On Writing In A Cafe (The Creativity Series: Guest Post)

I’ve know Rita Bregman for a long time, more as an online presence but we have met, and talked on the phone. A displaced New Yorker living just outside of San Fransisco, Rita is a talent writer and good friend.

On this, the last Bornstoryteller for 2011, Rita offers you a poem from her book: On Amethyst Glass: Two Voices, One Song

On Writing in a Cafe

In the process of reading,

you concentrate on the lines,

and the words filter through you

as though through a fine sieve.

You can see them; you can keep a few,

but you don’t really need them.

But the process of writing takes you over,

drives and tortures you,

lets nothing in to save you –

no noise, no time,

no pain, no hunger.

It’s not a casual pick-up,

not a one-night stand.

No!

It’s a long-term, symbiotic relationship.

You are one with your words,

and they with you,

(although you fight a lot),

and it’s a restless world placing words over words, under words,

turning inside out the world of rhythm and sound, time and space

that lives inside.

And you’re never sure if you’ve found that one right word

that will stand-in for your feelings…

…but you damn well know when it’s wrong!

Sometimes in the oddest places

you will become so excited by the combinations,

and so necessary to you are they,

that you will grab a lipstick pencil and an old, used tissue,

or write all around the borders of a road map,

just to see how the words work together….

because they are gifts to try on,

be amazed by,

and held onto because they are yours.

And then WHAM! You’re jolted!

Because someone across the room has dropped a cup on the tile floor

and shattered your concentration in a million pieces,

and you slowly become conscious that you’ve been writing

with a pen borrowed from the waiter

on a napkin,

over a wilted spinach salad,

in a cafe filled with laughing, young men in shorts,

and young women with no make-up reading novels,

and that you are the fossil

they know they will become some day.

Rita Bregman, © 2011

Happy New Year, Everyone. See you in 2012.

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

What Sparks The Writer? (The Spark Blogfest)

My good friend (and co-conspirator in our Rule of Three Writers Blog Fest) Lisa posted on her blog Flash Fiction something that intrigued me: When Dreams Come True-A Post for the Sparkfest.

Sparkfest is the invention of Christine Tyler of The Writer Coaster, and this is my first introduction to her writing blogging world. I am sure it won’t be my last as I just subscribed. SUPPORT WRITERS AND OTHER ARTISTS. End of soapbox.

The prompt for this blogfest:

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

Christine has a whole set of “rules” on her page: check them out, and enter as you will. Me, um…well,  if you’ve been reading me at all, you should have an idea about how I feel: Rules? Rules? We don’ need no stinkin’ rules!  Her basic prompt was to choose one of the three above.

By The Way: if you don’t know, I am also a Fiction Writer, and write on my Tale Spinning Blog. This probably should have gone there, and it might still, later. Thought you should know, if you have only known me for what I write about in Education.

I’m going to try all three. Just to be…me. (Thank you, Gene Simmons. I hope she says yes, and I hope you are better).

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?

This is a tough one for me. I am not sure there is one book that did that. The first thing that comes to mind, really:

Comic Books

I have been involved with reading, collecting, cherishing comic books since way before I could read. My mother used to buy me a few when I was very little (Gold Key; Harvey; Classics Illustrated; Disney;  and Archie comics) and I loved the whole thing. It was more than pictures and words. Comics took me on a journey across the world and into imagination. When I discovered Super Heroes, that was it: Hooked 110% all the way. My imagination knew no boundaries from that day forth. I also understood very well that with great power comes great responsibility.

My memory may play tricks with me, but besides wanting to be a scientist (not with MY grades!), I had always wanted to write for the comics. Always. Still do.  I used to write my own little things in school when I was bored out of my mind. Always drawing my little thumbnails (didn’t know I was story-boarding then), creating characters, writing dialogue, etc.

So…doomed to be a writer? I don’t think I’ve ever thought of writing as a doomed thing. Exciting, creative, expressive, exploitative, demanding, challenging…yes. Doomed? Never.

