'A PIECE OF MY HEART'

A series of essays.....

ANNIE RUSSELL THEATRE ~ MAIN STAGE
AWAITING THE OPENING ACT OF 'PIECE OF MY HEART'

.....as seen through my eyes!





By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

What, at first, seemed like such a simple little play~~six women, few props, and no elaborate set~~'A Piece of My Heart' by Shirley Lauro is often billed as "the most enduring play about Vietnam!" After attending a local production of it this past Saturday evening, I can see why.

When the country of Vietnam is casually mentioned today, it probably conjures up several different thoughts or memories depending upon the age of the people within the conversation. For example, if you are too young to remember the 1960's and '70's, you may know it to be a beautiful vacation destination today. You may have been taught about the confrontation there, which included the United States, in high school history class. Maybe a parent or grandparent fought the Viet Cong there and were able to return home with stories about it they were, initially, unwilling to share because they feared having to relive their horrific experiences. 

'A Piece of My Heart' tells the true stories of the many women who served their country in Vietnam through six characters. We meet Army and Navy nurses, an enlisted intelligence specialist in the Women's Army Corps, a Red Cross volunteer, and a U.S.O. singer. The women unravel how a twelve-month adventure could have such an effect on the rest of their lives.

In the "background" are the American men: the ones who hurt them, are loved by them, are healed by them, and the ones lost to unspeakable injuries. These women signed up for adventure, for glory, for money.....but, often, they returned home completely shattered and unwelcome by a society who openly mistreated them because they were the convenient scapegoats for a very angry and war weary nation during a most turbulent time in its history.  As Bob Dylan sang of the times, “The times, they are a-changin,” and  “there’s revolution in the air.” 

In the background we can hear the music of this war in haunting measure delivered by Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cream, and Janis Joplin herself! This was the musical soundscape to the Vietnam War. This war may have deeply divided our country but the music was a coping mechanism for the thousands of Americans who served there. The music, music, music!! Thank God for the music that propelled us along!

Most importantly, 'A Piece of My Heart' was seen through the eyes of the many women who experienced the war first-hand. Not everyone acknowledges the fact that thousands of women served during the Vietnam War. Many served in hospitals in the Philippines, Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii, and many served in the field in Vietnam itself. The play portrays each of its six young woman before, during, and after her tour in the war-torn nation and ends as each leaves a personal token at the memorial wall in Washington D.C.

THE MUSIC OF ONE U.S. SOLDIER IN VIETNAM ~ 1969

Although there have been numerous plays dealing with Vietnam, the renowned author, Shirley Lauro, I would say, has handed-out a direct, emotional impact to her audience as she was able to bring most of us to tears while gaining a standing ovation at curtain call. 'A Piece of My Heart' was riveting and intense and I have to hand it to the amazing staff and students of Rollins College and the Annie Russell Theatre, once again, for offering us a memorable performance. 

Yes, I stood there clapping for the students on the stage of the Annie Russell Theatre on the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, Florida with tears in my eyes and 1960's music filling my senses while vivid memories of my friends returning from the war in Vietnam flashed before me. The tears I was shedding, I knew, represented a job well done....so difficult to beat the hard work contributed by everyone associated with this beautiful theatre! In addition, my tears affirmed an often stressful, confusing, rankling feeling in the pit of my stomach that, even to this day, continues to be painful.

Friends returned with their very troubled stories to relate. Some returned withdrawn and clinging to drugs and liquor to quench the horror they had lived through. And, some returned in pine boxes with twenty-one gun salutes that shattered a cold December afternoon and scattered feathered creatures living among the cemetery flora high up into the cold, blue sky. Standing on the hard, frozen earth during these military services, I wondered if they had been the lucky ones.

