By April Sullivan

Jarrad Hamilton is a Dallas area artist whom I met a few years ago when he entered some of our Veteran exhibitions. Jarrad is from Augusta, Georgia where he started making art at two years old. He would draw on scraps of paper that his mother gave him and always looked forward to getting the pink papers, not realizing that the pink ones meant they were late bills or an eviction notice. He finds it interesting the dichotomy of that memory being one of beauty and joy for him, even though it may have been the opposite for his mom. 

Jarrad now lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and children. He makes art for the Neo-Soul or the progressive soul. One of my favorite things about talking to Jarrad is watching his brilliant mind in action. When I asked Jarrad about the medium that he works in, he answered in typical Jarrad fashion – by going beyond the answer of saying his medium is acrylic because he likes the vibrancy of colors. 

A medium is a substance that is used to express, so, for Jarrad, life is the ultimate medium. It is where artists get the inspiration to express themselves. A medium can also be defined as a person who can communicate with the dead, acting as a conduit and allowing us to connect. A conduit, such as the copper wires that run through the electrical system to allow the electricity to flow through. So, as an artist, a medium such as acrylic paint is like the copper wires, allowing us to express our artistic energy to the world. See what I mean? Wow! 

Jarrad’s artwork comes from his dreams, visions, and daydreams. He dreams in black and white and adds color to it. He sees his work as alive. The energy flowing through it is alive. Each new piece is like starting a new relationship. They go through their ups and downs together. When he begins a painting, even he doesn’t know what it is, or where it is going. He paints the composition as it comes to him, and eventually the meaning is revealed to him, which is always exhilarating. 

Jarrad’s art is inspired by his African American culture, his military experience, and, as he said, life in general. He uses art as a form of healing and therapy. He likes to use symbols in his art, because symbols are a way to communicate that which can be larger than words, and represent something bigger than us. 

Jarrad’s advice to other artists is to learn how to be yourself. Learn who you are. Think about what you like, not what you dislike. The things we dislike make us more of a human. The things we like make us more of an artist because we want to share those things with other people. And learn your story. Your testimonial is the most powerful thing you have to share. 

To view and experience Jarrad Hamilton’s art, visit jarradhamilton.com or find him on Instagram at @he.art33 or Facebook at jarradfineart. 

Amory: I am Amory Pecina-Villarreal. I live in McAllen Texas with my parent. I am from Austin Texas. As Mexican and American origin from Monterrey N.L, Mexico.  

Celia: When did you start creating art? 

Amory: I was 6-year-old. I sat to begin to drawing the picture in my image on green table.  

Celia: We met Amory when we were traveling around the state to host Dream Big! workshops with people with disabilities. Through a creative process, we helped people identify the three steps they needed to do next to reach their life goals. When we returned to Austin, we knew we had just made a new life-long friend.  

In 2009, we invited Amory to exhibit in our Access Gallery Emerging Artist room. She sold out on opening night. Author note: I purchased Tweety Bird, which proudly hangs over my desk.  

Amory: I was 25-year-old. I have fun time to meet you and Carol -New Media Arts founder- in person. I invited Kathy Johnson used to be my aide in my childhood and Julie Miller used to be my assistive technology in my childhood. I invited my sister family. I was so happy. I have a chance to get interview by the Reporter NBC -On The Porch with Jim Swift- at my hometown in Austin Texas. I like to have a chance to be butterfly able to change the RGV community. 

Celia: Please tell us a little bit about how you use technology to talk with people. 

Amory: I use my accent 1000 communication device for interviews in person. I am always afraid to drop my communication device when I use it with friends. It is heavy, bulky, and its repair it is expensive. The use of icons takes time and people are desperate when I take a lot of time to say something. Lately I only text on iPhone and iPad for my social life with my friends.

Celia: We enjoyed working with you at our summer camps. What did you enjoy the most? 

Amory: I loved to be learning how to edit the video with closed caption. I still enjoy working with this animation stories. 

Celia: I remember that you created a presentation about the Americans with Disabilities Act. Why is the ADA important?  

Amory: I know the American Disabilities Act has increased technology for the people with speech disability and hearing impairment. Now is common that disabled people text to order some food with online using the Internet. The ADA has motivated improvements for disabled people. I know some organizations in Rio Grande Valley that have created accessible playground and baseball fields accessible for the disabled kids.  

I think the RGV organizations for disabled people staff should pay more attention for the disabled young. They need to focus on the social inclusion and indoor activity also resident school for the adult with intellect and development disabilities in the Valley. There is almost nothing in McAllen for the disabled young adults. Only an Adaptive Aquatics program that is limited during the Summertime. They need to offer safe spaces for the disabled young adults so they can become independent from their older parents’ home.  

Celia: You wrote this to me: “Some fan male glimpse my artwork in some the event from his fear to interview me with my disabilities.” 

eCan you tell me a little more about this situation and what happened?

Amory: Sorry, I was confused about the way he stared at me. I would have liked he could talk to me without hesitant. I was 32 years old. I saw some this guy student from UTRGV stare my paint at the Cinemark in McAllen downtown at Monica Ramirez artist event. I think he might like my shark paint. I sold this paint for twenty dollars to him. 

Another time I had been celebrate the ADA32 event with Valley Associate Independent Living. I saw some the student guy from Rehab UTRGV glimpsed my artwork. Then this guy brings his girlfriend take picture to me. Here also I would like he and his girlfriend could talk to me without hesitance. I long with forming part of a group of regular friends but they avoid me.  

