A dear friend just reminded me of some amazing creativity I contributed to a couple years back, and it made me realize that I never shared this gem here in my own pages.
Philadelphia based band Stereo League approached me in the early spring of 2019 asking if I would be game to work with them in an upcoming music video. They had heard that I was a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey alumni and they wanted to feature a melancholy clown in the shoot.
The more I heard of the vision for this music video the more excited I was to be in it, as it was definitely a quirky outside of the box concept. The vision called for me to take advantage of many of the skills I’ve acquired over the years, as well as being in a very unique and surreal setting. I’m in!
Little did I know that they were working with a high-end production company with a full crew and a truck load of gear. I’ve done a couple of corporate commercial shoots over the years, but this was on a whole other level within a perfect intersection of passion-project and technical expertise. It’s always a joy to work with consummate professionals, and this weekend was exemplary.
The first day ended up being somewhere between 15 & 16 hours in multiple locations. Even though the hours were crazy long, everyone on set had a blast and it was super playful. We spent the day at one mansion shooting indoor scenes, and then spent the evening an hour away at another mansion’s pool shooting the underwater scenes. Then after wrapping around 2am, the call was made for everyone to crash for 3 hours and then drive down to a town just north of Atlantic City NJ for the ocean segment of the shoot.
Sunrise in Brigantine NJ
My biggest concern was that the last scene in the storyboard was to have me emerging from the ocean at sunrise. If we were on the west coast I could have emerged from the ocean at sunset, but alas. I voiced my apprehension to get into the chilly Atlantic in a pre-dawn hour, knowing that there are crazy things afoot within those waters when it’s dark. It’ll be fine! they said.
Imagine my relief when the production ran slow so that we were just arriving at the ocean as the sun rose, and by the time everyone was in place having schlepped wickedly expensive gear 1/4 mile across the sand, it was daylight and I felt fine going into the water. And then, a week later the producer sent me a still shot from the overhead drone showing this:
Now I’m a thoroughly curious dude who has spent my lifetime cultivating awareness, and the phrase ignorance is bliss has never sat comfortably with me. But in this particular case I was immensely happy to have been ignorant of what was going on. Steve Irwin looms large in my mind…
When all was said and done, this was a pretty incredible project to have contributed to, and we were all thrilled at how it came out. I hope you enjoy the video, and hopefully you’ll enjoy the rest of Stereo League’s offerings as well ~ they’re definitely worth a listen.
Stereo League ~ Natural Mystery
I’m a big fan of another one of their videos “Money in your Mouth” as it’s another playful quirky concept. I hope they continue with this trend for sure. Thanks for visiting ~ Cheers!
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A pandemic tale for the new year – In March 2020, when it became clear we were hunkering down for the long haul due to the pandemic, I decided to order a kora. I was thinking that it would be an engaging creative way to spend my time, seeing as I was out of work. A kora is a West African 21 string harp built out of a large calabash gourd with a long neck made of wood. I’ve wanted to learn it from the moment I first heard one in 1990 when a friend came back from Senegal with street vendor cassette tapes he’d scored. I thought then and still think now that it’s the most enchanting instrument I’ve ever heard and have long thought it would be a retirement goal to learn how to play one. Well, why not now with all this time?
One of my favorite kora players is Sona Jobarteh from The Gambia ~ If you haven’t heard of her she is most decidedly worth checking out. She is the first woman to be widely recognized as a master in the griot tradition of the regions where kora music comes from. I discovered that the luthier that she has worked with for years in developing an evolved kora has them available for sale through her website. They’ve taken the best elements of the instrument from it’s traditional form, and added contemporary hardware and structural reinforcement to traditional materials and have created a concert quality instrument. I reached out and learned that each instrument was custom made upon ordering, and set the process in motion. After all my research and decision making, by now it was late March.
The first question I got asked was how I would like the top of the neck and the handles to be carved. The image that immediately leapt to mind was a spiral and without hesitation I wrote right back. Within a day I was sent a photo asking if the design was alright. I was blown away and said yes. Soon after I started getting photos of the neck as it developed, and then a picture of the calabash gourd that would make up the body of the instrument. Needless to say I was thoroughly stunned at what I was seeing, and that they were sending me step by step pictures of the instrument being created from scratch.