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

My current work in progress is Agent driven: I asked her “what do you want from me?” when all she had previously said was she wanted to see a novel from me (she won’t handle short story writers). Her answer: “I want a great love story.” So, that is what I am doing right now. For those of you that have read my published short story in Dawn of Indie Romance, you’ll see I do have that in me.

The author who set me afire in inspiration overall is Roger Zelazny. I do have a few other things in the works besides the “great love story,” and I feel that I owe them all to the late Mr. Zelazny. He was, to me, THE writer to look up to, to want to be compared to. He broke down big heavy walls in his speculative fiction and fantasy writing.  He explored ancient mythologies putting his own twist  on things.

• Lord of Light was the first book of his I read, and will reread it as long as I can read. Hinduism, scifi, fantasy: you name it.
• A Rose for Ecclesiastes just an amazingly beautiful story, melding Christian mythos with science fiction AND it’s a love story too.
• The Chronicles of Amber is probably what Zelazny is best known for. This fantasy series has everything in it: great stories; great characters; great mysteries; great love; great horror and tragedy; and a lot of Zelazny’s humor.

He was diverse in his writing styles. He had a love for language. He had a diverse referencing skill in what he drew upon as a writer. If I ever had to grow up, I’d want to grow up to be a 1/10 of a Roger Zelazny in my writing. My The Kistune-Mochi Tale (working title) is inspired by his work. Thank you, Mr. Zelazny.

Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

This is the book that blew away my itty, bitty mind when I was around 16/17. It was written/published in 1972, and I still have my copy. So, yeah…16 or 17. I remember reading it, having to put the book down, close my eyes, and my head just swam/exploded with all the complexities I was experiencing from the book. No: I was not on any drug. I don’t do drugs. Never did. This book was enough.

RD Laing’s knots was a psychological poetry brainf**k for me then, and it still retains all of that for me now. Not a fiction book, per se, as I’m normally driven towards fiction. But,it is life presented in an infinity loop of desperation, longings, desires, needs, destructiveness, love, hate, and “what are we doing to ourselves and each other?” wanderings.

Amazon’s description of the book is:  “A series of dialogue-scenarios, which can be read as poems or plays, describing the “knots” and impasses in various kinds of human relationships.” I think they do it a disservice.

I think my questioning of “why” someone does something, not as judgment but as wanting to just know to understand, has it’s roots from reading this book. It does help me as a writer/playwright: all characters want something. My question is: why?

Hope you liked this one. Bit on the long side, but…I never did promise you brevity.

You should join this one, if you are serious about writing too.

Schools Going Green

On thinking about schooling and the education system that needs to progress for a better future, a shift in the paradigms of curriculum and methodology of teaching/how teaching is perceived, is at the forefront. As it should be.  If you’ve read my essays, you’ve seen it’s been a concern of mine. Why? I have no school age kids (mine are both married; no grand kids yet). It’s the future generations I am concerned about, and how I will live, and my grandchildren and theirs, in this world. I am concerned if the students of today have the skills, or not,  to be the creative and critical thinkers needed to survive the upcoming world to come.

How Green Is My Education?

Green School Buildings

How To Go Green: School Teachers

Going Green: Eco Friendly Schools

Going Green Grants

Yes, it’s one more thing to think about. Teachers are losing jobs left and right, classroom sizes are exploding, pedagogy that actually works is undermined by the need to test and assess (yeah, I’ll never let that one go). Yet, money can be saved by going green even in existing buildings. The links above not only offer suggestions but give you more links for research.

Monies can be found through grant writing. You just have to slog through all that is out there, but when we talk budget: you have options here.  Corporations that are working on going green solutions should be reached out to, and from there to local markets to support you community.