Celia: What opportunities are available for you to develop your work? 

Amory: I have been developing my work as artist and digital designer. As Latina artist with disabilities have ability to keep myself to be busy to focus on artwork in sometime. I inspire work to create bracelet and necklace with the positive word.  

 Celia: Can you tell me more about your positive word calendars and posters? 

Amory: Usually when some organization invite me to an event I take bracelets, key chains, or necklaces to sell. For me it is really demanding work to do make them, but I want to spread the word of inclusion, so I include positive messages. I write words like: Power to us, Yes, we can! United we advance! Things that make people think about us like we are strong, sweet, and beautiful in our life with our dis-not-abilities. 

I also include these symbols in my paintings, I do things as digital designer. I have done mini posters for the people in RGV organization relate disabilities community. I started calendar with holiday and activist birthday for next year 2023. 

Celia: Congratulations Amory on being Art Spark Texas Artist of the Month! Is there anything else you would like us to know? 

Amory: I like to draw pumpkin for this Fall season then I paint the pumpkin with my cat gray for autumn holiday. I have ten cats in my backyard in my home. They are very cute and sweet. They play with me and my mom.  

Celia: Cats and art! A great combination. Thanks again for speaking with me! 

Note: This interview was conducted through emails over a period of days. 

MsBoye: Hey Toby, first of all, congratulations on being chosen to be the Art Spark Texas Artist of the Month.

Toby: Oh, thanks!

MsBoye: How’d that feel? What did you think when I told you?

Toby: It was surprising.

MsBoye: Why?

Toby: Because I don’t know. I just I didn’t see it coming (laughs). I wasn’t working on anything spectacular, blow-me-outta-the-water amazing, that was like, “Let’s notice this person.”

MsBoye: You can be recognized as an artist without having to be spectacular, or traditionally successful, okay? We look for folks for whom art is an intrinsic part of their life and I know that qualifies you.

Here are highlights of the rest of our conversation that reveal some insights into the role of art in his life and his dreams for the future.

MsBoye (NBN): How would you define a successful artist?

Toby: What is successful? I don’t know. I guess having the energy and motivation that’s always something I’m struggling with, but just pushing forward is what I try to do. Even if I’m not successful at something, I try to just find new pathways to make it interesting and successful to me. Yeah. Or at least make it fun. Fail upward, you know?

NBN: If somebody was to ask you, “Hey, what do you do?” How would you answer?  

Toby: Oh, in one minute or less, right? Just kidding.

That’s easy, I work in the arts.

Yeah, I work in the arts. I work as a board member for an arts nonprofit. I’m a company member of a theater group for people with disabilities. And I am a patron of the arts.

Yeah, I probably wouldn’t say that at parties, but that’s pretty much what I am. I support my friends when I go to their shows, I’m a patron.  And I try to keep knowledgeable about things that I like, that are interesting by taking different classes, to master my craft.

NBN: Do you consider yourself an artist?  

Toby: Sometimes. Sometimes I feel really artsy, especially when I’m doing something physical, like in a movement-based piece where I feel the emotion moving me and I’m getting really crafty and it feels like I’m connected with the people and things around me. Then I feel like I’m moving like I’m in the piece and space like I’m in tune with what I’m trying to do.

Then sometimes if I am playing a character, it just feels like I really have to take my time and break things down step-by-step and just, and work in that process of “Living in the moment.” At the same time, I’m thinking about what this person would actually do if I were them or if that were me. The same goes for doing text analysis or voiceover stuff.

NBN: So, for you being an artist is an experience rather than a job title or a description?

Toby: Yeah, like dancing at a club or something, which doesn’t sound very professional, but it’s a form of artistic expression you experience with a bunch of people and those people can become your friends. It’s fun to, to move like that. It’s fun to be in that space and to have that experience, to create that energy, and to share it with everybody. And then to be exhausted, to go home and rest (laughs).

NBN: You were recently in a production where you did something you’d never done before. Tell us about that experience?  

Toby: I was in a play with TILT Performance Group, called “When She Had Wings”. I was the “Sound Guy” and I did the sound effects. I helped support the recorded sound effects like the foley in Radio Theatre. Which was really fun, ‘cuz it was a nice transition back into live-in-person work. It gave me a new perspective on what it means to share the space with others and to support my fellow company members. Help them out while also being alert and vigilant. It was like being an instrument to the energy around me, in a different way to being an actor.

I found that I really enjoyed it. Supporting my fellow actors like that, more than I thought I would. It was a great gift to me and I hope it was a great gift to everyone else. I hope I get to support my fellow artists like that in the future because it was really rewarding.

It requires a different level of concentration too; you have to be really present. It took a lot of pressure off in some aspects, but then it required a lot of attentiveness, I didn’t know I had in me, but I was able to channel the sound, and the feeling I was aiming for through the props. I could communicate that energy without speaking. I had all sorts of things, a bell, a slide whistle, a rattle made from seed pods and something called a Drum Thunder Tube, that was especially fun.

NBN: When you were a kid, were you one of those little boys who dreamed of being in musical theater? 

Toby: This is so hard, coz, I think about this now and I’m just like, “What did I wanna be?” (laughs)

You see, I only have one really vivid memory of being a kid. I was playing outside, next to this cedar tree we had at the house. There was like a bunch of daffodils or dandelions, and I was picking flowers by myself, and I don’t know whether I was really thinking of anything to be or do, but I just remember thinking that it would’ve been nice to have someone there with me. Someone to share things with, I think.

