Duality, Illusion & Trapdoors

From hell during the day, to heaven at night.

RTC Productions performed as guest artists for the Gainesville Ballet Theater's "Little Match Girl". A period piece, we recreated the subtrunk illusion using a prop box built in the 1920's. (I wonder how many other "box jumping" women have sweated it out in there, hmm) As is the nature of our current culture, it was a 5-minute act performed as a 60-second trick. Whew! I drew inspiration from the film, "The Prestige" and created my own costume. Together, Elise, Kyle and I staged and re-staged the exact sequence of moves repeatedly until it was smooth. Banged knees, heads and toes, we perservered. Fun was had. Jess, Robyn and the Dalai Llama played a role as well. Thank you GBT and Miss Joni for allowing me the creativity to produce something new for you each year.

Update on the quest for world peace.

Good friend and circus empressaria, Jessica Hentoff is making her annual plea for donations to fund groundbreaking work building pyramids of people and bridges between people. Last summer they really did so in the Middle East. Combining circus students from the U.S with the Jewish/Arab youth circus it was social circus in action. As she puts it, "...these young people demonstrated, in a breath-taking way, what can happen when people of different nationalities and backgrounds build something together. They are only children- - but they have a lot to teach the rest of the world." The language of circus knows no nations.

Here's a link, what a wonderful gift.

Peace be to you too. :)

The Victimization of Elephants

I have a difficult time with the whole animal rights movement. Seems to me it is a reflection and symptom of deeper societal ills. You see, I’ve been an elephant trainer. I’ve traveled and performed with circus elephants. And when I see protesters and meet people that “believe” in animal rights, I have a difficult time buying into their imagination. They imagine the worst, without knowing the current reality. Elephant trainers are the most courageous, hard-working people I know. They face their own mortality and demise everyday. They know their close contact with elephants could kill them in an instant. Yet they get up everyday and shovel shit. They have been thrust into this position unwittingly. When they started there wasn’t the media magnifying glass, 30-sec edited videos, sound bites and uneducated* public judging their every move. They simply spent all day, everyday, in the service of these amazing beasts and learned to care for them as best they could. Like any learning experience in life, there are always successes and failures. As science has caught up with animal learning and husbandry, methods have changed. As society has grown and cemented over nature, green spaces for elephants and humans have disappeared. What we are left with is a jolting discrepancy between how we imagine elephants should live and what their current reality, caused by our short-sighted imaginations, really is. In smaller towns and rodeo grounds elephants don’t seem so out of place. They’re just exotic livestock doing their thing. Eating, pooping, and exercising in the form of circus tricks. With the companionship and connection of a caring animal person, they thrive in this situation. They have each other for company and a reason to live. We all need this.

I watch as small children are ecstatic the first time they see an elephant. They point and get stiff and twitchy with joy and wonder. They smile back at their parents making sure they see what they see. They see the wonder and beauty that is an elephant. They believe the elephants are as happy to be there as the kids are to see them. They see the purest, unbiased truth.

Sadly, the current “belief” by the animal rights movement would insist that the elephants are miserable. Their children are told that it is bad for humans and elephants to co-exist and work side-by-side. That feeding, caring and shoveling shit for the elephants is not an honorable job. These children respond by holding their noses and screeching that “Ew, elephants stink!” They are children brainwashed by adult’s mistaken beliefs and go on to invest their time in cleaner, sanitized versions of life, such as television, video games and jobs indoors.

I have the hardest time with people that own animals themselves as pets; dogs, cats, horses, etc. but think that “exotic” animals should be maintained at a distance in so-called sanctuaries. So-called because whose sanctuary is it really? They are still captive. Only the rich benefactors and contributors can now view them. They are still on display and don’t have a job to do. They still don’t have natural families and the ability to wander at will. What were once the earths beings are now the fund raising poster children of holier-than-thou non-profit administrators. I realize they mean well. I’m just not so sure it’s really in the elephant’s best interest. Ideally, in my own imagination, it would be wonderful to see elephants everywhere. Able to co-exist in cities because we had left corridors of greenery for them to hang out in, with their handlers of course. I’m not saying they can be left to wander on their own in the midst of humanity as we know it nowadays, just that it would be great to be able to see elephants out for walks as we drove to work. One time we were hired to take an amazing elephant to a football game for a half-time promotion. I remember watching as people rushed past to their seats, not even noticing this huge beast calmly waiting his cue. I was saddened to think of what they were missing. Maybe they were saddened to think we were missing the game. Somehow I don’t think so.

