I bought this post card about 11 years ago at a bookstore in Paris (jealous?!).  Speaking no French at all–and really only surviving that leg of my trip with the help of my dear friend Erwan–I looked for things that were either in English or had no words at all.  This little piece of art work speaks many-a-word in all languages. The road itself, the urban street-scape of varying opportunities for bustle, the little indie bookstore. The red and white triangular crossing sign.  We know it.

And I am totally that guy in the street sign.  I am a street reader.  I even often dress like him–especially come this time of year. Brimmed snap hat, a blazer or flannel jacket. All that.

I moved to Chicago in 1998, away from the car culture of various Michigan cities and towns.  And I discovered this brilliant thing: Commute Reading!  A valuable resource of time in my increasingly adult world–and increasing computer staring habits.  In addition to home, Caribou Coffee, and the Golden Apple diner, I could read on the El platform, at the bus stop, in the public transport vehicle of choice.  And even, the walking portions of journeys connecting my various apartments with my office and restaurant jobs! I was totally that guy with his head down in his book, walking the side walk and cross streets, looking up occasionally from Wicked, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I Know This Much is True, or my Joe Orton plays anthology to make sure I didn’t smack into fire hydrants, sign posts, and other non-reading pedestrians.  Once, shortly after emerging from the Grand Avenue Red Line station, a gaggle of tween girls passed me on the opposite sidewalk.  I looked up just as one snapped my photo with her disposable Kodak–the single muted flash of the throw-away Paparazzi made me wonder who she thought I was.  A reader in the wild.

Since buying this card two years after my move, it has been a constant companion, taped up for easy inspiration in every bedroom or home office since. It evokes a world of possibility in which we readers are just as municipally protected as deer and children in our quest to get to the other side!  Where cars and pedestrians alike brake for us, where children laugh with us instead of at us.  Imagine a world where the ducks of the iconic Wonderful Copenhagen poster are replaced by a  line of readers of various shapes, sizes, and ages crossing the road with a police officer holding back a happy crowd of onlookers (and a palace guard?) cheering for them, turning the person next to them saying. “Look, they’re reading! We can do that too!  We can be that important and revered!” We don’t have to be ashamed or make excuses or feel like we’re getting in the way.

When my partner Ernie and I moved to South Bend, Indiana in 2006, we had to buy our first car together as we had returned to urban-suburban-rural car culture.  No more Commute Reading for us (we would see South Bend buses rumble down our little street but were never quite sure where they came from or where they were going.)  Even the four and a half minute walk from our house to my restaurant job wasn’t substantial enough for street reading, and I drove to the area IU campuses for class (both teaching and as a student). I felt the loss of my valuable resource right away and had to readjust my reading  habits–or else.

Back in Chicago since 2009, I found another restaurant job right away whose commute is a 15 minute tops bike ride–and barring a major blizzard, I pretty much exclusively take advantage of not having to wait for late night buses.  So my Commute Reading didn’t return to its full glory.  Now that I’m at Open Books regularly for these late summer and fall months–and now that I have class in DePaul’s Loop campus–I am once again able to enjoy my train reading.  Sure, I’ll text Ernie that I’m on my way home, or if I’m feeling a little brain dead I’ll try to beat that level of Angry Birds I just cannot get past, but more likely my time will be spent with whatever real life paper book (or classwork…) I have in the queue.  And I’ll keeping going on the walks between by day- or street-light.  And in a world where people think it’s okay to text and drive, maybe folks will give me–a fading relic slipping into the nostalgia of a golden age–safe passage.

Metallic Will greets theatre goers outside the Festival Theater.

So I recently took a week away from my Open Books internship desk for my annual trip with my partner Ernie to Stratford, Ontario, Canada for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Ernie has been going since he was in-utero. My first time, however, was during our first summer together in 2002.

