I officially finished grading. The school year is over! I won’t be adjuncting in Chicago again until the fall. Instead, I’ll be filling my summer with film shoots and editing work. Come August, I’ll be off to Pittsburgh for an artist and teaching residency. I’m there this weekend visiting the house I’ll be staying in, exploring the city, and meeting with people to prepare for fall.
Time passes, the waiting phase is over, and the creating phase is beginning. Every time I find myself sitting on my hands waiting for the next production period, I’m reminded that things will not always be this way. When the process gets into full swing, I’m inevitably reminded of the same. One day I will be on my hands again. This fluctuation is a part of the work.
When I’m bogged down with classes, I recall something one of my favorite instructors told me: “I’m a better filmmaker because I teach. I’m a better teacher because I’m actively making films.” All of this energy goes somewhere, even if we don’t know where right away (or for a very long time).
That being said, I am very excited to be in a heavily generative phase. Here are the notes from this week.
“The truth is this - when I am with someone who is looking for something I have and I can give it to them, whether it’s knowledge about how to do an improv scene, whether it’s knowledge about how to write an adventure game, whether it’s knowledge about how to run a game of D&D - the look on someone’s face when they get it and it becomes theirs as well… That’s the whole thing. The lighting of a second candle does not diminish the first. Knowledge is something that when you share it there’s just more. There’s no scarcity. And watching someone learn is one of life’s greatest joys.” Words of Wisdom from Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Summer is my opportunity to learn whatever I want, including things that have no direct correlation to my classes. On the drive to Pittsburgh, this included listening to “History of Philosophy Without any Gaps” by Peter Adamson. Episodes are less than 20 minutes and play like a series of well-crafted stories.
Urban Farmlife: One of the local cats returned to the chicken coop! This time it wasn’t mom but an orange cat we’ve spotted in front of our apartment from time to time. He seemed to have no issue with me getting close enough to take this picture. He saw me. I saw him. We went on with our evenings.
Some of my favorite stops while traveling tend to be oddball museums. In Pittsburgh, I stopped by Bicycle Heaven and was greeted with more bikes than I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. Museums like this inspire my artistic practice just as much as the Big Ones, sometimes more. Unlike your staple art, history, and science museums, these little holes-in-the-wall are often free!
While at the museum, I met this “tree of heaven” or “chouchun” (Chinese for “foul smelling tree”) with two bikes absorbed into its body. Considered a noxious weed and invasive species, the tree has a long history in medical uses and silk production. Farmers call it the “tree of hell” for its stench, its suckering habits, and its ability to resprout vigorously when cut, making it difficult to eradicate. Perhaps a bit too human-like in its resilience for some. This one was beautiful to look at, especially the two bikes born 30 years apart and married by its bark.
The Trouble with Wilderness is musician Ben Cosgrove’s attempt to desegregate our understanding of the “natural, untamed” world and the “unnatural world.” In his words: “Pretty much everything on the planet is a part of the built environment at this point, so we’d better start learning to appreciate it.”
I was introduced to the work of underground comic artist Vaugn Bodē at a dinner this weekend. His work is best seen first-hand. While he died young, his legacy inspired artists ranging from Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings to the graffiti movement as a whole. You can never really know who your art will touch.
“The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subjects can be woven into the community that learning, and living, require.” Words of Wisdom from Parker J Palmer and The Courage to Teach.