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David Kearse Productions
Introducing David Kearse, author/screenwriter, and his new blog.
Writing and publishing “Blessed By The Best A Memoir By David Kearse Surviving Addiction: A Spiritual Journey.”
Now available on Amazon as an eBook, audiobook, paperback and hardcover.
Next on our publication list is a Romantic Novel, “Drumbeats,” about a boy and his drums who succeeds at singing and falls for an older stage and film director. Look for it soon. It’s a bisexual love story about overcoming the terrors of self.
David Kearse It is my intention to share what I have learned about writing and editing in my frequent blogs. As it is written on the back of my books, here are my credentials:
“The author of ‘Blessed By The Best, A Memoir By David Kearse, Surviving Addiction, A Spiritual Journey,’ is a former journalist (The Baltimore Sun) who now also writes screenplays, one of which has been optioned by a producer. He sustains an acting career in Hollywood. Having studied with some of the greats in theater, opera, improvisation, and creativity, he brings what he has learned to his memoir.”
“His long life” also survived alcohol addiction, as well as being gay in a hostile world, and he enjoys 52 years of recovery. David brings hope to the bemused and suicidal in a dangerous world.
So come along and blog with me. We can all learn somethiing and I look forward to your comments and your own personal writing experiences. Adelante!
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Assisted Living
From hospital visits to a Skilled Nursing Facility, home again, and next stop: Assisted Living.
And believe me, the hospital stays were better than the rehab.
I spent time recently in Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center Hospital, for different maladies. I was happier there than in the rehab.
In the hospital, the nurses were attentive and plentiful. Of these, J.R. was the best – he was always there when I rang, and he always knew what to do. I could count on him and felt secure.
Then there was the hospital food – patients call the Dietary Department to order meals. There are many choices. In that I have a problem tasting foods as I once did, I did not eat a lot and everything tasted the same, except for sharp spices and seasonings. Radiation treatment for skin cancer had eroded my taste buds.
Hospital Food Better
Of the two institutions, hospital food was the better. The rehab served only one set entrée for each meal, although sandwiches and soups could be ordered instead. The soup was small but good.
In the rehab, my home caregiver, Enma, brought me lunch every day, usually a hearty vegetable soup and on one occasion, an inspired shrimp and pasta dish. Otherwise, I wouldn’t eat – didn’t have an appetite.
Altogether, there were two lengthy hospital stays and two at the same Silver Lake rehab. During the first rehab visit, my Medical Power of Attorney, Marcella, brought me food from a French restaurant. I wasn’t eating much at that time, either.
Physical Therapy
There was plenty of physical therapy at both hospital and rehab and the objective was to get me physically strong enough to return home and be able to take care of myself at night, when there was no caregiver.
This I managed, for the most part, but there was one return home when I needed caregivers to spend the night in my apartment, in case, and even then, I fell down next to my bed the first night home. It was a needless mistake, but I was weaker at the time, and the attendant caregiver could not have stopped me from slipping.
So, I am home now, for some time, and contemplating Assisted Living. Marcella requires medical help, and as soon as she recuperates, we will visit selected Assisted Living places, and maybe home boarding facilities, in Hollywood and the Valley.
There will be less independent living for me, but more care for my ever-increasing needs. I am wary of that state, but trying to be flexible.
Learn More
For more reading on the subject of Assisted Living and other forms of elder care, see http://www.aplaceformom.com or http://www.caring.com.
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Authoritarianism in America: The Threat of a Convicted Felon as President
Convicted Felon
Donald J. TrumpWhat is authoritarianism?
It’s basically having a dictator instead of a president under a Constitutional government, as America has been since it fought for its independence from King George III. And our democratic form of government has made the United States the greatest nation on earth.
Why would we now turn to a dictator to lead us?
Cult Leader
The Republican Party in the U.S. historically has flirted with authoritarianism. Now, in Donald J. Trump, the former President, it has finally found a cult leader and is swiftly moving forward to get him re-elected to take over the U.S. Government.
Who are some of the world’s most prominent authoritarian dictators?
To name a few of the more extreme: Kim Jong Un, of North Korea; Vladimir Putin, Russia, with his current war in Ukraine; Xi Jinping, President of the Peoples Republic of China; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey; Miguel Diaz-Canel, president of Cuba after the Castros’ reign; and leaning to the Extreme Right in Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, with his current war in Gaza.
How do they stay in power?
