Would You Like Fries With That?

Reblogged from bornstoryteller:

One of the most disturbing things that I have heard  from a student was:

"Why should I try? I'll only be working at McDonald's."

I was an Artist-in-Residence for a year for a large school district in Westchester County, NY. Still early in my profession, that statement was both a shock and a revelation of a point of view I had never considered before: low expectations given, and projected; leading this student to live  that that is all they can do.

Read more… 424 more words

While I have been slumbering, figuring out what to say/do with this blog, someone "liked it' this morning: rereading it, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose. I am job hunting, and that has taken over most of my concentration. Today I have two interviews, both for Director/Manager of Education position in arts administration. This post already has helped clear some of the cobwebs I've laid in my own way. Thanks for the like, Isurrett2.

What Is A Drama Teacher?

A Fourth Grade Classroom:

I was asked the question: “What is a Drama Teacher?” when I had announced that I am one.

According to a young lady , who I had the pleasure to work with that day, a Drama Teacher is:

 

“Someone who teaches others to exaggerate emotions so they can be Drama Queens.”

 

I think that pretty much says it all.

Dumb Down Your Resume? (Creative Job Search)

Is It Smart to Dumb Down Your Resume?

The New Resume: Dumb and Dumber

Pros and Cons of Dumbing Down a Resume

 

You’ve reached a certain level of achievements in your life, professionally and personally. Awards, schooling, life work, great reviews…and you still find yourself out of a job, for a variety of reasons: many of them not your fault.

Now add to all that some great, if not excellent, recommendation letters. Resume is up to date, all the relevant material is there. You know you have to adjust your resume to job requirements, and writing that cover letter that has all the right buzz words and terms from the job posting…

…and still no job. Many times, not even an interview, let alone even an acknowledgment they received your material. Follow ups are often met with the same silence.

I have heard too many times that I am over qualified for jobs I have applied for, the few times I am able to actually communicate with someone. We see things differently: obviously, I am looking to work, and my I feel my experience will only enable me to be great at the job, not just having to learn things but can bring my talents and skills for the benefit of all concerned; their viewpoint is (verbally told this) that I’ll be bored doing this work, or the ultimate fear of my just biding my time until I find the “right” job.I was told by one person that the job was so far “beneath someone of my caliber.”

I’d rather work in my field, in a “lesser” position, then not work at all. THAT is something they (human resources people) don’t seem to get.

I have two MAs and a ton of experience. Dumbing down my resume, to even just get that foot in the door, has come up a lot lately. I’m off to an interview for a job I am overqualified later this afternoon. It’s slightly to the side of what I’ve done for so many years. It’s definitely in the realm of “beneath my caliber.”

After this, I’m going to try the resume editing gambit: I’ll remove both Masters for a start. Then, we’ll pare it down even more, if that doesn’t work. I could take it all the way back to my first job: Chinese Restaurant buffet staff (I filled the smorgasbord dinner table after school and on weekends in High School).

Might get a ton of offers then.

“The Artist”: Movie Making Creativity

I don’t usually write movie reviews, although I do love  movies and film. I enjoy personally critiquing them with friends and family (sometimes to their annoyance). I often find I do not always concur with the professional critics. A movie they might slobber over I will hate (“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is an example: while I really like Gary Oldman, this movie bored me to tears), and one that is ravaged…well, it all depends. I’ve enjoyed films that got mediocre to bad reviews. Some stupid fun movies are just that: stupid fun movies.

“The Artist” is not stupid. It is a stylish, brave creative attempt at movie making, IMHO.

There is nothing razzle-dazzle in the movie except for the acting, directing and editing. Yes, the screenplay as well…but, with “The Artist” being a Silent Movie (well, primarily), you are more involved with the two main actors and the whole chutzpah going on. No quick cuts; no explosions; no nudity; nothing, in my mind, gratuitous.

The musical score moves you along, giving the emotional feel to the actor’s facial and body nuances. There is nothing out of line. If you miss some of it, the director masterfully strews  “clues” throughout the film: newspaper headlines and article leads; movie marquee’s and store signs; and I’m sure there were more drops that I missed.

French actors Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin star, and are both enticing. It’s a love story to old Hollywood(land), to movie making, and one between their two characters.