Here is a compact history lesson and backstory of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam:

The Viet Cong, VC for short, were the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, the Viet Minh, fought against South Vietnam in the late 1950's through 1975 and the United States from the early 1960's with direct U.S. military involvement ending on August 15, 1973. The Viet Cong were South Vietnamese supporters of the communist National Liberation Front in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, known in Vietnam as the 'American War.'  They were allied with North Vietnam and the troops of Ho Chi Minh, president of North Vietnam, who sought to conquer the South and create a unified, communist state of Vietnam.  

According to my research, 1949 is about when the United States began caring about what was going on in Vietnam.

The U.S. got involved in the Vietnam War because it did not want another country going to communism and, ultimately, be controlled by the Soviet sphere of influence, after what happened in China. Firstly, the Viet Minh were communists. Secondly, in 1949, the anticommunist government of the Republic of China fell and was forced to flee to Taiwan and the communist People's Republic of China took over the mainland. 

President Truman was accused of "losing China" to the communists. And, the United States had become afraid of what was then known as 'the dominoes falling effect' so, it increasingly became United States strategic policy to contain communism. 

The future of many young men and women was to be held in the balance by the decisions that were made at home in Washington D.C.  

SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM'S
BLUE VIETNAM DRAFT LOTTERY CAPSULES

We didn't give a shit about all of the above at eighteen, nineteen, or twenty years old! We were thinking more along the lines of which movie should we see on Saturday night? When will the Beatles put out their next album? And, what colleges should I apply to? Near the end of the 1960's, our boys were required to enter the draft. Three hundred and sixty-six plastic capsules that could determine their fate. Right or wrong. Love or hate. Life or death. 

Each blue capsule contained the birthdays that would be chosen in the first Vietnam draft lottery drawing on December 1, 1969, and young men gathered in college dorms and homes of friends to listen to live television and radio broadcasts of the U.S. Selective Service System drawing lottery numbers to determine who would and would not be drafted. The first birth date drawn that night and assigned the lowest number, lottery number 1, was September 14.

Males born on September 14, between the years of 1944 and 1950, you will forever be our Number One!!

Women, as Ms. Lauro suggests in 'A Piece of My Heart,' were not drafted. They signed-up for this roller coaster adventure, often because there was real danger in 'not knowing' what our boys were going through in this strange, obscure country called Vietnam. 

Most Americans had never heard of Vietnam before! Then Ho Chi Minh declared to turn it into a communist nation. Our troops quickly saw that South Vietnam was a jungle. It was very hot and humid. Hauling troops in from all over the Pacific held many challenges and limitations that were marked by difficult local weather conditions.

As with any war...no matter which reasons are chosen to justify it in the eyes of a government, public and private factions, or independent thinkers.....It remains a war, a state of armed conflict between societies that is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality. Our young men and our young women quickly understood this lessen in Vietnam. The quest for freedom was awash with the horrors that had to be endured by these brave souls. In the name of good or evil, their young lives were literally bathed in Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

My sincere appreciation goes out to Ms. Lauro. Your timeless play, performed and engineered by an amazing cast and crew of The Annie Russell Theatre, has been able to reintroduce me to intense memories, stimulating song lyrics meant to open our eyes to a new revolution, and recapture the fervor and passion that my generation allowed into its soul in order to cope with the philosophical norm that 'two wrongs don't make a right.' 

As we wander through 'Trumpland' today, mostly dazed and confused, I hope that many of the same principles that we understood and cherished back in our youth in the '60's remain prominent today. May we all work together again, no matter what our age or background is, to apply them towards continuing the full fight against blatant greed, hatred, and yet another war, as well as the preservation of our fragile planet. 

To be able to achieve this common ground among us today, I would, gladly, volunteer a piece of my heart.....once again!   #Persistence #Resist!

Protest songs that shaped the Vietnam Era:

https://youtu.be/LNYT1J8Fop4

Author's Note: In case you were wondering....no, we did not win the war against communism in South Vietnam and, ultimately, left that country in the hands of the North. The Republic of South Vietnam was dissolved in July, 1976 when it merged with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to become the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The SRV remains a communistic country. 