After a couple weeks of back and forth with design choices I got a message that the kora was finished (!!!) and that now the luthier would tune it up and stress test it for 2 weeks to ensure everything settled into place before being shipped. Oh man was I blown away seeing these pics and knowing this glorious creation was soon to enter my life. I also fell in love looking at the place this was made, seeing the palm trees in the yard, and truly hope I can visit there someday.
I finally got a message on May 14 2020 (will never forget the date) letting me know that my kora was finished & passed through all of the stress tests before shipping. There was only one problem – now the national mail service in The Gambia was closed due to the pandemic. Dang. So now I began my wait. Long story short – this turned into a masterclass in patience. International shipping resumed mid October after a couple of agonizing false starts, and we walked in the door Halloween night (!!!) to find this lovely surprise after waiting over 7 months from when I ordered.
I ended up in a lovely correspondence friendship with the agent for The African Guild due to this extended process, as we exchanged emails weekly that became increasingly personal ~ I look forward to meeting him someday. And now I’ve embarked on the most enchanting musical relationship I’ve ever known.
This has been a profound process throughout, especially knowing that the instrument that I now play daily was made specifically for me. Sometimes I walk into my office studio and just look at it, marveling at it’s journey across the ocean and into my home. The kora truly is a magnificent creation, a work of art that implies a cultural sophistication and aesthetic depth far beyond what is typically attributed to the region where it comes from. There is such a wealth of musical heritage and creativity born through the kora, and I am honored to hold one in my hands. It teaches me daily, and I’ve never known an instrument to lead me on as readily as this one.
This year with 2020 vision I am thinking about what is normal.
When people say “I can’t wait to get back to normal”, I think what they’re really saying is “I’m fantasizing about pre-coronovirus life when I could do anything I wanted without having to think too hard about it.”
However, I can’t help but think about how our lives before coronovirus was a world where so much of what we considered normal was actually pretty fucked up.
It was a world where racism and inequality was normal.
Where greed and hoarding was normal.
Where exploitation and the rape of the world was normal.
Where being disconnected and lonely was normal.
Where scarcity and hunger was normal.
Where rage and hate were normal.
Where competition for basic necessities was normal.
Where poisoning and dismantling our life support system was normal.
We were getting damn too good at normalizing.
And I for one do not have any desire to go back to “normal”.
Because we can do better than that.
Much better than that.
We Are better than that.
Buckminster Fuller gave us the roadmap back in the ’50’s, plain as day. He said:
“It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary. War is obsolete. It is a matter of converting our high technology from WEAPONRY to LIVINGRY.”
How long will we the people accept being part of a machine that kills people instead of creating a system that nurtures… us?
I believe we are capable of implementing a circular economy instead of an extractive growth obsessed economy, and implementing all of the technology that works with and for the earth and mothball all of the technology that works against it.
It really boils down to a choice we are making, every single day.
We need to Defund War.
The War on People. The War on Intelligence. The War on Dignity.
The War on the Earth.
This is the true task at hand.
I for one will settle for nothing less than Livingry.
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This might very well be the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. If you’re reading this, then I’ve committed and can’t postpone or talk myself out of it anymore.
The Short Version ~ I’ve challenged myself to release a piece of music a day for however long I can, starting on March 17, 2020 (also the first day of Coronovirus isolation in our household).
Put me in front of 1000 people as a vaudevillian and I thrive. Put me in front of 20 people with a guitar and I may appear confidant, but inside is sheer terror. Sharing original music is one of the most intimate things a human can do. We become vulnerable in a way that very few other things make us. We are emotionally naked and fully exposed and standing in front of a full theatre in our underwear just waiting to be judged. But you’re reading this, so I’ve committed. Let’s jump off the deep end together…
I’ve been playing music for just as long as I’ve been a juggler (since early high school!), but most of my friends and acquaintances probably don’t know that. My music-making has mostly been in the spirit of “this keeps me sane and balanced” and more like self-guided personal therapy than anything else. With a few memorable exceptions, I’ve mostly kept it to myself over the years.
