Filed under CreativeProjects

NY Helps NY Sandy Benefit Variety Show I’m the MC

NY Helps NY and Dixon Place will host a Variety Show to benefit Super Storm Sandy recovery efforts.

Come one come all, I’m the MC, we’ll have a ball!

It’s  a Variety Show for sure… with Puppeteers, Bands, Circus Acts, and a World Famous Tap Dancer!!  Several recovery organizations, including Occupy Sandy, will be on hand to field your questions, and most importantly to take donations.  This benefit is about raising funds, and awareness.

I was out volunteering with Occupy Sandy in the Rockaways last weekend.  People are hungry, they are cold, and they need our help!

Tickets are $15 and are available here:  http://www.wantickets.com/NYHNY  (or at the door)

There is also a $10-15 suggested donation to a relief organization present at the event!

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Express It Forward—the HOW Conversation (3minVids on Creative Thinking)

Join Ula Einstein (Visual Artist & Creativity Mentor) and myself, as we get to ” the HOW Conversation” in the latest episode of her video series  Express It Forward.

In the last video we discuss the nature of intention, and setting your intention, along with the why and how.  Essentially we cover the HOW of putting your intention into action!

I’ll say this, and then you should just watch the video.  The mind is very powerful, and if left to its own devices can cause a lot of chaos.  Did you catch that?  The mind isn’t just one hunk of thinking mass.

You have what is called a self-aware choosing mechanism, that many other sentient creatures do not have.

You can choose what thoughts you focus on.  You can create the thoughts to focus on.  And in the HOW of following through with Intention, you are constantly coming back to what you have already recognized as a path of potential.  Over and again, despite what came of your day before or not at all… you come back to your Intention in words, and as we discussed previously—in Visuals.

Like chiropractic alignment, you snap back to your Highest Intention.  At first, you will probably extol a high degree of effort, but eventually you will cultivate more permanence of intention.  More than just positive thinking, you will have trained your thought process.  You will have re-routed its direction to a pattern that is generative.

I hope you enjoy the “The HOW Conversation.”  And if you’re curious enough try out what we are suggesting. Please let me know what thoughts around this approach arise for you.

I wish you every bit of success in your endeavors, together we can do this! —Douglas Everett Turner

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Express It Forward—Intention Part 2; Visualization & Action

Express It Forward offers up 3 minute video clips investigating Creative Practice—its all about the process!

When the mind is doing its excess chatter, it’s the visual that will be so appealing.  The mind works in mysterious ways… play with it!

In Part 1 of Intention Ula Einstein and I dialogued about setting the Intention.  In Part 2 we talk about ways to hold the Intention.  Visualization & Action!  A visual board (we show you ours) is a way of bringing you back to zero; fresh, and your intention re-energized! Leave a comment: How do you “visualize” your Intention or what might that look like for you in practice?

— Agent of Disruption!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Express It Forward—Intention Part 1; Deciding & Defining (3minVid on Creative Process)

Express It Forward offers up 3 minute video clips investigating Creative Practice… its all about the process!

Make a statement, take a stand, and then let’s see where it goes!

There is a big commitment with an Intention.  But don’t let that deter you, in fact, don’t sweat the how just because you’ve stated the What.  Intention is a defining moment, true… and it is also a continual process.  Leave a comment: What has been your relationship to Intention?

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

REWIND: Intro to Express It Forward (3 min vids on Creative Practice)

When Ula Einstein and I began Shoot, Show, and Share for Express It Forward we knew what our intentions were, however, not what they would look like 100% in action.  It is our engagement with creativity in the raw.  I would say an important tenet of creativity is to always keep in mind that it is a messy process, it is supposed to be that way—it can be no other way.   Creativity requires trust, and a willingness to experiment.  We jumped right in to investigating the relationship with our (as in all of us) creative license; the things that we need to nurture, roadblocks to creativity, and habits to look out for.  All with the intention of  ’getting out there’ with a fresh relationship to our creative processes.  Express It Forward is about creativity-in-motion—not just the talk, but the doing.   Now with three shoots under our belts, we thought it necessary to rewind and touch on the Who/What/Where/and Why of Express It Forward.

