I'm devoting a little more space to it, though, because I really feel like she's done something remarkable in this little book.

Compared to And Then, You act, her first (published) authorial effort, A Director Prepares is a fairly rock-em-sock-em affair. It was full of practical advice and hard-earned inspirational wisdom. Every time I read even a bit of it, I feel the need to kick down doors and make shit happen. This book, however, has inspired in me more meditation. If ADP is full of kinetic energy, this one is almost all potential.

Of course, when it finally arrived in the mail (Amazon still says it take 3 to 6 weeks to ship. Someone needs to talk to her publisher.) I fully intended to shut the phone off and devour it all in a day. (When I read ADP, I laid on my parents' hammock for a few hours and read it cover to cover in one sitting.) However, I quickly discovered that gluttony wasn't going to serve me or the book in this case. I did read the intro and 2 chapters (Context, Articulation) the first day, but I spent at least a day with each of the remaining 6 chapters. (Intention, Attention, Magnetism, Attitude, Content, Time)

I suppose it's reached me at the right moment, as even the best books must if we are to appreciate them fully. I find myself having trouble with what she writes. It's writing like this that must be dealt with. It's affecting me deep down in the cells, rather than lighting fires on the surface. The best of her book causes movement that feels like continental drift, slow, steady, full of awesome inertia.

It's possible that I'm overstating it, in fact. Not every page is full of world-changing wisdom, and not every line is perfect prose. And yes, Anne is a scavenger (that's her word for it) and some people might tire of her constant quoting. So, be wary of that if you must, but please, get the book. Read the book. If you do, you'll have a hard time ignoring it.

Here are a few choice cuts.

In a culture where daily human hopes have shrunk to the myraid opiates of self-centered satisfaction, art is more necessary and powerful than ever.

...

Unfortunately, the vulnerable and soulful condition of shock in the fall of 2001 was quickly subsumed by patriotism. Rather than using the psychic arrest to identify a new sense of responsibility in the world, the USA entered Aghanistan and then Iraq. The perpetuation of violence with violence put an unofortunate stop to a significant look at who we are and our responsibility in the world. ... Americans were not yet ready for catharsis.

...

One of the most radical things you can do in this culture of the inexact is to finsh a sentence ... Listen to people speaking around you. Inarticulate people are not dangerous to any political or societal systems. Political agenda has conspired against a citizen's ability to speak. Words are dangerous and they can be powerful. It takes effort and stubbornness to finish a sentence.

...

Intentions are also reflected in aesthetic issues. I find James Joyce's notion of kinetic or static art very useful. Kinetic arts, he suggests, moves you. Static art stops you. Which do you intend? Do you want to "move" every audience member to feel and think the same thing at the same moment? Or do you want to "stop" them by finding opporsitions that trigger diverse associations, thoughts, memories, and emotions?