Act Acting » Method Acting » MS, Acting & Identity (LONG)

MS, Acting & Identity (LONG)

Question:

SYLV77 wrote: >  I will never again be the woman rollerskating down the street…

 And if. . .if! she ever gets her rollerskates back, watch out! > Sylvia

Oh Sylvia! (anguished cry!) Perhaps, one day we’ll both skate again.  My "wheels" are waiting in the trunk of the car that I cannot drive just now. If you get there first, please wait for me. ^ ^  (smiling through my tears) q.q   Jeaniemac __/

Response:

Susan G. wrote: >        Well Kate and Josiah, I wouldn’t apologize for rambling. Rambling, >to me, is just talking without going anywhere and both of you went >somewhere. I appreciated reading what Josiah wrote and your response. The >problem is Kate, your words are almost what I was going to say and now I >don’t have the words.

AAARGH! I didn’t received Kate’s reply! Calling KATE or anyone else who has her post on "MS, Acting & Identity" – could you please send a copy to me at: <lists….@dial.pipex.com>. Thanks, J. > …I like the idea of method acting, maybe this old >theatre and acting student (eons ago) should just try it.

I’m a novice to acting so I’m gonna try and join a acting group. :-) And if you try it, please let us know how you get on! Love & hugs, Josiah

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Sylvia wrote: >… I will never again be the woman rollerskating down the street, >defying taxis and cursing men who make comments, but that woman is still >inside me.  And if. . .if! she ever gets her rollerskates back, watch out!

Well… maybe you will/might get those skates back! "That is the question" and "There’s the rub" etc. Or swop em for something that works as well? What would? Would anything? One of my irritating losses is throwing boomerangs. I am, however, working on getting the ability back to, if not to exactly climb, at least to haul myself up trees! Even if I never throw like I used to I may yet rescue the lost bommerangs that are still in the trees of a local park. Well… its some kinda goal. :-) Thanks for the thoughtful response. Love & Hugs, Josiah.

Response:

> AAARGH! I didn’t received Kate’s reply! > Calling KATE or anyone else who has her post on "MS, Acting & > Identity" – could you please send a copy to me at: > <lists….@dial.pipex.com>. Thanks, J. >> …I like the idea of method acting, maybe this old >>theatre and acting student (eons ago) should just try it. > I’m a novice to acting so I’m gonna try and join a acting group. > :-) And if you try it, please let us know how you get on! > Love & hugs, Josiah

And double AAARGH!  I didn’t receive Kate’s reply either – my hard drive’s acting erratic so I’ve been on and off the net.  I would appreciate a copy too. — James Morrison  <ja…@immediat.u-net.com>

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Very well said Candace…….You hit the nail right on the head….. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I sort of think of myself as a host and MS as the symbiant (sp?) like > Dax on Deep Space Nine, or Tealc on Stargate SG1 (Showtime). The disease > is within me, and I must manage the manifestations it exhibits, but it > isn’t ME. I exist separately from the entity known as MS. And yet at > times it does momentarily take command…but I’m still there, and I must > accept the physical control it assumes, while attempting to regain the

Response:

Josiah Hincks wrote: > <snip> > >MS, ACTING & IDENTITY > <snip> > Judy M., LaVonne, Nola, Wendy and Susan. > I’m thinking on what you’ve said/suggested/reflected but haven’t got > anything new to say at the moment. It’s a rich crop to hoe. :-) > Thank you for the thoughtful responses. > Hugs, Josiah

Hi, Josiah – Thanks for such a thought-provoking, stimulating post!  I think we’ve all really enjoyed it. Hugs, Susan

Response:

Hi Josiah! Thanks for posting this!!!  The responses you got have got me thinking in ways I haven’t thought since I was in college.  "All the world’s a stage. . ." yes, and I don’t remember auditioning for this part I have landed!  For the past four years, I have been saying, "This is not me!"  No, it isn’t, from the very trivial (not being able to go into resale shops for my clothes), to the life-altering (having to quit my job.)  My identity on the outside has changed, but I am still the same person inside.  No, I am not MS!  Any more than I was a nasty cold when I caught one. The only difference, the nasty cold went away, and the MS never will.  It may get better; it may get worse, but I have got it.  But it doesn’t have me, and it isn’t me.  It has changed my life, but not my inner core of identity.  I will never again be the woman rollerskating down the street, defying taxis and cursing men who make comments, but that woman is still inside me.  And if. . .if! she ever gets her rollerskates back, watch out! Thank you again for a most thought-provoking post! Sylvia

Response:

Josiah Hincks wrote: > Call me bonkers for posting this. It’s way too long and its way weird.