(as always Join the conversation! …find us on facebook: facebook.com/ExpressItForward)

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Work in Progress—Reading Series April 22nd

Spring is here and as always it’s an inspiring time to be alive… to live, write, read, and listen!  Sunday April 22nd, at 7 o’clock will be WiP’s 3rd installment.  Details are listed below for submission instructions.  Spread the word…

Here comes spring, in comes summer… where are you in your writing process?
Join WiP this sunday as these writer’s share their works in process with the world.

Noelle V. Dor—is an explorer of life and the literary arts. She writes, reads, blogs, edits, dabbles in graphic design, and facilitates conversations that illuminate personal truth. She aims to one day build a healing book garden (public library + reading room). www.noellevdor.com

Mikhail Voloshin—is a software engineer in Google’s advertising division, so all those banner ads that pop up all over the web while you’re trying to browse for story ideas are partly his fault. He grew up in Chicago, spent the dot-com boom living in Seattle, and has been in New York since 2008. He has no formal writing experience, but believes that a well-written story, like well-designed software or a well-crafted machine, is a matter of artistry and engineering.

Brady Evan Walker is a Louisiana native. He writes stories, screenplays, songs and all manner of word-related errata. He is currently at work on a novel; he blogs at theholeinthinair.com and basteonatruestory.com .

**WiP is gaining some structure as it moves along… I think it’s a great pairing to finish the night off with a writer reading from her/his published work, I believe this demonstrates trajectory.**

This month we have:

Nick Bryant’s—writing has recurrently focused on the plight of disadvantaged children in the United States, and he’s been published in numerous national journals, including the Journal of Professional Ethics, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, and Journal of School Health. He is the co-author of America’s Children: Triumph of Tragedy, addressing the medical and developmental problems of lower socioeconomic children in America.

Image

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Express it Forward–Perfectionism (a tiny little box) [3 min Vlog]

Express it Forward is the brainchild of Visual Artist Ula Einstein.  The Vlog is co-hosted by myself, Douglas Turner.  We publish 3 minute vlogs; dialogues on keeping Creativity in Motion.  Something slowing your creative process down? Chances are Ula and I have or will address it in our powerful 3 minute talks!

In our latest vlog, Ula and I discuss perfectionism!  Perfectionism is not a standard.  Did you know that?  Perfectionism is a tiny neat little box, where not much happens.  Albert Einstein thought it mad to expect new results for a problem, when you’re using the same mind that created the problem in the first place.  Perhaps if you are creating for the status-quo, perfectionism might work… a tiny box is just fine.  But what if you are trying to go some place new?  New is unknown, and you’ll never get there waiting for perfection. A leader, a visionary; someone daring to go beyond the status quo, has to be willing to make mistakes!  Are you that person?

Latest Comments on YouTube:

“I enjoyed both the light touch and important message about creative flow in this short video from Ula and Douglas. Nicely done!” R. Lobe

“Every person can benefit from pondering on and acting on this. I’m going to show this video to the high school students I teach art to today. I’d like to learn from their comments.” G. Rabinowitz

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Work in Progress—Reading Series April 22nd

Spring is here and as always it’s an inspiring time to be alive… to live, write, read, and listen!  Sunday April 22nd, at 7 o’clock will be WiP’s 3rd installment.  Details are listed below for submission instructions.  Spread the word…

Image

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Express it Forward—Stop Holding Your Breath (3 min Video)…Cultivating Creativity

That’s right Ula and I are at it again!  Give a person an iPad, and a desktop loaded with iMovie, and they think they’re the head of their own production studio.  With their name spelled backwards, it’s off to change the world.  Perhaps we may not change the world, but a few minds would be nice.  This second video is “Stop Holding Your Breath.”  