I’m sensing that it’s time to change. I have a deep reservoir of music that I have been recording for 30 years now, most of it solo, but there have also been some excellent collaborations along the way and one flat out band. Even if one person other than myself hears any of these things, it’s doing more than sitting on my shelf gathering dust, so I think it’s time to let some of them out.
Maybe some of these creations will even be appreciated…
I’m not exaggerating ~ I have hundreds of recordings from over 30 years of self-guided musical therapy ~ I’ve thought of these as explorations of my emotional spectrum turned into sound. The pieces weren’t meant to be “songs” in the traditional sense, nor do most of them seem to fit anywhere genre-wise. Most of these pieces were written either as meditations, as sonic reflections on a thought or a feeling, or they helped me to work through challenging emotional passages or situations. Sometimes I listen to something years after the fact and think that I captured an archetype, or at least drew a personal map through turbulent waters. But when all is said and done, Music has been my comfort animal, reassuring to keep close, but definitely with a mind of its own.
So I’ve set myself a challenge ~ I’m going to release a piece of music a day for at least a month, probably more, and see what happens. I’m calling it Eric’s New Eccentric Music Archive (E.N.E.M.A.), as it’s a huge release of material that has previously been pent up. 😉 Sorry not sorry. I had to go there. I hope that made you smile. But it feels accurate ~ I’ve been holding on to this stuff for far too long.
In this day and age of pre-recorded loop libraries and samples, I ask you to keep in mind that throughout this archive 98% of the things you hear are original sounds being played by me ~ I have a fair collection of acoustic and electric instruments as well as various hand drums and percussion instruments, and am also very fond of creating new sounds and textures in synthesizers. There’s also a didjeridoo and a ukulele, two of my favorites. On rare occasions, I resort to utilizing a pre-recorded drum loop because I’m hearing the need for something in the mix that I don’t know how to play myself or can’t figure out. But for the most part, even in the most densely layered compositions, everything is being played by me unless otherwise noted.
In going through my archives I’ve realized that there are a significant number of pieces that I truly love and have helped me through some pretty challenging times. In probably every case, I never shared them because I’m a perfectionist and they were never quite “there” in a public way, or I was too insecure and felt too vulnerable sharing such an intimate thing. And then my creative process always has me looking over the next horizon and so I never followed through and finished or polished a piece because I was already moving on to the next inspiration, or the next thing to work through.
So I’m done with that ~ a big part of the reason why I feel compelled to let all of these things see the light of day now is to just get over that feeling of “it’s got to be perfect” before I want to share because you see where that’s gotten me ~ 30 some years worth of creativity sitting in a vault. Maybe I’m just at that point in my life where I don’t care anymore whether these things are perfect or not, or whether they’re sketches never fully realized… I’m ok with that.
I’ve come to realize that I’d rather share and let go of these things to change my habits, as I don’t think these habits have been serving me very well for all this time ~ musically I’ve become an inadvertent hoarder, where in real life I cherish sharing whatever I’ve got. It’s time to realign my energy, deepen my integrity, and stop being so afraid that I will be judged for not being good enough.
I’m going to start this offering with the most recent project I’ve been working on for a couple of years now, and the creation that I’m certainly the proudest of ~ The Small Craft Advisory. It started with writing a poem that I thought might be fun to set to music, which turned into something else entirely. There are now 9 or 10 (or 12) of these things and each one has been a profound discovery process. I’ve come to think of them as a series of podcast opinion pieces set to theatrical sound sculptures. That might be the name of their genre. This collection also feels decidedly activist, and perhaps they may serve some purpose.
So here they are, in all of their imperfect glory, for what they are, warts and all. Starting tomorrow, a musical creation a day for at least a month, in all likelihood more. This is how I’m going to spend my Coronovirus retreat from the world.
If anything speaks to you, I’d love to hear about it! If something moves you or causes you to think of someone in particular, please consider sharing it with them and passing it along. I’ve come to appreciate that creativity in any of its forms only becomes real when it’s shared and touches someone else’s heart ~ please let me know if I do.
