May 6, 2010

Red poppy opens in full spring sun. It is the reddest red in all the universe.

Revised Earthly Power for Ford’s. Whether it’s what Ramont wanted or not, it’s what I want. It’s better. I resent it, but it’s better. My good fortune is that only once has a producer insisted on revisions that were actually and objectively worse than what was already on the page. And that was the very first time. I took the call in Denny’s house in Hiram. I refused. They did not, as they might have done, appreciate my integrity and go on with the production anyway.

Students, three or four of them, faced at the end with not having done anything through the semester. How am I supposed to feel? I do feel sadness, but that is a sentiment rather than a judgment. Mostly I feel perplexed. People put no wood on the fire and still expect to keep warm. People sow no seeds and still expect to harvest. And I do not always know how to separate the needy from the players.