To bring it back to your question though, I think I wasn’t concerned so much about what to be or so much as how to be, because I was always more concerned with the things and people around me.

So, no I wasn’t listening to show tunes, I listened to like Brittany Spears and NSYNC, which was controversial back in the early two thousand. But I didn’t know what any of it meant, it was the way the music made me feel. I just loved music.

NBN: Do you play any instruments? 

Toby: I used to play the piano when I was in high school, I went to TSBVI, the school for the blind up here. Yeah, and high school is where a lot of things took off for me, because then I was allowed to try things, allowed to try out things, to express myself. Being at school was different, it wasn’t as fear-based, I felt safe there.

It was regimented but they had after-school clubs, you could go play music or go off campus for a movie night or you could start your own club. I took drum lessons. One of the residential instructors like the lead dorm manager, he did music, so he, and one of the other residential instructors went down to the old music room and we used to play drums and play with all the instruments.

I loved those sessions and that’s what I think got me interested in pursuing music more. I had a passion for drums, but then I realized I was a very weak person. I couldn’t hit the drums with enough force. Which was a bummer, but that’s fine. So, I took piano. You don’t have to hit the piano hard!

NBN: Do you remember the first live play you ever saw?  

Toby: No, but I do remember the first play I was in. That was an accident. So, I was in sixth grade and I wanted to be in Spanish. Before the classes even started, they switched me out for drama and I was really upset because I wanted to learn Spanish. Living in Austin it seemed more useful to me. The thing was, I had recently gone blind and they thought, it was gonna be too hard to teach me both English braille and Spanish braille. They were wrong ‘cause I picked it up really quick, anyway, they put me in drama as my other elective.

So, I ended up in drama and the teacher didn’t quite know how to teach me. There I was in the improv and the monologues class with a bunch of seventh and eighth-graders. I didn’t understand how to do any of that stuff, I felt silly or like it was a joke like a sixth-grader would.

The final showcase was a play called “Hard Candy.” I remember it as series of vignettes and one of the eighth-graders who was the opening for the show got sick. I had to take over his part and it was just a couple lines, that I think I botched, but it was exciting, and I really liked it. So, I started pursuing it when I got into high school in 10th grade and then I, never looked back.

Yeah, that’s when I got the bug.

NBN: If you could have your dream life, which artistic path would you take? 

Toby: Part of me would really love to write and then produce and direct that work, but that’s a lot and I don’t know if I have all of that energy. Yes, I would love to do that, but at the same time there is also a big part of me that is attracted to and feels a lot of resonance to music and singing. I’m at this interesting crossroads where I would like to choose thing and I’m not sure which path I would wanna take.

Then there’s voiceover that would be a supplemental thing that I would do.

NBN: I know you take voiceover classes. What was that experience like and how accessible are they?

Toby: So, my first experience was a bit rocky, the person I went to is an older professional in her field and she was a bit set in her ways. Her classes were in-person, way up at Bee Caves. She has some very strong, proven methods, which is good, I just don’t know if I was in the right place at the right time to hear what she had to teach.

I took another set of classes with my friend, Kristen. This teacher was at ACC and he was very good. It was about six weeks, three hours a week and that worked for me. He was slow and methodical and went step-by-step and it was helpful.

And he did a lot of resource sharing, which was nice.

The accessibility between the two was very different. The accessibility physically of the space, her venue was not easy to traverse, and I had to rely upon other artists there for assistance, which is not something I want to do. The first class was all in-person, she doesn’t do online. I did get the material electronically, which was nice. I think that’s something that I’m always gonna have to request at least three days in advance for prep work and markup. It adds to the time commitment of the class for me, but that’s what I have to do if I want to do the work. And it is something that I want to pursue.

Voiceover work is an interesting process to explore, cause it’s a different facet than just plain old singing and vocal resonance. It takes the distinct parts of the body, segments them and almost creates different sounds within those spaces. Each of those phonetic spaces, each of those bodily resonators, the top of the head, the eyes, the nose, the back of the like the throat, the front of the mouth, things like that. All of those can have different sounds in those spaces and all of those are fun to explore. It’s like dancing with sound inside your body rather than moving the outside of your body through space. It’s like any diving into the technical aspects of any art form, and I love that.

NBN: What’s the favorite character you’ve ever played and why? 

Toby: I played a megalomaniac game show host in a TILT Performance Group production called “Pandora the Musical.” That was pretty fantastic. There were some pretty amazing costumes. I had a divine bright red sequined smoking jacket. I think that stands out to me right out of the box. That was pretty good, I had fun. I loved getting to perform with everybody, but it took a lot. It took a lot of energy, which can always be an issue for me. It was an amazing experience, but exhausting, so I think shows like “When She Had Wings” are important, because you get to transition to those supporting roles.

I think those are my two favorite roles thus far.

NBN: This month is Disability Pride Month, last month was Gay Pride, how do you think being a disabled gay/ queer man impacts your art or your expression as an artist, if it at all?  

Toby: I think it does, I’ve done a few performances in drag. And that was fun.

Living truthfully, or just honestly, as it means to you. Being respectful to yourself and others. Enjoying yourself, without any fear, regrets. All of that makes me a better actor, a more honest artist. Authenticity is always good, right?

But it’s not always easy. I think part of that is hard because I’m still battling inside myself a little bit. Like with each new art form, it’s like a space that I’m wondering if I can share who I am with people. Wondering if I’ll be accepted.

