A Letter

Monday, March 27, 1995

On Saturday, I received the following letter in the mail:

Hello folks!

I'm leaving for London tomorrow, March 22. I'll be there studying Theatre till June 2, after which I will travel around Europe. Wow, huh? I'm goin' to Stratford! I'm gonna see the best Shakespeare in the world! The best theatre in the world! My first show is Hamlet played by Ralph Fiennes. Oh, I know you are stoked for me. I promise I'll send you postcards.

I'm getting very nervous; my heart is pounding. But I know there will be many a story to tell when I return about all my adventures. My address will be:

The Avalon
46-47 Cartwright Gardens
London-WC1-H9EL
England

That address will be till June 2. Then who knows where I'll be? Some hash-infested youth hostel in Amsterdam... a pub, drinkin' Guiness in Dublin... looking at Van Goghs in France... Anne Frank's house... Berlin... Madrid... Greece... wherever that Eurorail youth flexi-pass takes me. I'm going to stand on the Parthenon and say a monologue, godammit.

Take care and wish me luck!
All my love,
Sara

P.S. Kisses for Kyle sweetthing

Sara Martyn is one of my 2H and Shakespeare students from PeeVee. Her parents were incredibly supportive when she was having problems in the first half of the English 2 Honors class. Sara had been thinking of dropping down to college prep, and her mother came in to ask me for my take.

I knew she was having some difficulty, but I also knew she wasn't giving up, and that as long as she didn't, she would turn the corner sooner or later in the class. I told her mother this, and I guess she took the message home. I watched Sara redouble her efforts and the corner came quickly, within weeks.

The following year she worked on "A Night with the Bard," as a lover in Midsummer. Her senior year saw her in the Shakespeare class, doing drama stuff for me, acting in a student-directed Merry Wives, and competing in L.A. drama festivals. On the evening of her graduation, she and her parents were celebrating at the same resturant as Lisa and I (in the parking lot of which I would propose to Lisa later that night); the Martyns sent over a bottle of champagne. I felt like a GoodFella.

Sara has kept in touch since her departure for Oregon to major in Theatre. Her notes always bring me up. It's wonderful to see that she is off to Europe. I have no doubt that she will "make it," in whatever form she wants.

I'm not sure why I've written this entry. I don't know.