1. Empty lot that is an eyesore near the school and has been that way for a LONG time?
1. See if the owner is open to a volunteer school reclaiming the lot as a garden.
2. You get: Community Connections and Service; Cooperation Skills; Science and Math Skills; Agriculture; Possible Commerce (if you can grow and sell flowers/be zoned for vegetables); Organizational planning; more.
2. Going to eBooks instead of books.
1. Yeah, I LOVE books, but…ecologically, cost and space, they are a waste now. We have the technology, and it grows in leaps and bounds.
1. When all the big text book companies put out all their published work electronically, plus all the plays, novels, stories, etc we have around the schools, things can move along. My reasoning? Textbooks go through revisions, become outdated, or the school system takes on a whole new Math/English program that requires a whole new set of material. School books are not cheap.
2. Now, if electronically, you buy the text books you want to use, you should be able to get, or demand:
1.  renewable downloads built in for ebb and flow of student numbers;
2. new revisions automatically (slight fee or not; up to the companies and you);
3. switch in new program accessibility;
4. corrections to “printed” material immediately;
5. and it’s cloud outsourced, which means your clogged book shelves and storerooms are NOT anymore.
3. No more “I forgot my book” or “I left my book at Grandma’s house three states away. Which brings me to…
3. Tablets in schools.
1. Less room than laptops. Will fit on ALL existing desk structures.
2.  Connectivity in schools will have to be drastically increased (silly to go electronically when you cannot connect, or it’s always dropped. I see that too often).
3. You get the company to pad the outside like you do with iPhones, create shatter proof screens, and instal LoJack type systems so the property can’t be taken out of school without the attack dogs knowing (and yeah, change that chip/location often so our darling little hackers don’t have an easy time of it).
4.  Papers on the floor, missing? Gone, or reduced. Books destroyed? What books? Other creative doo-dads that can expand the classroom globally? Oh, yes.
5. Costs? Think about partnering up with more than Apple. There is a LOT more out there than iPads, iPhones, iDon’t use Adobe Flash.
6. Global Education: we are SO behind the times in media technology in our schools. The economy and businesses are going global: why are we not prepping our students this way?
7. Librarians: I am NOT trying to get rid of your jobs. The schools are already doing a great job of that now. I can’t tell you how many schools are downsizing their own libraries, as classroom “libraries” grow. I think there is a need for the change in School Library paradigm as well.

Those are only three things on my list. Yes, I have a list. More things to think about as we go along.

How Do You Go Green in Schools, or Want To?

btw…the first pic at top: it just struck me as funny, the image of a GREEN Green School.

This photo just struck me as how I would love a class that is dialogue/inquiry based to be set up. EVERYONE can see each other. Room in the middle for activities. When I had my own continuous classroom, my model was for sitting in a U shape, sort of like this for that reason. Everyone was visible and line of sight was always there. It supported communications. If desks like this had a slightly raked/raised built in tablet for student use… wow.

Storytelling to me is…

Let me tell you about storytelling.

Storytelling is the oldest form of communications. We told stories in gestures, painting in caves, in dance, in song, and from guttural uttering to languages, to finally the written word. “How did the hunt go?” led to many tales of bravery and “…you should have seen the mammoth that got away. It was THIS big!” (yes, the first lies too).

I have a Masters of Arts Oral Traditions, but that alone does not make me a Professional Storyteller. I tell (performance: my definition of storytelling) as one way of making a living.  There are a variety of styles of storytellers and ways to tell stories as there are genre’s of books.

Most people associate storytelling with something you do with the kids. You crack open a picture book and hope they go to sleep happy. That is only one way of telling.It is not just for children, and it’s time people really realized it. It’s a community based sharing of cultures and morals and mores; stories were ways of giving out news, passing histories, commentary and caution (Red Riding Hood: watch out for strangers!).

There is: conversational storytelling; telling true stories (The Moth, etc);  digital storytelling; picture book telling; corporate/organizational storytelling; and performance storytelling, where the teller orally presents a story from memory and heart, most often NOT memorized word for word, but beat by story beat. This type of storytelling allows for interpretations, mood and energy of the audience or events of the day, and takes into itself the personality of the teller. There are a few more, but these hit the major oral tradition points.