Copyright © 2017 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved

"LOVE IS JUST LOVE, IT CAN NEVER BE EXPLAINED"

 

A series of essays.....

~~~~HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO HUMANKIND~~~~

.....as seen through my eyes!


Author's Note: Last February, 2016, I composed this particular piece in honor of the people who love and those who believe in the power of Love Itself! When I sit down to write I tend to lose track of  time and when I re-read the story after it is completed....I often wonder who wrote it. I recall being completely consumed by the need for Love to spread its enchanting wings from one corner of the Earth to another. I was hopeful that it would. I still am. I am a bit more realistic about my feelings today, however. Today, spreading Love has become a dire necessity. It is not a playful dream shared exclusively by two star-crossed lovers.... It is the Power of a strong, vibrant Red that must counteract the extreme hate that has spread its dark shadows across the lands, crush the fear that arises from that hate, and embrace our very being with its softness....its kindness. 

So, having re-read this story from one year ago, I've decided to share it with all of you, once again. Embrace it.. Enjoy It.. Pass it along to everyone you love, especially to those you may not, with all of the strength and passion that is within your heart. Don't forget to save some of the love for yourself, too! Be generous and be as kind as you possibly can. We will all benefit from it. Happy Valentine's Day To Humankind!!!  JEH






By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

Should Love have to be explained?

Is it possible to treat Love as a color? Create its texture, temperature, and appeal to share with someone who may not be able to see the color for themselves yet desires knowing what it might look like if they could? To descriptively open up our souls to the suggestion of shimmering silvers, wet and sharp as lake water beginning to freeze over, or the chill of a 'Winter Blue' kind of day, or the softness of pale yellow as it wraps us in its warmth during a sun-filled, afternoon walk.

If Love were a color....what would it be? Red, blue, yellow, blushing pink, or as white as freshly fallen snow?

Love might be the fluid crimson of a perfect rose, generously given and delightfully received throughout the ages as a symbol of affection and beauty. Gifts between lovers in celebration of their commitment to and desire for one another. With compassion and Love we mark a wedding anniversary, filial affection displayed as gratitude for a Mother's Love, and the generous offering of a spray of roses at the passing of a Loved one that symbolizes the honor and reverence we hold in our hearts for their time shared with us here on earth.

Love is a feeling deep inside each of us. It is up to us to tap into its source and allow it to flow freely.

Love can be as strong as the wind, rushing out in palpable waves that surround its recipient in hot, white sheets of passion. It can be as light as the breeze of a summer's evening sending silent chills throughout our being; shivers of delight and promise. Love is the excitement of finally traveling to see a foreign landscape. No longer a perceptible thought or desire, but a living, breathing, observable expanse of scenery waiting to be explored and better understood. Love is inhaling the scent of a new puppy or kitten. Love is the unadulterated joy felt when holding your grandchild in your arms for the first time. It is the recognition of our own existence passed forward into this small, precious gift of life!

Tapping into the well of Love allows us to see the world within a broad spectrum of capabilities and raw emotions.

Shall we soar high above the earth like a great bird held aloft by the rising currents of warm air, floating along to our heart's content? Looking down below us, we take immense pleasure in the natural beauty our world offers....God's eye candy for the soul! Sadly, this vantage point would also reveal the travesty of humankind witnessed by our innate capacity to destroy, hate, and kill! From a child's cry of hunger and pain, to bombs bursting in air....what will it take to shift our priorities and allow each one of us to live in peace on this amazing planet? The answer would be, Love.

Love is strong. Love is powerful. Love is soft and kind. Love is the medium by which we cultivate, sow and harvest the joy within us and spread its essence around for others to administer as a tonic to heal humankind.

I am convinced that one day Love will succeed. It will turn haters and doubters into believers. When that blissful day arrives, we will no longer have the need to ask for a definition of, or an explanation for Love. It will become the 'natural' every day experience that directs us in complete harmony and peace. It will become the standard of behavior that is required, desired, and designated as normal.