They murder and assassinate their rivals or at least put them in jail for life (the late victim Navalny). They control the Treasury (Putin is one of the richest men in the world); they certainly are not democratic.
America the Trailblazer
Therein lies the rub: the loss of Democracy for the United States, the world’s trailblazer in the democratic form of government and what has made America truly great – the greatest.
Is this what America desires?
We will see come the November elections, but the answer is, perhaps. Although they certainly could not have thought through the results, Trump’s approximately 40% of the voters want Trump to succeed again and this time, to eliminate democracy as America has known it for the past two centuries. He has said he will take over the Justice Department, eliminate Civil Service, and he certainly will appoint more Republicans to the Supreme Court.
Republicans have said that having a dictator-President is fine, that it is better to have one person, in their eyes, one man, to direct and control everything and get things done faster. In fact, the latest polls show that only 11% of Republican voters say they may not vote for Trump as a result of his conviction. His Republican base really wants Trump in power.
“Democracy” is just a buzz word to the uninformed, unimportant at best. But consider the loss of Democracy another way: of what has been considered basic human rights, the rule of law, reversal of Supreme Court decisions favoring gay marriage, repression, military enforcement of Trump policies, more coups like January 6. The list does indeed go on.
Become Informed
So, my suggestion is, become informed, think it over, weigh and debate – and pray – before casting your ballot.
There is more than democracy at stake.
For further information, read Time Magazine’s Person of the Year article by Nancy Gibbs: The Choice.
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NB: This was written days before the verdict of guilty on all 34 counts imposed on Donald J. Trump, the first (and it is hoped, only) American President to be convicted of a felony. Do we really want a felonious President leading U.S.?
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Three for the Ages
Today I want to tell you about three very special people who enlighten our lives in different ways.
They are Scott Sayre, Greg Gerritsen, and Valerie Wilson, all members of the 500K Marketing Group that meets each Wednesday evening on Zoom.
Scott leads the group. A Renaissance man, he is an author, a chef, a healer, and a teacher. In his spare time, he has written and polished his screenplays over the past 30 years.
Valerie, known to her students and subscribers online as Macro Val, lives in Michigan and teaches cooking classes. She also writes cookbooks and inspires so many others nationally with her new recipes and advice on vegan cooking.
Greg, a member of the Gerritsen family-owned Shaklee Vitamins Online Store, also writes screenplays and surfs frequently at Huntington Beach. Greg has served as a part-time school teacher, as has Scott,
They are all recommitted to helping other people to heal by different means and in different ways, as well as being a resource for others.
Scott Sayre Scott’s talents lie in healing, he believes. This he does through cooking healthy for others — he is a professional chef of long-standing — and writing. His writing is eclectic, from cookbooks on personality-based foods to non-fiction on spiritual and existential issues.
His cookbooks reflect the seasons and offer daily reflections. His is “The Awakened Kitchen,” the title of one of his major cookbooks.
Teaches Cooking
Val teaches vegan cooking classes in her Michigan home, on Facebook Live and nationally on Zoom. Like Scott, she is spiritually oriented.
She has authored several cookbooks on vegan cooking, her latest being on desserts. Val has been practicing her nutritionally healing arts for at least 27 years.
Self-Help
Greg works diligently with a writing partner on his screenplays and remains active with helping others in two self-help groups that have made his life better.
He enjoys passing it on. He is also involved in the operation of his Shaklee Company, which has been in his family for generations.
What all three do, as you can see, is to promote mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.
“My three angels” described above, and this writer, have been participating in our marketing study group for about two years, every Wednesday at 7 PM on Zoom.
We started out with Seth Godin’s “This Is Marketing,” in which the author espouses an altruistic approach to marketing, putting the customer’s needs ahead of the seller’s.
John Wooden
After Godin, we took on John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success,” in which the late, great basketball coach, with his son, teaches how to build teamwork. Spiritually oriented, it asks many questions — that we answered in class each week — and liberally quotes the Bible.
Sadly, the group will be concluding in a couple of weeks. It’s been a long, enriching run. Here’s what I learned, in small part:
What do we get out of participation in the group?
- – Sense of security
- – Information about each of us
- – Community building
- – Information about Marketing ourselves
- – Learning to love ourselves
- – Putting our clients’ needs up front
- – Loving one another
- – Problem-solving
- – Thinking below the surface
- – Self-expression
- – Sense of accomplishment
You can reach these three success stories by their e-mail addresses: gregorygerritsen@hotmail.com, val@macroval.com, and sayrecooking@gmail.com.
