May 28, 2007
The
stars were shining nova bright in Gwinnett on the 25th
of May when the
Aurora
Theatre
hosted its gala black-tie thank-you party to donors
and friends who were instrumental in “Creating the
Castle,” the sensational new venue for the
Aurora
Theatre
at
128 Pike Street
in Lawrenceville. The castle theme was fitting since
“Camelot” is the opening show on the
boards of the new
Aurora
Theatre
.
“Camelot,” stars Anthony Rodriguez,
Aurora
’s Producing Artistic Director, as King Arthur and
opens on May 31st and runs through June
24, 2007. My friends, you do not want to miss this!
The
Gala Grand Opening Celebration last Friday had a
galaxy of stars entertaining that night, the
brightest of which was the incomparable Ann-Carol
Pence
singing
“Anyway.”
How
lucky we are to have the talent and genius
collaboration of Rodriguez and Pence right here in
Gwinnett!
The
new
Aurora
Theatre
, with super-convenient attached parking deck, is
magnificent indeed. Sandra
and Clyde Strickland
generously provided the stunning Strickland Family
Main Stage. Many others have also donated generously
to this new theater, which actually has
two stages. The list of capital campaign
contributors is long and distinguished and worth
reading. One has to wonder why the leadership of the
city of
Duluth
could possibly let the city of
Lawrenceville
trump the deal to gain the domicile of the
Aurora
Theatre
in its downtown. There were certainly a lot of
Duluth
people present at the black-tie gala affair in
Lawrenceville.
Call
the
Aurora
box office at (770) 476-7926 for tickets or get them
online at
www.auroratheatre.com
. Season tickets for Aurora Theatre 2007-2008 are
now on sale. See you at
“Camelot,” the 2006-2007 season finale.
***
My two-year old grandson is enamored with
Thomas the Train and spends contented hours playing
at his “toot-toot” setup, rearranging the train
tracks for Thomas the engine and all the rest of his
train cars, which have names, too. It is a pretty
cute deal. I have noticed, however, that the Thomas
the Train kiddy books can’t seem to decide which
singular possessive to use with Thomas, the correct
or the incorrect, so they use both. I am about to
present a Thomas & Friends coloring book that
says “Thomas’ New Route” on the cover.
Correctly, that should be “Thomas’s
New Route
.”
Some of
the Thomas books do use the correct form of the
possessive, so I found the inconsistency
interesting. Somebody must be asleep at the switch
in that merchandising department.
My
authority here is Patricia T. O’Conner’s
marvelous little grammar book,
“Woe Is I,” which, by the way, is an
excellent gift for new high school or even college
graduates. This little grammar gem quickly navigates
its readers through the worst of the tangles one can
find in the proper use of the English language.
There are two reference books, small in size, but
huge in content, in prime time space on my desk:
“Woe Is I” and
“The Constitution of the
United States of America
.”
I
am seeing more and more grammar fluffs in popular
usage and signage around these days—on restaurant
menus, business signs, and even in business
correspondence, which is truly unfortunate. There
must be large numbers of folks who do not know what
to do with an apostrophe.
***
I can’t believe I did this!
For the
first time in my life I actively resisted the
maddening experience of being held captive to
somebody’s inane cell-phone conversation and asked
the culprit to move out to the hallway beyond
earshot. It actually worked! I was sitting in a
doctor’s waiting room with about a handful of
other people, who were either reading or talking in
quiet voices. Then this young man began a cell-phone
conversation, which was loud enough to disturb the
entire room. This turkey missed the microphone
aspect of the cells, which can handle a modulated
voice so thought he had to shout into the cell phone
to be heard. That’s when I snapped and asked the
rude idiot to move outside. It was Liberation Day
for me and I shall not be held hostage by
thoughtless rude people on their cell-phones ever
again. Hopefully, I won’t get punched out if I
ever do this again.
***
The
Ladies’ Home Journal magazine is to be
commended for joining the effort to get Congress to
pass the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act,
which would increase federal funding for hospital
emergency rooms around the country so they can
function free of the overcrowding that leads to
substandard care and perhaps even deaths. The
magazine has been working closely for two years with
the
American
College
of Emergency Physicians to help get this important
legislation passed.
Georgia
is on the list of the House co-sponsors of the Bill.
You can still sign the petition in support of
passage of this Act at
www.lhj.com/petition
.
The
state of the local ER ought to be of great
importance to us all. In
Georgia
, our legislators are still dithering about helping
out
Grady
Hospital
’s ER, our only Level 1 Trauma Center. If you or
someone you love is ever in a terrible accident, you
better hope they get transported to Grady!
Gwinnett
Medical
Center
in Lawrenceville is a Level 2 Trauma Center so we
are lucky to be nearby to that level of emergency
expertise.
It is
incumbent that we do anything we can to aid and
assist our hospitals in the face of such huge
numbers of indigent and underinsured people
approaching our ER’s for care. We must work to
keep our hospitals strong and keep reminding our
legislators about how important this is. Remember my
friends, there is no such thing as
free! Somebody somewhere must pay for the
free medical care all of these indigent folks
receive.
***
Our deer friends are still visiting us, as
are rabbits, turtles, birds, and snakes. Much to our
elderly cat’s chagrin, we do not allow him to
remain outside overnight anymore due to probable
nocturnal predators in the area. It is doubtful he
could outrun a coyote or fox and we don’t want him
to be an hors d’oeuvre. We have already had one
cat disappear and another that got eaten several
years ago; my husband found his destroyed carcass in
the woods and at the time we blamed the big owls,
not realizing then that we probably had coyotes in
the neighborhood. Now we know because they have been
spotted.
***
Hope
all is well and thanks for reading. If you know a
rain dance, please do it every chance you get!
We
could use some of that
Texas
rain.
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