"What is Love?" you query. "Love is just Love, it can never be explained........because it doesn't have to be. It is as natural as life itself."  



Copyright © 2016 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved


With Love in your heart, spend Valentine's Day with those you hold near and dear.

SOUL SEARCHING ~ IN REAL TIME

 A series of essays.....

SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL ~ SUNRISE!

mostnature.com

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

A hairline fissure runs through the middle of my spirit these days. It is a narrow split, a stressful division, in a manner of speaking, that helps to define the ache that weighs so heavily on my heart. 

My spirit breaks because of you.

If the spirit were made of stone, these fractures might be explained away, offering comfort in knowledge; options for improvement. Technically, some cracks in rock are a mechanism of brittle deformation in response to stress or pressure that exceeds the rock strength, causing the rock to lose cohesion along its weakest plane. Employ the engineer who might grout such cracks and help to strengthen my 'spirit' that has fallen into such disrepair. Oh, if only the solution were that simplistic...

My spirit breaks because of you.

If the spirit were likened to the brick foundation by which we build our hopes and dreams upon, it would be exhibiting these cracks and shifts that serve to weaken its splendor. A home or shelter that has been shifted from its solid foundation by earthly tremors has lost its original stability and now serves to undermine the spirit that once thrived within; lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of nurturing the hopes and dreams it once sheltered.

Oh, my spirit breaks because of you.

If the spirit was brought forth through a particular fairy or sprite, I would solemnly swear that the 'little gnome' might have entered my universe upon our visit to the Emerald Isle back in 2006. My mischievous fairy would be a leprechaun named John, a tiny old man, who lives in the Caha Mountains of Southwestern Ireland under the guise of a sheep farmer. His playful antics and fun-loving spirit infusing my life with his power to affect the course of human events and insert the inevitable joy of my becoming a grandmother. Would I now see John with a single tear trickling down his wise, ancient cheek? Would his own spirit be breaking a bit in unison with mine?

The collection of actions or deeds by others can serve to break down our spirit.

If I allow the emotional, fundamental, and activating principle of my life, my spirit if you will, to be controlled by staunch man-made walls of negativity, I will continue to experience the brokenness. It will come to limit me; my character will suffer and my heart will break into a million pieces and cease to be the sacred vessel that contains the Love and Peace that, ultimately, defines me.

Once bitten, twice shy. An unpleasant experience induces caution every time!

You will never be able to understand this expression until you have lived through it. Living through a heartbreaking experience should serve to improve the outlook we have coming out of it, on the other side. It should.....if we allow it to happen. Every day now I meditate with the idea that I will slow down this fast-spinning world around me. I will better my life through my deep spiritual beliefs. Open my heart to every possibility. Breathe in the Love; and exhale the Peace. Breathe in the Love; and exhale the Peace until the floral carpet at my feet surrounds my spirit with its color palette of beauty. The peace and calm of our spectacular Floridian sunsets, layered with pink, mauve and brilliant blues, wraps me in a cloak of tranquility. Breathe in the Love; and exhale the Peace!

If my true spirit is the force, the principle that is believed to animate me and enlighten the living being that I am, then it must be so much stronger than I ever imagined before! I must step out of the dark and back into the light in order to change. What I perceived as fissures running along the length of my spirit, my vitality, like irregular shaped shadows that lend breath to my craggy landscape, must be transformed into receptacles that capture the joy I feel from the many blessings bestowed upon my humble life. 

My spirit is becoming whole once again because of you.

Strength is my honor. Always telling the truth and honoring this unselfish act in others, is my virtue in this lifetime. I will not be embroiled in petty battles that lack integrity and service the weaknesses that lurk within other souls. I,too, will become emboldened by these truths and only utilize the 'alternative facts' haphazardly spewed out by others as examples to give me the strength to share my beliefs with those who have reached this identical conclusion with me. 

