Gwydion Suilebhan - Latest Comments

Re: Seven Steps to Success for Playwrights on Twitter

Kristine M. Reyes — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:04:52 -0000

I've used Tweetdeck since I first started tweeting two years ago, but it's gone downhill considerably since Twitter took it over. It disavowed FB from the Chrome extension and the Android app keeps crashing. I'm trying to get used to Hootsuite... if anyone knows of any other similar apps to try, please share!

Re: Only One Woman at a Time

Kristen — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:08:16 -0000

The theatre definitely needs you to keep going! Thanks for this post-salient points, which echo a lot of what came out of the gender parity twitter chats on HowlRound a few weeks ago. Glad to be introduced to this blog and to new female playwrights. Keep writing for sure!!

Re: Devising the Kulturbund

Peter Leben — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:51:19 -0000

Gail - I am so very impressed with your professionalism and tenacity in making this important historical project happen.for the world to see.

Re: Becoming a Father

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:07:06 -0000

Here's hoping that your "new" life brings you new instincts and a new explosive reality!

Re: Becoming a Father

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:05:07 -0000

My friend, you are very welcome!

Re: Becoming a Father

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:04:53 -0000

Congratulations! Here's to perfect health, many discoveries, and much happiness and prosperity.

Re: Becoming a Father

Jesse Wilson — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:31:52 -0000

Thank you. Less than a month ago, I found out I was going to be a dad. Even writing this, I can't believe it's me saying this!
Jesse
www.jessewilsonproductions.com

Re: Becoming a Father

Josh — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:07:06 -0000

Hey,

Thanks for this. You've managed to express a lot of the things I've felt since my wife and I had our boy. It's a strange and wonderful new world but one that come with a whole new set of rules and a totally different lifestyle. Our boy Max, I love that kid so much I think my chest might explode, for about 6 months or so I think I went through a kind of mourning period for my old life. It's not that I regretted it, it's just that the world is different now. I can't be that person anymore,and sometimes my instincts don't catch up to my reality so quick. That being said, I'm getting there and really loving it.

Re: Becoming a Father

Adam Szymkowicz — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:22:16 -0000

Thank you for this

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Gwydion Suilebhan — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:13:04 -0000

How to reconcile angry and funny? There are others, I'm sure, who've done it. But it feels hard to me, too.

I wish you much success with this!

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Jenny Splitter — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:18:05 -0000

No, thank you! I appreciate the response. I've been pondering this one for a while now.

It occurs to me that I'm probably struggling so much because I do make fun of people, but it's usually lighthearted, or I'm making fun of myself or someone like me, or all of the above. This is probably the first time I've really dug into something that can be life or death. It's also a topic that sometimes makes me really angry, and that's not the headspace I'm normally in when I try to be funny.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:19:15 -0000

That last bit there is one of the kindest things that's been said to me in a long time, Nancy. I love you. Thank you.

I think social media is a baby-with-the-bathwater thing. We aren't going to get rid of it any time soon, or (really) ever, so we have to find ways to use them for good, rather than ill.

And of course... all any of us can do is try to take personal responsibility for our failings -- and try to be as good as we can.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:16:42 -0000

You're very welcome! Thanks for sharing your own story in return.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:16:06 -0000

One day, I would love to have a Shabbat dinner with you. I bet that'd be something. We don't have them at home, but... there are things I miss about them from my childhood. And this gesture of detaching from social media during Shabbat -- it feels right in keeping with the memories I have. Thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:12:59 -0000

I know that you and I are of similar minds about this sort of thing... so I genuinely sympathize. I've had to struggle HARD in my work, especially in recent years, to even START to learn how to depict characters and points of view so completely opposed to my own.

I think that what I've been trying to do is to ask myself what's REALLY (if anything) going to change someone's mind about this stuff. It's obviously NOT going to be mocking them, or making characters like them look like fools, or having other characters like us say mean things to the characters like them.

I think the truth is that if we want to walk somebody across a river, we have to cross to their side first to really, genuinely see what it's like over there, and see why they love it, and connect with them. Then offer an open hand... which they may or may not take... and invite them to make a return visit to our side.

Which means, on stage, depicting characters different than us in all their full humanity, so that people like them can see themselves.

Ultimately, I'm losing confidence that people can be "made" to change. They can only be invited to do so. The ones who are ready will find your play, and my plays, just as we two find the plays we're ready for and are changed by them as well.

At least... when theater works that way. There are so many ways it CAN work, after all...

I find this subject fascinating. Thank you for continuing this conversation.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

EM Lewis — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:06:03 -0000

Thank you for sharing the experience of your "fast" with us, Gwydion! I think we do become too inundated, and therefore not aware enough in our interactions. I like taking a walk in the woods or a bike ride for this reason -- a step away from the technology, and back into my own head. But I also like RVC Bard's idea (which I've read about before) about taking one day a week -- Sunday, perhaps, or Shabbat, or whatever day fits most naturally for you and having a media fast. Have a potluck or a barbecue, go to a park, work in the yard, have friends over and play board games -- just don't plug in, just one day a week. I haven't tried it yet... but I like the idea.

~Ellen

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Jenny Splitter — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:12:21 -0000

I'm intrigued by your comments about the Dr. Oz piece, because it reminds me of your post about telling a story to persuade rather than preaching to the choir, creating an echo chamber, yada yada. I've been working on a play (for what feels like forever) that is partly about pseudo science and skepticism. I do think it's important to avoid being smug and self-congratulatory, and also to try to speak to a truly broad and diverse audience, but I also feel like I have to be honest in where I'm coming from. Honesty doesn't excuse being an ass, but something happens -- maybe when I'm thinking too much about persuading rather than telling a story -- that doesn't feel right. I don't know. I haven't worked it all out in my head, but it's been on my mind since that last post of yours and I'm just curious if you have any other thoughts about writing to persuade.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

RVCBard — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:26:26 -0000

I pretty much plan to make detaching from social media a weekly thing I do on Shabbat. I've been working on Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail (particularly for Google chat). Gonna add Tumblr and/or LiveJournal in a few weeks. More than not turning on/off lights or carrying my wallet outside the house, unplugging from social media seems like the more meaningful practice.

