#i have been trying to work in illustrator all day bc i got hired to do a fuckin explainer video lmao

[welcometogrouchland]

mm. Fear

[starredforlife]

feeling fuckin grody <3

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: May 15th Part 1

It’s been longer than usual since our last answer session, so I’m answering a ton of questions today! It’s so big I split it into two parts. Thank you for the patience on getting a response to these.

Thanks for reaching out to us with your questions and kind words ^^!

Sorry if this has been asked before or isn't something you can say but is there anyway for Cove to confess in step 4? I wanted him to confess in step 3 and followed all the steps to make him do it but ended up texting my family instead of Cove at the end.

Yeah, Cove can confess in Step 4!

Hello! I heard that Cove is on the spectrum, albeit undiagnosed. As someone who is ND, this makes me UNBELIEVABLY happy. I literally was brought to tears! Thank you for that!

Out of curiosity, will Cove be diagnosed in Step 4? I have a strong feeling y’all won’t make it a HUGE deal/make it out to be negative, so I’m not worried about that whatsoever! I’m just curious just he’ll off handedly mention it? Or will it just not be touched upon at all (which is ok!)?

Either way is ok, I’m just curious!

I’m happy it made you happy! Admittedly, Cove simply being someone with autism that grew up not being diagnosed was something I included for myself. I didn’t really think anyone would notice or ask about it, aha. But players did start to have questions about his traits, so I started to talk about it outside of the game. It’s great to see it get such a positive response and now I do feel like having it be a non-topic may have been the wrong choice and bringing it up would’ve been good in terms of having positive representation for that. I don’t know if I’ll find a way to mention it in Step 4 now, with how far along the game is, but I am at least thinking about it when originally it wasn’t something I really even considered.

Hey!  Just wanted to say thank you for Our Life.  It's been a bright spot and a needed escape in what's otherwise been a crummy year.  I know you just did a Q&A post but I figured I'd ask anyway.  Was just curious about Step 4.  Will it be similar to the other Steps in that it consists of several different moments or will it just be one long sequence?

Step 4 is shorter than the prior Steps because it’s just an epilogue rather than a full arc of a story. It’ll consist of scenes that all happen in a set row one after the other. There won’t be a collection of Moments to choose from. But it’ll still be very sweet and fun.

¡hola!, you see, first I want to say that I love Our Life! (°◡°♡) and I have 2 important questions, would Cove cry watching titanic? and what is the saddest part according to him? (sorry for my english) 

Titanic would make him cry. He’d probably think the parts showing people who aren’t able to make it to the life boats/are choosing to stay and go down with the ship were the saddest.

Hello, I wanted to ask how much you earn with creating games? Like is it possible to make a living? Thank you >< <3 

How much I earn varies a lot month to month based on Steam sales, Patreon backers, and how many projects are in full production at the time. It’s also hard to say how much I make historically, since that also changes dramatically year by year. But I do earn enough to work on these games full time! I really appreciate all the support that allows me to do that.

Hey!! I was wondering for the 18+ Our Life moment, will there be an emphasis on safety/comfort for all involved? I feel like there  would be just going off of what the rest of the game is like, but I wanted to ask 

Yes! Cove is a nervous boy himself and also super cautious about doing anything the MC doesn’t like, so clear consent from both is absolutely needed for anything to happen. It’s a conversational sexy times Moment with stops/starts so the two can talk about how they’re feeling, rather than a heat of the moment just going for it kind of thing.

Hey!! I was wondering how long the wedding dlc would be? Will it be broken up into moments, or just one big event? 

It’s one long series of scenes all in a row rather than a collection of Moments to pick from. It’s the shortest and the least expensive of all the DLCs. It’s not super crucial to get and those who aren’t into big weddings can totally skip it without worry.

HELLO AMAZING DEVS 👋 i am hopelessly in love with the worst guy ever (jeremy king) and because of this i have a really stupid question: does he really hate people who are nice to him? TvT he’s too cute to be mean to istg it’s a miracle JB held the urge to be consistently nice to him bc just look at his FACE he is so cute! thank you for jeremy’s route it’s so lovely (and awful bc he’s scum 11/10) it gave me so much laughs LMAO i hope you guys have a good day!! 

