Puppet

One of my students called yesterday to ask if I had time to help him, he's playing at a funeral and they want him to play a song he never played and didn't feel confident about. I love that kind of challenge, especially when I'm sure he can do it, I just have to make him see it himself. Teaching is manipulation, as my friend Keibr once stated.

Manipulation was, in a way, also what the theme of the evening was. A friend and I went to see an actor, recently retired but still doing performances with one of his characters from a play he wrote years ago. He is a very gifted puppeteer and she is a puppet but once they start to interact with each other, one wonders who is controlling who. He always says that she doesn't follow the script and it's easy to see when that happens. I love their performances and I love even more to be manipulated by them, because it helps me to spot real, serious manipulation around me. At least I like to think I do.