Fundraising has begun! There's a Project Nutcracker group on Facebook if anyone is interested in submitting ideas.

What we're trying to do is raise enough seed money that we can cover all of our start-up expenses independently.

I'll bounce in every now and again to update the community on what we're up to. We're grateful for all the ideas we've received and will incorporate as many as we possibly can.

And away we go...

After a few crazy months, we're back on track for the Ballet... but there's a new and exciting twist.

It's going to be...

The second happiest night of my life thus far was the night when he sat next to me on the couch and, with a Mr. Flibble glove puppet and a lovely peridot Claddagh, asked me to be his wife.

The happiest night...

After the wedding and all the insanity of the Nutcracker going on, I'm forcing myself to make some time to be around a bit. Once the Holidays are over we're going to jump into fundraising for TEF Ballet. Right now I'm planning a student choreography show and possibly a studio-wide yard sale.

I is HITCH'D, ya'all. So I am officially a Fahnette (still gotta get the license changed, meh.)

In Which Sitka faces the aftermath of the evening's festivities and meets yet another rather puzzling new friend. We find our heroine on the hallway floor of the house someone dumped her in, sleeping off the two pints of Guinness and three bowls of pretzels she tore through ten hours previously.

ohh... my eyes hurt. Where am I? Oooh, nice rug. Why is that cockroach shuffling so loudly?

IN A WORLD WHERE COCKROACHES SHUFFLE LOUDLY--

OW! Not so loud, please. Who are you and why are you in this house? Why am I in this house, come to think of it... ow. Thinking is painful.

I'M A MOVIE ANNOUNCER GUY AND I'M GOING TO NARRATE YOUR HANGOVER.

Why are you booming like that? It hurts my ears. And what is on your head?

THIS IS JUST HOW I TALK. I WEAR THESE HEADPHONES SO I CAN HEAR MYSELF.

Well, I don't think you need them. They can probably hear you next door, you're so boomy. Besides, I don't like anyone narrating my life but me. Now to find a way out. ow ow ow what is that NOISE?

THE SOUND OF HER HOOVES CLICKING ON THE HARDWOOD FLOOR DRIVES SHARP LITTLE BOLTS OF PAIN INTO HER ALREADY BEFUDDLED HEAD.

...oh, shut it. I'll just walk on the carpet. tummy flip tummy flip oh tummy tummy tummy tummy flip...

SHE CATCHES A POLISHED FOOT ON THE EDGE OF THE BEARSKIN RUG AND FALLS FACE FIRST INTO A BASKET OF WARM LAUNDRY.

No I do NOT! ow loud *flump*

TOLD YOU.

Aaah warm towels... on my face... and I stand back up.

AS SHE STUMBLES ABOUT WITH A TOWEL ON HER HEAD, HER STOMACH BEGINS TO ROIL FROM THE SUDDEN BURST OF MOTION.

Go away. You're not helping me.

YES I AM.

How?

I'M WARNING YOU ABOUT WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. I'M A MOVIE ANNOUNCER GUY, IT'S WHAT I DO.

but I have to show it off. Fifteen dresses and I couldn't stop thinking about this one.

watching you run
waiting for you
to return
to me

i don't see you
you don't know me
since i set
you free

i'll come to you
be here with you
walk beside
you now

can i make you
stay here with me
won't you tell
me how

i can't miss you
if i find you
all alone
today

should i not try
say my goodbye
leave you to
your way?

--for Tally, with open eyes

In Which Sitka discovers the cathartic power of meeting a new friend. For the purposes of this story we will call this new friend "Guinness." We find her at Stevie's Basement Bar, enjoying a show and sharing her thoughts on life...

So I said to them, I said Two, because there's two of them, you see. I said Two, I like what you did with me, the Sweet Songbird Of The Forest and all that, yeah. But why is it that when I go into the human world you make me wear something that makes me sound like an asthmatic teamster after a three-day pub crawl? I can't sing with this on. Here, try it.

See, you sound like that movie announcer guy. Why doesn't that WORK for me? I come off like an angry whale, but if humans wear it they sound so elegant and their voices get all clear and pretty and stuff. So anyway, the Two told me that I have to wear this... thing in the human world because if I started singing it would fry their brains or something. And I'm not a bad singer, but they said it would because I'm TOO good, and they're in charge so I gotta listen. Blah.

I want thumbs. I hate not having thumbs and I feel ridiculous drinking this stuff through a straw. Thanks for moving my glass around for me, I'd give you a hug but I can't see you very well. You know why I want thumbs? So I can pick up stuff. I see pretty things everywhere but I have to navigate these darned hooves together to get anything and by the time I get it figured out the pretty thing is gone. But I can pick up big stuff, like earlier I picked up a puppy and he went on my feet. I spent five minutes finding a pair of leaves to wear as shoes and he went on my feet! Little brat...

I can do this
draw the circle
draw the circle
yes!
Success!
But I must rest now.

Maybe I'll have a snack. I've never drawn anything so... so powerful. Hey, look, Koolaid.

Wheat Thins
pancakes
applesauce
I will finish this
Though I am weary
they are counting on me.

Wheat Thins, yum. ALLL MINE.

yellow
so much yellow
like the snow outside
a doghouse
hurts my eyes
No!

Dammit! I just jammed my toe.

My computer has failed!
Why, why
perhaps a chance
to regain my dwindling hope?
All that is left to do
are eyes and a smile.

Oh. Never mind, I accidentally jiggled the plug on the monitor. It's all good.

Live again, my vision!
Look to the stars
Let me set your eyes to the sky
And your smile
kinda down here
on the left side of your head.

Sorry about that. Circles ARE hard to draw, you know. And I'm out of Wheat Thins.

--for kaitlyn

The last thing he hears before his head hits the dirty concrete floor is the screaming.

...police... he's no one, I swear
get stevie ...just a poet named Joey Bell...
...you little liar... no, don't hurt me
not breathing ...shoulda known you'd be running around...
...oh my god, he isn't... look what you made me do

as he spirals down into the darkness his shattered mind reaches out for reason and all but two words slip through his fingers

bell
liar

it's cold here

liar
bell

--where am I? What have I done? Where's the world, the sky, the sun?--

SHHHH. SLEEP NOW.

bell
liar

he drifts in this wonderful no-time, watching the pieces of his fractured soul floating about in a frenetic dance, trying to reassemble the puzzle of who he Was. They are mirrors, glass, bits of fluff and strips of satin. They speak to him.

YOU ARE AWAKE and you are healed. GOOD. NOW, you are GOING BACK.

--but why--

Touched, yes. WE NEED MORE PROPHETS in the world down there. YOUR POEMS TELL the truth but not the WHY.

--this was no chance meeting. where is Trinny?--

SAFE. HE WHO sent you to us HAS BEEN TAKEN in chains.

liar
bell
liar

WHAT DO YOU remember?

bell
liar

THEN THAT shall be your NAME AS LONG as you are in our SERVICE. GO AND tell your tales, FOR THEY WILL SHAPE the world.

...two days later, in a dark cave under an ancient Oak, a lonely stag with a crown of feathers opened his eyes...