{"id":19188,"date":"2023-01-11T00:06:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T00:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19188"},"modified":"2023-01-10T20:07:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T20:07:42","slug":"whos-a-drama-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/11\/whos-a-drama-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO\u2019S A DRAMA QUEEN?"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
JoEllen Collins\u2014a longtime resident of the Wood River Valley\u2014is a teacher, writer, fabric artist, choir member and unabashedly proud grandma known as \u201cBibi Jo.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I often laugh when someone calls me a drama queen. I don\u2019t accept it as a pejorative because I know they are right. In my life as a talkative child, English teacher, and a storyteller, I\u2019m afraid that M.O. is true.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between grandiosity and hyperbole, a technique often used through vocal emphasis, timing, or gestures to brighten a tale. I don\u2019t like a false portrayal, but the exaggeration of a good comic or performer may be essential for shared enjoyment. If you ever get a chance to see a recording of Hal Holbrook\u2019s inimitable performance as Mark Twain, you will know what I mean. Any opera worth loving usually has heightened characters whose personalities match the intensity of the singing. Grandiosity is natural in this context.<\/p>\n

I happen to adore the drama queens I know, perhaps because I\u2019ve always been a frustrated actress. My dream was to be on Broadway, an ambition that was not realized, probably due to a lack of true talent or not being daring enough. Also, as the first person in my family to go to college, I honored the wishes of my parents to get a teaching credential. That profession became a perfect receptacle for my drama-queen and ham instincts. Former students have commented on how a particular story of mine made them more likely to enjoy class. When I taught teenagers, I decided that every Friday I would spend fifteen minutes with each class reading from a book I hoped my hormone-active pupils would enjoy. Occasionally, I would see one of them with a book I had introduced. I still get a thrill out of making someone laugh or respond with a story of their own to one of mine.<\/p>\n

My closest lifelong friend is a dancer who once studied with Jerome Robbins in New York. She has since served the longest time on record on the board of the San Francisco Ballet. We love to laugh, share tales and see stimulating movies; we\u2019ve never been bored with each other. I admire her drama-queen instincts. If you could watch her dance, even socially, you would know why I sent her a copy of\u00a0The New Yorker\u00a0cartoon that hung in her kitchen for years. Pictured standing in a subway car was a woman dressed in a flamenco-like outfit holding on to a strap; her other hand formed a triangle on her hips. Her facial expression matched the theatricality of her pose, and a long-stemmed red rose was clamped in her mouth. Drama queens are always interesting, though I wonder why men aren\u2019t labeled as drama kings.<\/p>\n

The next time I toss my head back after a dinner and say, \u201cThis is the best meal I\u2019ve ever enjoyed,\u201d please don\u2019t roll your eyes at my effusive repetition. The real drama in life is the ability to fully savor an immediate pleasure and share one\u2019s passion with others. I prefer the exquisite saraband of life. Sometimes it\u2019s worth being hammy with enthusiasm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS I often laugh when someone calls me a drama queen. I don\u2019t accept it as a pejorative because I know they are right. In my life as a talkative child, English teacher, and a storyteller, I\u2019m afraid that M.O. is true. There is a difference between grandiosity and hyperbole, a technique often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-on-lifes-terms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19189,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19188\/revisions\/19189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}