What are you waiting for?  There could be any number of reasons we wait excessively to move on something.  I think what’s really important is that we recognize when we “breakdown”; holding our breath, so that is what Ula and I discuss in this episode of      Express it Forward.


If as they say, life is filled with unexpected twists and turns, is true—then we had better get ourselves equipped for the dawn of a new era.  When we are holding our breath, we are simply lacking confidence in our next move.  And, who could blame the person who just lost their job, of supposed security, and can’t seem to get back on track with things.  In this episode we only touch the surface.  However, what Ula could be suggesting is the need to understand our desires, and fears on a deeper level.  How deep?  That is up to you.  But this is a process, like all things.  You haven’t stopped moving, and evolving, neither are you participating in that process fully.  It’s like driving on a highway, without touching the steering wheel.  

What it means to Stop Holding Your Breath might be to pull over, look at your hands, or to have a co-pilot take the wheel.  The highway is still serving it’s purpose, but you are taking a pit stop, and also monitoring yourself.  You are taking the time to step back and get perspective.  If you can be o.k. with the fact that fear keeps you from it, you can then begin to breath because you begin to take steps which you now can readily identify as the opposite of fear.  The steering wheel isn’t so hot from the sun after all, and you didn’t cause the car to spin out of control either.  Relax, breath.  Stop Holding Your Breath.

Links:

Express it Forward on YouTube  YouTube.com/TheUlaEinstein

Ula Einstein’s “Daily Stimulator”  ulaeinstein.com


Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Work in Progress Reading Series Sunday March 18th

And off we go… WiP is on to the second installment on Sunday, March 18th.  The first event went really well.  I think we can all agree… Is there any practice more confirming of the intuitive skills a writer engages when crafting their beloved, than reading it to an audience of peers?  In a constructive environment this practice is ultimately giving, as it reveals what lands.  A few nights ago I attended a CCNY writer’s gathering in the East Village.  It’s hosted by writer and City College Adjunct Professor, Nicole Treska.  I was able to speak with her, and glean some of here special insight.  She feels that if your work hits home for you in a visceral sense, it will probably have that interaction with the reader.  Other wisdom that went whizzing through the place was the recognition of differing writing practices.  Some writer’s evolve their work privately, while others take their practice out in to the world.  

Bios:

Jennifer Sears has published work in Ninth Letter, Fence Magazine, and the Boston Globe.  She is finishing her novel and a story collection.  She performs, and teaches belly dance at NYU.  For the curious: the orientalish —An inquiry into Orientalism by a dedicated practictioner and uneasy lover of the “Oriental Dance” Arts. 

Wah-Ming Chang has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2006, 2010), the Urban Artist Initiative, the Bronx Writers’ Center, and the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Her fiction has appeared in Mississippi Review and Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture, and her nonfiction in Words Without Borders. She is working on two books: Mule City, a novel about ghosts and mules populating the Yangtze River; and This, Too, Is Life, a meditation on the intersections between life and death, influence and creativity, joy and wonder, biography and autobiography. She cohosts the Sunday Salon reading series. In addition to her literary work, she is experimenting with two ongoing dance/performance projects that explore the voice of the body.  You can follow, or join Wah-Ming on her journey at wmc is now here

Joshua Charles Boardman writes fiction, works in Rare Books at the Strand, and serves as the Fiction Editor for Moonshot Magazine. He’s influenced by Classical literature, the modernists, and is really turned on by experimental form in fiction.  Josh’s Tweets: @chupacabrando 

Bruce Mason was conceived on the Mekong River.  Weighing 10 pounds and 15 and one half ounces at birth, he believes children are the future.  Teach them well and let them lead the way.  He splits his time between Brooklyn and hiding underneath Esther Bell’s bed.

Mansu Edwards is a self published writer from East N.Y. Brooklyn.  He’s written “The Disappearance of Hate”, and the one of a kind inspirational cookbook which encouraged people to achieve their dreams through positiviy and action.  In the spring/summer of 2012 he will release “B.A.Y.” Vol.1, a collection of short stories, and other writings. Mansu on Twitter @Ohassa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,