Of course, you can reach me here at my blog and through my website, DavidKearse.com.
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‘Oppenheimer’ vs. ‘Flower Moon’
Oil changed the lives of Oklahoma’s Osage Nation March 10 is right around the corner — Oscar Night at the Dolby Theater. Among the 10 films nominated for Best Picture stand two giants, each about three hours long, both boasting top directors and talent.
They couldn’t be more different in style and substance.
While “Killers of the Flower Moon,” directed by Martin Scorsese, tells a story of good old American greed, “J. Robert Oppenheimer” explores this nation’s moral dilemma with dropping the atomic bomb over Japan to end World War II and the “father of the bomb’s” personal anguish over what he and the assistance of Albert Einstein and others had unleashed.
While “Oppenheimer” appears to be more of a docudrama, “Killers” emerges as a straight story narrative. Both films are based on books (in the longstanding Hollywood tradition). If “Oppenheimer” wrestles with universal questions about the survival of mankind, “Killers” investigates the survival of the Osage people who own oil rights..
While motives are clear in “Oppenheimer” — the U.S. government’s need for a device to end the war and Oppenheimer’s singular determination to develop the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, NM — the intentions of the Oklahoma town fathers are hidden and hence, more sinister.
Hats off to the casting directors, as well as the auteurs. Many have been nominated for Oscar acting honors in both films. Some have already won awards here and abroad.
“Killers” nominees include the subtle but always on point Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone, who capably plays the wife of the protagonist, Leonardo DiCaprio (who was not nominated this year). Ms. Gladstone is chief among four devoted sisters, a core of the movie.
“Oppenheimer” boasts the talents of Cillian Murphy, polished and precise in his layering, and Robert Downey, Jr., a standout as Lewis Strauss, who was complicit in the making of the Bomb but turns against Oppenheimer in the latter’s trials. We see the bomb explode, and with it, Oppenheimer’s career and his national standing.
In summary, both pictures are blockbusters, each with considerable merit. Both offer good, sometimes great acting. Both are relevant to American society and history. And each is worth seeing, enjoying and internalizing.
My bet on which picture will win? Make it “Oppenheimer,” which seems to have the buzz. Should “Oppenheimer” win? “Killers” has more raw emotion; “Oppenheimer” is more cerebral. Both offer good writing.
You be the judge.
Be sure to leave your comments on both films in this space. Tell us what you think. Oscar is looking over our shoulders.
And now that I’m back to work in the blogosphere and podcast world, tune in next week for more on films and such.
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The cancer didn’t get me. Sobriety did.
It’s not over yet, but the metastasized tumor on the left side of my face is gone.
Under the skilled hands of my surgeon, Dr. Andrew Larson, in the Kaiser Sunset Medical Center hospital, the killer got successfully removed more than a week ago, and now I remain in recovery at home. I have one eye wide open temporarily (I hope), but that should improve, I am told by my ophthalmologist.
Celebrating 54 Years of Sobriety
And today, November 2, is my 54th anniversary of sobriety in AA – no drinking or drugging or pilling. Thanks be to God! My last drink was in Annapolis before 2 AM 11/02/1969. I had a two-week hangover and suffered on all levels.
Remembrances By David Kearse I had first come to AA nine years earlier, knowing I had a drinking problem, but fought the program all that time, until I hit bottom and wanted to drink no more. The moment I stopped drinking and came into AA gave me a new life and hope.
Colon Cancer in Past
This was not my first bout with cancer – in 1994, colon cancer polyps were removed in my first colonoscopy by the late Dr. Long in the old Midland Hospital HIV Ward. No, I don’t have HIV, but I did have cancer. And I felt afraid.
To ensure the cancer cells were eliminated, it was necessary to have endoscopic cancer surgery at USC’s Norris Cancer Center, followed by colonoscopies. The cancer was gone. My fear subsided with each clear colonoscopy results.
‘Nowhere To Go But Up’
Upon the news that I had colon cancer in ’94, I gazed out my apartment window up at the sky, somewhat depressed, and thought to myself, “I have nowhere to go but up.”
And throughout the surgeries and whole six-month ordeal, I kept the faith – and a positive AA attitude.
Thus, I have done the same this time around. I must admit, it has become more difficult with age to remain positive. But I do. My sobriety helps me.
Radiation Treatment Looms
I just got word that my first radiation treatment consult is to be from 8:30 AM to 1 PM November 17, 2023. I hope to discover how many treatments, at what intensity, and for how long. Then let radiation begin.