Haha, thank you. He doesn’t hate them but he’s certainly not pleased with them. Jeremy is either uncomfortable with or annoyed by people being sweet on him, depending on how they approach it. He’s far more comfortable with jerkiness. It lets him relax and he can be himself without it being a problem, since he’s also a jerk. He feels a level of guilt being such a little punk to kind people, not enough to be a better person but still.

Has Cove dated or been interested in someone other than MC? 

Nope! He stays single over the course of the game if he’s not with the MC.

Is Step 4 more mature? Or it's gonna be set in similar atmosphere as Step 3? 

Step 4 is a similar atmosphere as Step 3. Though, it’s actually kind of less mature-topic heavy than Step 3 since it’s just a ‘hey, let’s check in on the gang to see what they’re up to’ style epilogue rather than a story arc with serious issues.

will there be new music for now and forever?? or will the old our life music be reused? 

It’s gonna be a brand new soundtrack. We’ll be opening up a job position for that soon.

Hi, is it okay if we use the assets in Our Life (like the sprites) for fanworks or fan content content, like edits? 

Sure! Just as long as you don’t use the assets made by those artists to make money.

Quick clarification on Step 3 choices: I hope I didn't come off rude (because I LOVE the game, really!!), I was just curious because the intro threw me off at times. For example, you could choose how you felt about Elizabeth in Step 2 (Dinner), but during the Step 3 intro, it says that you got closer to Liz and I didn't get a choice in it. 

For the example, it can’t be helped that you’re closer to Liz in Step 3 than you were in Step 2 because she’s inherently closer to the MC regardless of whether you liked her or not in Step 2. Her feelings are out of your control and the game isn’t so dramatic that you can push her affection away and not let her bond with you, haha. But ‘being closer’ can still be relative. For some people maybe that means you’re best buds now and for others it might just mean you’re not fighting all the time any more. If there’s other parts you want to mention, feel free to let us know.

Did the illustrator for Our Life change? 

We have many OL artists! The main artists who set the game’s style haven’t changed, but there’s multiple other artists who help finish assets.

So Miranda's type is confident and outgoing, huh? So...does that mean Terri's her type?? 👀 

Haha, sorry for the late reply on this. As you might’ve seen in our post yesterday- yeah that is her type.

Hey! First, I just want to say I've really enjoyed how detailed OL got with gender identity and sexuality and how respectful the topics were handled! It's been so wonderful to play since the experiences could be close to my own (I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up at parts). Second, I was wondering, would future games explore the topic of polyamory? I'd love to see more visual novels allow room for that and I saw you've explored the topic before.

Keep up the amazing work! ♡

Thank you! We do want to include polyamory in at least some of our future projects. Floret Bond, which might be what you’re referring to when mentioning how we’ve explored the topic before, is on hold unfortunately. So right now I’m not sure when something might release or what will be the first game of ours to come out with poly relationships (we might do something else before FB is done). We’ll have see how things ends up coming together.

Hey um. I feel like im not allowed to ask this on the private discord cuz people will yell at me but why is there so much focus on OL2 and not finishing OL1 stuff? I like the new people but i kind of want to finish cove's story and get derek and baxter stuff first. didn't people pay for it? 

I’m sorry, I don’t understand entirely what’s making that situation a concern. There’s a channel in the discord for critique where no one is allowed to comment back. People can voice things they’re worried about without any way for others to push back on it. And the two teams working on the OL games are different. We try to post pretty often about how we’re hiring brand new people to start on Our Life: Now & Forever. The OL1 team is all still working on OL1 like normal. There’s only more updates on the Patreon for OL2 because the expansions to the first game are mostly script-based at this point while OL2 is just starting to get all its art, which means there’s a lot more to show off as previews.

Also, there was a Kickstarter for the first Our Life, if that’s what you mean by people paying for it. But one of the stretch goals was to start Our Life 2 early, before fully completing Our Life 1, so that the new game could be out sooner. It wouldn’t make sense to stop doing OL2 work because that would be going against what backers were promised. Maybe you didn’t get the full story before and hopefully this clears it up!