****SEMI SPOILERS AHEAD: Pass this section if you plan to see the movie****

It is also about fame, pride, and self worth. Hitting the years of the silent film heyday through the Wall Street crash and into the sound era of films, we follow the ups and downs of the main characters. While I enjoyed the joie de vivre of the beginning of the film, it took a dark turn that struck home to our current economic predicaments. Loss of jobs, older “seasoned” individuals being replaced by either machines or “new faces” (=cheaper labor), and what to do with your life when you see yourself as a failure/loser, or are just put out to pasture…in all the cinema landscape, the last time I felt this “truth” on film is from Preston Sturgess’s “Sulivan’s Travels” (one of my favorite movies).  The one thing I’m not crazy about: how our “hero” finds his way out of his predicament: it’s not really his finding, but being led by another. That was, to me, a bit unsatisfying.

****End of Spoilers*****

 

So…yes, “The Actor” is worth seeing, and it should be playing in more theaters. I feel if you like great acting, quirky characters from another era, comedy/tragedy, dancing,  innocence (in a way), some brutal truths, and LOVE….then yes, go see it.

If you saw “The Artist,” what did YOU think?

Save The ARTist (Creativity Plus)

There is a great deal of concern and hand wringing over saving the arts. Recently, the Westchester County Arts Council sent out a plea for us to write to our congressmen about major cuts to the arts. I did is they asked, knowing that in even the smallest way our voices have to be heard.

I got an answer back not from the congressmen but from his assistant. there was a lot of blame and finger-pointing in this letter, it still talking how great Westchester County is in comparison to other locations. I will copy and post her letter, but before I do: I have something to say. Yes, big surprise.

With all the talk about saving the parts one very important component seems to be forgotten:

WHAT ABOUT THE ARTIST?

I am a performing and teaching ARTIST. I make my primary living from working in the Arts. My discipline is Theater/Drama, Storytelling and Creative Writing. I do not create “lasting” art in Fine Arts, but I DO perform a service in the Performing Arts.

When you cut the funding for the arts, you are not just cutting out a sculpture or a painting, or a dance or theater piece, or a choral work, you are taking money out of reach of PEOPLE who are trying to pay their bills and survive. by making these budget cuts to save organizations, you are also then putting more people on unemployment. This fall, I have been unable to find a job, mainly because in my field there’s much less work. There are also more people out looking for any work, so even jobs that I could fit into are inundated by other people looking for work.

Where would we be without ones like Van Gogh?

Is it just me, or does this just not make any sense? A good friend of mine has put it  very simply: at this point in time, if everyone across the board and that means the big boys in the middle management boys played fairly, more people to keep their jobs. It’s part of what I’ve been saying in that we need creative solutions and problem solving in place of the reactionaries.

I do not want to be on unemployment. I want to work. I feel there are ways that more people can work and keep their jobs. Today on the news from NPR I heard that more than 28,000 postal workers will be laid off soon. What jobs will they be able to get to support their families?

It’s very easy to cast blame and point fingers. As a country, we seem to excel at that.

Wouldn’t we be better off if we were creative problem solvers?

As stated above, here is the letter I got today:

Thank you for writing to County Executive Robert P. Astorino regarding funding for the arts.

Please be assured that Mr. Astorino has read your message and he has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.

The county executive understands and appreciates your concern for the arts.  While developing the proposed 2012 county budget, Mr. Astorino and his administration have given the arts the same consideration accorded to every program, service, agency and facility supported by county government.

As you know all too well, this is a very challenging economy.  There is a critical need to balance a $114 million county budget deficit with a responsibility to provide essential services and property tax relief, protect Westchester’s neediest residents, promote structural financial reform and reduce government spending at all levels.  One of the major roadblocks to maintaining the funding level for Arts Westchester and many other worthwhile programs and services, is the failure of the public employee unions to agree to make a reasonable contribution to their healthcare premiums.  Westchester County’s union employees are one of the few groups left in the nation that contribute nothing to their healthcare costs.  This ever-increasing financial burden necessitates reductions in other portions of the county budget.  The county executive, since taking office two years ago, has attempted to get county workers to agree to the same level of healthcare contributions state workers make.  While there is a reduction in the allocation to arts programs, the County Executive’s proposed budget includes funding for the arts at $750,000.  This action is in no way a reflection on the outstanding quality of exhibits and performances presented by the arts community nor the talents and efforts of all who labor to bring these offerings to fruition.  It is instead, a part of many across-the-board measures which must be taken during these difficult times.

