Random Thoughts

14 years have passed since I closed Medford Education International, Inc.(MEI,Inc.).  It is curious that the last proposed project was a symposium devoted to the work of Polish educator, and children’s writer, Janusz Korczak.  Recently, I completed a three act play based one one of Korczak’s novels, King Machush the First.  So life repeats itself or reappears in different guise.  Also, I have written fragments of plays, but have not completed one since childhood.  Two musical plays were performed at Murietta and Highland Hot Springs and Riverside Drive Elementary School.  There was also a performance in Grandma Lillian’s backyard.  Afterwards, the cast enjoyed a glorious swim in her swimming pool.  However, Jonathan Micas, and One Week in a Policeman’s Life were distinctly juvenile efforts, and until now I haven’t given them a second thought.  I did write a series of short plays, including an unfinished one about Native Americans, a subject my father held dear.  The others represented the interests I had:  reading, baseball, minerals(The Pacoima Canyon Mystery).  I adapted Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into play form, which was given a reading by my 7th grade English class.  And my fascination with mysteries led me to adapt The Mystery of the False Fingertips into a play.  So, many years later I’m looking at a play manuscript of 51 pages, double-spaced of another adaptation.  What is strange is that the work touches on the recent history of MEI, and childhood memory at the same time.  The play is like a bright light that is illuminating dark, forgotten passages of my mind.  Janusz Korczak reawakens my interest in foreign educators, which was so important to MEI.  He also reacquaints me with the play form, which invigorated, and watched over my childhood.”Curiouser and curiouser.”