The Think Bottle Blog was created to gather great art, ideas, and inspiration into one place. I hope you get inspired to take a chance and dive into something of your own. Plus it’s a great place to interact with me on a daily basis. Cheers!
Kids Will Be Kids
I recently visited school in New Mexico and did my usual presentation, meaning I wing it. Generally I'm not too sure what I'm going to say until it literally leaps out of my mouth but in this particular case, I opened with a surprisingly unexpected mention of a rash I felt developing on my arm in anticipation of going onstage. The week before I decided to sharpen my pencils then borrow one to take the gum out of my mouth while looking for a suitable receptacle to drop it into. After all this I eventually merge into what I really went to this school to talk about, my work in all its forms.
I know it would be best if I did develop a "schpeel" so I can rattle off something that contains all the little nuggets of wisdom I try to impart; but it never works. It always comes off canned and prepared at which point I begin to feel the universe is arranging all it's little minions to exact it's revenge on me.
If I remember correctly, I was always that obnoxious kid sitting up front with his friends, staring up the nose of the presenter wondering why there's so much hair up there, or making fun of the way they said 'Saskatchewan' or 'esophagus' as little bits of spittle shot out and landed on the gym floor. Kids are one tough audience. I'm pretty sure the guy working with a wooden dummy in a packed house of partying replacement window dealers doesn't know the meaning of 'bomb' until he steps out into a "gymacafatorium" filled with middle schoolers; that ventriloquist would be in his Gremlin and back on I-90 so fast the dummy's head would unscrew.
The times I used something canned-it came out just that; and I was sorry I didn't use my Panasonic nose-hair trimmer before going out onstage. When I step out, I'm free-styling. I still open occasionally with the rash that might be erupting on my arm or a silly joke about principals. It plays havoc on the gastrointestinal tract but it's much preferred over bored and ridiculing gangs of 6th graders hurling social studies books and #2 pencils. Because when I run out of dermatological disorders or gum to discard, I can always draw.
Mr. Catrow was hilarious when he came to our school a couple months back. I highly recommend having him come speak to your classrooms. The kids couldn’t stop talking about him after he left. Thank you so much for coming!