Rather than adversaries, wouldn’t it be in the best interest of elephants to all work together and pool resources for their benefit?

I suppose I have a very unique and unusual perspective and would hope that I can infect others with visions of humans and animals large and small, living and working together, sharing their lives and their smells with each other, so that the small beings among us, children that is, can be exposed to the wonder of what nature has wrought, and know that the earth is a place to be happily shared by us all.

*By uneducated I’m not referring to formal schooling. Rather animal smarts. Farmers, ranchers and others that have been raised around and work with animals live in tune with animal intelligence. Highly-educated, institutionalized, intellectual, book-learning, city-raised people are sorely lacking this.

Face time

Melanie

"Art is our one true global language. It knows no nation. It favors no race. It acknowledges no class. It speaks to our need to heal, reveal and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us imagine what is possible. It creates a dialogue between individuals, and communication between communities. It allows us to see and to listen to each other."

Richard Kamler

Came across this blog poking fun at the war protesters because it had the word circus in it. (The word circus hasn't always been used so disparagingly.) Granted, the protesters are not pro musicians in this case, but everyday humans raising their voices in song, letting loose rhythms in time to their heartbeats, dramatizing atrocities lightheartedly, perhaps because the pain of it all is too much to bear if you take it seriously. Maybe if we didn’t spend the trillions of dollars on warfare we could better learn how to sing, play music and perform theater. Hmm, what would the world would be like if instead of bombs and militia we had songs and festive gatherings? Surrounded ourselves with artworks, statues, paintings, beauty?

If we choose to support conflict instead of peace, we get what we buy. Must you respond so negatively? Isn’t there just a tiny space in your brain to begin to think differently? To embrace others voices and hear what’s at the heart of it all? To envision a kinder gentler world as this president’s father once said? There is such anger in the air these days. People respond so heartlessly and spew cruelties upon hearing or seeing another point of view. Anger is a cover for pain. What is this pain we are feeling? Perhaps dialogue is the answer. But instead we bury ourselves in thankless work, the incessant drive for more and more money, leaving loved ones behind and there is no face time left. We peer into our computers and televisions instead of into each others eyes. We change the channel instead of considering a differing point of view. We have 60 second opinions like the newscasters we’ve been listening to. There is no depth. No deeper thought than the 1 minute commercials we’ve been brainwashed by.

Whew, I just had to let that loose.

Melanie and son BeauJarred Schekeryk 2007

On a kinder, gentler note. I also came across this petition to put “Melanie” into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I visited there once and it is a fine testament to the power of music and its influence on our history. I’d like to see her included. Here’s the link, decide for yourself.

Peace out,

Lynn

p.s. - As I searched online for the author of the first quote I was stunned. It comes from an artist speaking exactly to what I just wrote. Here's a clip and a link. I suddenly feel a little less alone.

I want to introduce you to Seeing Peace.

Former Secretary of Defense of the United States, Robert McNamara, commenting on wars of the 20th century, wrote:

"In retrospect, we can now understand these catastrophes for what they were: essentially the products of a failure of the imagination."

Seeing Peace was born out of an understanding that this failure of the imagination is the missing link in most institutional responses to conflict and hostility in the world. That without the imagination, without the ability to "think outside the box," without a vision from our creative community, our responses to war and aggression will only institute more wars and aggressions.

Seeing Peace intends to rectify this by bringing the artist to the table. We intend to manifest a forum where the imagination is not only present, but is an active participant in the process of envisioning peace.

In traditional societies art was integral to the community. Essential to its survival. The artist was considered an important part of the community. Artists were looked at to shape the community as creative life and for their imaginative input during times of stress or simply when all leaders came to the table to discuss issues of concern.

