An Old Interest

When I was younger, from grade school to high school, I had some interests that have since fallen by the wayside. I use to absolutely love to get a great book on tape and an extensive Lego project and shut myself in my room for hours. As I got too old for Lego's(or I should say I became aware that it might appear childish) I started to make collages.

I've never been able to draw or paint or anything but I liked to put things together. I use to make collages, as gifts, with pictures and quotes. I use to make collages of vacations and put them up around my room.

At iO this past week someone had put out a 'Give a book, take a book' box. In it there were three slim dated informative space books. I flipped through them and there were some really cool pictures. I felt that old tingle that I haven't felt in probably ten years: this would be fun to put together. I took them and a couple nights ago cut out some of the pictures and made two collages on poster board while listening to Mists Of Avalon on my computer. It was so simple and gratifying. It was like running into a long lost friend. This small experience or thing I use to do still holds just as much joy for me. I stayed up till 5 working on them and although they may seem childish they make me very happy. I put them on my ceiling to look at while I lay in bed.

I still need to put some books back in the box because I took but didn't give. I'll probably unload 50 Shades of Gray, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. That's a fair trade right?

Inciting Incident 2

I ask friends "When did you first feel the need to perform?" This is your friend and mine Mr. Jamison Webb. He describes his first prat fall.

Note: Feel free to comment on any past, present, or future posts.

Entrances And Exits

In the past day Carrie has stepped down from The Night Shift and Blair has stepped down from Echo. It's an odd feeling when someone leaves an improv group. Sometimes people leave because they move, they are too busy, or because they are not getting what they want out of it. As someone who stays there is a sense of loss and sometimes rejection, failure. The group failed by letting this person go or I failed as a coach. I did something wrong, we did something wrong. But that's not the case.

We are all on our own artistic journeys. We all have different goals and need different things in what we do. Everyone is on there own personal journey and needs to make decisions that put themselves in the places they want to be. I don't stay in a group or with a show if I think it's stagnant, if I don't like doing it, or if it becomes an obligation.

Improv is great. I love it. But there comes a point I think after doing it for a long time or after being on groups put together by other people that you desire something more. Something more personal. Something more unique to your own voice. When I moved back to Chicago I got on teams at all the theaters I could: iO , Second City, CIC, and The Playground. I wanted to do as much as I could. After I did that for a year or two I realized simply performing is good but performing with an intent and focus is better. I started to develop outside ideas, outside interests, foster my own style, and because there are only so many hours in the day you have to shift priorities.

You have to trust yourself and when you have that feeling of constriction or boredom you have to make a change. Develop your own stuff. Write. Put together a group with people you want to collaborate with, that you have an affinity for. Create a unique focus and follow it.

If you step down from a group it doesn't mean you dislike the people in it. It doesn't mean you resent the time you spent. All experiences are valuable, every friend makes you grow. But when your heart pulls you away. Follow it.

Life is full of change. Friends, lovers, jobs, cities come and go. They are all valid, they all in a way become a part of you in the ever-evolving person that you are. When you leave something you don't really leave it. You carry a part of it with you always. It has shaped you.

Find what brings you joy. Then chase it.

Be Present

Until recently I would only see my sister a couple times a year. I would see her on holidays and occasionally she would come to visit me but I would make virtually no effort to visit her. I regret this, I always had excuses, I was always very busy, but I never made time, I never showed up.

I feel like I was given another chance. I was given a clear head and an open heart. I was given tools and opportunities to maintain that. And with clarity and peace I have a marvelous opportunity. To be present and pleasant for the ones I love.

I went back to Rockford yesterday to spend time with my sister and dad. I've seen my sister more in the past three months than in the past year. We had a great time. We went out to eat and just sat around and watched TV and chatted. It feels great to be in a place where I can do that. I have the time to see my family but more importantly when I do I can be there with them.

Sometimes all you need to do is show up. It makes all the difference.

On Things Hidden

Look where I'm not
not where I am.

I'm more there
than any where.

'Seven Psychopaths' A Review

Seven Psychopaths is a movie about writing the movie Seven Psychopaths. The film follows Colin Farrell as he tries to write the screenplay. He comes up with ideas for the movie that are shown but at some point the script gradually starts to overlap his life. Or we're suppose to believe the story is something that happened to him. The film is weird. You like most of the characters but you don't know why. The plot follows a very Dali sort of logic. It's self referential to a point that we are left wondering what's suppose to have been real, what is in the main characters head, what am I suppose to take away from this.

The movie is fun and interesting. However, it is nothing like the trailers and doesn't fall neatly into a particular genre. It is not a comedy. It is not a dark comedy. The movie is about writers block, friendship, revenge, jealousy, love, homicide, courage, and morality. Go into it with no expectations and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

See It.

Graffiti 77

 "Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide" is the title of a lecture given by Carl Dix, founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party.  The idea is the same explored in the film The House I Live In.



"As a society we're so quick and able to spend money on lawyers for someone for incarceration, but we don't make the corresponding commitment to the preventative components of it." -Matt Gonzalez

"You will be judged in years to come by how you responded to genocide on your watch." -Nicholas Kristof

"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." Abraham Lincoln