Wednesday, February 19, 2025

RePrints/ "Fuck Your Fear." Or, try again later.

I printed up a snowstorm...

I. Advice from a Flamenco Teacher

My friend Dee is a school counselor at a tough high school --lots of her kids live below the poverty line, come from undocumented immigrant families, have a hard time making it to graduation.
She'd put my print "NO TENGAS MIEDO/Don't Be Afraid" on her office door.

I'd carved it the night after DT won the presidential election,   inspired by advice from a Spanish flamenco teacher,
but I thought it was too simplistic or preachy, and I'd only printed a few.
I’d forgotten I’d given Dee one—she must've and seen it at my place, because I didn't hand them out.

But ALSO...
AS A PISCES, I always want to add to Gung-Ho Marines advice…

It's OK to sit in the corner and read a book; 
It's okay to feel afraid with a teddy bear!!!
But... in your interactions with other people (and your self),
be cognizant that in whatever you do or feel or say, 
you have POWER.
The other day Dee texted me a photo of her office door covered in signs and posters, and said,
"Guess which sign gets the most comments?"

"Don't be Afraid"! and people sometimes ask her where they can get one too. 
Did I have extras?

 I didn't, and her inquiry spurred me to print again.
(I'd stopped after failing to create a print for the Swedish museum last fall.  Like a knee injury--I'd over-stressed some interior structure of mine, and it had seized up! Frustrating.)

Another friend had asked me for "Dept. of Do Your Damn Work", and that'd be good for Ben at the gym too--a version of "ISYMFS" ("it's still your mother-fucking set").
I also printed some Get Well cards--once you have them on hand, they're easy to use up--at least this winter they are.
________________

II. Advice from an Improv Teacher


Maybe I should have printed this slogan:
Fuck Your Fear.

Hm. No, that sounds like, "I want you and your fear to fuck off."
Maybe, FUCK FEAR?
Hm. Ambiguous...?

Fuck the Fear? 

Anyway, "Fuck Your Fear" is Advice for Improv
from Mick Napier's book Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out:

"Make strong choices.

Fuck your fear.

We want to see your power, not your fear. Nobody has time for your fear. ...
Take the powerful choices [you make] and utilize them in the show.

If... [you are] coming from a huge space of insecurity in the first place...that's the problem right there, not the idea or character or anything.
The more you approach a director or other actors in this needy manner, the more you will alienate yourself from the director's power and your own.

If you find yourself in a show and you are afraid, then fake it. ...

The best thing you could say to me in notes [on rehearsals] is,
"I'll make another choice and we'll see if it works."
______________________
That last bit reminds me of what I like about reincarnation, the insertion of this phrase after everything:
"I'll try again and see how it goes".

Anyway, I was feeling down about my knee--I go to the PT in a week, and it's not significantly better after 5 weeks--
and I thought I'd better adopt an approach for the long haul.

I like this:

FUCK YOUR FEAR.
Or, try again later.

Maybe I will print that...

Here we go!

10 comments:

  1. These improv tips are great! One version of an adult life is to sit in the corner and read. I think all lifestyles are compatible with being a "fully-loaded" adult. It's more about recognizing your values and accepting the consequences and limitations that living by them entails.

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  2. Good printing...and good advice x

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    1. Thanks, GZ. I had some ink problems (problem with the printer, me!)
      but mostly got good results

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  3. a beautiful snowstorm! and also a way to get better quickly when printing -- print one after the other.
    k

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  4. How I wish you would go to a show this summer!

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  5. your carving and printing is superb, words are worthy. Great design /arty. I love them all . They are especially powerful in frames. People take note and ask "who is the artist?"
    I am so sorry that your knees is giving you grief. It may be watching out for you "stay off of the ice!" . I want it to stop being so damned painful right now, immediately! Fuck pain!
    Your letters are like those in the "house of dreams"...compelling.

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    Replies
    1. “House of dreams” lettering = high praise!
      Fuck pain… Yes indeed. Sigh. It is wearying.

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