Home again, "The Piano Lesson," the bitter smell of exhaust

So I went home again this weekend. I was home just two weekends ago, so it seemed a bit premature to be returning, but the purpose of this visit was to take my driver's test (again). So, it ended up being pretty close to pointless since I failed once again. The last time, I failed because I didn't know all of my signals, and this time I failed because I couldn't parallel park (which I passed last time). I can do it when I practice, but the pressure got to me, and the guy that I had this time seemed to count the three back-ins and pull-outs that you get differently than the first guy I had. Anyway, it wasn't technically pointless, since I did spend time with my parents and all.

We went to see Junebug on Saturday night, which stars the lady who played Miss Honey in Matilda, who was really amazing. The movie was really good. It was about the clash between Northern and Southern values that the woman experiences when she travels down South with her new husband to convince an artist to sign with her art firm and to visit her husband's family. It was well-acted and very subtly directed. I usually like independent films a lot more than the mainstream fare.

On the train on the way home, I read The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. Being that I had gone to the theatre dedication in his honor last weekend, I really thought it was only appropriate that I read something by him. I went to Strand Bookstore on Friday before I left for home and bought the two plays that he won the Pulitzer Prize for (Fences in 1987 and The Piano Lesson in 1990). They were both 50% off, which was very nice. I got them for much cheaper than the NYU bookstore carries them for. Anyway, the play was really quite astounding. It concerns a black family that is fighting over a piano and its place in their family. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy land from a white man down South whose family used to own his family, but Berniece clings to the sentimental value of the piano (her relatives carved and claimed the piano from the white family). The whole play concerns the struggle between these two, and it is really quite well-written. I certainly recommend it to others.

Now, I'm back in NYC after another nightmare train ride. Ugh...sticky floors and a crazy young girl who kept singing along with her iPod. Psssh.

Yay, next week includes Halloween.