Guest blogger Gail Sachson is Vice-Chair of the Dallas Cultural Affairs Commission and an arts educator and advocate.

And what a weekend it was! The Friday night opening of SICK by Zayd Dohrn presented by Kitchen Dog Theater at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary was riveting theater…opening wounds in the audience, while closing windows on stage. We were a startled group of voyeurs, witnessing the inner workings of a close-knit family…a phobic family with more than a few dropped stitches. And then over the same weekend, we were introduced to another close-knit family, one in which Father/Artist/ Friend Gerald Murphy, more than occasionally dropped not stitches, but his shorts. Both introductions make us think about normalcy, neighbors, outside and outsiders.

Peering into the lives of ex-pats Gerald and Sara Murphy at the Dallas Museum of Art, will leave us with our noses pressed upon the glass. We may not be able to be the muse , as they were, to friends, Picasso, the Fitzgeralds, Man Ray and Cole Porter. We may not be able to return to the ’20s or frolic on the Cote d’Azur, but we definitely WILL… (mark my words) wear pearls to our pool parties (like Sara) and wrap scarves around our heads (seemingly quite the fad) or opt for caps and more caviar.

But in hot, beachless Dallas, we did have the opportunity, all weekend long, to support our own creative cultural scene.

It may not be Paris or be by the beach, but the CADD (Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas) Art Fair 2 at Three Three Three in Deep Ellum, offered an array of riches from the 11 member-galleries. Watching the crowd, eyeing the many red (sold) dots, sensing the comradeship and attending the well-planned seminars, one could not help but be proud of the art and culture scene we’ve helped to create right here in in 2008.

But wait- there’s more! The weekend wasn’t yet over. ..Surpassing the gesture of care and friendship in SICK, where a door is figuratively and physically opened for escape (you’ll have to see it), more fun than bonding on the beach with the Murphys and even more moving than the support of the Dallas art scene…all that couldn’t compare to the energy , friendship and fun I witnessed in a darkened theater.

Picture an orgy of hundreds of women (and about 6 men) , oversized bags of popcorn, wine in coolers, pretty young things poured into belted jersey dresses, Carrie look-alikes and Samantha wannabes. YES! Sex and the City, the movie, packed the theaters this opening weekend with groups of girlfriends throughout the city. Tears. Laughs. Hugs. Memories. Support and Promises never to allow one another to eat Chinese food alone on New Year’s. So…if you really want to learn about THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP…that’s where it’s at! Girls Rule!