No fear. My Higher Power is with me, and really has been all my life. I am blessed, indeed – and grateful.
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BLESSED BY THE BEST, A Memoir By David Kearse, is available on Amazon and Apple Books and throughout the world. Please review after reading.
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All About That Cat
Happy Baby!
Gracie My beloved Russian Blue.
Those yellow eyes. Her sleek gray fur that almost looks blue. Her lighter colored paws and underbelly — what a cat! We think she may be 10 years old or younger. The vet was not sure. She could be younger, he said.
I first enjoyed Gracie a year ago this past August, when I cat-sat her for my apartment manager, who was on vacation. During her first day with me, there was a visiting year-old child and Gracie played merrily with her and her mother.
Yes, I fell in love with Gracie: Her perky personality, all love and loving to be loved. Usually sociable, she sometimes turns reticent — maybe because of kittenhood trauma. But mostly, she’s out in the living room, preening herself or enjoying a cat treat.
When the three weeks of Gracie were over, I missed her, and the apartment manager said Gracie cried for a week.
In fact, I missed her all year. I would walk down the hall while taking my exercise near her apartment and call “Gracie! Oh Gracie!”
That was until this past August, when I once again had the joy of cat-sitting Gracie a week for her owner. Then, a funny thing happened.
After relinquishing Gracie back to her owner, the manager suggested that I foster a cat of my own, and off we went to a pet store, our group of four.
I picked out a Russian Blue named Gray and the apartment manager chose another, rather rowdy Russian Blue she later named Ivy. And home we went.
Wait: What’s a Russian Blue? Thought to originate in Archangel, Northern Russia, the breed traveled to England in the late 1800s and emigrated to America in the early 1900’s.
They are “blue” because their luxurious gray fur is of such a hue that in certain light, it .looks almost blue in color. The paws and stomach fur is a lighter shade of gray/blue. Beautiful cats.
For nearly a week, my Gray remained under a bed and would come out only for food and to use her litter box. She had been feral, and it showed.
There were countless calls from everyone asking how Gray was doing until Friday evening, when a woman from the pet shop called to ask about her. I mentioned the cat’s self-isolation.
She replied that I was only fostering Gray, and she had a family that was interested in her, and that she would come Saturday morning to collect her. Sadly, I agreed. And Gray was gone the next day.
During the following week, I heard rumors that the apartment manager was going to give me Gracie. What good fortune! Gracie and the new Ivy did not get along on Gracie’s end.
And indeed, one fine evening, Gracie and I were reunited – permanently. It has been a while now, and I so enjoy Gracie. My Gracie!
The manager is dropping by tonight to say hello to Gracie and I know Gracie will be happy to see her former pet parent.
Last Sunday was St. Francis of Assisi Day at my church, in which many pets received blessings from the clergy. While Gracie did not attend to get blessed, she certainly is a blessing to me.
I have many additional names for her – Gracious Gracie, Gracie the Great, Princess, Queen of Cats – you get the idea.
Thus, Gracie goes in grace – and I am the happier for it. And oh yes – my happiness affects my daily writing. Doesn’t everything? If I’m happy, I produce more — I write more. I have inspiring companionship in Gracie, asleep at the foot of my writing table
Now it’s back to work on my optioned screenplay that I hope I’m elevating in quality after a recent rewrite class.
Go in grace.
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About J. Robert Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s powerful biopic “Oppenheimer,” now playing in Imax (where we saw it), delivers a powerful punch at nuclear politics and the McCarthy era.
There seemed to be a Communist in every closet. And “Oppy” was accused of being one of them. He was put through hell, this after being touted “father of the atomic bomb,” and helping to end World War II with the Japanese.
Most poignant were the scenes when his former allies and supporters turned against him and accused him of being a Communist spy.
Oppenheimer literally contributed to making the world safer for democracy and averting worldwide nuclear annihilation. His reward was a “slap in the face with a wet bathing suit,” as a professor friend of mine used to say.
Stripped of his security clearance, Oppy was left incapacitated — and frustrated in scenes with his detractors and his own family.
There is a parallel between “Oppenheimer” and “The Imitation Game.” During World War II, Alan Turing, the English mathematical genius, tried and succeeded in cracking the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while hiding his own homosexuality, for which he was later condemned.
