Yowza. How about that heat, amirite? And that pandemic thing? whewww…
So let’s see… It has been A While…what have I been up to in all this time (yeesh, it’s been MONTHS) since I wrote last? I mean yeah there are several reasons that are totes legit why I haven’t given all you lovelies anything to lurk over (like, not having any real events happen on account of… well, the PLAGUE), but really that’s only reasons and not excuses. So here I am attempting to air out, fluff up, and put out this blog again. let’s hope on a regular basis. (I know, I know, you’re all holding your breath…)
And so, I thought it’d be mildly amusing to do one of those What Is Jenn Zuko Up To Right Now posts that used to be much more frequent. /cracks knuckles/ Here goes…
WORK:
My teaching is, ironically, still going strong. Remember how, before the pandemic, I was attempting a career shift? Well that got derailed in the shutdown, and I was relegated to sticking with the shitty job I have, than fly to others which I know not of. Plus, as an adjunct, I don’t get paid for unemployment. Better safe than sorry, and hey–I got to teach stage combat (in a pandemic-modified way), and have been given consistent online courses at DU /knock on wood/. Some of the DU courses were new to me, too, so that was fun. Masterworks of Fiction? Cool. Visual and Physical Communication? Sign me up! And the Capstones I’ve advised have run the gamut from a comedic memoir about trauma, to a volume of poetry, to this quarter where I’m working with a student’s High Fantasy novel about a world where cat-people engage in meditation and spiritual practice. Pretty cool stuff.
Speaking of current classes, I’m just in the first phase of both Summer sessions of DU and Metro. At the former, I’ve got the abovementioned Capstone to advise, as well as two online Visual and Physical Communication courses. I’m loving those–we read some of Paul Ekman’s work, and I get to nerd out about Lie to Me, one of my favorite shows… and at the latter, I’m doing that online course called Staging Cultures you’ve heard me describe before.
As far as near future when it comes to work?
No idea yet what’s in store for me in the Fall at DU, but at Metro I’ll be doing Staging Cultures again and a fully revamped Intro to Theatre course. It’s been de-colonized by a new prof, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the class is like to teach now. No idea if I’ll ever be getting a Stage Movement class ever again–said prof has basically taken it over, but time will tell. Also not sure when I’ll be back into attempting a career change yet (speaking of), but I’ll keep you all in the loop on that. Boulder Startup Week was a travesty, mainly because of the platform they were using, but don’t let them hear me say that…
THEATRE:
I was in a couple Zoom theatre productions through the pandemic, but you saw me advertise those. Especially if you’re following me on the Visage Tome. Live theatre is only now crawling back out of its hole, and I’m swooping in as best I can.
I have a couple potential fight gig irons in the fire for the near future but I haven’t gotten confirmation on each, so I’ll wait to announce those once I know for sure.
Denver Unique Week of Fashion was a hoot–it’s rare that a woman of my stature gets to be a fashion model, and I walked the catwalk for four different local designers that week, at various cool Denver venues (a few of which gave me ideas for the future of Blue Dime Cabaret…).
Friend Kerry form college is a filmmaker now, and she brought me on to her upcoming dystopian fantasy movie, called Suffer. I choreographed and directed the fight scenes for it, and did so over Zoom, which was a fascinating process. I haven’t done a lot of fighting for film–most of my experience is in live theatre–so that was neat. I look forward to seeing how that turns out. The stills and updates they regularly share on Instagram look really cool.
Future theatre stuff?
Besides those two fight gigs that I haven’t heard from yet, we at Blue Dime Cabaret are in talks to return to regular shows as soon as may be. Nothing set in stone or on calendars yet, but our return is indeed imminent.
WRITING:
I hope to be a bit more regular here on this blog, and I also have ambitious ideas of picking up my pen-name blog again too. This is a lot of writing for a woman whose job entails a lot of writing, but again–not an excuse. We’ll see how it goes. I can at least be, say, weekly, here? At the very least. Okay, now I’ve promised you. So be it.
I’m working on a big BIG project, too–a memoir-ish book tentatively titled A Strong Woman Under The Gaslight. It parallels the emotional abuse I suffered in the same 20 years from both my husband and my job as adjunct faculty. Now that I’ve plunged full speed ahead in the writing of it, I’ve also added the third thread of the abusive nature of a life in the theatre. It’s exhausting work, but important work. I think it’s going to be a pretty damn good book, too–it’s shaping up.
Said memoir wouldn’t be… well I was going to say it wouldn’t be as good as it is, but if I’m honest, it wouldn’t be at all if it weren’t for the brilliant and intrepid Herb Childress, author of The Adjunct Underclass, Slush, and others, who has agreed to the insanely difficult job of being my writing coach and guide through the process. It’s because of his work on my weekly submissions to him that this work is going at all, let alone so well, and I am quite excited to see how this whole book pans out.
Near future of writing stuff? Well eventually I do want to get this memoir thing published, but that’s neither here nor there, and that’s more like far future. But eminent SAFD-connected journal The Fight Master is publishing another of my articles in an upcoming issue. This time, it’s a cobbling together of a bunch of material from my many presentations on The Fight Is The Story. I’m passing revisions back and forth between the editor and me on that right now, so that’s a thing that’ll happen soonish.
Another reason why I haven’t been writing here. But again, not an excuse. Just a reason.
OTHER:
I’m living mostly with the SO in Centennial/Greenwood Village right now, with brief forays into Boulder to visit doctors and dentists and the Birdhouse. Less liminal, but still a bit so. Going to Goth Prom but no longer Denver Comic Con, which has been fully rebranded and has lost me, frankly. We”ll see about Page 23.
And I’m fully vaccinated. So. Pucker up.
Daily Cross-Swords 