And if you think to yourself “Damn I’d love to mix this into something else entirely” please do and let me know ~ I’ve long suspected that many of these creations are only going to be fully realized by changing context completely, and that’s something beyond the scope of my wheelhouse. I’d love to collaborate with someone who knows remixing and Ableton type things well ~ I’ve got even more snippets, phrases, and themes that I’ve never done anything at all with that would lend themselves to electronic composition and remixing.
In other words, are you my George Martin? Where are you, George? Let’s take this to the next level. I’ve got boundless musical creativity and I need you…
Ultimately I’m feeling the need to clear my creative energy out so that I have room for whatever comes next. I’m also experiencing in my heart of hearts that for a thoughtful caring human, the challenges of our times demand a response.
This is my response… Positive creative caring energy cast into the world like seeds into a garden.
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After being generally aware for some 20 years that our fossil-fueled growth-oriented consumer-culture has been barreling headlong and headstrong straight towards calamity, un-sustainability, and the extreme degradation of our planet, events propelled me a couple of months ago to take a long hard look at where exactly we are in this greater progression. This has been the mother of all rabbit holes, and far more sobering than anything Alice plunged into. I’d take any of Alice’s remedies any day over the red pill that face-on climate awareness is.
Climate consciousness is perilous territory for so many reasons. Climate threats are almost impossible to truly digest because of the enormity of the thing and how ridiculously complex all of the relevant factors are. Digesting even portions of it, like Alice’s red and white mushroom, can be toxic to your mental health, and certainly clouds your awareness of almost everything else. And yet… I’ve come to process, through lots of grief, angst, anger, anxiety, and bouts of flat out depression, that though the threat is ominous on par with an asteroid hurtling directly towards us, there is a deep grace and profound clarity in surrendering to the immensity of it all.
Surrendering. Does this mean I’ve given up? Fuck no. My family has embraced as many facets of action as we can imagine might be relevant, from building a lifeboat (metaphorically) to nurturing local community to creating activist art and engaging in eye-opening conversations wherever and whenever we can. Surrendering has been simply accepting that this thing is too big to get a handle on and too unpredictable to even begin to guess as to how it will all unfold.
Surrendering has taken the form of accepting that when all information is taken into account, we’ve come to recognize that there is a significant probability that most if not all of the forms of convenience and abundance that we have blissfully benefitted from as North Americans will likely not last, though that timeframe is completely unknowable as well. It might be years or decades, there’s just no telling at this point. What we do know is that things are accelerating faster than anyone predicted even a couple of years ago, and that’s alarming in its own right.
I would rather face that unknown eyes wide open than be surprised by it, though coming to terms with it has easily been the most stressful activity I have ever engaged in. What does resiliency in the face of the unknown mean? How can we adapt to inherently unpredictable conditions? What are the core competencies that will be relevant moving forward in a disfigured world? How can we prepare to be resilient in the face of societal stressors unlike any our society has ever encountered? How will privileged societies that have high expectations and low resiliency beyond money be able to handle food shortages and diminished lifestyles? How will population-dense areas cope compared with more rural areas? There are just so many questions and most of the questions are full of unknowables.
In the spirit of eyes wide open, and after months of exhaustive research, scaling the heights and plumbing the depths of climate and ecological related material, I’ve chosen a relative handful of sources and materials that I’ve found to be the most straight forward assessments and clear-eyed interpretations of the available data. These are the pieces that have given me the most comprehensive perspectives on the threats we face, have provided the best talking points to initiate conversations with family and community members, and have offered action points that feel the most relevant. These pieces have also demonstrated to me that so much of the climate literature is cherry-picked with relevant factors left out for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes even people who want to address the topic just can’t face the full brunt of it and I get that.
These materials are not for the faint of heart, but neither are the times we live in. We are living in a time of standing face to face with Morpheus with the offered pills right at our fingertips ~ the blue pill being continued pretension that everything is ok, look the sun is shining out my window, the government has my back, food will always be on the store’s shelves, and I have endless entertainments and distractions at my fingertips, while the red pill is simply… deep awareness, and informed engagement.
