People are actually trying it! YAY! Thai Red Curry Recipe

A few people asked! So here is the recipe- it's my first stab at writing, some slight inconsistencies with video- but general feel/foundation is the same. Let me know how you do!

Here it is on the blog as well! So glad you're wanting to try the recipe. I've not written one before, so here is a first stab. Let me know what questions you might have!

Ingredients:

1 small can of coconut milk
1 larger can of coconut milk light
1 small jar (60ml) of red curry paste
2-3 tbsp of fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves (if you don't have these, I just throw in limes)

1 large onion (I prefer sweet yellow, but some use red also)
1 head of garlic
3 bulbs of shallots
1 yam
1 large carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
(most of these veggies are optional, its whatever you have on hand or want to use)
Optional- Chilli Paste
Optional- Thai Chillis
Optional- Jalapenos
3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

I also like to add:
1 small handfull of cut chinese long beans / plain old green beans
1 can of baby corn
1 small handful bunch of chopped asparagus (if I want to get fancy)

1 block of medium soft tofu (optional)
3 chicken breasts (I prefer 5-6 boneless/skinless chicken thighs) Or any protein you like- (I've used shrimp, mussels, clams, lobster, and beef- but I generally don't like this recipe with beef- it's too easy to overcook it).

salt and pepper

thai basil or regular basil
mint leaves
cilantro
lemongrass (you can buy a small jar of frozen and prechopped lemon grass that works great)

I know it seems like a lot, but again, so much is up to what you like, so you can cut most of these out if you prefer.

Instructions:

I prep my protein (if I'm going with a meat option) by taking about 1 tsp-2tsp of the red curry paste and rub it all over the meat so it can marinade for a show while. You can totally do this over night, by mixing the paste with some chillies, minced garlic, and onion.

I chop up my mirepoix (the onions, carrots, celery) and in this case, also the yams into even chunks. Turn the oven on to medium high, pour in the olive oil, as the pan starts to heat up, toss in the chunks of veggies. These harder vegetables take longer to cook, so I let them sit in the pot for about 5 minutes, with minimal stirring- so long as they don't burn/char on the bottom... too much. The idea is to let them soften slightly, and start to cook.

While it's cooking, I chop up the shallots, smash the garlic into tiny bits, and dice up the peppers into even chunks. I then toss these into the pot, and stir a bit more vigorously- you don't want your garlic to burn to black.

Once I've added that in, I chop up the green beans into manageable chunks, or if using regular green beans, I snip off both ends and try to cut them into relatively even pieces. They go in the pot.

Once the aroma of the garlic and other veggies start to rise, I mix in all the red curry paste and stir vigorously. You want to get the paste all over the veg, and not clump or burn. Once the smell starts to rise, I pour in both coconut milks. You should start to really smell that base thai curry aroma around now.

I stir a fair bit until things appear to be well mixed and even. At this point, I'll add the tofu, that is sliced into even cubes, and I'll strain the baby corn and add that in. (I usually buy baby corn in a can- again cutting the baby corn into similar sizes).

I then leave it to simmer by turning down the heat slightly.

In another pan, that marinating protein I have been saving is going to be used- again- in a different pan. I like separating my meat from the curry in the even that you need a vegetarian/dairy free/gluten free option, by being able to set stuff aside. I fry up the meat until it's JUST cooked, even slightly under- because it's going to sit in the curry stew for some time, you don't want to over cook the meat. With seafood, you can just toss them in, and wait until they open. Once ready, I set the protein aside.

Once all the veg are in, and it's starting to smell up your kitchen, I add my other aromatics. i.e. the lemon grass, basil, I usually save the mint as a garnish, but sometimes i'll toss it in earlier. Someone told me once that if you slap the herb leaves in between your hands, you activate the flavour in the oils. I dunno if it's true, but I slap them anyway. I also add the bunches of cilantro and potentially mint.

Finally, when ready, we combine the meat and curry, mix it up a lot, and taste. I then add some fish sauce, to my tastes, and use it as a tool to help with balance. Then to make sure we are balanced, I add in the spicy chillis. I also add the kaffir lime leaves. again if these are unavailable- I squeeze in lime juice and toss in the whole lime(2).

Then you let it simmer for about an hour, or put it into a crock pot on low for a few hours.

Then you serve! I think it's best with rice. The curry tastes even better the day after. Good Luck! LMK how it goes!

Asian Thankgiving WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!

Hey Team,

It's me again- obvi. Sometimes I really wonder about us bloggers who intentionally use conversational tones in our writing. As an actor- I am very used to talking to myself, and imagining a scene partner who responds to me- and gives me imaginary impulses to react on. One thing I do like about blogs is that it's like I'm constantly on an imaginary stage- picturing everyone naked- and being nervous- #awkward. LOL.

Anyway- to blogging...

So- I'm glad people enjoyed the Episode 1. Score. It was fun to make, Episode 2 is here. Also full of some pitfalls and mistakes, but overall enjoyable. HEAR ME OUT FIRST lol- the biggest concern with Episode 2 is really... it's like 3 episodes in one. So part of my production schedule was to meet an artist/week, and I realy wanted to have 2 solid videos down and ready for screening before I officially made that happen.

