Sunday, May 9, 2010

"I Knew Sammy"

Friday night, instead of our usual trip to the grocery store, some friends and I saw The Sammy Project at the Aronoff Center. Darrell Grand Moultrie, a Juilliard graduate and a "master teacher," choreographed dances set to the music of Sammy Davis, Jr. I'd had no idea how many of the familiar standards had been sung by him.

But my favorite part of this experience came a few hours ago when I told my grandma about seeing The Sammy Project. Her reaction: "I knew Sammy." She explained, "A girl who was stationed with us wanted me to teach her how to tap dance." My grandmother, unmarried and a WAC in Cheyenne, Wyoming, told the girl that she would teach her what she knew. When they met, the girl had brought Sammy Davis, Jr. also. My grandma was familiar with Sammy, introduced herself, and said she couldn't -- Sammy was too good. Sammy tried to convince her to stay, but my grandma was too embarrassed and left. She told me that Sammy was very nice.

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This is the first time I've been able to just sit at my computer and not feel like I should be grading papers. Two weeks in, I'm not behind yet - I hope to keep it this way! Anyway, the Reds are over .500 (barely) and things are going well. I did my dishes - I'm about to retreat upstairs to put clothes away. Taking care of things I can control.

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