Hello! I know it's up to every player but.. What is your recommendation for playing order? Did you ever had any timeline  events planned? 

I didn’t make the events with a planned timeline. The events got made simply as I had ideas for them and then I just kind of organized them from left to right on the screen in an order to space out more dramatic ones between more lighthearted ones. Any order the player wants to go with is totally valid!

Hi! It's Step 4 a paid dlc or update? And how long it's planned to be? Ps. Love the game! 

The Step 4 epilogue is free! The Cove Wedding DLC does cost money, though. Those are planned to be shorter than the usual Steps/DLCs.

Will we have options for what sort of job the MC might have by the time step 4 takes place? 

Yeah, you can. It’s not super exact or detailed, but there are options about it.

Is there a pandemic in Our Life world, or is it just in a better timeline with no pestilence? 

Our Life is pandemic-free! That didn’t exist when we began working on the project and it’s not something we’d like to feature in this story now that it has unfortunately come along, aha.

Hi, you said that you can play tic-tac-toe or hangman with Cove in Boating if you're sick/scared but I keep getting tic-tac-toe. Am I doing something wrong?

After being sick/scared you have to continue to be upset/unwell. If you calm down and decide to just chill you’ll end up playing tic-tac-toe.

Hi, GB Patch! Since Lee was initially commissioned to only appear in two Steps does this mean she won't appear in the Wedding DLC? I really like her character so it'll be a little weird to not have our cousin at our wedding, aha.

She is gonna be in Step 4/the wedding DLC after all! We’re still working with her creator to make sure it fits with what they wanted.

Is Sunset Bird based on a real place? Asking for a friend, not trying to move there or anything. 👀

It’s based on small beach towns in So-Cal, but not one specific town you could go see in real life, I’m afraid. It’d be nice if it was real, though.

—– —– —– —–

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[nim-lock]

Listen. It’s been a month, and my memory has probably run for the hills. For KidLit Pride at Home I was on a panel with Kaylani Juanita, Andrea Tsurumi, and Kyle Lukoff, moderated by Adib Khorram. 

Long rambling post about kidlit under the cut

Here’s a link to the actual vid, let’s all pretend my voice is 2 octaves deeper, and here’s the paraphrasing of whatever I can remember of it one month after the facts:

Kaylani’s an illustrator who’s worked with Kyle (author) on this book ‘When Aidan became a brother’ which was about a trans kid going :0!!!! over his parents having a new kid, and trying to prepare to be the best older sibling possible. Andrea’s an illustrator who draws a lot of animal books. 

So the nice thing about hiring illustrators who are part of the demographics the text is about is because they add in details that would be unnoticed by general audience, but anyone who KNOWS will be like “ah yes!”. Kyle was talking about things like how Kaylani added a detail of this kid wearing suspenders and going ‘that’s gay’. Also ways we integrate identity is in the food & games & other cultural elements in the story; like a kid who’s black & asian eating a dessert w/ ube in it. 

I’m currently on a story in which the kid is part Mexican, and I do not mention this in the panel but I paid my Mexican American friend $50 to sensitivity-reader rant to me about their life. Doing as much research as you can beforehand is good, but also it doesn’t beat just asking someone to double check. Go get yourself a sensitivity reader. 

Copy/pasting this message I once sent someone bc it is a decent summary of my experience in the publishing industry

In traditional publishing, a person tends to get an agent, who then pitches the book to a publisher, and if picked up, the publisher then finds an illustrator for the book. The illustrator has nothing to do with the author; they do not start out as a team before approaching the publisher. All parties working on the book are paid by the publisher based on how they think it'll sell. In contrast, with self-publishing, the author needs to foot the bills themselves for the illustrator, for design, marketing, printing, and shipping. There’s a lot more creative freedom, but the cost is more difficult to balance. 

Also Andrea’s drawn a lot of chickens lately, go check out their chickens.