Your views and those of all who live and work in Westchester are very important to the county executive.  Your input is both welcome and valued.

Again, thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

Janet Lokay
Assistant to the County Executive
148 Martine Avenue
White Plains, New York 10601
(914) 995-2127

Here was my response to Ms. Lokay:

Hi…
it’s not just the exhibits and performances.

You forget a very essential part: the artist has to live, pay bills, and be part of the economic structure. By cutting the arts, it’s not just the end product but the people who live through the process. Two very different things.

I am a Teaching Artist and a performing artist. My entire life is creative and my livelihood depends on schools, libraries, community centers and more have funds to hire me and others like me. I live for the educational process that is part of the learning process…and it does not seem politicians realize this.

Schools may not hire a full time Theater Teacher anymore (I have my NYS Certification in Theater), but they SHOULD hire me as a consultant, which is what a TA (teaching artist) really is. I integrate my work into the school core curricula, and it enhances, not wastes, the teachers’ lessons.

I would love to have a conversation  about this. Yes, many of us produce art that is seen; there are many more of us who produce art that is part of the educational process, for ALL ages, and we’re hurting, trying to make a living.

My thing: instead of telling me why something isn’t working, why are we not doing problem solving around the negatives out there. I’d rather know what has been attempted, or will be, instead of what is not working. I  work a lot with my students, when I get them, on problem solving.

I’m serious about talking with Mr. Astorino.

She gave me her phone number. If I don’t hear from them, and if you know me at all, they will hear from me. I will let you know what happens next. I’m tired of the excuses. Let’s get off of  unemployment

National “Sing Everywhere” Movement (Creativity Series)

I have had (and have many in the waiting) some great – and I mean GREAT – guest blogs for my creativity series. Yesterday was no exception, but a comment by Maureen of Zencherry got to me, as well as many of the comments to yesterday’s post.

I have an example of kindergarten happy turning to first grade bricks.

Youngest child: Teacher pinned a naughty badge on his shirt, (on the first day of school), and made him wear it all through the day and then on the bus home to me because he “sang in the bathroom”. It said it in big red letters on his badge.

Yesterday’s Guest Blogger, Lisa Kramer, of Woman Wielding Words, commented and said exactly how I feel: “That makes my heart hurt. “ Lisa also declared it a Sing In The Bathroom Day for her family.

I’m taking it one step further: I hereby declare a “National Sing Everywhere Movement”!

If you go back among my posts you’ll see that I have endorsed the fact that we can all sing, dance, paint, CREATE!!!

Too many times creativity and exploration is deemed unacceptable and does not fit the norm of what’s expected in school, work, and life. To these fuddy-duddies, I give a great big raspberry (and in some cases a certain raised middle finger); I just don’t have the words to describe in a public forum like this how I feel about that teacher who, to me, exemplifies all that is wrong with our education system and corporate system. Yes, there is lots more “wrong” in both – just what was done to Maureen’s kid really rankles me.

NAUGHTY BADGE

SINGING IN THE BATHROOM

(Don’t let it out, but…I  do not know how to make a badge. If anybody knows how to, they can use what I’ve just done above and I would be honored to display it and give it out to all you naughty creative people).

SING OUT LOUD

FINGER PAINT ON THE WALLS

DANCE LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW

BE CREATIVE… WEAR THE NAUGHTY BADGE PROUDLY!!!!!!!!

Don’t EVER let someone shame you from doing something that is not causing anyone else harm.

I have PLENTY of stories of adult BULLIES who have shamed me, from childhood on. ADULT BULLIES.

This is a problem that needs to be addressed on the same level we try to do with the kids.

What can we do about it?

How I Found My Creative Voice

Now, sit right down and let Stu tell you a story. Settled in? Good. Now, mind the spittin’ bucket if  old Ned comes by. He never could give up his chaw even after them docs took away half his jaw. His aim aint so good no more, so…you’ve been warned.

There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. ~ Martha Graham

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. ~ Albert Einstein

It happened that I did something early in my life that I swore I would not do: work for the money, not for what I wanted to really do. For fifteen years I worked a soul killing job. I had a break in my personal life during this period and I found something I was missing: an improvisation class in NYC.

