Big.

Any other wisdom you’d like to share?

Write a note on the napkin. You can use a sticky note or regular paper and put in somewhere safe if you don’t pack a lunch. Last year I wrote about 180 napkin notes for Emma. Five were super successful and were brought back home to be tacked onto the message board in the kitchen or placed on Emma’s dresser.

I had put this one on her car seat one random morning and it stayed on her dresser all year:

Photo: Napkin Notes Dad

Oh, and your kids absolutely know when you’re looking at your phone during their game/meet/performance. Don’t think you’re fooling them one bit.

Source: https://offspring.lifehacker.com/im-w-garth-callaghan-napkin-notes-dad-and-this-is-ho-1827618994

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