Don P. Hooper

The latest press release from Coomacka Island:
Press Release August 2007

Enjoy your weekend!

Just got the word, one of the studios I work in will be closing down. This means two things. One I lose the location convenience, so I’ll have to start hauling equipment longer distances. Note: I don’t like lifting equipment, and long distances – hate it. Two, I’m switching to guerilla mode.

What exactly is guerilla mode, you ask? It means that over the next few weeks you’ll see my production team all over New York City filming this and that. So, if you see me, stop by and say hi. Just, please don’t walk into the middle of a shot. Just kidding. No. Really, don’t walk in front of the camera. Thanks!

Orphaned minds

Orphaned minds
emaciated
knowledgeless ideals
abandoned by truth
and the milk
that brought life
now sour’d –
dreams
aged in miss-perfection
rise
to deliver
adulterate nature
begotten
by sons
without the ability
to speak
in wisdom
cannibalized
a lack of mental passage
the rite
no longer theirs
seeks
a cradle
a bosom
a warm touch
reminiscent of that
which never was.

-Don P. Hooper
(August 2007)

For Mike and Katie:

Breaking Ground

An echo in the night
Woke me from sleep much disturbed
My right hand, an unmarked map
The left -
     Clenched a Dream Deferred.

With chest ignited
The barren heart to be filled
I crossed Many Waters
And forsook all that was given.

In the land of great deserts
Reborn to the world with no plan
I wandered for days onto years
My past buried in sand.

Forced back to the nest,
Diminished images zoom by
a forgotten home long since empty.

I set out with purpose
A new life left to slate.

Marked Map now Unbound
The risking sound calls to me;
Forward whole and complete
Clenched treasure in my left
I look up to the sun
On the day I broke ground.

-Don P. Hooper
(August 2007)

Another day – another wedding. Well, let me not say that. It makes the occasion mundane, and this wedding was anything but mundane.

On Saturday August 18, 2007, my friend Mike got married to his lovely wife Katie. I hate to sound corny, but it was really a joyous occasion.

Now, I usually wouldn’t blog about a wedding, but this wedding had more of a personal significance. This was the first wedding I’ve been to that involved someone I grew up with. More than just a childhood friend, Mike was probably one of my closest friends I’ve had in life. My mom knew him, his mom knew me. We hung out together. Got in trouble together. We both knew that no matter what we had each other’s back whenever something went wrong. Which reminds me of the time his mom called my mom up at 2am. My mom was working at the hospital, and was probably flipping out because she didn’t know where I was. Luckily, Mike’s mom was there to look out for me.

I honestly don’t know how we became friends. We were about as different as they come. But, maybe that’s what brought us together. We both were different. We never really had a social scene, or a click that we identified with. We were just two unique individuals who shared one thing, being different. He is one of the few people I trust implicitly without pretense. I never felt the need to censor my personality around him, nor put on a mask to try and fit in. Mike wasn’t judgmental of anything I chose to do, something I found to be more prevalent in others as I grew up. Mike was different, he just accepted me for who I was and who I became.

Mike and I were like family, a bond that was strengthened when we worked together senior year of high school in Fr. McGowan’s office, the college counselor. We used to call him Uncle Bill because he looked out for us when we needed help. And, believe me we needed help. I probably never would have applied to UPenn if it weren’t for Uncle Bill. I still remember his words to this day regarding the subject of “failure.” But, that’s another subject for another time.

Sadly, Uncle Bill passed away earlier this year. When, I first heard the news I was shocked. I called Mike to let him know. That Wednesday, Mike came to New York from Philly and we went to Uncle Bill’s wake. It was a sad day, but I’m thankful I had the opportunity to know him and also thank him a few years ago for his guidance.

Anyway, back to the subject of this blog. Mike and I were both dedicated to service to others. But, Mike always went the extra step. He joined the Peace Corps sometime after college and went to Madagascar to teach. When he got back to America he didn’t stay long. His heart was drawing him elsewhere. So, he went to Korea to work at an orphanage. And, it was there he met Katie.

When I first met Katie, I think it was at Mike’s 25th birthday party. Something about her was different. I’m usually recalcitrant to talk with people the first time I meet them. But, for some reason, talking to Katie was like talking to someone I knew my entire life – just like Mike. Three years later, when Mike said he was going to marry Katie, I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I was thrilled.

Now that the wedding vows have been exchanged, I feel like my family just got bigger. It is a good feeling to know that now that instead of one person, there are two people that you can turn to when you need to talk.

I wish Mike and Katie all the best and will always be there for them as they have been there for me.

That’s right. I’m going on tour with Dave Chappelle. Yup, Dave’s back and he’s taking his comedy tour on the road. It’ll be like Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. I set Dave up for the alley oop, he drives it home with the slam dunk. So, this is will be the last you’ll hear from me for a while.

You’re probably asking yourself. Whoa. Are you serious? Well, sort of. Am, I leaving Brooklyn and physically going on tour with Dave. No (as I kick-up sand). However, I was selected last week to be the voice of the Dave Chappelle tour. Which is pretty cool. So, yes, my voice will be heard with Dave Chappelle’s voice in radio and tv commercials, as the tour hits your neighborhood. But, alas, I won’t actually be on stage. Or, will I?

I guess you’ll just have to buy tickets and find out.

Ok, so there’s only one more month until Halo 3 drops for Xbox 360. What does that mean? It means I have to get a lot of work done asap. Because I know once Halo 3 comes out, that’s all I will be doing.

Well… not ALL. But, that’s at least 2-3 less hours per day I’ll have for other activities. Maybe, I’ll just sleep less. Yea, that’s the ticket.

Every few months, I get in a state of mind where I say to myself, “If only I had done this 5 years ago.” What is “this,” exactly?

“This” is any one of a dozen or so dreams or ambitions I decided to put off for whatever reason. I know that sounds ambiguous and convoluted, but that’s exactly what it is. Like when you have an idea, but decide not to follow through with it because you lack the funding, resources or skills. Or worse, you “think” you lack the resources, when in fact you just don’t lack the experience, don’t research how to go about getting those resources, or you are afraid to ask for help because you believe someone may steal your idea. Then 5 years pass by, and while that idea was gathering cobwebs, someone else did something similar and became a success.

I try not to have regrets. But, every so often I think about how my life would be different if I had made the decisions I make today 5 years ago. Would I be farther along in my life’s goals? The answer is I don’t know, and will probably never know. Well, at least I won’t know until I invent this TIME MACHINE more on that later.

A good friend and mentor of mine Christina Gausas told me recently, “You can only change the future in the present.” What does that mean to me? Several things. But, most importantly it reminds me that the only way I can change what will be, 5 years out from now, is to start working towards it today. Otherwise, I’ll just look back and utter the age old question, “What if?” So, I’m focused on the now. It’s like what Yoda said to Obi Wan about Luke, “Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph.”

So, until I finish building this TIME MACHINE it’s all about the present. And, I’ll trust that 5 years out, I won’t be saying to myself, “If only I had built that time machine five years ago.”

Sunny-Side Up appears at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre August 8, 22 at 9:30 pm.

Tickets are $5

The UCB Theatre is located at:
307 W. 26th St.
New York, NY

The Sunny-Side Up Players: Amey Goerlich, Don P. Hooper, Angie Martin, DC Pierson, Katie Schorr, Ari Scott, Nathan Shelkey, and Michael Short.

Troupe Director: Timothy Michael Cooper

Today was one of those days I had to remind myself why I do what I do – why sacrifice is necessary to be happy. To which, I turn to Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred.”

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?