Not at all, Josiah! > Is MS just an unwelcome guest or am I MS? I’m inclining to the view > that I have become MS and that it is not an alien invader. I know it > may seem bizarre but then is that fatigue in the morning me not > pulling myself together or is it age or is it just MS? The MS is in > everything and nothing that is separable – even if it comes and goes. > It is part of me. *Except*, and its a big exception, in how I map my > identity in relation to Ms. Me.

I think the slow, painful process of integrating MS into one’s personality or psyche is a form of acceptance…and one which can ultimately work in the service of both our physical and mental well-being. > That’s where I think method acting may come in. Not so much as an > acting method – but as a way for exploring identities. Call it > identity role playing. Call it "understand the rules of the identity > game; call it focus down using a compass to identity; call it training > for future identities."

There’s a variant of this which sometimes takes the form of a common saying:  "Fake it ’til you make it."  I’ve found myself "acting" through difficult times with MS until accommodating it is no longer at odds with my identity. > Just some thoughts. It could of course be I’ve misunderstood method > acting.

Somehow, I don’t believe you have.  Method acting can conceivably serve as a bridge between the unwanted changes life can bring and an acceptance of the situation.  It’s actually a process, one which can be life-affirming. Thanks for a very thoughtful post, and best wishes when you see your neuro! Susan

Response:

Josiah I have printed out this post so I can reread, without having to scroll the thing, this post.  There is much in your crop.  Your friend stired the soil of your brain well. I do not think I am going to try to answer all the stuff in this post at this time.  But I do want to use it to do a little weeding of my own brain.  Sometimes we need something like this to provoke some deep thought.  We are too often caught up in the trivialities of living and now with the not so trivial problems that a chronic problem of any sort may cause.  We need something like this post to make us step back from some of that and look at what is real and what is important to keep our neglected soul alive. > Sometimes you can hoe it all back to the life it was before. But how? > And how can you tell when your efforts will be rewarded and when they > will be futile?

There was no answer to this before MS.  There was no answer to this since birth.  Some folks are never praised for the good stuff when they are very small thereby making their efforts futile.  Some got smacked for trying to color or print with their left hand and other uncalled for stuff.  This is no reward.  And some are rewarded for doing all the wrong stuff or there wouldn’t be so many kids in trouble, on drugs, killing other children, etc.  I would think that much of the reward or feeling of inadequacy and futility come from our beginings and how folks treated our efforts before we knew how to give ourselves strokes.  How we give ourselves rewards or punish ourselves come from how we learned to do it.  It’s not something inborn but something learned. > Cycles. That’s the second thing. > But then what kind of identity is worth fighting for?

This can also be broken down to something very basic and simple.  We are conceived and we begin to die at the same time we begin to grow. Conception is the begining of the cycle and death is the end. Everything else is just a challenge that builds character.  The challenge can have a positive effect or a negative one depending on how we deal with it.  Do we let it destroy a little peice of our inner being or do we use it to build heart and soul? > Identity. That’s a third thing. > Is MS just an unwelcome guest or am I MS? I’m inclining to the view > that I have become MS and that it is not an alien invader. … The MS is in > everything and nothing that is separable – even if it comes and goes. > It is part of me. *Except*, and its a big exception, in how I map my > identity in relation to Ms. Me.

You are not your MS.  But then you can’t help but be touched by it just as we are touched by everything that happens to us.  We are most touched, where it matters to the *ME*, by other people.  Some come into our lives and leave something beautiful and important when they go on to other things.  Some leave trash that we must throw away lest it corrupt the *ME*.  Some stay and become a piece of our hearts.  The *ME* has to make sure that those who stay are doing something positive for us and we are doing something positive for THEM.  It hurts our *ME* when we become leaches that suck the life from another. > Mapping. That’s a fourth thing. > Its difficult to read a map without a compass.

Ah yes.  But if we knew exactly which road to take, there would be no excitement or challenge.  There would be no reason to learn.  There would be no reason to love.  The world would be a boring place to be because everyone would be using the compass to travel the same roads. No chance to exercise the computer of the brain.  Sort of like reading one Harlequin novel after the other.  The names change but the plot doesn’t.  Always the same story with a predictable ending and none of them leave a lasting impression. > That’s where I think method acting may come in. Not so much as an > acting method – but as a way for exploring identities. Call it > identity role playing. Call it "understand the rules of the identity > game; call it focus down using a compass to identity; call it training > for future identities."

I don’t think so.  Call it trying on the skin of others so you can better understand your neighbor.  Call it a place to forget reality for a while and play.  Call it finding another interesting peice of *ME* but it cannot be the all.  There has been too much else that has come before and so much to come after and inbetween. You will not find the whole of you in the MS nor in the acting but both will become a part of the beautiful soul that you already are.               L — Loftus’s Law Some people manage by the book, even though they don’t know who wrote the book or even what book.

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