I was going to write this week's reflection on all the casting call character descriptions I have been reading lately, in which 9/10 female roles specify the girl must be ‘sexy,’ ‘beautiful,’ ‘the girl next door,’ ‘attractive,’ or ‘thin.’ While only 1/10 male roles will comment on their physical appearance, and usually it will say, ‘burly’ or ‘muscular is a plus, but not essential.’

Then I would expound upon that idea by mentioning last week's ‘Girls’ episode that got a lot of controversy as Hannah had a weekend sexcapade with an attractive older doctor, and critics were having a hard time believing that that would ever really happen.

However, thank goodness, I had a change of heart. Last night I went and saw three funny ladies who comprise ‘The Sweater Zeppelins’ perform in their first comedy sketch show, self written and produced. These women wrote intelligent witty comedy without making the use of the word 'F@#$'. That made me extremely proud. Go ladies. When you can’t find the work you want, you create the work for yourself. Talk about empowering.

Then this morning, I spent some time looking at a birthday present a friend had made me a few years ago, and thought ‘this is just what I needed to keep my spirits up.’ My friend filled a mug which reads, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”, with phrases like: “I’m so blessed to have you in my life.” “Your laugh is infectious.” “You're beautiful.” “I’d let you bite my arm.” (bit of an inside joke). “ I know everything that you do will be GREAT!” ...and the list goes on. Immediately my mood changed as I was filled with love and acceptance from someone who knows me inside and out, because she took time to empower me and encourage me with such loving phrases.

So rather than ranting and raving about the way ‘society’ is bringing me down. I would like to comment on the power you and I all have to bring people up, by sharing some loving encouragement, or having the courage to do what we love and the persistence to make it happen.

Thanks to the many wonderful people in my life who encourage and strengthen me, may I spend my efforts doing the same for others, rather than dwelling on the things that do not.

-S

Gone are the days, it seems, when an actor waits to be cast by someone else, or at least those days are fading quickly, and thank goodness. For actors who like to control their lives (who doesn’t), this is empowering. It means more say over what you do, and doing work that is meaningful to you. It’s also scary as heck, because now you are responsible for your own career. No more sitting back on the excuse, ‘I just wasn’t discovered’ or ‘my bad luck I guess’. 
I also think this will be even more effective in weeding out people who are looking for a quick climb to fame without really putting in the work. 
Lastly, I hope this will equate to more meaningful and less trendy plays, movies, and television shows. Hopefully intelligent, socially concise artists will take back media from the gun-happy, sex crazed culture, and create some stuff that enriches our souls. Don’t get me wrong, I love an action movie just as much as the next person, and love stories are of course a secret passion of mine, but as Scott Swan, one of my mentors says: “The last thing the world needs is a mediocre production of anything. Never lower the content of a show to the audience, make them rise to the occasion.”
Art needs to be in schools encouraging the next generation, and on movie screens and in theaters encouraging others to think critically and look at the world in a different way, find empathy, and move towards better relationships with one another, not perpetuate fear and prejudice. 
You know, I’ve been hoping lately that I would become passionate enough about something to be propelled into action. Sitting here, writing this, I think God has given it to me. Now will I be brave enough and convicted enough to stand out and act upon it? Only time will tell. 
I write all this after spending a few hours last evening watching “The Walking Dead”. Ironic? Hypocritical? Yep, a lot of both. Can’t be perfect I suppose. Although, in my defense, I woke up this morning angry that the show chooses to assume that if the world was ending people would start killing each other instead of working together to survive. As a relative mentioned over Christmas, living in Montreal during the power outage, people didn’t become scarce minded and fearful. Instead you would see every third or fourth house occupied as people banded together to stay warm and pool resources. Yeah humanity!
Random Rant? I think so! Have a great week every one, and if you don’t agree with something I said, GOOD! Form opinions, become enraged, make change, but always remember to walk a mile in another person’s shoes before you write them, or their opinions off.