Arriving at Niagara-On-the-Lake’s Shaw Festival for the first leg of this first trip together, it was time to get our former Theatre (and English) major nerds ON.  The highlight at Shaw was an amazing see-through set production of Sidney Kingsley’s Detective Story, a play in which I had a brief comic relief character role at the top of Act 2 as a freshman in high school. In 2003, we dove into Stratford exclusively and with almost a vengeance.  Starting in 2004, we’ve “double-dated” with Ernie’s parents.  Stratford has become our equivalent to other families’ lake houses.

Over these ten summers of Stratford, I’ve seen a lot of plays with amazing actors and production values. While not every production has been five star, a less than stellar Stratford production is still pretty good quality.  Stratford has given me the opportunity to see plays and authors I’d read and/or learned about in college but never had the chance to see, Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair, John Webster’s The Dutchess of Malfi, Sartre’s No Exit; plays I’ve seen before and love Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, Cole Porter’s Anything Goes; plays I’ll never see again for either their randomness or for my opinion of them…. These ten years have been a valuable continuation of my theatre and literary education, one that we hope to pass on to nieces, nephews, and any other little ones that may enter our lives.

I’ve learned a lot in this continuing education: aesthetics, tolerance, emotional reactions, a sense of history.  I’ve learned that I have a strong reaction against Shakespearean male chauvinistic protagonists (King Cymbeline anyone?) and that even Will has a clunker or two in there (Henry VIII, while containing brilliant moments, is just not a very good play in my humble opinion.)  I’ve learned that I can’t stand “crying girl” characters who are supposed to be funny, and that I just don’t like Hello, Dolly! (I blame the “Thornton Wilder Effect” for that one).

I’ve also reconnected with the beautiful power of theatre, what makes it all worth it.  Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending left us emotionally raw, and made a star (in my eyes) of Stratford diva Seana McKenna.  The final moment in last year’s Peter Pan had us sobbing into our playbills.  Our second row view of the Ascot Ladies’ appearance in My Fair Lady still makes me gasp.  Shakespeare & Fletcher’s more random The Two Noble Kinsmen is pretty awesome (especially the scenes with the jailer’s daughter!).  AND the lighting for the 39 lashes scene in this season’s Jesus Christ Superstar (looking to stop in Chicago before a Broadway run!) is what live theatre can be all about.

Me & Ernie this year outside the Studio Theater.

I have also realized that I appreciate some things more than I like them, and have debated with myself whether or not that’s enough.  AND I’ve held on to my preference for seeing over reading plays.  Which maybe I shouldn’t admit here, even if reading plays is still enjoyable and crucial, and you should totally stop by the theatre sections of both the online and brick-and-mortar Open Books store!  Growing up, Ernie’s parents said he could see anything as long as he read it first—a good combo that has  probably made him the only fourth grader ever to do a book report on Chekhov’s The Three Sisters.

For a comprehensive list of all the plays we’ve had the opportunity to see together in our ten years (so far) of Stratford, go HERE. If you plan a trip, be sure to have coffee at our favorite haunt Balzac’s (as in French writer Honoré de), have dinner at Down the Street and Pazzo, and for your book shopping addictions go to Fanfare Books, The Book Vault, and the Book Stage. If you’re not so much into making the eight hour drive (from Chicago) and dealing with border crossing, Chicago of course has a vibrant theatre scene. From Chicago Shakespeare at Navy Pier to suburban Writer’s Theatre to historically-minded Timeline Theatre.  To get the kids in our lives interested in theatre early so that all these institutions can carry on, Emerald City Theatre gives you plenty of read-then-see opportunities (full disclosure: Ernie is the current Artistic Director)!  Then maybe they won’t be so afraid of Shakespeare and may ask you “Hey, what’s this Stratford thing all about…?”

