The Currency of Othello

"Othello" is front and center lately. Friends and I saw a local college production of the play Friday night. When I got home, I found an email from pals in Portland, Oregon telling of plans for their annual trip to the Shakespeare Festival downstate in Ashland. "Othello" is one of this year's offerings.

So why is "Othello" coming up strong? Theory: the candidacy of Barack Obama. Every thoughtful person with whom I speak is considering Obama's run for the presidency and wondering what kind of leader he would be in the White House. Race invariably arises as a point in the discussion.

While I do not equate the fictional life of Othello to the real life of Obama, I do see why people are turning once again to Shakespeare in view of questions about race and its impact on people.

If you haven't read or seen the play about the Moor lately, you might give it another try. It's good for at least some familiar insights into race as a motivating factor in individuals, whether at home, at work or abroad in society.

P.S. Thanks to pal Ann in Arlington VA for catching the typo in "Barack." He now has his "c" back. Thanks, too, to former student Will in San Francisco for reminding me that Missoula is in MISSOULA Valley--not the Bitterroot Valley as misstated in an earlier blog entry/photo caption.