Last question sitting in my inbox; disclaimer; all views are my own, all experience is my own; it is not universal and I am one single person etc

Is it hard to get diverse books published? tldr; it’s difficult to get ANY book published but diversity can give brownie points in your favor? Consciously, many publishing companies are more aware that they need to publish diverse books—for example, there’s the push for POC, queer characters, stories about non-Christian holidays, stories about the environment, stories about real people—BUT a lot of hiring decisions are and continue to be influenced by peoples’ racial/gender biases. The Diversity Baseline Survey by Lee & Low Books (this company started by two Chinese Americans for books about POC & diversity) show that an overwhelming proportion of people who work in publishing are cis, straight, white, non-disabled women.  So. The authors/illustrators (and the interns) could be diverse af but the people in the offices?? Those are the people making decisions. Like with many things, getting published does rely on your network & who you know—if you’re an author it’s exponentially more difficult if you do not have an agent or are not working full-time in an office within the publishing industry. Most companies don’t take unsolicited manuscripts and you can only get to them if you have an agent.  Having diverse characters may increase your chances and make it easier to pitch, but doing the legwork of trying to get to know people is needed either way ^^. Rn you can do this by signing up for events online (and maybe emailing people afterwards thanking them—don’t try to promo yourself too hard when just meeting folks) to begin building the connection. 

OH YEAH also re: publishing so white—publishing companies WILL pay you 3 months late. This is why many people don’t do it as their primary source of income—they assume you’re middle-class enough to not immediately need that money. And the biannual SCBWI events?? Incredible for connections, also assumes you’ve got at least $700 lying around. 

I’m really appreciative of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks & #OwnVoices movements, I’m glad that I as a trans Asian American person I can work on queer books. I feel pretty welcome in the space I’m at. I hope that some day the diversity of the people working in this industry will be saturated enough that i can work on stories that aren’t necessarily about being queer. The statements ‘the push in publishing for more diverse books is wonderful’ and ‘publishing companies need to reflect that sentiment in their own employees’ are both true at the same time. 

Aii bye :-0

[lavenderferns]

not to be that person but capitalism sucks I hate having to sacrifice my physical and mental and emotional wellbeing to be paid minimum wage to function I hate having to work to barely live and I want a career in the arts so bad but it’s exhausting trying to be happy with hobbies and pursue a career in the arts when you spend your day being pummelled to your core working 2 retail positions like. Idk. It’s not fair and j feel like I am wasting my life. It makes me so depressed and there’s nothing j can do bc COVID. Even if there wasn’t a pandemic I wouldn’t know what to do. It’s soul crushing and I was already anxious and nervous and fucking weird before COVID and now it’s just amplified that so much that talking to coworkers is so difficult and jointed and I always feel like I’m the odd one out at work because I’m sensitive and emotional and freak out a lot and managers don’t understand what it’s like to be mentally ill and have a personality disorder so you come off as a bumbling idiot and idk. Like there’s literally. No solution I spend 2-3 hours scouring sites with art jobs and have applied to over 70 and haven’t heard back from any of them and I just want to lay down and cry. I don’t want to worry about money or working I just want to be happy and make art. I don’t want to worry about if I should buy groceries or my medication or toiletries and have to juggle that around. And my mum is super sweet and offers to help me and I feel like I’ve failed her and myself whenever she sends me money because I can’t keep myself alive even working 2 jobs (which I can’t even work at right now because of lockdown ans idk what to do because I don’t have an income and I’ve been selling stuff on fb marketplace to get some spare money ) like!!!! Fuck!!! And it’s just crazy hearing all the benefits my mum gets working her job when as an artist you get???? Nothing???? Like if you’re a freelance illustrator good luck trying to afford dentist appointments and specific medical care stuff and therapy and just. Idk. The world just seems so harsh and cruel and COVID made so many things so much more evident - I knew that capitalism doesn’t care about me but with COVID it’s made it so much more apparent that I am just a silly little cog in a silly little system and I am so easily replaceable that if I died or fuck up enough times it would be like welp! Wipe this slate clean and let’s hire someone else! We can’t let this bring our energy down we got to keep focusing on profit! That’s what they would’ve wanted! 🤪 and I know this is over share-y but like I remember when I took 2 days off of school when my dad died and how fucked up that is. My teachers wouldn’t give me extensions and I had to hurry back to classes to finish projects and finish essays and I never properly grieved so it’ll boil over when I’m least expecting it and I’ll have a full breakdown in the middle of a simple task because something reminded me of him. I should have taken a week, a month, a year to process my father dying but school said if you won’t be here we don’t need you! Especially with how my dad passed away (I don’t want to get into it) but like!!!!!! It’s just so traumatic and I’m just so upset and angry and it’s not directed at anyone so I take it out on myself and I’m like you’re a waste of space you’re wasting your time you’re not talented you should give up on your dreams because no one cares and no one wants to see or read the things you’ll make you’re attention seeking and pitiful and childish and blehhhhhhhhhhhh bleh bleh bleh bleh