Related articles

• Ten Years of Stratford (michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com)
• Stratford’s Jesus Christ Superstar heading to Broadway (arts.nationalpost.com)

One of our getting-to-know you questions we sometimes answer around the room during Open Books writing field trips is “What’s your favorite kind of book.” Depending on the age of the students, we’ll get an array of genres, titles, series, authors, etc.  “Scary books” and “funny books” are popular amongst the younger ones.  Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, fiction, non-fiction, and adventure books are all cited.  When I’m feeling a little sassy and want to get a reaction, I’ll stray from the more conventional “literary fiction” and answer “World War II Memoirs.” Yeah, that’s my field trip trump card.

I blame Stephen Ambrose.  In 2006, I finally got around to watching the HBO-Spielberg-Hanks-produced 2001 Miniseries Band of Brothers based on Ambrose’s book, when I borrowed the DVDs from my brother.  A long time history fan, particularly that era that’s still (barely) within our grasp, I hunkered down in my and my partner Ernie’s house in South Bend, Indiana and followed the story of Easy Company, 506^th Regiment, 101^st Airborne. And sobbed. And became a little obsessed. And found fan sites and official sites.  Looked up all the actors on IMDB, found photos of the real guys, found out who was still alive and who wasn’t. Wanted more, more, MORE. I bought my own DVDs in 2009, and have re-watched it in its entirety every summer since. And I’m still a sobbing mess at the end of each episode.

The real Band of Brothers.

Of course, it started with the book. Actually, it started with Hitler and that whole reality of WWII thing. But it started with the book.  Which I finally read (my brother’s copy again) last year (and since picked up my own at the Open Books store) and retraced the story, getting a different perspective and more behind the scenes.  I’ve also read (SPOILER ALERT) books by Easy Company vets, Easy Company Soldier by Donald Malarkey and Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster (published posthumously and a major source for Ambrose and the screenwriters). Again, different and deeper perspectives.

When Hanks and company produced last year’s follow up series, The Pacific (also very good, though I don’t yet have the DVDs), I rushed out to pick up its source books, E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed and Robert Leckie’s Helmet for My Pillow (with an eye out for their other books, both fairly prolific writers).  I recently picked up a book by Gene Garrison, a veteran of Patton’s Third Army, entitled Unless Victory Comes, which will give me another in to the Battle of the Bulge.  Band of Brothers as a whole has served as a sort of gate-way drug to further reading, just as Harry Potter and the Twilight series (or Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary depending on one’s age…) have gotten even more books into young readers’ hands.  And all that’s a good thing.

There are more books by and about other veterans of both series, which I’d like to eventually pick up. Band of Brothers has really launched an entire niche industry of publications, artwork, lectures, and official tours to Normandy and other sites. It’s inspired a whole legion of fans from history and military die-hards to younger fan girls and boys (not that these groups are exclusive…) who post animated photos on Tumblr.com, write fan fiction portraying the “characters” in less than chaste situations, and edit film clips to rock and pop songs on YouTube. There is also an ongoing series of actor interviews that’s been celebrating the series’ 10 year anniversary since June of last year.  Their Jumping For Heroes event to raise money for a memorial in Normandy took place on August 21 of this year.

Thinking about this fandom is fascinating–there is a sort of falling in love with these guys—the real guys, their personas and relationships as filtered through art, the actors who played them, what they did.  There is borderline fetish, hero worship, pride, and gratitude.  There is a trying to make sense of our own lives through them.  It is a connection to our own family histories. With that, I feel in some ways I know more about these guys than I do either of my own grandfathers.  I didn’t have all the conversations about these things that grandfathers and grandsons should have before it’s too late. I’ve since been going through my dad’s dad’s Army photos and learning more through my grandmother, and just working with what I have.

My grandfather, Frank Van Kerckhove (kneeling, 2nd from right), with his own band of brothers. He trained for the Pacific, but remained States-side working the Signal Corp and weapons inspection.