So I had lined up: Justin Sheppard from many local music groups including the popular group Fur Eel, and no lead vocals for the Bureau that play at the biweekly Regina hotspot Flip on Hamilton. Then I was going to work with Nate Baker, fiddler extraordinaire and collaborator with many of my colleagues- also cute as a button. THEN I was going to film with Jon Neher, keyboardists, musician improviso highly sought after all over Sask. Then I was going to film with Leo Keiser, bioartists, bassist, musician awesomeness.

Everyone cancelled.

Correction, there were a LOT of scheduling conflicts - and bumped days and coordinating.

So I decided to do them altogether at the same time, and it was just around the time of Thanksgiving, and I realy wanted to get another episode finished before I left for Victoria- the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word... So I decided to host an Asian Thanksgiving.

For my menu- Ginger Scallion Lobster- because during Chinese celebrations- especially weddings- lobster is a popular dish and SO EASY to make, but messy to butcher- which you shal see!!!! Bourbon Chicken (Drumsticks because I legit - dislike Turkey, you need way too much butter and fat to keep it moist #nothanks #darkmeatalltheway), Five Spice Beef Stew because it's so tasty, lasts for days, and is easy to make. And for desert- Almond Toffee Croissant Bread Pudding with a Coffee Caramel Ganache/Drizzle #enoughsaid.

My other big strategy was that all of these dishes took drastically preparation times, so I could start them days/hours apart which made it manageable- because despite the offer of help- with the limited time I had... it was going to be a solo venture.

My other learning/teachable moment was FILM and MEMORY. I ran out of film- SO SORRY TEAM! My ipad kept filling up, and as mentioned in my previous post, my inability to make it to campus to upload stuff, and my challenges to transfer files quickly filled my iPad. So you'll see a lot of rushed stuff- because I was also insistent of getting all the lobster butchering outtakes and extra footage. But I think it's worth it.

Dinner was a blast. And everyone was so darn good looking.

I think my favourite part of dinner filming- and I know this sounds narcissistic- were the short clips of people eating and chatting. I took a lot of pride in those moments, where they enjoy the food- so.... Screw this degree- I'm going to culinary school- kidding. I think what really worked for me in this filming was the honesty of all th people- including myself. Nothing felt "put on" and everyoen felt really genuine. I generally hate to watch myself perform, but this video in particular was one of the few that I got to see myself doing sohing th I loved, and that....was nice to watch.

So the bad news is, because I ran out of memory, I wasn't able to show you how to make the bread pudding, but I promise it looked good :) I'll post an image up and you can see the result. It tasted great, and I will do a follow upvideo that shows the recipe. For the art portion we ended up just jamming, and that was awesome. The singin was off key, and timing was off, but we were honoring an age old tradition of group song so I stand by it. I will also post another poem with my desrt video comign up.

So what you're going to see now, is ONLY the prep videos and some of the dinner. I have another 10 vids coming that are just the dinner. EEEK.

KK- here you go- enjoy!

Johnny.

And here is the twitter link to my Almond Toffee Croissant Bread Pudding

OMG I'VE BEEN MAKING MOVIES!!!!!

Hey ECI 831 and the WORLD-

I've been away- Sorry :( But I've got some great news and learning etc. So as some of you may have been reading, you know that for my project I was going to create a HOW TO Cooking Channel on youtube called "Poets In The Kitchen." To research and develop this project, I spent a week literally watching hundreds of Youtube Cooking Channels. In future posts, I'll include some links to some of my favourite videos. Additionally, I watched a range of amateur to professional videos- I was joking to my students that I now, sound like Gordon Ramsay (except without the cussing).

Anyway, I never realized how much work actually went into making online videos. I've had so many struggles these past two weeks with rendering/exporting, and uploading videos. Additionally, I was trying to find artists and figure out what I was going to teach. But the work paid off... I now have a production schedule for the term, and a bunch of confirmed artists, and my first series of videos is up.

The first series is actually only 1 session, broken up into 8 x 10 min videos. What I learned here is that I can/should/will condense the show way more. So the next video which will be posted this week will only be 30 mins long. BTW- My first video series is up! You can see the imbedded videos below :)

So what happened?

For my first video, I enlisted the help of my good friend Jeff Moser, the first artist I collaborated with upon my arrival to Regina, and a long standing colleague who is doing some amazing things. I also entreated my new friend Michael Andersen, a scholar, athlete, model, and all around great guy to join us for dinner.

For Dinner, I decided to go with a crowd pleaser, my Thai Panang Coconut Red Curry. I chose this as my first dish to share because its easy to make, often a bit scary for people to make, and it can be very versatile in terms of what you put into it. Also, it's relatively affordable, and since it is a stew/soup base, it can last several days. I really wanted to focus on an accessible dish that my ideal demographic (university/young adult/adult folks) would actually try.