[blookmallow]

hello everyone i realized i wasnt gonna get through today without finding something to keep my brain busy so ive been designing a horror theme park in my head all day here r my ideas so far

- there would be two main theaters, a ghostface theater and a pennywise theater (except. imagine they have creative names, ) 

- ghostface theater is a 3D show theater modeled in the like NOW SHOWING: STAB (FILMED IN STABOVISION) tacky retro horror aesthetic from the second movie 

it would show a park-exclusive Scream 3D short, and also would sometimes be used for upcoming horror sneak previews and other shows, along with indie horror spotlights 

sometimes a ghostface park character would sneak in among the guests and sit next to you (all the main slashers would be around as characters to do autographs and pictures and stuff but i think it would b fun for them to also like. peek out of windows or sneak into shows so you never know where they’re gonna be) 

- ghostface also gets a corresponding gift shop for Scream as well as just all things retro horror, vintage posters, art stuff made from horror vhs tapes like these, stuff like that

- the pennywise theater is a circus tent that houses a stage show, decorated with vintage style PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN posters, old dusty flickery carnival lights, creepy pennywise fortune teller machines, etc 

the stage show features highly elaborate puppetry culminating in a HUGE deadlights pennywise about to consume the audience until the Losers appear at the last second to vanquish him, encouraging the audience to shout him down with them to help defeat him 

- also has a babadook photo spot made to look like the pop up illustrations (and sometimes a babadook character actor visits for pictures) 

- nearby there’d be a midway with carnival games, maybe those balloon squirter clown games with classic pennywise, something for Us maybe a mirror maze or something. a sandwich shop called The Sand Witch

- im neglecting most of the major slashers bc i dont really care about them lmfao maybe freddy kreuger gets a funhouse or something. all i remember about him is the wiggly arms and the blood geyser thing 

- id want to do themed outfits for workers like disney where like everyone in the pennywise area are circus performers and scary clowns, some are vampires some are zombies etc 

- i cant think of what to do with childs play, id absolutely want to have a darkride for something but i cant think what would translate best. it’d be cool to have like an interactive animatronic chucky somewhere, like you can ask him questions and stuff (however that roz animatronic and california adventure works, like how she comments on specific guests on the way by so clearly someone’s controlling it but it still sounds like her) 

- i dont generally care about fnaf at all but i think it’d be great as a real freddy fazbear pizza place with the animatronics performing “normally” (but slightly Wrong. big inspiration from these voice acting clips where they’re just a little glitchy and sometimes its like ‘wait what did he just say’) but at certain times there would be staged “glitches” where the robots suddenly go rogue and like. the lights go out or a curtain falls when its “not supposed to” or something and one of the animatronics DISAPPEARS!! and its like “uhhh NOT TO WORRY, FOLKS, EVERYTHING’S ABSOLUTELY FINE...I...uh...[stage whispering into a walkie talkie] where is he. FIND that bear, NOW-” [freddy’s little song starts and you see his face flickering in a window right behind them]

maybe have actors planted as “guests” who get dragged off 

- then theres the shining’s Overlook Hotel and the Bates Motel and my first thought was to do some kind of walkthrough haunted house attraction in the overlook but maybe those are better suited to just being themed actual hotels connected to the park. definitely want the overlook hedge maze though