During Ernie and my recent trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, one of the Band of Brothers actors was in attendance at the play his fiancé directed.  I happened to know he was going to be there because of his recent interview.  I saw him come in and sit in his seat. My heart pounded and I squealed inside like the fan boy that I am. But I was cool, yo.  And I didn’t end up talking to him, which I’m totally (I think ) at peace with.  But it’s like–You’re here, and despite all the other work you’ve done you are still Webster—Webster whose book I’ve read!  What would I say?  Maybe just a Thank you.  That would’ve been good.  But I remained calm….

In an essay of mine entitled Playing Guns where I tackle my youthful war games with brothers and friends, my family’s own military past, and my interest in war stories, I write: “Give me one soldier’s memoir over a dry shot-by-shot account.  While the places and triumphs and losses in each tug at me, I ultimately prefer legends over maps.”

• Related Post: Band of Brothers Revisited

Me, 1979.

I attended Christ the King elementary school in Detroit from K-6th grade.

My teacher’s name was Ms. Beasley, like the doll on Family Affair, though she looked nothing like her.

On an orientation day of sorts with parents, I wrote my name on the blackboard.  I was more of a “Mike” then.  I capitalized the E. This was eventually (figuratively) shaken out of me.

I think seeing my last name-Van Kerckhove–in all its 12 letter glory–printed out in perfectly formed letters on my desk’s name tag kind of freaked me out.

For a long time, I thought of different, more accessible, stage names. But my real name is way cooler than anything else I came up with.

That fall, thanks to our classroom calendar, I remember distinctly knowing the year (1979) for the first time.

From there it was all about following the adventures in my dad’s Lord of the Rings calendars.

I did a series of plot re-telling book reports on The Hobbit in 4th grade.

I also did one on the novel adaptation of E.T.

I didn’t read the rest of LOTR until my early twenties.

One day, Ms. Beasley sat me down at her desk in the corner of our classroom.  She asked me, “Do you want to learn to read?”

I said, “Yes.”

That she trusted us to decide on our own is actually pretty cool.

I’m glad I didn’t say, “No.” I mean, I would’ve learned eventually, right? Or maybe I would’ve been ignored. Or put in some sort of “special” class with all the other kids who said “No.”

I’m glad I didn’t say “No.”

One day, Ms. Beasley fell backwards off her desk chair.  My class totally lost it! Ms. Beasley informed us that it wasn’t funny.

The classroom rug we all sat on to do class reading was gold.  Of course it was gold–it was 1979!

Those were some big fat words!

And by big I mean “cat” taking up half a gorgeous page.

Okay, maybe not half.

I had that same classroom (Room 101)  for 2nd grade with Mrs. Nixon.  I felt a sense of warmth and comfort–nostalgia for my olden days.

See also I Used to be a Boy Who Reads @ Memoirs of a Guncle.

This is not me. But you'll be able to see and hear Mortifying things about me December 10 at Schubas.

Firstly, MichaelVanKerckhove.wordpress.com is now MichaelVanKerckhove.com.  Yeah, I went ahead and bought myself my own domain name, snatching it up from the two other guys on earth I know of with my name–they live in Belgium.  All things still point to WordPress.  Thought I’d take a moment to celebrate.  Take your own moment if inspired.

Secondly, I have a show coming up!  I’ll be returning to MORTIFIED on December 10, 2011.  I’m way excited!  This time around, we’ll be at Schubas.  I’ve seen concerts there, and now I get to do my own thing on that stage. Awesome.  I’ll be reliving the piece I did in March–hear me share excerpts from my 9th grade journals.  GET YOUR TICKETS as it will sell out.  Can’t wait to see you there.