There was definite rehearsal and preparation, I started to analyze and breakdown what I noticed about pretty much ALL cooking video channels, especially the ones done professionally. Some key things which I tried to incorporate/consciously disassociate myself from at various times:

1)  Always add very positive qualifiers/adjectives to your recipe/food list/ingredient list, because if we say "this AMAZING kale" vs "kale" viewers will believe you
2) Every few seconds, decrease the level of challenge of the task at hand "As you can see, this is easy... anyone could do it... even one with such a culinary ineptitude as you."
3) Show the food, then show your face, then show the food and your face, and then show your food while smelling and tasting it
4) Have good looking people in good shape and form in your videos to show that "if pretty people eat my food, it must be good" (this is only sort of a joke, and absolutely NOT why I enlisted the cast that I did- they actually are my friends, and my friends simply tend to be attractive INSIDE and Out :)
5) Include somewhere the health/nutritional value of what you're making- and defer to the experts. And if what you are making is NOT healthy- the GO DEEP into how decadent, rich, sinful, and DESERVING you are of it.
6) DO NOT PROFESS AUTHOURITY if you ain't got none. Circumvent the trolls and haters, and open the doors for actual constructive feedback so that You the creator can learn and grow. I think the biggest part of GROUP learning and managing your publics online is making sure that you are as receptive as you give out.
7) With youtube, show your mistakes, don't sensationalize them, the more you make, the more human you become and the more accessible you become.

For a first run, I found many mistakes, that I actually ended up doing AGAIN in my second episode, but Episode 2 is a special case, I'll get to that in my next blog post.

SO- my goals with "Poets In The Kitchen" was to find a balance of really showing everyday folks making food, the time it takes to make the food, and the fun you can have while doing it. I wanted long shots, simple takes, and a lot of candid camera time. I was playing with the balance between being a "host" to the camera, and practicing that voice with a casual hang out with friends. My first mistakes were an assumption of interest from viewers.

1)We haven't established any sense of "character" or hook for the viewers, so they don't necessarily want to hear about our lives.
2) Some viewers really just want to get the recipe, and do the cooking, not experience this tween-age reality show.
3) This isn't meant to be a reality show persay.
4) I've studied social media, and youtube in the past, and as with all things internet-related, things change. I actually hadn't created videos like this- ever, but I thought some principles would be the same- not so. Video length, and upload time are huge factors.

That was probably my biggest mistake, and the main reason why it's taken me so long to post things was that it took hours to do even the simplest edits, and more hours to get them uploaded online. I was travelling a lot, so I was unable to get to campus where the bandwidth and upload times were significantly faster.

The part that got me the most worried was the art. This is meant to be unrehearsed, and candid, and so personally I don't think I did the BEST job, but I also wasn't sure how effective the content would be, and if it would help/hinder the spreadability of the media, because obviously- an eventual goal is subscribership/shares/and distribution. I want EVERYONE to make my tasty food, get a cookbook deal and a show.

To make the videos and edit them, I stuck to the use of my iPad/iPhone, and as little of my MacBook as possible. Part of my practice and research is creating media with personal mobile devices. We're continually inundated with messages of intuitive user-friendly apps and functions, and my work looks heavily at diy, user generated, audience/viewer generated content- so as a methodological framework I wanted to stick to that. This became a big ordeal for episode 2, but more on that next blog.

Overall though, and the reason I'm going ahead with my first attempt, I think I hit most of my goals. I'll know better for Episode 3, and I want to honour and respect the work that my guests did, and recognize that they did great, despite the systematic challenges that some of my oversights placed upon them. At the same time, I want to honour the parts where they excelled, again due to the same constraints that I established.

So that said, here is are links to my first episode, and if you continue to follow the channel, you'll see the rest of the videos! Woot!

Thanks for watching, subscribe and share!

Johnny.

Thoughts from Rick

I wanted to write something quick before I forgot, and I'm stuck waiting in the Center for Kin, while my room mate is in some lecture about Buddhism.

First- to expand on my first thought about corporate sponsorship in education.:

I need to read up more on group growth vs individual growth. Rick said a whole lot of terms that are relatively new to me- as I live in my performance art world vs. teaching world. But I think technology is great when it, as he says, "helps [teachers] facilitate education to meet how the students are learning" though I don't think it's realistic to say that they will replace teachers. As the discussion went on- I thought more about how technology impacts the content. Specifically sponsorship/involvement from corporations.

So some folks totes quoted M. Mcluhan "the medium is the message" and I'm gonna twist that a bit and say, "What happens when the brand of the medium is the message?" My example was... a thousand years ago when I was in highschool- Rogers TV offered to put flat screen TV's into every classroom and boost our media "program" to allow us to show tv broadcasts of our morning student news and announcements, but in return we had to watch some Rogers stuff everyday.... and of course- see Rogers branding- every-bloody-where. I don't think many schools jumped at this, we certainly didn't- though I will say that I think we turned it down more from the fear of technology than the... social/brainwashing implications of it.

I went to uWaterloo... kind of the home of engineering and mathies... to a lot of people. Our alumni created Blackberry (formerly RIM) blah blah blah, and continually Google, Microsoft, EA, Blackberry, Lucas Films come to school and throw jobs at people. I'm not bragging, I'm not actually proud of this- but I'm happy for our grads who get it.

But what it made me think about is access and outcomes. A few people on our thread talked about measuring outcomes, and a big part of that comes down to what our students expect to do with their education, and the realities of what they will do with the education.  For uWaterloo grads, a lot of our hard science & tech students aim to move to Seattle, Silicon, San Francisco, etc. And the tech they use/develop/learn are directly in line with their trajectory.