Like Oscar Wilde, the celebrated playwright, Turing was ostracized and persecuted. So, too, was Oppenheimer, who, in scenes, was called before committees determined to disgrace him.
And, as was Oppenheimer, ultimately, if belatedly, Turing was vindicated — by government.
This observer would hope to see Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer nominated for an Oscar (if the Academy of Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences can remember come nominating season) and, as is the buzz, Robert Downey Jr. as the villainous and jealous Lewis Strauss (or “Stross,” as Strauss affected it).
More kudos go to Emily Blunt as Kitty, Oppenheimer’s alcoholic wife; Matt Damon as Col. Leslie Groves, who hired Oppy and later turned on him; Gary Oldman as President Harry S Truman (no pleasant soul he, who dropped The Bomb); Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, mistress to the quantum physics scientist, and Tom Conti as the enigmatic Albert Einstein.
Pictures like “Oppenheimer” must be made, not only to capture history but to reveal the American state of mind that produced that history. And such films may be three hours long, which is the common complaint heard about “Oppenheimer.” But like “Titanic,” “Oppenheimer’ is absorbing and mostly entertaining. Audiences identify with Oppenheimer and feel his pain.
Altogether, “Oppenheimer” stands as a major achievement in cinema. Nolan did a superior job in his writing and directing of the film, and if it makes billions of dollars, that’s okay, too.
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Art Informs Writing
On a recent afternoon, I enjoyed Mindful Monday: Cultivating Empathy and Connectedness, presented online by the Education Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
The exhibition explored, with mindful meditation briefly at the start, Light, Space, Surface: Selections from LACMA’s Collection, the art of Light and Space and related works with highly polished surfaces often referred to as “finish fetish” from the 1960s and 1970s. Principally, it detailed some of the showings by Peter Alexander and Helen Pashgian.
We were invited to examine and define a womb-like construction by Ms. Pashgian, but, as always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I also saw New Zealand, clouded skies, a toilet seat (!), a window into a new world, a view of the ocean and more before turning our attention to Mr. Alexander’s works.
And here we saw through the eye of a lens, where “context is everything,” and the view was refracted color stripes.
What does it all mean?
As I say in my recollection of many life and transformational events and people, BLESSED BY THE BEST (Amazon), “…my second piano teacher pointed to a drawing on her apartment wall. She said, ‘All art inform good or great piano playing’ and told me I must go to symphony concerts, art exhibitions, the ballet, theater — all of it. And so I did. And continue to do.”
So after the class, I turned immediately to my screenwriting, motivated by the art class and contemplation of sculptures. I dug into my character examination in relation to the entire story and forged ahead with my rewrite of the screenplay, VESUVIO.
Art has always inspired me, and my dear friends from Arcadia, Ron Pettie, the artist and teacher, and Martin Huld, the college educator (both are academics) and I often have visited the area’s museums and art exhibitions, from the Huntington Library to LACMA.
And this encounter with art further inspired me to write this column for my blog.
Meet you at the museum!
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The Screenplay Rewriting Process
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On Getting a Film Deal
The years go by.
And today, my screenplay emerges as well-developed and polished, ready to show.
But how does an optioned screenwriter get a deal for their project in Hollywood?
My beloved producer, an accomplished woman with good studio, TV and development credentials, will not allow me to reveal who or what the story concerns, but I can say that my project is a musical biopic about an international star.
The project began as a New York stage presentation with Broadway aspirations. To that end, a lavish backers audition Off-Off Broadway attracted stage and screen folk, the late Lucille Lortel among them.
My staff and I then tried another book writer – we already had a good score by a talented young composer. The writer, well-known in the Off-Broadway community and recommended by Harvey Fierstein, wrote a dark version of the star’s life.
There followed two other musical book writers that tried their hands, and more backers auditions on both coasts, and finally, someone said to me, “Your version looks like the best.” So I moved to Hollywood, to make a movie.
First, I needed to learn the very specific and demanding art and craft of screenwriting, which took a few years.
After having a couple of screenplays under my belt, I encountered my producer, a woman who had worked at the studios and is a development specialist that took a liking to my script.
An option was signed – and oft renewed – and we both have been living in Development Hell ever since. During this time, the industry has undergone several changes, as has public taste.
The once-dead musical genre became reborn and highly profitable once more, thanks to such mega-hits as “Chicago” and “LA LA Land,” among several others.
And so we seek new agents and managers – Hollywood, are you listening? – as well as opportunities to pitch.
See you at the Oscars!
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By David Kearse 