Memoirsofaguncle.wordpress.com

Thirdly, my first quarter at DePaul University is officially over.  I am currently enrolled in the MA Writing & Publishing program.  My grad school re-boot is in full effect and going well.  My fiction workshop–Time & Place in Fiction–got my fiction brain back in gear.  I had the opportunity to workshop two first drafts.  One newish and one really new.  (More on the stories themselves to come, perhaps.) We read inspiring and relevant published stories, and got to know my classmates through their work.  My Digital Publishing class has pushed me to  get this site a good dusting.  I also launched a new site as part of my class work: Memoirs of a Guncle-adventures in gay unclehood.  The site is inspired by mine and Ernie’s new(ish) unclehood and my essay on my evolving attitude toward kids and fatherhood, An Ernie Yes or No.  I also want to add more Chicago focused posts on cool things to do with the young ones in our lives.  Please check it out and follow on the Twitter and Facebook and all that good stuff.  I want to get a new post up soon and keep it going beyond just the class. Wish me luck.  And to all my classmates and profs: Have an awesome break and see you soon!

Finally, I wrapped up my Marketing & Events internship at Open Books, the brilliant Chicago literacy non-profit.  All our work on Revelry 2011 paid off.  With this opportunity, I was able to get a cool look at the inner workings of a non-profit, broadened my awareness of the city (even from my desk), and picked up some experience points in event planning.  I also had the chance to experience an amazing Chicago event space–the Catalyst Ranch.   Check out the site!  In the weeks ahead, I’m going to re-post some of the more personal writings I contributed to the Open Books blog.  Now, I get time back to work with the kids–I’ll be doing another field trip on the 30th.  Looking forward to it!

More to come.  Cheers.

posting a comprehensive list of titles we’ve seen together along the way.  Emotional highs and lows and moments both brilliant and trying along the way.  This roster includes writers such as: William Shakespeare, Moliere, Racine, Ben Jonson, John Webster, Lope de Vega, Pierre Corneille, Aristophanes, Lerner & Lowe, Kip Marlowe, Rogers & Hammerstein, George Bernard Shaw, Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Eugene O’Neill, Samuel Beckett, Sartre, Edward Albee, Noel Coward, Anton Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, John Steinbeck, J.M. Barrie, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Weber & Rice, Jean Anouilh, Michel Tremblay, David Edgar, Sidney Kingsley, Harvey Granville Barker, and Frank Loesser, among others.  Among Stratford royalty such as Seanna McKenna, Martha Henry, and the late Peter Donaldson, we’ve also seen performances by Christopher and Amanda Plummer, Graham Green, and Brian Dennehy.   Quite the crew! And quite the ten years….

The Open Books blog post is LIVE AND HERE.

2002

All’s Well That Ends Well
My Fair Lady
Three Penny Opera
The Two Noble Kinsmen

At The Shaw Festival:
Merrily We Roll Along
Detective Story
His Majesty

2003

The Taming of the Shrew
The Adventures of Pericles
The King and I
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Gigi
Present Laughter
No Exit
The Birds

2004

Guys and Dolls

Anything Goes

King Henry VIII

Cymbeline

Triumph of Love

2005

Hello, Dolly!

As You Like It

The Lark

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Orpheus Descending

Edward II

2006

Oliver!

The Glass Menagerie

London Assurance

South Pacific

Don Juan

The Duchess of Malfi

The Liar

2007

Oklahoma!

The Merchant of Venice

To Kill a Mockingbird

My One and Only

Of Mice and Men

A Delicate Balance

Shakespeare’s Will

Pentecost

2008

Ceasar and Cleopatra

Cabaret

The Trojan Women

Fuente Ovejuna

Krapp’s Last Tape/Hughie

Palmer Park

Shakepseare’s Universe

2009

The Importance of Being Earnest

Three Sisters

Bartholomew Fair

Phedre

The Trespassers

2010

The Tempest

Dangerous Liasons

Evita

Peter Pan

The Winter’s Tale

For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again

2011

The Homecoming

Hosanna

Jesus Christ Superstar

Camelot

Richard III

The Misanthrope

2012 (contenders….)

Henry V

Pirates of Penzance

Electra

Coffee Boy, the short film based on my play, is now available to watch online!  The film was written and directed by my friend Erwan Ripoll, and features Michel Durand, Anne Fauchon, Serge Réquet-Barville and Sébastien Ferrand. With music by New Tango Orquesta. Enjoy and share with all your peeps!  For information about my play, please contact me.