What I've noticed from the 2 times I've done it is that when it's over, I'm eager to reconnect. What could have been an annoyance (and that sound my phone or laptop makes when I get a new Facebook notification is strangely irritating) becomes something potentially new and exciting.

It also means I have to *gulp* talk to people on the phone occasionally.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Nancy S. — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:15:46 -0000

a commitment to a lack of typos...sheesh.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Nancy S. — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:07:32 -0000

Yes, thank you for writing this piece and for taking your break. I have been so self-promoting on Facebook lately (and I don't even do Twitter!), I'm exhausted from it. FB has changed my brain - the inane, funny, witty things in my life that I never used to need to call a friend and leave a message about (before FB) - why do I feel compelled to do those things now? It always reminds me of that Better Midler line, "Enough about me, how do you like my dress?"

After doing several public events in the past few weeks and telling everyone on FB about them, I am feeling loose in my bones - completely off-kilter from ground, like I'm seasick. I am going to take a break from Facebook so I can go and get a good jump on the revision of my new novel, which is what I want to care about, not whether people are commenting on my posts. It's bad enough I have (I mean, get) to continue teaching my online lit. class, which is whole other kind of social mediay, or that I'll most like check if anyone's written a new review for my book on Amazon, because, well, just because....

There are many good things about social media - I'm grateful for the connections I have made, not only with long lost friends, or longtime friends like you, Gwydion, and seeing what you're up to and your adorable pics of your son, but for the literary connections I've made with new people. That part is invaluable, but for the moment, I am sick of online self, sick of looking at whether someone posted back instead of really looking in the eyes of my daughter. Craziness. I need to go into my own cave and bring back my own treasures and then, not even blog about it.

Your integrity and self-searching as a human being, Gwydion, are always what I've loved about you, and what make you a damn good writer. May we all "publish" with thoughtfulness, inspiration, and the commitment to our best selves.

Re: Social Media Soul-Searching: Three New Lessons

Melissa Hmelnicky — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:57:53 -0000

This is such a great reflection, Gwydion. Thank you for sharing! You put so eloquently much of what I experienced myself when I stepped away from Facebook (I dabble on Twitter but Facebook is my main SM vice). I was moved to take a break from earlier this year because I didn't like who I was becoming in the online space and I also didn't like what was motivating my posts. After deactivation, the initial loneliness was really difficult and unexpected. I live by myself and realized after deactivating that I had been using Facebook as a way to "connect" with others when I was alone in the evening. I had been slowly losing the ability to be quiet and in my own head without composing things to share with others as an attempt to get them to comment or "like" or otherwise engage with me. And I was a frequent checker with the inability to really step away if I posted something I thought was witty or profound or if I had shared something I thought deserved response - constantly looking to see if people liked what I was doing. So silly. And the statuses kept composing themselves for a week or two after I left. My brain was still compelling me to share. Once I passed that little detox period, it then turned into a welcome relief to not be in the know on every little thing happening with everyone in my Facebook world though I definitely started to miss a few friends who I rarely see in the real world but chat with on SM frequently. The final phase was that I was happy without it and didn't want to go back though it took me nearly 2 months to get to that space. And that had been my deal with myself. When I no longer wanted to get back on, that is when I would get back on.

It is odd. This new platform of communication. It is so wonderful for certain things but it so easily causes demons to surface or dragons to lurk. After time away, I've decided to keep a closer eye on my use and when I start using it to fill a void instead of to enhance connections, I'll need another break. And there is nothing wrong with that! I'll also be adding to my approach your idea of composing to a specific person and thinking of the enter key as a "publish" button. I think that will help keep me in check.

Thanks again for sharing, Gwydion!

Re: Seven Steps to Success for Playwrights on Twitter

Lee Liebeskind — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:18:58 -0000

I like the last version of tweetdeck before the most recent update. It feels like hootsuite, but for some reason functions better for me personally.

Re: Seven Steps to Success for Playwrights on Twitter

Gwydion Suilebhan — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:05:46 -0000

I'm not one of those pro-technology people who can't see the wisdom in unplugging, believe me -- so if having a simpler phone helps you do that... be true to yourself, I say! Just don't shoot yourself in the foot if you really want to be connected. :)

Re: Seven Steps to Success for Playwrights on Twitter

Marissa Skudlarek — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:59:08 -0000

Thanks for your response! And here I am, reading it at 6:45 on the West Coast after I came back from my day job. :-) I take a perverse pride in being one of the only San Francisco residents who doesn't have a smartphone, but maybe it's time for me to get one...

Re: Seven Steps to Success for Playwrights on Twitter

Gwydion Suilebhan — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:46:27 -0000

SUCH a great question.

So... how well do you know the story behind #2amt? The "2am" is actually the time in which the original Twitter conversation that led to its founding wound down, and it had been going for several hours before then. I often find, in fact, that about 9:30 pm EST is when things start to heat up. (Perhaps as those working 9-5 jobs on the west coast are clocking out and logging on?) So there's a great opportunity there to participate in a deeper engagement.

Beyond that: I think it's a great idea to check in for five or ten minutes during a lunch break at work. Just to reply to anyone who has tweeted you directly, for example, and to skim any hashtags you might follow: perhaps even just to fire your imagination for later!

As for not keeping a browser open... if you happen to have a smart phone, you might want to try using that instead.

Good luck!