- anyway also a graveyard garden ft a garden of poisonous plants and a garden of carnivorous plants complete with an animatronic audrey II and other monster plants but also would have real poisonous/carnivorous plants as well 

- and a little witch apothecary shop in there with like. witchy themed candles, teas, bath stuff, etc. an Oddities Emporium somewhere that has weird morbid collectibles from around the world, bones and preserved jar specimens and stuff. some things would be like real collectors items or intricate reconstructions some would be like, models/soap that looks like an alien head in a jar/etc 

- there would be a Dracula’s Castle attraction designed like a classic haunted house ride ft the universal monsters, and a corresponding vampire themed fine dining restaurant with live music at night (or. un-live) 

- maybe some kind of mad science lab themed bar with drinks in test tubes and beakers and stuff

- jigsaw escape room challenge themed for Saw but obviously not ever putting guests in any real danger, im trying to think of how you could recreate the. like. it’s like an escape room puzzle, but when you figure out the answer there’s that moment of “oh fuck. oh god fucking fuck no” when you realize what you have to do, how could you recreate that in a fictional/for-fun setting where the guests know they aren’t really in danger and you’re not actually putting anyone at risk. like maybe gross but safe challenges. i dont know. maybe some kind of system where if you “die” you’re out of the game and there’s some prize if you “survive” to the end so someone might have to “sacrifice” themself but no one’s actually getting hurt 

it’s like how do you balance “you wanna scare people” with “you want them to understand they are in fact actually safe” 

- a special effects workshop that showcases some behind the scenes makeup and practical effects, makeup artists doing horror face paint/etc for guests

- a ghostbusters themed blaster ride (the ones where you shoot targets n get points) (we have ‘ghost blasters’ at the boardwalk here lmao im not gonna pretend that wasnt where i got this idea. look up ‘sally corp ghost blasters’ if you’re interested in that) 

- i really want to say ‘and a Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pies restaurant’ but would that be Too gross. like obviously it wouldn’t be a Real Cannibalism Restaurant lmao but would the theming put people off too much 

anyway thats what i got hire me to design your theme park i have no experience and no capability of actually realizing any of this but boy do i have ideas 

[theseadagiodays]

March 30, 2020

Kids Arts Activities through Quarantine

As BC’s spring break officially ends, I am very aware that working parents, with kids at home who now need online schooling and extra care, are extremely hard hit by the current changes.  I also realize that Adagio may not at all reflect the tempo of their lives as they juggle these new responsibilities.  What I hear from my friends in this situation is that Prestissimo Agitato (agitatedly fast) probably sums it up far better.  So, I am hoping that some of the kids’ arts activities which I list below might help give parents even a few tacet moments.  

This accelerated pace also relates to health care workers, grocery employees, and so many others who are working harder than ever during this period.  Conversely, people who have temporarily lost their jobs, aging people who were enjoying the well-earned luxury of post-career social time before the virus hit, and many others now find time spooling out before them in a sometimes overwhelming abundance.  And while I am fortunate to be able to sustain a considerable amount of my work during this unusual time, I relate more to both the challenges and privileges of being faced with increased space in my life.  In fact, I have always been aware that my choice not to have children has meant that my life’s rhythms are quite different from many of my peers.  So, I take this reality as an onus to use the extra capacity I have to contribute where I can.  And writing this blog is one way I am attempting to do that.

As I share this, I am inspired by the words of one of my favorite writers and thinkers, Rebecca Solnit, who in her Harper’s article, The Mother of All Questions, poignantly sums up the role that people who choose not to have children can play in their communities.  “There are so many things to love besides one’s offspring, so much work that love has to do in the world”.

So, for children and adults alike, I offer Lunch Doodles and Lockdown Diaries and Puppet Shows and Haiku.