We’ve been preparing for the worst, and nurturing courage for the best. The challenge we’re facing is that best-case scenarios at this point are still pretty grim. I hope these red pills are as helpful to you and they have been for me in choosing to live eyes wide open.
Addendum ~ I fully recognize that I’ve basically made the same post twice over the past two weeks, talking about my climate familiarity project and pointing to the collection of source material I’ve curated. I think this is partly due to my continued processing of this immense topic, and partly really wanting to make sure that this gets shared within my community and for whoever may stumble upon it. It also is starting to really challenge me that the majority of people I encounter on a regular basis don’t seem engaged with this topic at all, and I recognize the bubble of North American entitlement and comfort to be an ultimate pacifier. What’s it going to take?
I’ve spent the better part of the last two months delving deep into the rabbit hole of climate literature. This has mostly been prompted by my discovery of some of the most clearly presented and comprehensive analysis of the issue, namely the Deep Adaptation presentations by Dr. Jem Bendell & Dr. Rupert Read, as well as ongoing narrative by David Wallace-Wells. These seem to be the folks at the forefront of not shying away from telling it like it is. In recognizing a threat, I’m choosing to confront it with eyes wide open awareness.
I’ve also discovered The Dark Mountain Project, which is easily one of the most beautiful, poignant, and relevant confrontations of our global crises through the creative arts that I have encountered. There is so much to be said about the brave creatives who are taking on a re-visioning of our story in light of unfolding events. The Dark Mountain collections are moving us in the right direction psychically, as we need a new story to serve us as our existing story continues to crumble.
For one who has been painfully and increasingly aware of climate issues and environmental degradation for the last 15 years, the rise in cultural awareness in the last year in particular is validating, though I hope for all of or sakes that it isn’t too little too late. We went from space wanna-be’s to landing a man on the moon in a relative handful of years, so who’s to say that our capacity for surprising change isn’t a relevant factor.
In all of my readings, I’ve compiled the handful of articles and resources that I’ve found to be most relevant and useful in getting a powerful overview of the “State of the Planet”. It’s sobering, and extremely challenging to digest, as the picture that gets painted is dire. It’s no wonder so many of us don’t even want to look or try and convince themselves it’s not even real. But for those that do need to look, I hope this collection helps. In this day and age, it is surely a form of activism to simply be informed.
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My occasional collection of climate crises inspired ways forward using the arts and creativity to nurture community, awareness, and action.
Something that has inspired me recently:
I marched with an estimated couple thousand mostly school and college-aged humans this past Friday as part of the coordinated global climate strike. It was amazing to see so many empowered humans standing up for our collective future and taking to the streets. The march was a tour of center city Philadelphia and though I have mixed feelings about inconveniencing the working public (a topic for another time) it did feel profound to symbolically disrupt the daily flow in the city as the climate crises threatens to do to all of us. I plan on participating in as many strikes and Fridays for Future as possible from here on, and one of the projects I’m working on is geared specifically for making a large presence at strikes. Stay tuned for that! (hint: it involves a tightwire…)
What I’ve been reading:
“We Were Made for These Times” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.”
This may be the single most empowering work I’ve encountered about standing up in times of crises and speaking our hearts. When I encountered it this week I immediately assumed it was written recently and in direct context of the climate crises. But after some further research, I discovered that this was written over 15 years ago and originally entitled “Letter To A Young Activist During Troubled Times”. I am floored. This is profound. It is empowering. And it is stunningly beautiful. I have re-read it numerous times over the last couple of days and it grows more poignant and wondrous with each reading. It is my sincere desire to see this read by everyone standing up for climate the world around ~ the following link takes you to the piece in its entirety.
I have been ill this past week, change of the seasons and whatnot, and have watched our one-year-old daughter be sick as well. When you don’t have the tools yet to clear your own nose and you can’t breathe it’s got to be kind of freaky, but she’s been a real trooper. But taking care of her and self and household hasn’t left much time for larger projects. I’ve been plugging away at staying abreast of global developments and striving for balance throughout ~ this was the great work of the week, staying balanced with compromised health and an increasing flood of climate-related data. The passage has reminded me of how vital it is to ensure self-care in an increasingly stressed world. Take good care of yourself! We need healthy souls in order to not lose heart.
