Storyworth’s question of the week this week was: What have you changed your mind about over the years?
Hmmm . . . I’m thinking . . . I’m thinking . . . rewind stop rewind pause . . . yeh I got it . . . I used to be a hardcore “cowboy” . . . not the horsey kind . . . a renegade . . . a singleton . . . you know . . . like the Lone Ranger or Buck Rogers . . . self sufficient. . . had all the bases covered.
Mind change? Nothing actually . . .
But . . . at some point I realized that it was important to have backup . . . assets that I could source when the need arose . . . like equipment . . . info outside of my field of endeavor . . . like the man from Harvard said, “You need a goombah . . . a godfather.”
Enter TCAP . . . not the dragon (Bruce Lee) but The California Arts Project . . . T-C-A-P . . . the task of the Project was to develop a measurable curriculum for the 4 disciplines of “art” . . . dance theatre music and the visual arts . . . yep . . . no problem! EZPZ.
Wait a minute . . . there’s another aspect of the story . . . four more letters of the alphabet . . . R-I-M-S . . . acronym for Riverside Inyo Mono and San Bernardino . . . counties in the eastern ESE region of California . . . mountains desert and the “inland empire” (densely populated semi-civilized area).
So like I said, “EZPZ” cos I already had a lesson plan that addressed the issue . . . the abc’s of drawing.
20 educators representing the 4 artistic disciplines were selected from the four countries to develop measurable curriculum for the California Department of Education . . . the post hole diggers were of the opinion that you couldn’t measure the “arts” academically . . . you either “had it” or you didn’t . . . John or Jane Doe couldn’t be “taught” how to dance act sing or “draw” . . . they only could do things like spell read add subtract multiply divide cos we have “tests” for that! Proficiency tests . . . alphabetical A – F . . .
Around 1995 I developed a lesson plan to “teach” kids how-to-draw . . . my methodology was based the use of shapes lines the alphabet and color . . . Hokusai and a book published in 1940’s titled “Anyone Can Draw”.
Well anyway . . . on to what change occurred or dint . . . fast forward to the next to to the last session of the RIMS t-cup collaboration . . .
The FINALS!! . . . we had to present our academically measurable and scalable lesson plans . . . the lesson had to be adaptable for grades K thru 12 and for college level nerds.
Then came the “commercial” . . . part 2 of the “final”. . . we were divided into 5 groups of 4 people each . . . 5 X 4 equals 20 . . . right?
Well we weren’t “separated” into 5 groups we got to pick or choose a group . . . everyone scattered like chickens squawking and stepping on one another until we sorted ourselves into the necessary number of groups of people . . . my group consisted of me ‘n Julie . . . a guy in a wheelchair and another guy . . . . kinda like outlaws . . . social lepers . . . I don’t remember seeing the guy in the wheelchair during the meet-ups but there he was . . . then “they” . . . the review panel . . . they gave out the products that we would use for the “commercial” . . . we got box of Arm and Hammer baking soda . . . the other groups got detergent or household items . . . everyone was acting flustered and flapping about . . . but not us . . . theater guy in the wheelchair said, “I got the words . . .” Julie was just standing like a kindergarten teacher on yard duty and the mystery guest he dint say nothin’ kinda like the “tar baby” . . . y’all remember Uncle Remus? . . . so I said, “I got the song and dance.”
There was a time limit . . . 5 minutes to come up with an appropriate “jingle” . . . a bit of choreography and the voiceover . . . for a 60 second commercial . . . stage left . . . enter the song of the Volga Boatmen . . . duh . . . what else?
We had arm & hammer why not go for the hammer and sickle?
I substituted “arm and hammer” for “yo heave ho” and we (the chorus) raised our fists mimicking the big muscled arm logo the product box then swung our arms down like we were hammering . . . meanwhile the theater guy was spewing words touting the product.
We finished “designing” our commercial in three minutes . . . I raised my hand to let the panel know we were finished . . . theater guy was timing himself . . . the panel said, “You’re finished already?” looking a bit astonished . . .
When you got you got it and we had it by the short hairs . . . tight!
5 minute time period expired and the other groups were kicking and screaming for more time . . . needless to say since we had finished first we got to go first . . . yep . . . smoked those detail loving green jackets . . . our commercial made it in the 60 second time limit then we sat back and watched the show.
Funny how the four of us “knew” we were so compatible . . . but after being around each other or close proximity to one another we musta picked up the “vibe” and when we had to pick and choose it was like those magnetic dogs . . . positive negative polarity nose-to-tail no thought we just fucking “knew” where we belonged.
When you surround yourself with people who are assets and not Ph.D’s or CEO’s . . . the sky has no ceiling so it can’t fall . . . that’s what I learned . . . you can’t always do it all y’sef . . . of course . . . you still might have to take charge . . . be a cowboy like Rowdy Yates on that t.v. show “Wagon Train”. . .
You know “. . . head ‘em up move ‘em out.”
The RIMS TCAP experience gave me a new perspective on how to conduct “business” . . . changed my approach on how I handled situations . . . but like I said . . . you still gotta be a cowboy . . . sometimes . . . and nothing’s really changed ‘sep my POV.
Slava Ukraini!!