Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man. (Marlon Brando)

Most of you know that Marlon Brando is my all time favourite actor.  I don't think he was particularly smart, but he was very sensitive and he created some performances that are so extraordinary that you have to admire him, if not for his intelligence, for his openness and creativity and willingness to let his sensitivity help the rest of us to see.  I think that's what artists do -- help the rest of us to see.  I watched some of the Grammy awards last night and although I am not fond of awards shows, I did find some of it quite inspiring.  My favourite part was A Tribe Called Quest with Busta Rhymes and Anderson .Paak.   They sang "We the People" as they burst through a brick wall with "no ban, no wall" and passport photos on it and Busta Rhymes called Donald Trump "President Agent Orange" and they had people from groups that have been targeted by the White House come on stage and at the end, they raised their fists in defiance and called out "resist!"  It was magnificent.  I am not an abiding fan of rap music, but there is certainly a place for the energetic rage that really great rap expresses.  I felt inspired and encouraged by the powerful message and their performance.

And here in BC, we are celebrating Family Day.  We are going to see "Hidden Figures" about a group of black female mathematicians who worked at NASA -- my sister said it was terrific and I hope it will be inspiring -- in a different way than Busta Rhymes, but not completely different!  There aren't enough movies about women and especially black women and this sounds like a movie without a lot of the stuff that my kids see most in movies -- explosions, big brawls, snide humour.  There are other stories to be told and they can be exciting (in my opinion, more exciting) than the traditional super hero fare that seems to be served up to big audiences these days.  We'll see.

I did want to post this picture of the Swan Theatre (drawn by Johannes de Witt during Shakespeare's time in London theatre).  Theatre Production people -- this is a drawing that has survived because it shows us what Shakespeare's own theatre might have been like.  Draw our theatre and think about how it could be used for a Valentine's Day extravaganza (which we've been exploring in class so far).