Transitioning into film, feeling that I can obtain that perceived intimacy, but feeling like I’m intruding. Intruding on what I’m finding out is traditional masculinity and traditional heteronormative ideals or traditional beliefs that I don’t share. I’m having to be respectful. And it’s a stressful feeling like I have to toe the line a bit, in order to find my place in this new community, which can feel like hiding or losing a part of myself.

So, do I say what I wanna say about myself and risk being persecuted or pigeonholed, or do I just keep to myself? Secrets are hard. And I think building bridges is what I have to do. That’s how I have to work sometimes, even though I think I’m not very good at it. (laughs)

NBN: What defines Disability Pride for you? 

Toby: It’s being around with all my friends who are disabled not in a ghetto type way, but living and laughing and joking about our experiences, about crutches, our canes, our guide dogs, or that time we got stuck in the elevator because we couldn’t reach the buttons or sharing our experiences in a world designed without consideration for us. Empathizing about our encounters with ableism, like the guy online, we were trying to hook up with on that app and you had to disclose and when you did, he blocked you, f**ck that guy. A safe place to share stories over drinks because we are proud of who we are and proud of our lives. I guess that’s what it means to me, because that’s what I think it would mean to me and a bunch of gays. It’s like I imagine a bunch of black folks or like people of color feel sharing their experiences with people of the same community.

NBN: If there was a Disability pride March here in Austin, would you take part?  

Toby: Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I just worry about, this is probably gonna get me in trouble, I worry about the allyship factor. I know this is probably bad, I know I shouldn’t worry about the allies, but I worry about the people who like have caretakers or have friends or lovers, or like people in their lives who they wanna bring to the Parade or the March or the festival that are traditionally able-bodied. Or like chronically-ill folks who are able-bodied or those who are invisibly disabled. I worry they would get discriminated against.  That would be an emotional bloodbath, and that is stressful to me. I don’t want that to happen.

There’s a lot of infighting in the Disability community. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen it happen in the queer community and I’ve seen it happen in the Disability Community, because they are communities made up of people from very different backgrounds. We forget it’s about unity, not uniformity. We need to come together in our differences. Y’all the shit’s real out there in the world right now. Yeah, we need to fight it together not fight each other.

MsBoye: What do you wish somebody had said to your teenage self being an actor with a Disability?  

Toby: I wish there had been more of a focus on the process. There was a talk about it, but we didn’t have an in-depth discussion.  As an actor on stage, ” How am I supposed to navigate the blocking?” the only answer I got was “Oh I dunno know, you’re gonna have to figure that out once you do more theater”. Not too helpful, but it is reality is nondisabled folks work in a nondisabled standard, which makes sense. But we were disabled students, and we were expected to work to the same standard. We were expected to fit into their box. Which ironically doesn’t prepare you for the outside theatre life.

Back then I would wanna know how other people like do it, what best works for them? I would want to know how to break that down a script, character development and text analysis and what blocking feel like in your body. Going through the different disciplines might have been nice. I feel like I missed out on the, on the kind of “Theater 1 0 1” that mainstream kids who went to a theater school or a mainstream high school theatre program got.

NBN: If your teenage self was able to see into your /his future, what would he be most surprised about your life now or what you get to do, who you are? 

Toby: What surprises me most? Let’s see. I would say it’s like the amount of people that I’ve met. The different types of people that come up to me and say, they’ve seen me in something. It’s surprising that I can be recognized now. I was always well-known before in school but now it feels like strangers come up and talk to me.

Also, he’d be surprised to see I feel fulfilled a little bit. Not like all the way… still have a lot more I want to do, but I don’t feel as empty, as needy, as I used to.

NBN: You proud of what you’ve achieved? 

Toby: I feel proud of where I’ve come to. I’m almost 30 and I have my own place and we’re pretty much stable financially. I get to hang out with my friends for a good majority of the time just (laughs) creating things. I get some pretty rewarding skills in exchange. I’m now learning how to schedule things for the first time in my life, (laughs) I didn’t have that skill ever. And I think, I feel like life does get a little bit better or at least a little bit tolerable.

MsBoye: Don’t get too radical there, “It gets a little bit better and a little bit tolerable!” Really?!

Toby: (laughs) Right! Yeah, life isn’t half as obnoxious as you think it’s going to be.

MsBoye: (laughs) There you go, that’s the quote for the title of the blog. All right!

Toby: Yeah, I think it’s okay. That sums it all up. All right. Thank you.

Link for the virtual event: https://meet.goto.com/211088573

Thom Woodruff aka Thom the Poet aka Spirit Thom is the “TEXAS BEAT POET LAUREATE 2020-2022.” When you’re with Thom he fills the room with winsome colors, spiritual wisdom, nimble expeditious language, and love.

I met Thom not long after I moved to Austin at an Austin Poetry Society Open Mic. Ever since then I’ve been in love with his poetry, the way his brain sees connections others miss, and his heart that bridges the gap between the mundane and the spiritual. Any conversation with Thom is a multileveled experience, and because anything I write about him would fail to do justice to the experience of talking with him, I’ll just share the transcript of our conversation in the hope perhaps his language can open your imagination to your own version of the journey Thom and I shared.

You can see Thom perform as the featured artist for Art Spark Texas’ Lion and Pirate Virtual Open Mic, Saturday, April 2nd at 7.00 PM CDT and visit with him on our Community Conversation Wednesday, April13th at 7:00 PM CDT. 