At 1 pm EST, every day, Mo Willems, livestreams his Lunch Doodles classes for all to follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmzjCPQv3y8

Or, if you want to get your hands a bit dirtier, you might try this homemade playdough recipe to make the rainbows that people are sticking to their windows all over the world to spread hope.

https://www.pre-kpages.com/rainbow-play-dough/

In Saskatoon, Wide Open Children’s Theatrehosts livestreamed storytelling and puppet shows at 10 am CST and bedtime (7 pm CST), every single day, on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/638733030283792/

Christchurch artist, Stephen McCarthy has created a free downloadable, Lockdown Diary, that will keep anyone busy for ages:

https://www.mylockdowndiary.com/?fbclid=IwAR0G3KgCfRfnr2FXhEIumzR2SigQB3bEYXfOu1m9m0g8tqL2RnQPoprJL2w

The New York Times has created a digital coloring book with a truly timely image.  You can play with their online pen or print it out and do it old-school analog style.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/23/opinion/covid-coloring-activity.html

And finally, if you want to distill your feelings about this unique time, the simple container of a Haiku works very well for this.   The 3 lines form is made up of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, & 5 syllables.  The invite it is to write your own, video record yourself reading it, and then send it to Quarantine Haikus: https://thebridgepai.org/quarantinehaikus/

Here’s mine:

cherry blossom tree

as colorful as ever

like nothing has changed

March 31, 2020

Resilient Quarantine Artist Projects

The life of an artist is one of constant reinvention.  And these times call for just that.  As I’ve shifted from a flute performance career, to directing a community arts non-profit, Instruments of Change (instrumentsofchange.org), to creative writing, I have sometimes struggled to define myself by my job description or title.  However, if I have learned anything from this necessary process of unravelling my identity from my career achievements, I have learned to connect more deeply to who I AM rather than what I DO.  This process of redefinition has led me to recognize that, at the core of everything I do, I am an arts advocate, first and foremost.  So, this is the title that sits most comfortably for me.  As an arts advocate, I am constantly seeking ways to increase public perception of the value of the arts and artists, themselves. And this eloquent article (https://madmimi.com/s/708e601) which my friend, Juliana Bedoya shared, perfectly illustrates why artists are ideally equipped for dealing with our current uncertain circumstances.  To summarize Andrew Simonet’s piece, Dear Artists, This is What We Train For:

1.    Artists are accustomed to charting unfamiliar territory.

2.    Artists are excellent at “working with what they’ve got” - to quote Duke Ellington

3.    Artists are keen observers, and they use those powers to create expressions of resonance and relevance.

4.    Artists thrive at adapting to constantly changing rhythms and flow.

In only the few brief weeks since quarantined living began (although I know that this has seemed eternal for some), it has been remarkable how many resilient strategies and projects I’ve encountered in my artist community.  So, here, I’d like to share just a few initiatives that are happening in my own backyard.

In Vancouver, the Little Chamber Music Series That Could has launched their Isolation Commissions, where individuals, for only $200, can hire solo artists to film a 4 min video of themselves performing something which reflects the impact that this extraordinary social situation is having on their artistic practice. It might be an improvisation, a favorite piece, a work that brings comfort, or a new composition in progress. Incredibly, by March 31st, already 30 video performances from 30 unique artists had been successfully commissioned. Interested “commissioners” can contact Mark Haney at: artisticdirector@littlechambermusic.com to arrange their desired artist partnership.  And you can learn more about their innovative program here: http://littlechambermusic.com/isolation-commissions/

For years, the Sunday Service has provided live improv sets at Vancouver’s Fox Cabaret, and they are not letting self-isolation stop that tradition.  So now, every Sunday, at 9 pm, Cyber Service livestreams collaborative improv, from each of their respective homes, on their You Tube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2A8-xxVUssHFIr_WDt4Gyg?view_as=subscriber&fbclid=IwAR2ojZlCDLZHjkN6qq0iDKtm4mPkI9dQvoZeGVv9IWpYX85zDfq0lKePegA

Instruments of Change is also playing with our own adaptive strategies as we anticipate the potential cancellation of our free, outdoor summer concert series, Street Beats.  In 2018, originally invited by VIVA Vancouver, I of C launched this series to make a wide variety of top-rate live music accessible to all, while celebrating our city’s vibrant public spaces.    So, in an effort to continue meeting those objectives without the possibility of large public gatherings, Street Beats sound engineer, David Spidel has proposed Street Beats - the Stream Beats edition.  His idea is to drone video record several Vancouver parklets and plazas, and then green screen these behind various livestreamed performances of Vancouver artists.  We should learn, in the coming weeks, if VIVA goes for his slightly wacky concept, and we’ll keep you posted.