On the other side of this.... I recently got to travel to some more... remote towns in Saskatchewan- and found these schools where they were BLINGED OUT (even more than some buildings on campus) with smart boards and wifi, etc. Unfortunately- half of the faculty didn't know how to use this tech, and there was one or two lone (often young) teachers who were charged with being the "tech" teachers who knew how to run this stuff.

In an attempt to keep up and be state of the art... I think they missed the mark on staying present with how and what the students learned. I think there is something to be said about staying present with your students vs. staying current with tech... to be hip if nothing else- or to take advantage of what funding you can get from whoever funds you.

And somewhere in between these two, or perhaps on another side iof its own, Dr. Charity Marsh from UofR taught some guest lectures in some of the Creative Technology classes that I was TAing. She discussed going to Nunavut, and how remote schools from remote "fly in only" cities used youtube and social media to connect to each other and share information.

Ugh- I  feel like I'm dribbling into some mass stream of consciousness- I guess this is my 'flow' but I'm continually unconvinced by this notion of balancing and using technology or assuming that anyone is an authourity or an expert. I feel like if we're actually going to adapt to the learning styles of the students, we need to actually continually talk to our specific students and negotiate how they learn.

I predominantly teach performing arts and fitness- theatre, movement, music, dance, yoga, etc. And it's definitely been impacted by technology- not only in reassessing the patterns/habits of how students connect to each other, but also in how they consume the content that we teach. I'm totes not bragging, I'm just saying it's tough because I have to be transparent when I talk to them and not pretend to know their pup culture references or latest hashtags or assume I'm still cool. LOL, not saying that's what anyone else is doing, but I think I'm saying that- THEY can tell when we struggle, and somewhere in that struggle we still have to be Experts.

Ahhhh, I'm an extrovert- thanks for reading- I need to type it out to realize what I'ms saying, and I'm saying- we need to trust the experts and set outcomes that match how they learn.- even if it's sad.

I was teaching a lit class in Canadian Theatre and none of these students read the plays or tried to critically look at the content... correction... very few of them did. In an honest (unfrustrated way) I asked, "what do you think you'll be doing when you graduate? don't you think you'll be the future of Canadian Theatre?" to my devastation- the answer was almost a resounding "No." Yay liberal arts classes where you have to foster and recognize why they learn something to create realistic standards while not compromising the quantity of information that they leave retaining.

So leading to my second thought- I'm saying that the students are, in fact, the experts to their own individualistic learning, so how do we prepare and offer content for them to learn and exist somewhere between edutainment and education on demand?

For many years, the performing arts- specifically acting, recognizes that we can NOT separate ourselves as artists and our own histories from the characters we approach and put on. (Check out Heddon on Autobiographical Performance). One thing I am excited about is that like the Brooks Ted Talk, and some of the other folks Rick mentioned- we need to recognize that we bring an emotional, historical self to our experiential learning too.

Shit that was long- I hope that counts for two blog posts. Maybe I'll just split them..... ha....

OK so fun video for this weeks blog- actually inspired by Brooks and this lecture it's.. less funny, but a video that really influenced my journey through tis MFA. The video is by Renny Gleeson and the proliferation of mobile devices and our "obligation to engage"> Check it out!!!

POETS IN THE KITCHEN!!! My proposed upcoming educational video...

Hahah, something you may not know about me is that I'm a budding foodie. Both my parents worked in professional kitchens for many, many, many years. My mother's family had a restaurant in Vietnam, and my dad worked in one of the best fine dining steakhouses in town. I'm subscribed to many cooking channels on the youtubeees and often cook for my friends. The feedback is generally really positive.

Thing is- I have a really hard time cooking for myself- so when I'm alone- it's totally ramen/kimchi/boiled egg combo... which is tasty... but not too thrilling. I love entertaining and cooking for friends. So last year, I simply would post my menu for the night up online and say if friends wanted to join- they could. They just need to bring ingredients/something to share (food/art/drink). For my birthday last year, I had a POETRY Potluck. It was awesome.

A fair bit of food that I cook, and a fair bit of food that I order can be seen on my instagram: johnnydtrinh So go check it out if you don't hate online foodies :) If there is something you like, let me know! And I'll post the recipe or make a video of it.

Something else that people may not know about me- I'm a poet. I'm a feature presenter this year at the national conference/competition: Canadian Festival of Spoken Word as a panelist, and also as part of the Regina Poetry Slam Team: Word Up. We have events every month, and one is coming up this FRIDAY! So come check it out at the Creative City Centre on Hamilton Street @7:30 pm.

I think I'm going to mix poetry with this cooking channel.... OH Shoot, lol, I was so inspired that I forgot to actually write what my proposed project was. I'm going to make a video series on how to cook... whatever comes to mind or is suggested. I'll probably do some baking, and some frying, and stews or something.

But to 'set myself apart' and add something extra, I think I'll also include some spoken word by having poets/singers/guests/friends come over and join me each video. I think I can realistically make 1 video either weekly/biweekly.

