My last post offered 13-plus reasons for remembering 2022. On this day, the eighteenth anniversary of this blog, I give 13-plus reasons for anticipating 2023 with delight.
1. Work. I have a nearly completely booked schedule through the first half of this year and a promise to see more of the same as the year progresses. Work keeps me motivated to stay at the top of my game as I research developments in rhetoric, business, and communication.
2. Nashville. I have never been to Nashville, but I will correct that miss in the early spring, visiting the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Honky Tonk Highway, among other places of interest.
3. Cuba. Another place I have never been to, which I will remedy in late April through Road Scholar. I'll stop by Havana, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad. I look forward to hearing the music, watching the dancing, doing some of my own dancing, tasting the cuisine, learning the history, practicing the language, and meeting the people.
4. Upstate New York Theater Tour. I plan to take a 1,300-mile, mid-June car trip through the towns of Ithaca, Syracuse, Utica, Cooperstown, Saratoga, Schenectady, Albany, and Woodstock. All of them are homes to summer theater or music festivals, so I'll have a lot to see besides the verdant countryside, which is a deep pleasure in itself.
5. Deer Isle. In mid-July, I will attend the annual family reunion in Deer Isle, Maine, where we will head to Arcadia National Park, Isle au Haut, Stonington Opera House, and 44 North Coffee.
6. New England Theater Tour. On both ends of the Deer Isle trip, I will go on a similar theater tour that I took in 2022, covering the Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset, Vermont; Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; and Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut. This year, I will add the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. Hopefully, I will meet up with friends along the way.
7. New Jersey Shore Theater Tour. Theater tripping continues in late July on the Jersey Shore at Cape May Stage, West Cape May, Long Beach Island, and Long Branch. This trip is part beach and part playhouse.
8. Berlin. This city with a remarkable heritage has something for everybody, whether it's art, music, dining, history, or architecture. It is definitely a checkoff item of most bucket lists. I'll be there in mid- and late-August
9. Malta. My island, my people, my roots. This will be my tenth, and maybe my last trip there, in late August for the Mgarr festa, my parents' village.
10. New York City. I'm fortunate (I owe it all to my parents) to be living so close to such an exciting city, rich with culture, art, music, literature, history, fashion, international cuisine. Since I work in the city so often, I'll probably extend my stay with trips to Smalls and Mezzrow, Birdland, Dizzy's, MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and the New York Public Library.
11. Friends. For all the first 10 events, I will likely connect with family and friends of like-minded interests. In these cases, I benefit from their unique perspective on whatever we are seeing or hearing. enhancing my own experience.
12. Reading. I have a feeling that 2023 will send me to more books on culture and creativity, my current interests. For starters, I expect to read works of Geert Hofstede, Joe Henrich, and Woo-kyoung Ahn.
13. Writing. All of these experiences will lead to more playwriting, essays, and poems.
Look ahead. Plan like you'll live forever; live like you'll have only today.
