When I was a kid, I had asthma. The kind of asthma that kept my school nurse’s itchy dialing finger pointed toward the phone in anticipation of having me carted out of the school via ambulance … again. I breathed thin and narrow. One wrong move. A twitch, an overly ambitious fit of laughter could send me into the throws of throat narrowing brochospasmodic suffocation. My childhood existence was racked with anxiety and the fear that my next asthma attack would be my last.

As I got older, my asthma got better, but my fear never strayed too far. Most of my young adult life through my early 30s, I lived my life based on fear and made all decisions accordingly. Change is indeed possible though, and growth is necessary if one is to survive a fear based existence. Much of my “healing” came through art and written expression. My Poeish existence did serve to enhance my imagination and to some degree has made me the theatre artist I am now. A fairly cool trade off I must say.

Tomorrow, if you are anywhere near my fair city (Charlotte, NC) you can check out the programing at The Mint Museum of Art as some of my favorite arts folk (John Hairston, Antoine Williams, and Quentin Talley) answer the question “What are you afraid of?” through visual and performance art. Enjoy! 🙂

Rosie.

(oh did I mention it’s FREE)

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