Quote of the Week:
I’m staying with Clarissa Pinkola Estes:
“What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
I love how she’s talking about the 3.5%, but intuitively. The deep wisdom of her soul shines brightly and gives her this clarity to share with us, and I am grateful for her words. I’ve been saying a lot recently that every drop in the bucket counts, and eventually adds up to an overflowing vessel. That’s us right now, and even though there are signs of frustration (Greta saying “We have achieved nothing” at COP25 https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/12/07/cop25-bulletin-achieved-nothing/ ) we do need to remind ourselves that it is always darkest before the dawn.
Share this with your friends and anyone you think would be inspired by it! You can also get this delivered directly to your inbox if you sign up for the newsletter. I am always open to feedback, suggestions, collaborative propositions, and simple Yo Eric how you doin type reaching out and connecting.
Because Life is too precious and precarious to not make the most of every single day.
I hope you have an empowered and creative week ~ Onwards Team Human!
My occasional collection of climate crises inspired ways forward using the arts and creativity to nurture community, awareness, and action.
Something that has inspired me recently:
I’ve become increasingly aware of more and more communities coming to their senses all around the planet and formally acknowledging the climate crises.
Combined with the growing momentum of youth-led climate protests, and a growing crises awareness in general, it speaks of movement in the right direction ~ our steady march towards the active participation of 3.5% of the population is well underway. People are waking up and I believe it’s a tide that can’t be turned. Another exciting development this week was the announcement of World War Zero, the campaign spearheaded by former Secretary of State John Kerry to align numerous celebrities, military brass, politicians, and other prominent personalities to draw as much attention to our collective crises as possible. It will be interesting to see what kind of traction they can gain.
This might very well be the heaviest book ever written. It’s certainly one of the most terrifying because everything in it is real. But it also might very well be one of the most important books ever written and should be required reading for anyone with a heartbeat. I’ve read psychological articles about how just bombarding people with horror stories about climate isn’t a productive approach as it just shuts us down, we feel overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, and we convince ourselves that there’s nothing we can do. Wallace-Wells approach is dramatically different. He uses prose to vividly depict the world we live in and where we’re heading, and somehow also motivates and activates us away from our complacency and towards a functional interaction with our plight. I’ll say it again ~ this should be required reading.
I can’t get enough of her voice. I love that I don’t understand a word she sings because then it’s easy to just let it wash through me and I just experience her music in a very heartfelt way. And it feels like the wisdom of the Earth is somehow being vocalized by this profound being. There’s passion, love, caring, and compassion in her music, plus it just makes me want to move.
What I’m working on:
Small Craft Advisory ~ The Spoken Word Music of Eric Geoffrey
I’ve been diligently working in my studio to polish off the collection of spoken word pieces that I’ve set to music, because I am looking forward to sharing them very much. Stay tuned for releases coming very soon!! They’re almost done…
Quote of the Week:
“…underneath all of this is the real truth we have been avoiding: climate change isn’t an “issue” to add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet. Telling us that we need to evolve.”
― Naomi Klein
Share this with your friends and anyone you think would be inspired by it! You can also get this delivered directly to your inbox if you sign up for the newsletter. I am always open to feedback, suggestions, collaborative propositions, and simple Yo Eric how you doin type reaching out and connecting. Because Life is too precious and precarious to not make the most of every single day.
I hope you have an empowered and creative week ~ Onwards Team Human!
A few months ago I reached out to a fair number of friends and family asking them to video themselves reading a line from a spoken word piece I wrote and then send it back to me.
Little did I know that receiving video clips from so many different people would also mean getting almost just as many different formats and resolutions and other little inconsistencies that ended up making it really difficult to stitch together a couple of dozen clips, and it took far longer than anticipated.
But in the end, all of the puzzles were solved and the result is something that I had been secretly hoping for the entire time ~ the whole is indeed much greater than the sum of its parts. My vision with having a community read of this piece was hoping that it would have greater power with humans from many different walks of life working together to create something.