But it should be fun! And my video for this post:

Those people you love to hate- food instagramographers:

EC&I831 OMG my feeds are overloading

Hey everyone- this is my blog. I started this at the beginning of my grad studies back in 2012! It's been an intense 3 years, and I am finally finishing my degree this coming spring. I have three more courses left before I graduate, and this is not my first online course, but is will definitely be the most involved.

If you swim through my blog you'll see entries for other courses, but also you'll probably see a trend of viral media and art pieces that pertain to my research and performance interests. I'm really interested in (not just mildly interested in- but REALLY interested in) how we engage and 'perform' ourselves online and/vs. in 'real' life.

I think what excites me about this course is that it looks at education in a relatively new way to how I was taught. Another lifetime ago, I was the communications officer for the University of Waterloo in the Student Life Office. I oversaw the communications that went out internally to students, and connected  a lot of the other departments. I often faced struggles with people who were resistant to social media etc. One area that really got me fired up was this idea that the EQ (emotional intelligence) in young people faced degradation from lack of real human contact, where my belief was that it was simply changing. I admit there is some loss in some areas of interpersonal skills and relationships, but there are also some gains in the nuanced and intuitive ways in which people communicate via sms/twitter/vine/insta/etc.

Over the next few posts you'll probably learn more about me and what I do, actually... I might just do that right after this post. Oooh- some ideas are popping in!

But my focus for this particular entry today was a question:

Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by the sudden ONSLAUGHT of posts and notifications in their newsfeeds? I am so stoked that this class is HUGE and there seem to be so many engaged people, but DAYYYUUUMMMMM.

I'm a big social media kid, and total Apple fan. I usually have my macbook within a few minutes of me, my iPad within arms reach, my iPhone in my pocket, and my pebble watch bolted to my wrist. I teach yoga, theatre, and sometimes dance and work at starbucks. The pebble watch is awesome for controlling my music in class, and a sneaky way to not have to check my phone during my shifts making fancy lattes. But I feel like my wrist has become a perma-vibrator. Because of the nature of the course, and not wanting to miss posts- I haven't figured out what notifications settings I want to put in place, but this is getting excesssssiiivvve. Though, not in a bad way, it's pretty neat to meet you all.

So I'm going to make post number 2 in a few minutes because I just thought of what I want to do for my project.

Chat soon!

Johnny

Also- most weeks I'll probably post some funny social media related parody video or something... maybe a twerking video. But for this week- since we're talking about education and group shared knowledge- a video about Yahoo Answers:

OMG these next 5 minutes really did change my life....

http://www.upworthy.com/loneliness-illustrated-so-beautifully-you-will-need-to-tell-someone?c=upw1

OK OK, Damn it. I just got knocked onto my ass 0_o after watching this video. Argh, I really hate upworthy sometimes, but the link above opens to an animated video that in 4 minutes captures what I've been trying to say about loneliness in a way more articulate way that I am.

There is so much fodder to fuel my project from this short clip, where the creator Shimi Cohen- a graphic designer, blatantly calls out social network as the innovation of loneliness and how our need for self actualization (thanks Gardner) has led to an alienation of real relationships and thus leads us to being addicted to the virtual leaving us lonely- the largest sickness facing the western world away.

Because we are in major control of what we can put online- we have way more control that allows us "to edit, and present ourselves as we want" thus losing the risk of spontaneous and real interactions.

He says that social networks grants us "fantasies"
-we can focus on what we want
-we will always be heard
-we never have to be alone

and he then culimates this amazing video with a new mode of thinking "I SHARE THEREFORE I AM"

and then bam, my face started to melt with his final thought.

"if we're never able to be alone, then all we'll ever know is how to be lonely."

He speaks directly to what I'm trying to say that we've become so dependent on our networks that we are indeed compelled to continually feed content to our online profiles, and are more focused on our narcissistic selves than real connections. Because the potential for us to maintain relationships over great distances and distract ourselves from "the ones we're with," and our growing addiction/need to always feel up to date with other online content, it's incredibly difficult to disengage and re-evaluate our relationships, and thus understand what it is to be alone and inversely- what it means to be in a relationship/not alone. (relationships being any form of relationship with other people).

I really want to succinctly capture the messages in this video somehow in a live (performative) way. I need to figure out a way to make this happen.

I keep saying it over and over again, and I don't know what I am trying to say. I've been lonely my whole life. I was raised by lonely people who only spoke through yelling or hitting. I've been so lonely that I'd take abuse, rape, drugs, and debt for a few moments of love. But funny enough, I've never given up art or education for a relationship. I've never given up a career for a relationship. Though I've run away to those things so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

I work 5 jobs. I don't need to work 5 jobs. (OK I might need to work 5 jobs- grad school isn't cheap), but so many of those jobs are because I need to have some sort of human interaction or I am left lying naked in bed alone all day, too depressed to walk out into the sun, or crying alone in my stark, almost sterile, mouse infested studio with little more than facebook to keep me company.

I can't speak enough about how this video captures me. And the people I want to address.

How do I make this happen?

These next 10 minutes will change your life....

http://www.upworthy.com/watch-what-this-make-believe-girl-means-to-1000-sexual-predators?c=reccon1

The above link is to an upworthy video. I wasn't sure what I should post, and was supposed to look for inspiration. So of course, upworthy.