______________________

A Conversation with Thom 

When Thom joins the meeting, I have no sound. So, Thom starts without me…
Thom: It can be a long recording and started in the year 2220.
It’s a wonderful day for a daydream.

(I finally get my sound working)

Let’s string cliches together.
MsBoye: Hi Tom.
Thom: Very much so!
MsBoye: I figured as much.
Thom: (laughs) I wanted to ask you what this is for? 
MsBoye: This is for a little blog piece to introduce you to the Art Spark Community.
Thom: Okay.
MsBoye: We don’t have to talk about a lot except you.
Thom: Yeah, I’m ready.
MsBoye: Alrighty, let’s dive right in. Like me, you have an atypical accent for America.
Thom: This is true.
MsBoye: So, where were you born and where did you grow up?
Thom:               I AM A QUEENSLAND BOY
                                 Full of Queensland joy
                              Squeeze me! I am a man
               Watermelon man! I don’t need Daylight Savings!
                                   I go to Dole Queue
                         I do as Government tells me too
                         I free to be a GIANT strawberry
                                    Giant pineapple
                                    Giant skin cancer
                                I ‘m a Queenslander!
*Available for listening below

 MsBoye: And where’s that…for Americans who might be geographically impaired.
Thom: Well, the three main urban centers of population on the East Coast, we follow the patterns of indigenous development as well, and that’s Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. I’ve lived in all three, but I was born in Brisbane, which is the capital of Queensland. It was slow and sunny, it’s somnambulistic. So, I moved down to wonderful Melbourne, and people can read, rot and chew gum there.
Thom: It’s a cultural capital, which means they have McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried and the best of all possible worlds. Handed out poetry on the street, which is the way to do it. And people said, “Hey man, no one keeps your sheets of poetry. Put them into books.” So, I’ve done 200 books of poetry and they’re out there somewhere.
MsBoye: What were your parents like, the parents that produced such an awesome you? What was it like growing up in your house?
Thom: That’s a good question because my father was very intelligent, but he had to go to work very young to keep the family. I come from a railway family. So, my grandfather was a Station Master at Deegan. My father was a “Shunter”, but I never did the railways. I’m more an airplane-type generation. And, my mother had six kids and working all her life, very bright, very Catholic, very devoted to both family and her God, and she’s gone and he’s gone. So, it’s just me to live now.
MsBoye: If you, if your family are from Australia, I know that where you came from and how your family got there is a big thing in Australia. So, what do you know what your roots are?
Thom: The two main outlaws in Australia are Ned Kelly and Ben Hall, and I had a friend called Liz Hall and we got along really well. And we regarded we’d rather be in-laws than outlaws. But it’s not where you come from, like the Hulks on the Thames[i] it’s where you’re going to, and at the moment I’m here with you.
MsBoye: Blessed be!
Thom: Blessed be! 
MsBoye: So, was there poetry in your house growing up?
Thom: No! A working class, solid working-class family. Poetry, that doesn’t get you any income.
MsBoye: I grew up in the same kind of family and yeah, but poetry was always a me.
Thom: Yes. Same here.
MsBoye: When did you start writing? Do you remember?
Thom: You gotta’ understand, I started writing, quite young and that was very private. It only became public when I went to an Aquarian Festival, in 1975, they took over a little country town called Nimbin. Nimbin is near Mullumbimby and it’s a “Rainbow Region,” which is where a lot of visions happen and it’s in a rainforest area with a waterfall called Hunterville Falls and it’s an Aboriginal initiation site. So, I get up at the stage of the old Buttery [ii]and start chanting:
“This is your life. This is your life.
Don’t waste the time, don’t waste the time.
Get up and dance, get up and dance.”
Musicians come behind me, they start playing, people start dancing to the poetry. I realize this is the way I want to live my life.
MsBoye: Oh, I was going to ask you that, you have a very particular way of writing and a style of poetry that’s particular to you. I saw you listed as a Beat Poet, and I understand what they mean.
Thom: Yes, yes!
MsBoye: Your poetry is very in the moment. You do a lot of spontaneous poetry.
Thom: Yes. Yes.
MsBoye: So, it comes from that kind of spiritual place, it’s fed from there.
Thom: Absolutely. Yes, adduco is Latin for, to lead out from within and that’s, as your muse is guiding you and the dreams are giving you directions every night. And, if we listen deeply enough, we’ll be able to hear the silence.
MsBoye: Yeah. It’s very Rūmī-esque. Most people don’t realize that Rumi didn’t write down his poetry.
Thom: No, No!
MsBoye:  Everything was said in the moment.
Thom: Neither did Jesus, neither did Socrates, all the good ones that they killed off. And Shams, we don’t even know about Shams, but he taught Rumi, that’s all we know.
Thom: So, there are places that are of influence. I have a friend who goes to Rumi’s grave every year to pilgrimage because for 600 years, people memorized his poetry because it meant something to them. And only recently through Robert Bly were we able to get a translation of the original, powerful, passionate poetry. But that was Afghanistan and Afghanistan has been ruined by military cultures.
MsBoye: Yeah. And I, have you ever heard Rumi in the original Farsi[iii]?
Thom: Yeah. There’s a new book called Rumi Gold. And on the clip that the book is promoting, she starts out doing a Rumi poem and then she starts singing it in Farsi. And, my friend Fareed Muhammad, and he went with Robert Bly to listen to the rhythms and cadences of the actual language. So yes, it is. It is prayer in Farsi. There’s a singing quality to it, which is tonal, healing, harmonic.
MsBoye: Yeah. I actually went to a Rumi conference in California and, they did some performances in Farsi and it was amazing. You didn’t have to understand the words to get it.
Thom: Yeah. Yeah. True. Some Spanish poetry, maybe some French, Italian, you don’t need to know the language to, to get the emotional content of what’s happening.
MsBoye: Exactly. I’ve never asked you this, but you have a lot of references to Sufi stuff. You feel like a Sufi to me.
Thom: When I was at the university, I did Sufi dancing then and my friends are doing it now. I say, I did that and I danced and I understand the whirling of devotion and the meaning of motion. And, I hold it high in my heart, but we’re all, Sufis, we’re all dancing dervishes and all of us have different ways of expressing it.
So, I love the universality of Esperanto poetry and dance and magic and motion because I love working with musicians. Yeah, ‘cause you never know what they gotta’ do. And I like that.
MsBoye: And they seem okay that they don’t know what you’re going to do as well.
Thom: That’s very true. It’s by agreement. Cause tomorrow night I’ll be doing Word Jazz at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard. That’s been suspended for some time, but I used to love that very much because you have a whole jazz band and they’ve never met each other. And then you are improvising to whatever comes out.
MsBoye: Do you play any instruments apart from your voice?
Thom: No. No. I only have a voice and heart and I don’t play them very well; I talk too much all the time.
