Not long ago, I was taking questions after a school performance of my solo play. I was asked, “What is your proudest personal moment?” I thought about it and replied, “Being able to witness the birth of my son.” There was a large general response of “Ahhh…” from the audience. Then a rapid succession of questions: “What is your son’s name?” “Abner David Harrell, IV” (poor kid) “Does your son have a hand like yours?” “No, my son was born with both his hands.” “Are you happy your son will not have the same challenges as you because he has two hands?” “Um….” I wasn’t sure how to answer that… read more →
A while back, I was in a bar in New York City talking shop with a few other actors and artists from my alma mater the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. We were talking about creating our own work and brainstorming on ways we could collaborate together. I soon found out about the 48-hour Disability Film Challenge. It was created to encourage artists with disabilities to collaborate with each other, and other working artists without disabilities to make fun and engaging short films. I went back to the UNCG folks I was talking with at the bar and pitched the idea that we work on making a film for… read more →
Last year, I was at a bar in New York City talking shop with a few other actors and artists from my alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. We were talking about creating our own work and brainstorming on ways we could collaborate together. I soon found out about the 48-hour Disability Film Challenge. It was created to encourage artists with disabilities to collaborate with each other and other working artists without disabilities to make fun and engaging short films. I went back to the UNC-G folks I was talking with at the bar and pitched the idea that we should work on making a film for… read more →
I am standing at the forefront of one of the biggest changes in my life. In the next few days I will become a father. The impact of this change is unimaginable for me right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am so excited but in all honesty I’m also very scared. Intellectually, I know this is normal. All the books and blogs I’ve been reading have reassured me but I’ve been asking, “What is it that is making me scared?” Is it the fear I will fail my child? Is it the fear I will lose my identity? The fear of life as I know it changing? It is… read more →
Nobody likes to lose. We all want to win, we want to lift our arms in victory and hold up the trophy. It seems almost everything in our culture is a competition. Everywhere you look someone is trying to dance off, sing off, cook off, or date off the competition. The winners are celebrated and the losers are shuffled off with their heads hanging. It is very risky to put ourselves out there and risk the pain and frustration that comes from not being number one. But is there another way to look at it? Can we find a “win” in the middle of a loss? I just experienced this… read more →