I’ve been struggling with the fact that each of these questions needs to be asked and contemplated by everyone alive, and this piece was born from my own process of learning how to deal with the immensity of the issues facing us. Because when all is said and done, each of us will end up facing these things regardless of whether we choose to confront them directly or be taken kicking and screaming. I’d prefer head-on and eyes wide open myself.
As always, if this video does anything for you, or makes you think of anyone in particular, please share it and pass it along. The intention behind this effort is to help awaken and stir the pot because every drop in the bucket adds up, and if many of us start contributing drops then the sooner we’ll arrive at a cultural critical mass and begin to effect fundamental changes.
I am proud to present the first public TemplEarth creation, the community reading of “What Will It Take?”
If you’ve enjoyed your visit, consider signing up for the occasional newsletter that features new releases, inspirations, and other Tales from the Shadow Gallery…
A collection of climate crises inspired ways forward using the arts and creativity to nurture community and awareness.
Something that has inspired me recently:
I recently discovered that there is an existing network of circus artists dedicated to utilizing circus arts and performance as climate activism. The Circus Action Network was founded by Eliana Dunlap whom I don’t know yet but have completely admired her work in that particular digital age way, and in the analog world seeing her on Broadway a couple of years back with the Gypsy Snyder Pippin revival was a real treat. C.A.N. is presented as a supportive community “dedicated to fostering dialogue and exploration at the intersection of social and environmental justice and the circus arts.” Spot the f#@! on!! An endeavor right up my alley and I am very excited to learn of their existence and connecting ~ it’s confirmation there are kindred spirits out there being active along similar lines.
This is a revisit of an old favorite, but it feels incredibly timely as the dystopia portrayed in the book is a powerful vision of a climate-related societal breakdown. It is a coming of age story, but with the added dimension that the protagonist is creating and refining her own religion throughout the novel in the form of a series of poems she entitles “Earthseed”. The basic premise is that God is Change, and how she explores this concept and how it is illustrated throughout the arc of the story is quite wonderful. I felt extremely inspired reading it the first time 20 years ago, and am feeling an ever greater resonance this time around.
I’ve gone retro lately and have been really enchanted with the songwriting and sheer powerful delivery of David Crosby. I had the treat of seeing him live a couple of months ago and it took everyone by surprise (pleasantly!) how enchanting and profound his music and performance was. It felt so timely, especially songs like “Long Time Gone” with lines like “It’s time to speak out against the madness..” which felt like rallying calls in a time when people standing up is needed more than ever. What a wild circle, from the activism of the late ’60s and early ’70s to the present day when this body of music speaks louder than ever. Spotify has a “David Crosby Complete Collection” playlist which has been great on random play, though it really isn’t anywhere near actually complete. Still an amazing collection of songs.
It’s pretty hard to not have my climate crises awareness infuse everything, so I’ve challenged myself to use its increasing presence as a continual challenge to be more mindful, and in particular to transmute fears into mindfulness. Using this heightened awareness to nurture my inner observer and maintain my energetic balance feels like an empowered response that enables me to be more precise in my daily and creative choices. As I do have a Buddhist leaning bent I have been enjoying the community at One Earth Sangha who seem to have a tremendous amount of resources and reading available for explorations along these lines. And at this point, mindful inspirations are more than welcome.
“Acknowledging our love for the living world does something that a library full of papers on sustainable development and ecosystem services cannot: it engages the imagination as well as the intellect. It inspires belief, and this is essential to the lasting success of any movement.” ~ George Monbiot
I love this quote because it just spells out the difference between actions based on intellectually knowing something and being fully engaged as a human being. My personal experience has led me to believe that it is only when my mind is aligned with my heart that I am truly alive, thriving, and have the ability to grow. I believe our feelings (heart) are our true GPS, and if we honor that guidance in terms of what feels right (integrity) there is a power there that isn’t experienced in paths that have been dictated by thoughts alone.
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Because Life is too precious and precarious to not make the most of every single day.
I hope you have an empowered and creative week ~ Onwards Team Human!
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