Characters abound

So as I wrote before, I'm still in the middle of trying to figure this place out. It's full of so many characters and interesting things going on that it's hard to get a handle on hardly anything. Never before have I seen a population of people who are so bat-crazed. yes, you read correctly - obsessed with bats. it's to such an extreme that there is even a little bat, named Atticus, who appears in the paper everyday. he's hidden among the articles, pictures and ads. so if that doesn't convince you that Chautauquans are crazy I don't know what will. but, yesterday I interviewed two people on the grounds - radically different, but both fascinating in their own way.

the first was a guy who's an extra in the upcoming opera, The Elixir of Love, which is the company's first show of the season. he works in the buildings and grounds department for the Institution - which takes care of anything from menial maintenance requests to installing air conditioners to plowing snow in the winter. as a native of the Bronx one would wonder how this man, who is trained in fire technology and serves on the volunteer fire department here, would get involved in an opera. as it turns out he moves the opera company's offices to New York City twice a year and somehow saw a flyer looking for extras - so he tried out - and is having a blast. I saw him in the dress rehearsal tonight and I think he was having a lot of fun. I got to ride around the grounds with him the other day and just talk to him about his life, job and role in the show. it was so cool to learn about some of the inner workings that keep this place going and meet someone who doesn't have 4 degrees and a summer house.

my second interview was Jay Stetzer, a storyteller from Rochester who is going to make his annual appearance at the Children's School tomorrow and then he'll perform for anyone interested tomorrow night. we talked for a long time about storytelling and his thoughts on Chautauqua. I'll leave you with some of what he said:
"There are not many places that feed the soul as well. And this is one of those places. I think of it as an intellectual, spiritual vortex. Everybody sort of comes together and the results are much greater than the individual number that we have here. And we all leave, slightly altered."