It was heaven. Creative heaven. I had an amazing year+ with this company, but inner politics ruined it (as well as things I might talk about another time: My Run In with Scientology. No joke).

A two year semi creative dry spell fell upon like the wrath of grapes, and then…one summer afternoon, at the Tuxedo NY Renaissance Faire, I was found….

…by the members of the Instant Shakespeare show. My kids were pointing at me like crazy to get chosen (so, all of this is YOUR fault, Adam & Jessica ;P  ) and sure enough, I was picked to be the audience patsy.

Except, I had the best time of my life. I added a few things, hammed it up,  and had the crowd in my hands. I made the MC (Scott Eck) laugh so hard he even said  he gave up the show to me. Afterwards, so many people asked if I did this for a living. Many said I should. Less than a year later…well, I had a lot of great creative adventures. A lot.

Which now brings me to the point: if I let the roadblocks of my life (and I consider a money job as opposed to a passion job a road block) stop me, I would not have found my creative voice, and I would not be as happy and fulfilled.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook

It also brought me to this:

My very first solo eStory on Amazon

Thanks to the fine people at Trestle Press I now have an eStory published that is not part of an anthology. It’s 4,000 words long, and it costs just $ .99. I get 70% of that, so…yeah, the more the merrier. Won’t you make me merry? 

Product Description: Seth had been devoured by fire. What does a man do when the life of flame becomes as real as his waking life? When the sound of fire is the beat of his blood through his body? When what he sees he lives?

You can find it at Amazon: Flash Over

I have two more stories published, both in charity anthologies, supporting Doctors Without Blorders. You can find them on my brand new Amazon Authors Page. Two volumes, both $3.99, and both support a worthy cause. Please give them a try.

Thank you.

Will Work for the Audience

I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries. (Frank Capra)

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open…whether you choose to take an art class, keep a journal, record your dreams, dance your story, or live each day from your own creative source, above all else, keep the channel open! ~Martha Graham

It’s all about the audience ~ Stuart Nager

Well, I sometimes have to disagree with Mr. Nager,   but I understand what he means. There is a symbiotic coexistence often happening in the arts, and in teaching/leading/guiding. A lot of it IS creative/ego driven, doing what we do as a MUST DO for ourselves. Then, there is the part that is fed by what we get off of our audiences. Applause feels good, appreciations of our work feels good. I’m not going to lie to you: it’s a part of it.

The other side of it is for our audience, performance, exhibit, classroom: it’s for them, in many cases primarily for them. Otherwise, why produce something and then show it?

Couple of things that strike me:

• In the classroom: It is ALL ABOUT THE KIDS (yes, back to shouting). Period. If we TA’s (and teachers) are not there for the kids, then we are not there for the right reason. A paycheck is one thing, and if you are only there for a paycheck, please…don’t be there. Go. Find something else. You are not working towards the betterment of the child. Scoot. I’m deadly serious here. If you think the classroom is solely for YOUR betterment: get thee gone!!
• Allow your audience to find their own interpretations and connections, and be cool if it differs from what you intended. (I’m still learning this one; I know it, and sometimes I have to stop myself from saying “huh?”). I don’t care what art discipline you work from.
• Let go of the self doubt. Once you put it out there, it’s out there. Live with it, listen to any feedback…and move on. Good or “bad”…move on. There is always a next one. The only time there isn’t is when you’re dead, or cognitively/physically unable.
• Enjoy what you are doing.
• Think of yourself as a professional, no matter if you get paid or not, or how little, and you’ll act like a professional.
• Smiles and laughter are amazing gifts to give and get.
• Enjoy what you’re doing (hmm..echo?)

 

“I believe arts education in music, theater, dance, and the visual arts is one of the most creative ways we have to find the gold that is buried just beneath the surface. They (children) have an enthusiasm for life a spark of creativity, and vivid imaginations that need training – training that prepares them to become confident young men and women.”
– Richard W. Riley, Former US Secretary of Education

All Children Are Artists

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
John Steinbeck

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.
William S. Burroughs

Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.
Patti Smith

Artists have really never had any representation on Capitol Hill, because it’s not the nature of the artist to join together and make a unified presence. Those days kind of died in the ’60s.
Sheryl Crow

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

All children are artists, yet we often try to take it away from them in the pursuit of testing…I’m sorry, education. Until they are told, in one way or the other, they can’t dance well, or sing well, or draw well, or tell a story/act well…well, they will just DO IT. They don’t start off with the negative filters that destroy them along the way.