First of all, I have to say- I don't subscribe. I'm not a subscriber, and any site that promotes to continually change your life, or change your week, or flip your perspective upside down- leaves me leery. It just seems like propoganda, but propoganda that feeds on some part of us that needs to feel good for a short while.

The video above is about a group in the Netherlands who created a CGI 10 year old Filipino girl to chat with men online, and uncover sexual predators. I find this video inspirational on a lot of levels. Here's why:

1) Activist are using art in the pursuit of justice, and vigilantism.
2) This video is going viral.
3) This video is calling for names and supporters- and despite people becoming more wary of what they petition or sign their name to online, and the apparently value of how little information someone needs of you to find you, people will give up their information for free.

I want to go back to my earlier point about feeding parts of us that need to feel good for a short while. I wonder how much upworthy videos actually change the way we behave. I wonder how much videos like it, instead simply feed our apathy. If we look for something inspirational, and while on yet another mindless hour of facebooking, are fed just enough words like "you won't believe what she did..." "these next 10 minutes will..." to get us to watch something for a few minutes, potentially sign some online petition or share the video... and then we return to our mundane unchanged behaviour- feeling good that we promoted a good cause. yay us. As opposed to going out and doing something.

Just how many videos do we need of how "women are changed with photoshop" and "ideals of beautify are flawed" for us to realize that... those things are true and we have a choice to change them?

With #itscomplicated- I want people to change. I want the videos of the amazing spoken word, and music and sounds that come up to be spread like wild fire on youtube. That's not my intention, but it'd be amazing if it did. So i wonder if I need to employ these online marketing tactics to bait viewers? But knowing I employed these devices (if I did/do) would that dilute what I'm trying to say?

Also- I am inspired by the sudden relationship we form with these people in these videos who pour out their hearts for 2-4-10 minutes and suddenly we feel like we know them, empathize with them. We do this all the time with tv and film, but the difference with youtube and online videos is that these people suddenly seem more "real" and less like "actors" or "characters" though we'll never be able to tell for sure- until they tell us.

What I do love about upworthy is its ability to mass market- empathy. Whoever is behind it, pulls on heart strings and understands how we work online. This is something I do want to be able to do better, not so I can manipulate viewers or users, but to... honestly... better communicate our content.

Canadian Festival of Spoken Word 2013

Canadian Festival of Spoken Word 2013- Montreal

So I know I’m supposed to talk about one specific artist, and why their work excites me- but seriously, seriously, I can’t think of a more inspirational and transformation art experience (that I JUST HAD) at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Montreal this past November.

So quick backstory- I just spent the month of October performing in a play by playwright/poet/mc- Donna Michelle St. Bernard. The play was titled, A Man A Fish, it was an amazing experience- because the script, the words in the play were so heightened and poetic that I was essentially immersed in a month long study of an epic poem. The day after the show closed I was on a flight to Montreal- to an even bigger epic poem experience.

The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is run under the auspice of SPOCAN: Spoken Word Canada, the national organization that fosters growth and development of and within the Spoken Word Community. Up until now, I’d thought of spoken word as small cafés with tiny stages where poets would share their words to snaps and claps, or under street lights, and in other moody speak easies. I’d been privy to any number of Def Poetry Jam episodes on youtube, and Upworthy videos on Facebook, etc. but discovering this sizeable organization of poet elders and young poet activists pushing the limits of the artform, and mindfully maintaining the importance to openness and acceptance in the community was awe inspiring.

With this post, I’m going to highlight a few artists/events and performances that really changed my perspective, and opened up ideas and possibilities for this type of work. I’m hoping to somehow process this and incorporate it into my thesis. OK, so let’s do this…

First I’m going to talk about- the workshops. OMG the workshops. I was left thirsty because I was just NOT having it. The first workshop I attended was “safe(r) spaces” facilitated by the amazing Ryan Thom, a trans identified poet/performance artist, who I am in talks with collaborating with in the near future, and Janice Lee, a renound poet from my old hood in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. These lovely people worked hard to promote an open and safe space where the bathrooms were gender neutral, you could speak in English, French, or ANY language you wanted- even if it meant that NO one else could understand you.

A huge chunk of the beginning was establishing ground rules of respect and understanding- and that there were always people ready to listen to us if something in the workshop triggered us. Then came the round circle introductions. I’m always amazed at how soft spoken and shy some artists can be. I of course, was loud, brimming with energy and this may or may not have served well in this environment. But enough play by play, the heart of the workshop was problematic for me. At the core, the discussion was on creating safer spaces- especially in slam environments and new slam communities- with a focus on supporting and fostering new poets.

A significant amount of time was spent on shared (horror) stories of racially, sexually, discriminatorily bent performances in past events where audiences did not react well, and some of the challenges faced by the host/moderators who had to either step in or manage the situation. I felt like too much time was spent on validating the challenges of people facing a hard time, and not enough time was spent on speaking about the issues and how to deal with them.