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." Did you live by that rule yourself, Mr. Twain, proving one of our greatest American authors to be witty, wise and honest! 

The mighty pendulum has swung its one hundred and eighty degrees in less than a thousand words and I am not inclined to accept its return anytime soon. By accepting the challenges set before me, I will strive to forgive weakness, encourage truth and honesty, and live my life with a modicum of caution, having been bitten in the past. My rule of thumb will be if you show me respect, I will return that respect a thousand times over to you.

If my spirit has been transformed from solid rock to the brilliance of experiencing 'sunshine in my soul,' I could not be more grateful to all of you who have been there for me....you do know who you are. Let's work together to make this world a better place, help correct the wrongs, and look forward to welcoming the sunshine into our spirit and soul again.

But, never give up the fight! We must never back down from challenging what we see is wrong with new found hope of making it right!

My spirit is now whole, once more.  Because of you, I am ready to join the fight and win!

alamy.com

Copyright © 2017 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved

FRIENDSHIP NEVER FADES

 A series of essays.....

ENJOYING TIME TOGETHER IN CELEBRATION, FLORIDA

.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

Friendship may seem to disappear for a little while but, it never fades away into oblivion. Human nature does not forget the strong bond that is formed between friends, even when circumstances can tuck it away into the folds of time, only to resurface once again as strong and beautiful as ever.

The soft clinking sound of one crystal wine glass tapping another, coupled with yet another toast to health, good cheer, and priceless friendship renewed, still rings in my ears. I sit here this morning, i-Pad on my lap, feeling just a little bit lonely; a tiny bit sad. Our friends have moved on to the second phase of their Floridian excursion before traveling back home to Michigan, but their laughter continues to reverberate, sweetly, in my head.

I met Janis the year my parents decided to make the move up to Three Rivers, Michigan from Terre Haute, Indiana in order to help my grandparents run the laundry and dry cleaning establishment they had built-up through the years. It meant that we'd finally be settling down in one place instead of changing towns and schools every year to follow my dad's employment with the Sinclair Oil Corporation and Quaker State Motor Oil Companies. 

It turned out to be one of the best years of my life!

Thrust into an high school environment as an eighth grader, it was easy to see how, at a very young age, we were influenced by the upperclassmen. Back in the day, Three Rivers High School included an eighth-grade program. We had to learn to blend in with everybody in order to survive. Janis and I had several classes together, shared a sense of adventure, understood the importance of study ethics, and maintained Honor Roll status throughout our high school careers! We just clicked, immediately.

Even though we moved on to different colleges upon graduation from TRHS, we always kept in touch and visited one another at Alma College, Janis' alma mater, and, ultimately, Michigan State University, for me. 

Janis, eventually, moved to East Lansing, Michigan and I invited her to move into the apartment I had been sharing with several girlfriends I had, initially, met on campus while living at Shaw Hall. And, it just so happened that a really nice looking guy from Jackson, Michigan lived in the apartment above us with several other roommates. Well, Janis and Fred began dating one another and, as the old adage goes, the rest is history, folks!

Dan and I had been dating while I still lived in the dorm on campus and he had already moved to a house apartment located on Evergreen, north of Grand River Avenue, the main street that runs through East Lansing. The four of us hung-out together quite often during this time. 

Well, let's just say that Janis wore a gorgeous shade of pink as a bridesmaid at our wedding and I.....well, I served as an 'honorary bridesmaid' at hers two years later because I had been considerably pregnant at the time. It was not my desire to draw any attention away from the actual ceremony by waddling down the church aisle along with the wedding party. But, we were there, once again, cheering each other on as life took its course, babies were born, addresses changed, and challenges arose.

SO MANY MEMORIES.....!