MsBoye: Don’t we all?
Thom: Yes!  
MsBoye: It comes down to attunement.
Thom: Yes!  
MsBoye: Being attuned is a skill in itself. Being able to read the room on multiple levels. Put your words in place that fit for who you’re talking to, for the audience you have in that moment.
Thom: Absolutely right. So, my favorite poet in England, you may know of him Adrian Mitchell. Did you know him? He said, “Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.” [iv]And I think that’s a profound and deep truth. And Anella the Russian poet (Anna Akhmatova). You can, you can check her out she said, “My friends, we must restore words, their original meanings.”
MsBoye: Yes. And not have them be fixed in obscure usage.
Thom: Not fixed and not a cliche. Don’t say it was “very interesting.” What’s that mean?
MsBoye: Yeah. So, what popular phrases drive you crazy now that people use?
MsBoye: There’s too many, everyone’s talking in cliches and I’ve got old cliches, so I prefer “love and peace and joy” and “cooperation community” and “volunteerism,” “semi-autonomous activities instigated by spontaneous love.”
MsBoye: I have a friend who really has a thing about the misuse of the word, “Awesome.”
Thom: Oh, that’s a good word. Yes, because too it means to inspire.
MsBoye: Yeah. There’s that poem, “Mattina” by Giuseppe Ungaretti, which is said to be the shortest poem ever.
                    M’illumino
                   d’immenso 
Thom: Right.
MsBoye: And that, that is the true meaning of awesome.
                  I’m illuminated 
                 by the immensity   
Thom: Yes. Yes.
MsBoye: Yeah. And what’s interesting about that is that was written in the trenches in World War 1, and he looked out over no-mans-land at the moment of the sunrise. But is he saying, “I’m in awe of the sunrise or is he saying I’m awed of the immensity of this destruction or I am awed by the immensity of something that could create such beauty and such ugliness? Which, you know is are completely different poems.
Thom: Yeah. You can take beautiful phrases that come down to us and then change them just a little bit, so they click into this moment now.
                 “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
                  and right doing there is a field.
                  I’ll meet you there.” Rumi
Yeah. That still works. 600 years later.
MsBoye: I know. It’s fascinating.  A lot of people who see Rumi quotes on cards and get touched by Rumi’s poetry, have no idea that it was written 600 years ago or that it was from a totally different culture.
Thom: Yeah. He’s Rumi for the Western world, but Jalal al-Din Rumi for many other places.
MsBoye: That’s right.
When you’re teaching people to write poetry, to let that poet out, is that a shift that you have to get people to adjust to, “adduco”?
Thom: I do prompt writing workshops, every third Saturday at Lazy Days, Head Shop. We all put in prompts and that way we are democratically responding to the feelings in the moment. And, the essence of it all of course, is to empty oneself so that you’re not a barrier to what can come through you.
You’re adding the fish to the river rather than stealing from the stream. There’s a different mode of connection with people when you’re not playing “la-dee-da look at me, I’m Hollywood.” And you’re actually saying,
“Where can we find a new path to the waterfall? How’s the geography in Ukraine.”
“Why are the Russian poets being put in prison?”
Little questions that aren’t normally part of the conversation. So yes, it requires a totally different mode of adaptation. So, the difference between spontaneous and memorize poetry. You’ve got memorized.
MsBoye: Yeah. And also, when I first started writing, it was all very much just spontaneous. I didn’t do anything else to it. As I grew, I began to hone it, which I didn’t do in the beginning. And I have other friends that believe in when it’s out, it’s done.
Thom: Yeah.
MsBoye: I think you do both.
Thom: You’re absolutely right. I do another workshop with the people from the Austin Poetry Society and they are highly, (How shall I put it?) highly erudite in terms of felicity of language, syntax and line length, and structure and serving the purpose of the poem. Now it’s an education because I started out with spontaneity and the Beat Generation people. I’m the Texas Beat Poet Laureate right now, whatever that means. First thought, best thought was the mantra of the Beat people, but they edited their greatest hits. They went back and edited them. So, there’s different versions.
It’s Rodin making different versions of “The Burghers of Calais.” And that Oslo painter who did “Girl on a Bridge” and “The Scream”, and they’ve got nine versions of them. Didn’t have photocopy machines in those days.
Yeah, but for me every moment is a different poem. So, when people say we’re going back and we go do it again, it won’t be the same, it will be different. Because then they’ll be born in a different world.
MsBoye: I just read this great book “The Midnight Library,” and, basically a woman tries to commit suicide and she ends up in a library where each book in the library is a different version of a different life that was created by a different choice that she made. And she can go back and visit all those lives to choose which one she wishes to live in, which she thinks is the best one for her.
That’s a wonderful freeing concept.
MsBoye: That at any moment any choice can create a new life.
Thom: It’s actually true, but we refuse to acknowledge that we have freedom as we are, it’s not a popular thing to expose people to. And it’s dangerous. Poetry is dangerous, if ever people actually listen to what you’re saying. You will be in deep trouble because you’re not saying obey and die. You’re not saying work and suffer. You’re not saying sacrifice and be wounded. You’re saying be healed, be happy, be here and now, and that’s not popular. I get people who are very challenged by that idea. Yeah.
MsBoye: And it’s also one of those ideas that is simple, but not easy to do that.
Thom: Yeah.
MsBoye: We’ve been here about 20 minutes now, and I don’t want to use too much of your time. And we’ve got a lot for me to transcribe. You don’t know what I’ll make you say.
Thom: That’s right. Exactly.
(singing) I’m a deep fake. I’m a deep, fake too. I’m a deep fake, I’m a Dolly clone!”
MsBoye: Don’t mind me. I’m just a hologram.
The Sufi, Hazrat Inayat Khan was asked the question. “If you could teach the children of America, one thing, what would you want to teach them?” And he’s his answer was “To breathe, I would teach them how to breathe.”
Thom: That’s good.
MsBoye: One final question, if you could teach children or adults who think they’re not a poet about the poet inside anything, what would you like to say to them?
Thom: I actually wrote about this. I said, “I am starting a university and the university is a university of Oracles not articles, but Oracles. For the first year, you’ll just be still and listen, and wait, sound will come to you. In the second year, you are selective. You have to hear the ocean here, the trees here, the earth beneath them. For the third year, you’re going to put them together into a palette of alchemical composition that you have not experienced before. And for Post-graduate you have to explain to someone else why you’ve wasted three years.
MsBoye: Yes. Perfect.
MsBoye: Thank you, my dear.
Thom: You’re welcome.
MsBoye: I look forward to seeing you at Open Mic. Thank you for your time and who knows what we’ll find at the end of this when I read the transcript?
Thom: Right. From this Gemini to you, I wish you the very best Boye. And thank you, Boye.
MsBoye: Thank you.
Thom: Bye-bye.
MsBoye: Bye.

