I wrote Dragonfly about and for those who’ve not been so lucky. For whatever reasons, many young people slip through the cracks in the asphalt of our society. Coming from homes where their caregivers are so wrapped up in their own problems that they fail to give their children the attention and emotional nourishment they need to navigate the potholes of what can be a very dangerous world. Having run away from home when I was young (for reasons that had nothing to do with my parents but rather a quest for adventure), I met a lot of these kids and gained a respect for their resourcefulness and ingenuity in finding ways to survive without the help of anyone else.

I’m sitting in the airport right now. I’m one of the luckiest people to have the life I do. I’ve been blessed, to grow up in a country rich with opportunity, having been doubly blessed with the parents and support group around me to encourage me to go out and chase whatever dreams I’ve imagined. Not everyone, even in this wealthy nation, have the same luck I’ve had. To be fortunate enough to have been raised by two outstanding care givers who gave me the belief in myself, to shoot for goals others might not even think are possible. My father, a well-known painter and commercial artist, and my mother, an athlete, coach, choreographer, writer and Renaissance woman, taught me that no dream is out of reach if you’re willing to dedicate yourself to it. They both lifted themselves up from the poverty of the dirty thirties and achieved many of the goals they set out to achieve.

Somebody asked me the other day what the highlight of my trip to the Middle East was. I've had about a week to think about it and to be honest, in an adventure where every day was a highlight it is a hard call. I had a ten-hour stay over in London on the way to the Tel Aviv and got to see Big Ben, the Tower of London, 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. Had a great meal in a first class restaurant there but… that wasn't it. We landed in Tel Aviv and we were driven to Jerusalem. There we woke up every morning to the skyline of one of the most important cities for three major religions, dominated by the Golden Mosque and the Wailing Wall. We saw Gesthemene where Judas betrayed Jesus, the path he walked to be crucified, Calvary where he was executed and the Church that is built on the ground where he was buried but… that wasn't it. We were then driven to Masada where 1000 Jews held out defying the Roman Empire. We floated on the salty waters of the Dead Sea. In Jordan we saw Petra the Temples carved into the Sandstone Mountains filmed in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They were awesome but… nope that wasn’t it. We went to Egypt and saw the Sphinx and the Pyramids and cruised the Nile witnessing some of the oldest works of art and architecture that still survive today. It was awesome but… that wasn’t it. I'd have to say the highlight of my trip was my sister. She can make me laugh like nobody else on the planet. We had a great time reconnecting and peed our pants for three weeks at inside jokes, some new, many from the twenty plus years we shared our parents home. That was the highlight of my trip and I will remember that for the rest of my life.

I’m off to the WSOP (World Series of Poker) July 4th. Its one of the unchecked items on my bucket list and I’m thrilled to get the chance to play Texas Hold’em with the best poker players in the world. I have no delusions of grandeur, of outplaying the Daniel Negreanu’s, Phil Ivey’s or the Doyle Brunson’s, but as any poker player knows, luck gives even the least of us a fighting chance. It’s not the money. If I win anything, its going to charity. No, it’s the adrenaline rush of re-raising a guy who’s got you beat with nothing more than a flush draw and watching him fold his hand. It’s knowing that each time you play a hand there’s a good chance it could end with you getting up from your seat and hopping a plane home. Poker is a brutal game. No limit Texas hold’em is as Doyle Brunson says “the Cadillac of Poker” because its an unforgiving test of wills and skills where one mistake and you’re on you’re way home minus your money and your pride.  Gotta love it!

The weather was great in Montreal and Ottawa. The people were fantastic and I had a bushel fun. I’ve never been to our nation’s capital before. I had a blast playing to a packed house with talented Ottawa songwriters Tony Turner and Tom Lips. In Montreal, I shared the stage with “Plain Folk” a great quartet who’ve been together in one form or another for many years and I met a lot of nice folk afterwards when we all got together for pizza.

I finally have the pleasure of spending my first full month at home before I’m off again to Las Vegas for the WSOP in July. It’s a good thing because I need the time to put the finishing touches on Dragonfly, my musical about street kids, before we start rehearsals. We’ll be staging it every evening at the Youth Emergency Shelter during the Fringe August 12-22. Hope to see you there.