I'm surprised it's taken me this long to bring up the California State Summer School for the Arts. (or, as they all refer to it, the CSSSSSSSSSS)
CSSSA is a summer college program for the arts held at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. There are fine art, film & video, creative writing, animation, music, dance and theatre components. Lilah, the only student from her school who applied was accepted for the month long program. (Only 40% of those who applied for the theatre component were accepted this year.)
We didn't realize what a big deal it was until she had been accepted. It's clearly among the programs for people who wish to make their careers in the arts.
One of the first clues that we weren't in Kansas anymore was when we were invited to a reception to honor the Sacramento area attendees. There was a nice food spread and the kids got to mingle and meet some of their peers. Half the kids knew each other as they were from a single school, the Natomas Charter School, Performing & Fine Arts Academy. There was only one other student from Lilah's school district there!
The dominance of the charter school brought up a whole discussion between Jeanine, Lilah and I about the relative importance of theatre in Lilah's life and should she try to transfer to this program. At this point the answer is no, but we are going to try and get her involved more in community theatre.
The reception was in June and not much else happened in regard to the program until it came time to start packing and buying new and wonderful things for Lilah to take with her. We packed her off on July 14th. - Mom and Molly said good-bye at the airport, I went down with her. It was not fun to say good-bye for a month, but I did (and do) have a high degree of confidence that Lilah knows who she is and can be true to that while still taking stock of what's new and exciting about the program.
We have kept in touch via e-mail and the occasional phone call. (All of her suite-mates have phones and Lucy, bless her, loaned hers to Lilah.) She's in a room with three others. They share a bath with three more. Seven teen-age girls - one bathroom (one shower, one commode.) But lots of mirror space.
It turns out that we didn't go a month without seeing her. On July 28th we drove down for Family day. It was great to see her again and to get a tour and introduction to how she's been spending her time.
The campus has two main buildings, one is for instruction and offices, the other is a dorm. We weren't supposed to go into the dorms, but we did get a complete tour of the main building. There were various displays of student art in the main hall, and in the sub level, every nook and cranny, was given over to graffiti. We saw the various mini-theatres where Lilah is taking her classes and met lots of her new friends.
So, another good-bye until it's time to pick her up for good. For Lilah this is a chance to focus on a craft that she'd like to make a career. For Mom, Molly and Dad, this is a chance to prepare for what life will be like in two years when Lilah goes off to college.
A postscript: I asked my old friend Linda Deavens (nee Campbell) how we were gonna keep Lilah down on the farm after she'd seen Paris. Linda replied, "You aren't! Get a grip Nick!". It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine. :-)
Updated August 6, 2001