For more cool stuff about the film–including a behind-the-scenes Making Of video–visit Coffee Boy‘s page at erwanripoll.com.

Cheers!

Currently living in the six hours between my dad heading back home to Michigan and going to work.  In post-SOLO HOMO 9 mode, but also must get things together for more visitors and Pride.  Thanks to all who came out to the show this week–you rock!  Hope you had a good time.

So my Solo Homo 9 piece, An Ernie Yes or No, was recently published by my writerly pal Byron and the rest of the fabulous folks over at The Everyday Gay.  The publication happened a bit “fast” even if the piece has been in the works for a few years now.  Byron and I had been emailing about contributing–and then I noticed EG was doing a Father’s Day week celebration, so I struck.  Byron loved it, and wrote a touching introduction, which I am so thankful for.

The piece covers my evolving attitude about the possibility of being a Dad, incorporating family history, pop culture, my relationship with Ernie, and various other introspection.  Read it by CLICKING HERE.

The piece started in winter 2008 as a class assignment in my friend Kelcey’s Creative Non-Fiction class at  IUSB, where I did a year of graduate work. Over the last three years, I’ve been working at it here and there, and by the time this year’s Solo Homo came about, I knew I wanted to use the opportunity to finish it.  I think  of all the pieces I’ve done, this was the easiest to memorize, because so much of it, especially the final thoughts, have been bubbling in my brain for so long, that I’ve known it for a while.

In thinking about my family, it’s actually a comfort to realize that all parents have their doubts, fears, and demons to deal with when it comes to being parents.  Our parents are people too!  Who knew?  In the 24-hour period before my dad came to visit and see the show, I had a bit of panic and a case of writer’s remorse.  This piece gets raw and real–about my family and myself–moreso than any work.  And it freaked me out a bit.  Especially with my dad hearing it.  But Dad is well aware of his personal goings-through in being a young parent, and talking about it definitely calmed me down.  We’re good.

As per one of my final thoughts in the piece, about attempting to help raise any child of mine to not be an asshole, my Strawdog Theatre friend, Hank (who also bar tended Monday night)  pointed me to this article from Details Magazine: Are You Raising a Douchebag? It’s funny at first, but also gets real.  It’s no fluff piece.  While no kid of mine will ride around in a $2000 stroller, one of the more accessible things that the article touches on is the parenting trend of over protecting.  One of my mantras these days is Kids are so coddled!  Let them live and discover and take risks.  Falling off a bike will make them stronger.  As I approach 40, I hear myself saying “Back in my day….” more than I’d perhaps like….  The article cites a forthcoming book called Let them Run With Scissors…. which I’ll have to pick up “if we get there.”  I also like some of the user comments following the piece (a rare thing these days of so much general negativity in comments sections everywhere).  One in particular is by a mom of 19-year-old twins who was a single mom since the boys were 3.  Go her!

I hope you enjoy the essay.  Feel free to leave non-douchebag comments here and/or at the EG site.

Happy Pride!

UPDATE: October 2011 ~ Follow my new blog project, Memoirs of a Guncle: adventures in gay unclehood, to follow up on the themes (and more!) touched on in this essay. Cheers!

Related articles

• Solo Homo 9: June 20 & 21, 2011! (michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com)
• “Dance of the Ring” online at Q Review! (michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com)

I’ve Facebooked and Tweeted and done all sorts of PR.  Well, here’s the official WordPress post!  Check out my latest show with NewTown Writers, the 9th installment of Solo Homo. I’ll be debuting a new pieced called An Ernie Yes or No.

For more info, visit Newtownwriters.org

To RSVP at the Facebook Event Page, go HERE.

To snatch up online tickets, visit Brown Paper Tickets. (Or pay cash @ the door!)

We can’t wait to see you there.  Cheers!

Related articles

• “Dance of the Ring” online at Q Review! (michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com)