Thom joined us on our Community Conversation series to talk about his writing. View Thoms’ Community Conversation here: https://youtu.be/Md570MYWi_0 

]]> https://www.artsparktx.org/2022/03/31/april-artist-of-the-month-thom-the-poet/feed/ 0 https://www.artsparktx.org/2022/03/04/artist-of-the-month-judith-miller/ https://www.artsparktx.org/2022/03/04/artist-of-the-month-judith-miller/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2022 16:36:03 +0000 https://www.artsparktx.org/?p=11485

James Burnside and I met about five years ago. I was attracted to his calm, kind, generous spirit. It was clear our immediate connection was based upon our mutual weirdnesses, passion for theatre, and despite our very different journeys, our many shared life experiences.

Working together every week over the last two years during the shutdown, our friendship has blossomed. I have come to appreciate him as a friend and value him as a writing teacher. I’m excited to introduce this talented artist to the wider Art Spark Texas community!

So, who is James? This bio for one of his books, like good poetry, is misleadingly simple:

James Burnside

Former USAF jet fighter mechanic (now a writer), former commuter cyclist (now I work at home), former youth worker (now a foster parent, with my wife, to two teenage daughters).

Screenwright, playwright, novelist.

“We should perhaps do well in certain cases to make allowance for absolute irrationality.” – C.G. Jung, Collected Works, Volume 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1969, Princeton University Press

“I was only trying to guess your weight. You take things too seriously.” W.C. Fields, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Bio for the book Cars Suck by James Burnside

In a couple of sentences, I think it sums up his values, his genuine humility, his life’s passions, and his ever-present wit. Like his plays, it leaves with you a merry-go-round of tell-me-more questions.

I’m so happy I had the chance to ask some of mine.

MsBoye: James, congratulations on being November 2021 Artist of the Month.

James: I can think of several smart remarks to make here, but let’s just leave it at… I am honored, truly.  

MsBoye:  I found the bio from your book “Cars Suck”, published in 2011, and I noticed that back then you didn’t identify yourself as being disabled. Last year, I know you wrote and performed a monologue proudly “outing” yourself as a person with a disability, can you tell us about that journey.

James:  

It’s Toby’s fault.

As a vet [veteran], I started going to the VA (Veterans Administration) in the 2000s. I’ve had tinnitus and some slight hearing loss since leaving the service and was starting to have more serious hearing issues. Because my problems were service-related, I was designated a disabled Vet. At that time, my problems were relatively small. I didn’t think of myself as disabled.