I integrated all different art forms in the theatre classes. I looked to have the students explore, for themselves, how to find their artistic voice. Too many times, a student would tear up a piece of artwork. “Why?” would come out of my mouth. “Because it’s no good” or variations of that. Looking at the unfinished work, judgments in this child’s mind were already formed. Where it came from was beyond my scope most times. Seeing these 500+ students only once a week, for 45 minutes at a clip, did not afford me the full in-depth deciphering of their psyches.

Sometimes I would notice that the child would look at what someone else was doing and immediately stop. Rip, crumple, toss, and then maybe a hissy fit. Did this student have his work compared to another piece of art, directly or indirectly? Jealousy? Fear of failure? Ridicule lessons in the classroom or at home, or both? Honestly, most times I could not tell you. I’d let the classroom teacher know when she/he would pick the class up, but more often than not they dismissed it with the “oh, you know how ______  is.”

When does the toddler who throws him/herself into their art become their own worst critic?

How Appreciating Art Can Promote Literacy

Why Arts Education is Crucial, and Who’s Doing It Best

As to adults, why do many of us turn away from embracing an art form that we love? I often tell any class I lead, no matter what age level this very simple thing: When we create in art, there is no wrong answer, and there should be no judgment of what or how we do it. We CAN all sing, paint, dance, act, tell a story, play a musical instrument (yes, you can do percussion). If we compare it (See rule #1 above) to someone who either has practiced their artistic craft for years upon years (or are just artistic savants), well…we just do ourselves a disservice.

So what if you’re off key, can’t draw a straight line, are a klutz. If you love it, DO IT. Just do it. Do it for the love and happiness you feel when you let yourself be free. I can sing, but my voice is not trained like it used to be and I go off key a lot. My art is mainly doodles. My music is percussive or on a kazoo. My artistic language comes out in the written and spoken word, but I do sing, I do dance, I do play music, and I do art.

YOU DO ART…All children are artists. We’re still those same children, but the art has been beaten out of you. Take it back.

Give it back. Give the arts back to the schools.

The reason actors, artists, writers have agents is because we’ll do it for nothing.

That’s a basic fact – you gotta do it.
Morgan Freeman

In Love With Language

Language is wine upon the lips.
Virginia Woolf

Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body. Martha Graham

Music is a great energizer. It’s a language everybody knows. Bill Hicks

It’s my belief we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. Lily Tomlin

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. George Carlin

What we are all trying to do is communicate, whether to enlighten or obscure, we communicate in a number of different languages. I embrace the beauty of the spoken word as a storyteller and performer, immerse myself in the language of a creative writer, physically and verbally share the language of theater through my educational workshops and residency classes…and this is just the grace of language in a professional level.

Right there: that word, “professional,” as I typed the final letter, took on a life of its own. Automatically, it gives the whole sentence weight (to me) and to some vast importance. You don’t know if I wrote it tongue-in-cheek, with reverence, or in anger. It’s a word that it’s meaning is assumed by the reader. This medium, texts, twits, IM’s and the like, has an immediate flatness that don’t often allow the whole story of language to surface.

I use language as I  talk with my hands (gesture is supposedly the first language).  Body language takes on its own life. We communicate language in all areas of art: it is a way to express our feelings and thoughts in various ways.

My language art is mainly in words: spoken or written. Dance, Fine Arts and Music explore a different value of language, reaches its audience in a number of different ways, and explores a huge range of exploration, inquiry and interpretation…when it is allowed to happen.

The above picture just exemplifies how I feel about words/language, written or otherwise. I am embraced by it as a whole. It can feel comforting, enlightening, provoking, expansive, and more. It  can also repel, used for the ugliness of intentions, when language is used as a weapon. That is done all too often, when the words are used as obfuscation of truth, of seeing the bigger picture, or to keep people “out of the club.” If you’ve read me enough, you know what I am alluding to. I wrote of these things on other blog posts.

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
Noam Chomsky

How do you use language?