I’m a performance storyteller. Not always in costume (I do that for certain thematic shows), but I am always investing of myself into the tales I tell. I create my own, love traditional fairy and folk tales, really get into global tales, improvise many, and on occasion will tell a personal story. I take pleasure in the pleasure of the telling, and the reception of my audience. I am not a favorite of the “quiet, breathy”  tellers. That’s OK. I’m boisterous and energetic, and I often try to find humorous spots in the story I tell, if not completely humorous. If Shakespeare could insert a bit of humor into his most tragic of tales, why shouldn’t I?  He was of and for the common man, not some  highfaluting (I never knew that was one word until now-FUN!) ways and prim and proper stuff. (OK..mini rant over).

So, Storytelling to ME is…

FUN

Pleasing

Energy

Sharing

Creative

Laughter

Touching

Adventurous

Connecting

Fulfilling

Stress Reducing

Mesmerizing

Sweat Worthy!

Exhilarating

Pleasurable

 

If you like storytelling, go find a storytelling event in your area. Create one yourself. It’s not hard: check out my article in the top menu here on World Storytelling Day. I set up one in less than a month.

If you like my writing, check out my fiction at Tale Spinning. I think you’ll enjoy my attempts at a variety of genres.

For some amazing storytellers, check out:

Jonathan Kruk

Lou Del Bianco

Rivka Willick

Dangerous Linda

Harvey Heilbrun

Bobby Gonzalez

Lisa Hicks

There are plenty more around the country. Check them out.

Japanese Storytelling

I had the pleasure being in the audience at the Rye Free Reading Room Public Library on Tuesday, May 3rd, for an early evening performance of Japanese Pop-Up and Movable Books & Kamishibai Visual Storytelling. The children’s room storytelling area was filled with an all ages crowd, from toddlers who were entranced to parents and grandparents who also were totally engaged.

Three tellers presented for the event, celebrating Children’s Day and Japanese Storytelling: Neva Winter, Gail Pullman, and Taeko Theresa Okamoto. (Neva is in the top photo, Gail the second).

Ms. Winter and Ms. Pullman both used Japanese Pop-Up and Movable books to great effect. The surprise of the movements created a lot of oohs, ahhhs and laughter, as the Japanese folk lore unfolded before them. Each book has exact text, as in an American picture book, but there is the chance for broader investment in audience reactions and interpretation in the presentations.

Ms Okamoto was the final storyteller, and used the Kamishibai Theater to present her tale. A master of the art, she captured the attention of everyone in the room with her vocal and physical characterizations, historical context, and the wonderful visuals of the story.

The Kmaishibai storytellers used to travel by bike, with the theater closed into a traveling case.  Once they arrived to tell, they would unfold the box, creating a theater like presentation. Once everyone was gathered, by the clacking of the blocks, the storyteller would raise the curtain in the box, and tell the story picture by picture.

This was a fun event. I wish I could have taken photos of some of the children. The wonder that was displayed across their faces proved the power of storytelling, and how involved they can be. If you have the chance to see Japanese Storytelling, or any Storytelling event, please don’t hesitate to go. It’s not just for the children.

If you wish to contact the storytellers, please click on their names above for their email addresses.

Storytelling as Professional Development (UBC #28)

Ultimate Blog Challenge

Tale Spinning: My Writing Exercise/Experiment

I have worked as a Professional Development Coordinator and Facilitator for educators, librarians, storytellers, corporations and a few other organizations. Defining Professional Development (PD) is basically working on developing skills in ones area of content &/or interest for growth of the individual and, in the end, for the good of the team.  It’s used with Teachers to keep them moving along to help students, in corporations to stay abreast of changes in their world and hoping to make the employees more in tune with an overall goal to achieve,  and it’s used by adults to better themselves or find new paths of knowledge to follow. I’m only skimming the tip of this, as there are many more levels.

As I was doing research for this, three sites that stood out to me, with deeper delving into the material are:

What is Corporate Storytelling?

The Art of Storytelling Show: Professional Development for Storytellers

Leaning Forward: PD for educators

The Corporate Storyteller (first link above) states that it is:

It’s about getting to the core of an organization’s value proposition, and developing narratives that simply and compellingly relate “the story” to customers, prospects, investors, media, employees and others in a way that motivates them to think or act favorably.

Where on Leaning Forward, they write about PDs:

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT— The term “professional development” means a comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement –

Most of this is really getting at the same thing: doing the best to inform and motivate into new areas, or as a reminder of previous learning, to promote positive  action and results.