I met Toby Al-Trabulsi at a ScriptWorks Annual Meet & Greet. I’m on the board of ScriptWorks, an organization to help and promote playwrights in Austin. As usual, I worked the crowd, but I kept finding myself going back to this bright, funny person, Toby, with an obvious disability, to talk. I told him about being a disabled vet and he turned my name into the Board for TILT Performance Group, a theatre group that tries to shatter disability stereotypes through inclusive theatre, as a prospective Board member. After talking to other Board members, I said “yes,” when they asked. That was several years ago. I participated in several TILT productions and learned and grew.

A disability arts organization, Art Spark Texas, asked me to write a play. I learned about disability history and disability justice and I made many more friends with disabilities. They helped me understand who I am and they have become my community. I am proud to call myself DISABLED.

MsBoye: Has joining tribe disability impacted your writing? How do you think about characters, staging, language?

James:  

My tribe. I like that, and YES! A simple example. The word “idiot.” I used to use it in anger (driving) quite a bit. In the past two years, I learned the history of this word in disability history. It was a medical label applied to persons with a developmental disability. People with this label were/are frequently locked in places, places created with the best of intentions, but which almost always became places out of my worst nightmares. I try not to use that word except in its historical context… and then I use the heck out of it.

Characters? I try to include disabled characters in all my plays, and I write a lot of works specifically for my disabled friends.

Staging? As a playwright, I suggest, I have a vision in my head, but I’ve always found that the other artists involved in the creation of the actual play on an actual stage with actual actors are much smarter and more creative than I am. I always try to leave a lot of space for the other artist involved in something I wrote to provide room for their natural genius.

MsBoye: You are a multi-faceted writer, poet, novelist, and playwright. Which is your favorite and why?

James: 

I love playwriting. I’ve written a couple hundred poems, an emotional outlet, a novel (I think of my novel as a failed experiment,) articles, screenplays, but playwriting gives me license to go a little crazy in ways that none of these other forms do. But the thing that makes playwriting my favorite is the collaboration with other artists, as people who help bring my words to life, but more recently, as co-playwrights. The piece I’m working on with Art Spark Texas is an amazing example… and now I’m seeing the next question and I will leave the rest of the answer to this there.

MsBoye: Tell us more about that Art Spark Texas commission. I have been honored to be part of that team with you, Celia and Eric. It is such a gift to bear witness to the depth of your research, and your creative process, to get up close and personal with a playwright while they are writing.

What interested you about this project?

James:  

Well, first of all, I’ve known both you and Celia for a long time and I thought creating something with my friends would be fun. Secondly, I love history. The project was pitched as a work of history. History is a touchstone for all my work. I’ve written a bunch of straight-up historical works, but even when I write sci-fi, I always explore some kind of history. So, the opportunity to explore the history of disability was just too good to pass up. Finally, I’d never had a commission before and I was totally flattered.  How could I say “no?”

MsBoye: I watched you dive into some very dark historical research for the project, how did that impact you as a person, and also your approach to writing the play?

James:  

At times it has taken an emotional toll, and I actually appreciate that. That toll means I’m engaged on more than just a rational level. My gut, my heart, my spirit are engaged as well.  Always a good sign for me as an artist.

I wanted to tell a story about “real” people. I could easily have made this a horror story, but I didn’t want to have a main character that just fought hideous monsters. But I also didn’t want to hide that part of this history of institutionalization. There’s no way to hide it, but I wanted to tell the human stories. The monsters are there, but day in and day out most of us don’t fight monsters, just ourselves, our personal demons and with hard work, we embrace our better angels. (I use these words, angel/demon, cautiously, but I think they describe a kind of truth within me.)

MsBoye: Without leaking the magic before it’s ready, what can you tell us about the play?

James:  

DEATH!?  Okay, not death. The institutionalization of disabled people has a long and horrible history in this country. Our society has tried and, far too often, succeeded in hiding disabled people away, in what starts as benevolent, healthy places, but these places far too often and far too quickly became overcrowded, understaffed, unhealthy, cages. With a bit of fantasy, we explore these places and this history through the eyes of one character.

MsBoye: What message do you hope the play conveys to the audience?

James:  

Hiding disabled people out of sight in institutions is abusive and invites more and worse abuse.

MsBoye: Finally, can you tell us something you think people might be surprised to know about you.

James:  

I’m a gamer. I’ve been a gamer since before there were gamers. In high school (’68-’72) I would set up six chessboards in my room and play games from books. I was third in the Colorado State chess championship in … ’71 (?). In college, I fell in with a bad crowd in Jester dorm at UT, a bunch of bridge players.  We would go to the Austin Bridge Studio several times a week and play in nightly tournaments, and we traveled the state playing in statewide tournaments. My lovely bride (43 years) is the sister of one of my bridge partners. Got into computers to write and not have to type and retype my work, but also, to play games. Still get on my new Xbox nearly every day and play something. I love single-player RPGs.

MsBoye: James, I know right now you are part of the devising team for TILT Performance Group for their Winter production, The Secret Guardian: A TILTed Secret Garden, opening December 4^th. Do you have any upcoming events or releases you want to add here?

James: 

My short play “Dead Mommy Jokes” will be published by Fleas on a Dog (https://fleasonthedog.com/) magazine in their November issue, assuming all goes as planned. And, “yes,” “Dead Mommy Jokes” is as weird as it sounds.

MsBoye: James will be our featured artist for the November Virtual Lion and Pirate Open Mic on November 6th and a guest for our Community Conversation on Wednesday, November 17th.

If you want to learn more about James and read more of his work, visit his blog Unnecessary Stain on Silence.

James joined us on our Community Conversation series to talk about his writing. View James’ Community Conversation here: https://youtu.be/lDjsAOvJcjw