April 1, 2020

Lockdown Laughs

This year, the internet exploded with announcements that there should be a moratorium on April Fools Jokes, as we are all living a far worse hoax than any one of us could ever devise.  And while I’m usually a huge fan of this prankster holiday, I fully understand the sensitivity of the ask. So, instead of tricks, I thought I’d just include some good laughs for much needed levity.

As a dentist, my Dad spent his life glaring into terrified people’s mouths, so humor served him well to put his patients at ease.  It is no surprise, then, that he has injected daily doses of giggles into my quarantined existence with his reliably hilarious links.  Here’s my favorite so far:

https://www.theloop.ca/watch/news/strange/this-couple-s-hilarious-horse-dance-has-gone-viral/6144325579001/1660977952457681249%20/your-morning/

Masters of lockdown living, people in China have perfected the art of making themselves laugh in hard times. And watching this American comedian’s stand-up routine, which weaves in crazy Tiktok videos from China, was perhaps the hardest I’ve laughed since this whole ordeal began:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/608485/tik-tok-quarantine/

Also, my local arts community has come through again, with a livestream version of their weekly Thursday night comedy show, Jokes Please, that’s hosted at Little Mountain Theatre, only blocks from our home.  It airs every Thursday, at 9 pm PST, but remains on their Facebook page for future viewing, too. https://www.facebook.com/jokespleaseshow

April 2, 2020

A Simple Verse

Some days, a few artful lines can go a long way.  In life, as is now evident more than ever, there are many changes over which we have no control.  And while we often wish we had the power to say or do something that could shift those things with which we are uncomfortable, this is not always possible. However, what we can control is the steadiness with which we face these uncomfortabilities.  As we all struggle with feelings of powerlessness in these uncertain times, TS Eliot reminds us that patience and faith will get us through.

I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; 

Wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; 

There is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. 

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: 

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. 

                                                                                               T.S. Eliot

April 3, 2020

Physically Distant Connections

There is much to be learned from trees.  For those who have not yet read the wonderous, Hidden Life of Trees, in it Peter Wohlleben describes the remarkable communication system between our forest friends.  Without language or physical touch, these living beings can support, nourish and love one another in magnificent symbiosis.  In fact, trees are masters of social distancing, as he illustrates here:

“The average tree grows its branches out until it encounters the branch tips of a neighboring tree of the same height. It doesn’t grow any wider because the air and better light in this space are already taken. However, it heavily reinforces the branches it has extended, so you get the impression that there’s quite a shoving match going on up there. But a pair of true friends is careful right from the outset not to grow overly thick branches in each other’s direction. The trees don’t want to take anything away from each other, and so they develop sturdy branches only at the outer edges of their crowns, that is to say, only in the direction of “non-friends.” Such partners are often so tightly connected at the roots that sometimes they even die together.”

Ironically, another term for the crown of a stand of trees is corona. So, let us all follow their lead and trust that our separateness is what will keep us together.

And, if you’re keen to read more about the wisdom of trees, the latest Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Overstory by Richard Powers, weaves a dense and motivating tale that explores what drives radical tree activists’ passion to save our dwindling forests.  Powers is not a man of few words.  On nearly every tenth page of his 512 page tome, there will be a word that you will likely have to look up.  But trust that you will be the smarter and more moved for it.  This has been the most powerful read I’ve had in the past couple of years, emotionally and intellectually.  So, if quarantine living happens to leave you with some extra time on your hands, it’s definitely worth it.

Pratityasamutpada is my favorite Sanskrit word.  (And yes, as nerdy as that sounds, I do have a favorite.)  It means the interdependence of all things.  And since physical distancing began, nothing has made me feel more connected to my fellow citizens than the nightly 7 pm cheer for our health care workers. So, I will leave you with a video from this week that captures the essence of interconnectedness beautifully.  https://youtu.be/BS8dMC1sfXc