Narrative as a learning tool is at the heart of Oral Traditions (Storytelling). From Encyclopedia, Oral Traditions is explained as:

The lore (traditional knowledge and beliefs) of cultures. It is transmitted by word of mouth and consists, as does written literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and the like. Nearly all known peoples, now or in the past, have produced it.

When you add Storytelling Narratives to PDs, you create the possibility of  connections that a lecture PD may not hold., both professionally and personally.  It’s interactive, sharing, communicating orally and aurally, and it’s a great learning tool. We want to be heard, want to understand (at least, I hope so), and by not going by rote learning, you open up many possibilities.

There is a great satisfaction, I find, from the participants who really open up to this form of PD. Not everyone does, or can, and that’s a shame. It’s part of moving outside of their comfort zone in a group setting. Making the move to a safe and open environment is key to the process. It then moves beyond business dogma. Learning and growth actually can occur, and hopefully inspire to share it with others.

Storytelling, as Performance and Education (UBC#24)

Ultimate Blog Challenge

Tale Spinning: my writers blog

I’ve talked about my work and philosophy as a Teaching Artist, griped about things, had fun with things personal, and while I’ve danced around it, I don’t really think (without going through all by  posts, which this morning I’m not up for that challenge) I’ve talked all that much about being a Storyteller, and why I have enjoyed it so much.

So, now I know what I’ll do for the last six of these blog for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. There is a lot to talk about in the world of the Storyteller. It’s not just for children is the first thing I want to put out there, although many still think that way.

There is The Moth type of personal story programs, live and on the radio/podcasts,  that often are not at all for kids.

The Joseph Campbell Foundation continues his work in Mythology and comparative religion.

There is the Masters in Oral Traditions program at The Graduate Institute. The work produced during the two year program spans the generations, subject matter running from picture books to tales of the destructive nature of oppression.

There is corporate storytelling, which Alan Kay said while working for Walt Disney Imaging, said:

“Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he knew more stories (proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.”

There are programs in storytelling in almost, if not all, institutions and organizations around the world.  Libraries and schools are the two main focuses, but you can find storytelling at: Museums, festivals, theaters, camps, retreats, houses of worship, elder care locations, cafes, specialty stores (books, clothing, jewelry..yes), in your own home and family,  and many other venues. They range from stories for little ones to intergenerational telling, obviously.

I just came across, by a way of a writer I found on Twitter, Alain Miles,  a series of six  articles by Michelle MacEwan called The Power of Myth and Storytelling. Thanks Alain..funny guy to “talk” to. Worth following.

More to come.

Imagination First…and Always (Ultimate Blog Challenge #15)

Ultimate Blog Challenge
A to Z Blog Challenge: Tale Spinning

I’ve been thinking a lot (can be dangerous at times) about what inspires me in what I do, what other TAs (Teaching Artists) are inspired by, and our role in the here and now.  Part of this stems from yesterday’s blog Altered States.

I look at what I do, how I’m labeled (another theme of mine it seems), and how it’s either embraced or dismissed. In a business world POV, I’m all over the map and unfocused. In an artistic sense, I have a wide array of tools that I can use to share with others. I’m an Educator that uses the arts (primarily Theatre Arts, but not exclusively, as I dabble in the other three art forms when educating). I’m a Drama Specialist that is an educator. I’m a performer for entertainment and one for Arts in Education. I’m a writer, singer with a shot voice, producer, poet, puppeteer, director, Arts Administrator, Curriculum Writer, PD Facilitator, Workshop Coach… and the list can go on. And I drive those business minded folks to drink, as they just think I think and act in a wrong way:

I’m right, you’re wrong. No, I’M right, YOU’RE wrong! Sigh. Let’s accept that I don’t fit in one person’s cookie cutter world. I’m good with it. Let it be (great album) and move on, shall we?

