Reaching out…

Great! Things are happening… though not at lightning speed.

I’m in touch (e-mail and phone) with a Holocaust educational institution, and have e-mailed a query to two U.S. literary agents to see if they’re interested in representing Kristallnacht.

One Norwegian publisher has looked at Kristallnacht, and while they’ve just finished work on their WWII curricular books, they suggested I might use the same format on other historical eras – such as the Cold War. Not a bad idea; much of the work here has been in developing and perfecting the format, and it’s quite flexible and open enough to handle a wide range of subject matters.

Kristallnacht: A look at the first episode

I’ve translated the first episode of Kristallnacht to English to make it easier to get feedback from Jewish and educational institutions on the validity of the project. There are four episodes in all, followed by a debrief session.

 You can download a PDF here:

Kristallnacht: Episode A

How to care: First sketch

This piece has so far had the working title “How not to care”. However, while the irony in that title expressed some of my feelings about how we often cope with reality (by not caring, by making up excuses that allow us not to take action), I want the piece to focus on how to care, and how to take positive action.

 Roughly, I see it go like this:

 1a. Playing it out. Participants play through a few situations with pre-defined characters. The situations are open-ended, but chosen to represent real-life choices that are heavily weighted – as most choices in real life tend to be. Each participant should have one situation where his/her character is in focus, making a choice.

1b. Reflection in character. After each situation, the participant controlling the focus character answers questions from the other participants while staying in character. Questions should focus on uncovering the motivations for acting/not acting in the situation. Participants should assume that there can be several interacting, or even opposing, motivations.

2. Finding options. After all situations have been played out, participants should brainstorm possible options the characters had for positive action. What could they have done to improve the situation?

3a. Self-reflection. Participants should now think through the situations and see which ones have a parallel in their own life. These should preferably be situations that can come up again. In what situations do they not act? Why? This might be done with questions and answers, like the above. Take turns.

3b. Finding options. After each Q&A session, participants brainstorm possible options for positive action.