Fantasy and tragedy

As the terrible news of the storm Katrina keeps pouring in, I cannot help feeling somewhat helpless. It was the same feeling I had living in NYC during and post September 11, 2001 attacks. I, like now, would constantly have fantasies of helping people during the attacks. I had been outside of those attacks. Though I knew people who lived through the attacks, I was still unable to imagine what it truly felt like. I wondered what I would do? How I would deal with death or something similar? In the face of death, would I give up? Or find the will to survive? Could I do all those self-less acts that I had fantasized in safety? I soon began to realize the power of fantasy to keep me sane, to find out more about one self and to deal with all thoughts that were so foreign and bigger than me. It was a very, very interesting self-reflection, so much so that I decided to write about it. From that, a one-act monologue was written and then produced on a off-off Broadway theater as part of a collection of monologues. It did not end there, I have remained fascinated with fantasy in all its beauty and ugliness. Dear Stranger unlike the monologue is not so tragic, but fantasy as a thematic element is still strong and relevant. A friend, through email, had asked me to comment on the tragedy of the storm Katrina and the helpless feeling of not even being able to express one's thoughts made me think back to Sept 11 attacks, and how that had indirectly lead to this current project.

- AAP
[Filmmaker]