We moved into a role playing scenario, and my benefit of the doubt was… given, to a semi-improvised scene where “actor A” portrayed a trans audience member who spoke to “actor B” about a fictitious performance she gave- where she essentially excluded trans-identified females. It was tough to watch, and tough to take it- because there was no time to debrief. We committed to discussing the issue further, talking about what strategies could be used to help that situation, and broke into two groups. Unfortunately, the groups were divided by experience (those who had been running spoken word events and programs, and new comers to the scene). Both groups began speaking in another round table of sharing where we “were” how we were doing, what we were feeling. That unfortunately took up the rest of the workshop.

Was it beneficial? Absolutely. Ryan and Janice were fantastic at listening, mediating, and facilitating. Unfortunately we never got INTO the discussion- and much of the session was spent on story telling of traumatic experiences. So why am I talking about this sessions so much. Because the core of this workshop strikes the heart of what I want to talk about. The point where catharsis meets art, and focusing on the artform of spoken word. Spoken Word is a style and practice that, quite frankly, CELEBRATES struggle/difference/trauma. In a later workshop, Poet/Facilitator/Elder/Saskatoonian- Louise Halfe spoke on writing past fear, and beautifully summed up that the act of Spoken Word and Writing can be a beautiful process of release but it is NOT the same as healing. Because if we do NOT reframe, transform, and change our behavior/patterns/situation- it will be a continual cycle of catharsis and repetition of trauma.

I voiced my frustration, anger, and essential intolerance of the Safe(r) Space workshop when it was my turn to speak- saying that I believe this is an artform, and that what we seemed to be talking about was how to reframe and communicate feedback and manage tough situations- which was not the same thing. This was met with positive feedback, and also some… stiff spines.

When it comes to safe space and inclusivity- with my experience working with social advocacy groups etc. I am very opinionated. I began my work- deeply aware of my ‘otherness’ and my sense of displacement and came from a place of discrimination and intolerance. My goal for this week was to not speak, to listen, and take time to learn and hear what other people had to say- and I left… thirsty- wanting more.

And then I found it. In the form of epid DADA poet, and Spoken Word BIG LEAGUE- Sheri D. Wilson. I hit the street screaming, indignant at my experience, voicing it to my team mates and colleagues as we strode away…. Only to run into Sheri-D. I had no idea who this person was. But her first words were “I couldn’t go into that workshop because… I don’t believe in safe spaces. I think poetry and Spoken Word is inherently UNSAFE. We push the boundaries, we speak what needs to be said.” Sheri-D. and I hit it off- sort of. I was on a tirade, and vehemently agreed with her, but also staunchly struggled with the ideas that THIS WAS ART, this is performance- my years of theatre pedagogy came spewing- demanding for presence, integrity, transformation, as opposed to catharsis and validation for traumas that did not need to be Relived, but recognizing that they needed to be (re)told.

She dragged me to a listening party- where, as the living icon that she was, was impromptu-ly asked to sit on the panel- where the artists SPOKE about the word and the performance, and recording, and viability of the craft. This was so satisfying and refreshing. It was my first taste of the ROOTS of this craft, and the vitality and the legacy that we come from.

For the first time- I realized what it means to choose your history. I don’t know if I was meant to be a poetry slammer, but I do know that I was meant to write, speak and more than anything else- perform. I clued into the reality that this artform that I have fallen into holds a legacy that I am now a part of. My supervisor, prof, mentor, and ass-kicking-whereisyourhomework-teacher said to me “Johnny- you are indeed a spoken word artist, and of COURSE you need to incorporate this into your thesis and final product.” This terrified the Heck out of me because I felt like I had NO idea where I came from. Now I know more. Now I’m ready to do more.

In the listening party workshop, artists commented on the difference between live performance vs studio recording. Of course- I chimed in- what I wanted to say, and was trying to say, because of all my grad school crit and theory was backing me up- what if- we recognized that our studio persona, and recorded work represented- simply- another narrative, that it was a persona unto itself- and if we just GOT out of our own way, and stopped trying to recreate or force the sense of live performance aesthetic we could create something.

I was slightly misheard- and got into a relatively intense discussion with- non other than- TANYA EVANS. Like a bull in a china shop, that’s what I am. It took a few seconds of discussion to realize that we were saying the same thing differently. She bee-lined to me after the workshop- while Sheri-D dragged me to her. Because… what I didn’t realize was: Sheri-D founded- FOUNDED- the SPOKEN WORD INTENSIVE at the BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS- the program that I am APPLYING TO for a week of study in Spoken Word………. And Tanya Evans… just happens to be the current director.

My personal performances that week- well received. I was devastated by the arbitrary and subjective point systems which lead to my team losing our bouts, and realized how during the day- outside of performance- artists were just trying to be HEARD. My vocal outcries and opinions on the work garnered VERY MODEST attention, but lead to key figures wanting to hear me spit. This was humbling, and encouraging. In the evenings- I was terrified because some of the artists were screaming, shouting, and ripping out their bare, broken, shredded souls on stage to have anonymous judges validate with random number scores. AWKWARD. I understand better now. But I can’t help the part of me that is competitive and still wants to WIN. Ugh.