Imagination First: Unlocking The Power of Possibility

The above book (and link to said book) is for EVERYONE who is locked inside their own heads/way they think they have to live their lives AND for the artists/arts educators out there who feel they need or want further justification for what we do.  I believe in learning by observations, exploration, interpretation, inquiry (ha..no fourth “tion” for you!), and then creation of ideas from your own imagination…and that there is no wrong idea! Might be “better” choices, but if you can work in a nonjudgmental atmosphere, and be nonjudgmental with yourself…well, who knows where you can go? The power of possibilities.

As an improv trained performer and director, I learned the first “rule” of improv: YES AND…. to build and grow. Most NOs stop you dead in your tracks, and keep you blindered through life. It leads to narrow POVs and other negative things. Who knows what amazing experience, or person, you could have encountered and made an impact on your life because along the way, you say NO.

Me..I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, and sometimes feel sorry for those who look at ME askance. That’s my judgment, and it’s not pretty. See how it feels?

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.

~Albert Einstein~

Where does your imagination take you?

I challenge you to be dreamers; I challenge you to be doers and let us make … the world even better.
Brian Schweitzer

A Night At The Opera: Ultimate Blog Challenge #8

Ultimate Blog Challenge

Week #2 swings into full gear. I started my subject lines with a song title (What Kind of Fool Am I?, from Stop the World, I Want To Get Off) and continued to play with it over the course of the six other blogs. Now I’m into movie titles, and what better to start it off with The Marx Brothers: anarchy comedy in it’s purest improvisational joy. I’m debating on whether keeping with other Marx Bros movies. I already have an idea for A Day At The Races, so it might be The Marx Brothers the whole way…until the next change. Who knows what it will be: book titles? plays? TV show theme songs? Hmmm… “There’s a blooger, and his name is stu..” no, I can’t type the “ie” to it. Just can’t.

So..the Opera. I don’t get  it. The end. Bye. Thanks for coming along. Don’t forget to tip the waitress.

I have had many MANY discussions with friends and arts & educator colleagues on Arts exclusion: why certain people, who like certain aspects of that art discipline, are so dismissive of other forms. Now, I started off with that I don’t like Opera. I have tried…really tried to get into it. I DO like much of it AS classical music. So much of it was used in Bugs Bunny cartoons and the ilk. How could you NOT like it?!  But the actual art form, as it is, does not reach me.

Does that mean it’s not a viable art form? Absolutely not. Do I have to love it to appreciate it thus? Absolutely not. It’s just not my cup of tea, and there’s my point of this whole big magilla.

Music has a very wide range, a breadth of styles, that should all fit under the title of Music. Doesn’t mean you have to love all the forms (PLEASE do not take me to anything Minimalist-in any form-or we are in for WORDS!) but, I feel that there should be that acknowledgment of it’s validity,  it’s place of being.    Rock & Roll was detested by the adult world as just noise.  Just an example, but it fits any style or genre in that there are people who just don’t get it. I don’t get Opera, and I don’t like minimalist music (or art) but…there are others who do like it and do get it.

I have felt this way with my Art. I’m a Performance Storyteller, and an Improv Actor (among other things). The Performance part of my Storytelling has been…looked at, by some (yes, back to my Purist Fascist statement from a few blogs ago), as NOT Storytelling but as just performing. Guess what? I”M A STORYTELLER. Purists: YOU ARE PERFORMERS.

Gasp. I know. Calm  down. Take a breath. It’s all good.

In all art forms, there should be no snobbery, no egos, no holier than thous. What about community, acceptance, support, open thought, creative thinking? These are, or should be, built into the creative arts. Yes, we still are dealing with the human element, but, really…why are the arts in so much trouble right now? Mainly because we haven’t taken the time to let go of the negative aspects of ourselves and allowed each discipline to be divided in oh so many ways.

Now we all rally around under the same flag to fit the injustice of budget  cuts and fears of a civil war of culture and education…

Where were you before this all happened?

If you like the arts, are involved in the arts, are an artist: support it all the time, not when it’s crisis mode. I hope we’re in time to avert whatever bad wolf is coming down the lane.

Please link,  if you so desire, and support me as I support you.

Read: Tale Spinning Writing Experiment Blog

Website: BornStoryeller