The artist was invited and came to the table.

Seeing Peace presents a vision. The act of creation marks a victory over destruction and death.

We celebrate the artist at the table.

See Peace.

Richard Kamler

But I do believe in the power of art to change consciousness. And I know that the simple persistence and the will to go on working, declaring oneself visible and accountable is the only sure practice through which we can live and keep alive our goals and visions.

- Arlene Raven

Pangea Day

Echoing peace into the future through the power of film worldwide.

TED is a conference I first learned of through Charles Fleischer. (Be his myspace friend) I met him in LA when I was helping Shelly Ladd raise funds for her retired research primate sanctuary, Mindy’s Memory.

After his standup bit he donated for the cause, we ran into him at a restaurant next door as he was huddled over his papers searching for clues to the mathematical problems called Moleeds he’s been calculating for years. You may know of him as the voice of Roger Rabbit. He’s also a digital artist, musician, actor, poet and stream of consciousness comedian. He told me of his excitement at performing for TED. I’m heartened to know that the brightest minds in our time are working towards a better world cooperatively. One of these people is Jehane Noujaim. Each year TED awards funding for several projects and hers is one that speaks to world peace. You can see her presentation here and learn more about it.
Learn about submitting a film here.
Spread TED.

As I post my videos online I wonder what effect I will have as they sear into others brains. I hope that I can open people’s eyes and minds to thinking and believing in the possibility of world peace. No small feat, but nor is it insurmountable. Not with the power of video in the independent hands of everyone so that we can see for ourselves, once and for all that we really are all one people, on one planet, and our differences are not worth fighting over.

Peace, yes. With the hearts and minds of people like these I truly believe it is on its way.

Don’t you?

Charles' Art

All we are saying. . . .

is give Peace a chance.

The Peace Alliance presented an entertaining and informative production on Monday. It brought me to tears. It seems so simple to me, to choose peace. I went to my legislators websites to encourage them to support HR 808 a bill to establish a United States Department of Peace.

A Department of Peace will work to:

-- Provide much-needed assistance to efforts by city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs; as well as develop new programs based on best practices nationally

-- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children

-- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology

-- Rehabilitate the prison population

-- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad

-- Support our military with complementary approaches to peace-building.

-- Create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.

-- And more…

When I submitted the form it asked what my request was regarding. There were 45 subjects listed - such as:
Defense/Military
Homeland security
Military academies
War in Iraq
War on Terror

but not even the word peace. Hmmm, yeah, I think it's time it was an option. Violence is a learned behavior and can be unlearned given the resources and attention. Would you consider giving it yours?

It only took me about 10 minutes to let my legislators know. Click here to learn more and let yours know too.

"More than an end to war,
we want an end to the beginnings of all war."
Franklin Roosevelt

Heartfelt thanks,

Lynn

Creative Crutchery

"That which is painful to the body may be profitable to the soul."

Hmm, I'm counting on this. A sudden misstep and I'm ground bound for awhile. Forcing me to sit still for a change and lucky for me I have this laptop and can type. In the midst of the woods, alone yet connected wirelessly, the technology baffles me still. Determined to use it in my own way to let loose the visions I see, the beauty I witness, the daily battles with the demons that won't leave me alone. Ok, maybe they're not all demons. Muses let's say. They pester me until I follow their lead and through the use of video I capture them and let them loose unto the virtual beyond. Wondering who they'll bump into, whose brain the images sear. I've been voluntarily disconnected from TV for over a year, although I never watched much before that even, and seem to have a unique take on things. The synchronicity of things never fails to amaze and inspire me. I'm always listening and looking for clues to unlock the meaning of it all. That and have fun in the process. Play is food for the soul. The basis of world peace I'm convinced. Get too ego involved and it becomes way too serious. Wars start that way. Share a laugh with someone today and see if it doesn't work for you. Best of all it's free.

Light on your path,

Lynn

"True handicaps come only from the mind, the limits we place on ourselves. We can
do anything, our community is everywhere." —Sidiki Conde