I finish off this LONG post with something that inspired me, and is driving me to engage more in this community. The conference was lovely. BUT there was such an Emphasis on the WRITING. But Spoken Word is an artform that unifies both Speaking and Writing. Frankly- the word “Spoken” comes first. After my year of study and practice as an artist- I’ve had numerous opportunities and engagements to coach and develop the performance aspect, which I love. I coached my team, and some of the pieces I was able to work on even scored an arbitrary/subjective 10/10. All the pieces I worked on within my team however… received great feedback from my team. It meant a lot that I was able to help them, and they valued my input. 13 years of ‘formal’ post-secondary performance training has to be useful for something right?

Here is a post of a video of a highlight from CFSW 2013. By poet and new friend Aaron Sim- about his discovery of Disney producing an amusement park in Baghdad. OMG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzMh6NUN_js

Camille Utterback is awesome because...

Camille Utterback

Why she is awesome:

1999. While people contemplated the falling sky- Camille Utterback contemplated the catching and falling of words and translated that into Text Rain. (http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/). Text Rain was an art interactive art installation Utterback created a light sensitive projection that used motion sensors to read the shifting light patterns as patrons entered her installation. The light patterns were connected to a projector that showed the images of falling letters, seemingly random, but formed the lines of a poem. Depending on the level of darkness, the letters essentially rested on the silhouettes of patrons. Patrons (users) were able to manipulate the letters as they moved, and as soon as they moved beyond the range of the sensors (or as soon as they could no longer cast a shadow), the letters continued to fall to the ground.

In terms of interactivity, and actually engaging audience/attendees with interdisciplinary art- Text Rain was able to accomplish two goals that I would love to see in my work: 1) using video projections in a more (inter)active way and 2) demanding audience engagement, so that their physical presence and movements through the space directly impact what happens to the “art” in the space. Being a theatre practitioner, I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of shows, lives performances, etc. Beyond the role of sedentary spectators who have been trained to applaud, laugh, cry, hiss, boo a performance- the opportunities that Utterback explored, showed a great deal of possibility for what we can do now.

From the video footage, it appears that upon first entering the space, audience members didn’t realize how the installation would be affected by them, but from the various video clips, it’s apparent that as soon as the opportunity presented itself, there was created a “state of play.”

A personal bias of mine… I guess I’m just tired of arbitrary use of projections in theatre. We get it, technology is there to be used, and sometimes it’s cheaper and easier than building a bunch of flying set pieces. Furthermore, I pretty much exclusively use projected images to frame my shows and performances. But I guess here is where my hypocrisy diverges. I use projections in tandem with other electronic and mobile devices in an almost Brechtian way, where I constantly want to audience to be aware of the technology, and yet still be immersed in the narrative story/experience. I use projected images because I have an affinity to the aesthetic of images projected onto a wall, onto a body, displayed on a screen. I just want to recognize how technology is an extension of who we are in how we tell stories- and it’s a way to bring social media (instagram/vine/facebook) into a physical space. Perhaps a poor attempt- it’s my way of opening a portal to welcome in multiple layers of personal narrative and interactivity into one single moment. What I mean is- we exists internally, externally, physically, and virtually- we are each our own hub to hundreds of connections with varying degrees of intimacy and relevance. I want to bring them all to the forefront in a single performative experience.

The other reason I love Text Rain, because I’m trying not to go on too much of a rant is of course, the poetry.  Since 1999, other artists, students, etc. have explored this piece further. One artist, Sam Gruber (http://golancourses.net/2013/projects/samgruberupkittextrain/) re-implement the project to have the letters interact to crisper edges and lines in the projection as opposed to a brightness threshold which is how the original piece worked. In the link above, he is able to display the poetry within the projection:

“String[] poem = {   "I like talking with you,",   "simply that: conversing,",   "a turning-with or -around,",   "as in your turning around",   "to face me suddenly . . .",   "At your turning, each part",   "of my body turns to verb.",   "We are the opposite",   "of tongue-tied, if there",   "were such an antonym;",   "We are synonyms",   "for limbs' loosening",   "of syntax.",   "and yet turn to nothing:",   "It's just talk." };”

            What I love about Text Rain is that- especially with the use of poetry, as you interact with the art piece, you become the performer within your own show, but also, one is often left looking for words. From the random collection or coalescence of words as they rest on your forehead or shoulder, fragments of meaning that ultimately mean different things to different participants are communicated. So in a public environment, these individual experiences are unique to each person. This of course can be argued… for any experience anywhere- but what I mean is that- I think that these specific words, and word choices create unique images and frame/reflect the individual memories of each person who walks into the installation.

           

            This is how I feel about poetry. As a budding Spoken Word/Slam Poet, and having immersed myself into the Poet Community, I realize that the stylized performances with super heightened text, rapid delivery, rhythmic breathing are tools that break up the streams of conscious thought, that spew from the poets’ mouths. As audience members, you are only ever able to collect certain images and ideas, and leave with limited fragments of the piece- which is why we come back and listen again, and why there is a strong sense of ritual and appreciation for the live aspects of the performance.

           

            I’m just glad I was able to discover artists like Utterback, and pieces like Text Rain. For the first time in a long time, researching and learning about this piece leaves me more inspired to create as opposed to feelings of being unoriginal or redundant. I hope to utilize the projection aspects of this piece, and the use of animated words to heighten my live performance for Rice in Hybridity.