Not long afterward, Dan and I had ensconced ourselves in the life rhythms of the small town of Eaton Rapids. Fred and Janis, not far away in Holt, located just south of East Lansing, were raising their young family. But, as I've stated before, life has a tendency of getting in the way.....even when involving strong friendships. New faces emerge from each new experience until old friends get tucked away as creative memories drifting through time like colorful autumn leaves wistfully navigating their earthbound flights.

My path was to follow Dan down here to Orlando, Florida after our youngest daughter, Corinne, completed her freshman year at Michigan State. Our oldest daughter, Alexandria, was interning at Walt Disney World at the time and, eventually, was employed full-time in Procurement in the business offices at WDW. Somehow, someway....twenty plus years have transpired, Dan is responsible for building quite a few multi-family apartment projects in the area, and Orlando has become our established home.

LITTLE, YELLOW COTTAGE

Now, both of our children reside in Kalamazoo/Portage, Michigan along with their own families and we have come to realize that moving back to Michigan after retirement, to be with them, is going to be the next chapter in our lives. We have begun to establish ourselves within this amazing community by purchasing the cutest, little house ever built in Kalamazoo!! Well, at least we think so. Built in 1941, our little yellow cottage is a work in progress but, a project based on the sheer joy of rejuvenating this small gem into a comfortable home where grandchildren are always welcome and cookies will certainly be baking in the oven....!

Returning to Michigan, even on a part-time basis for the past few years, has changed us forever and, in a very good way. Yes, we share in our children's lives ten times more than before, which has, in turn, enhanced our sense of well-being and balance. We are enriching our outlook on life through the power of the arts with so much credit going out to our friend, Michael, and his adorable wife, Marsha. Michael, a local artist and architect, along with Marsha, a librarian/writer in the town of Portage for many years, have greatly changed our lives for the better. Together, they have proven to us that Kalamazoo has so much to offer through the local talent of painters, writers, sculptors, poets, educators, and more, all intertwined to help create a Mecca for other artists willing to immerse themselves in their particular activity or interest.

Right before we made the solid commitment to Kalamazoo by purchasing a second home, something absolutely brilliant happened! I was invited to lunch. Not just any lunch, either. Several old friends from high school got together at a local restaurant, Food Dance, in downtown Kalamazoo (I like typing that word!) and, low and behold, Janis and I sat there, side-by-side, having lunch together after all of these years!

The amazing part was that only a few moments in, she and I were talking and acting as though the time that had passed between us had never seemed to matter. We picked-up where we'd left off and our friendship began to blossom once more. Like a flower in springtime, the colors of friendship were bright and stunning, with stems as strong as a long-stem rose, and the possibilities, endless. Conversation flowed. Goodness knows we had a few years to catch-up on.

JANIS AND FRED

Today I sit on my living room couch brooding because they have come and they have already gone. The four of us had such a wonderful few days together. Jan and Fred enjoyed the tour of our beautiful, albeit spread-out, adopted home, Orlando, and the surrounding area. After the laughing, crying, reminiscing, and partaking in good food and spirits....our house is quiet again. The 'battery fed' clocks hanging on our walls tick-and-tock into my subconscious like they never do when this house is full of people and uncontrolled laughter. Just as it did this past holiday season when all of our children were here celebrating and filling-up the bedrooms with their pleasant nighttime breathing.

Hairstyles may be notably shorter and interspersed with grays, as only our hairstylists know for sure, and minute lines collect on our faces like soft, Victorian lace denoting character and a full life, but the soul.....ah, the soul and a person's spirit never really changes at all. Time passes before us controlling our ultimate destinies, but in what manner and for how long we choose to communicate with those we share breath with is entirely up to us. 

Janis and I have always shared the spirit for living, enjoyed the world around us, and spread as much love as possible to everyone, near and far. That will never change. They will return here, as we will travel north to share more time with them. It is inevitable. It is fate. It is written in the stars.

However, in the meantime, oh, how I wish we didn't have so many 'battery fed' clocks hanging in this house!

JOY!

Copyright © 2017 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved