More Laughter, Less Slaughter
This Thanksgiving, a rant
I’m fighting harder to find my joy, courage and the will to create; the alternatives are unacceptable to me. Living in a reality that feels painful, or unbearable, is toxic to human life, and last I checked, I’m still human. I feel a grave need to recommit to being alive in the most vital ways possible.
When I was 19 and my mom was dying, and I’d just had emergency surgery for a rectal abscess and was suffering in pain, I clipped 30 colorful baby barrettes into my hair. Because I needed to do something, and for about a week that helped.
I thrill for bad weather (not disasters, just nasty gloom). I know I can bring my sunniest attitude and upset a lot of grumblers. Yes, a part of me likes to channel Betty White. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the gravity of the situation.
I can’t ignore Israel’s Zionist Genocide, a Holocaust in Gaza and the ways totalitarianism has eaten into our democracy. Hannah Arendt noted, “when we feel lonely, we lose the ability to experience anything else, and we are unable to build fresh beginnings.” She called loneliness, “the core of tyranny.” Please reach out if you’re lonely, I’ll be your friend!
I refuse to accept the learned helplessness I inherited from trauma. I’ve fought hard for my agency. I will never stop believing in myself and you. I will never stop making art. I will never stop sharing and being big, bold and brazen. To empower us all.
My loud mouth helps. People tell me that I say all the things they’re afraid to say. Like complaining in grad school about having to walk down the hall of old white male portraits. They’ve been removed. Here I am still speaking.
Have I burned bridges? Yes. Do I suffer? No. I have to be as honest as I can be. If people don’t like that, their problem. Not mine.
One of the most valuable lessons I ever learned (which happened while parenting but doesn’t only apply there): I don’t have to be angry to discipline my child. I can say no from a place of love. This shifted everything for me. I can let go of the blades I used to carry. The clenching and bracing don’t help. This freed up a lot of energy.
Let’s not banish joy amidst suffering. Like Emma Goldman, I want to dance in the revolution!
In 2000 I was in Prague for the World Economic Summit (as press) and saw first hand how the news was created not from what happened, but from spin. Now since Amsterdam will the world wake up? I want to know real people with real feelings and real responses. I want to be real with you.
I’ve been very concerned about the whales. Here is some good news to appreciate if you need reasons to be cheerful. But there is still so much bad news! I say let’s find the things that upset us and work on changing them.
As a Jew, I’m horrified that so many governments including the US (both parties) and Israel use Hitler’s playbook. Even locally with the militarization of police and the criminalization of poverty while the fossil fuel industry (actual people with actual grandkids) insist we all ride the fast lane to annihilation.
Welcome to the new Ice Age, or, if you’re sweltering, the Bipolar Planet. Some scientists say it’s already too late. The more I heal, the less afraid I am to feel my feelings. Sadness and grief help me to let go. Anger gives me the energy to push forward to act.
Yes, the U.S. is a violent, settler colonialist nation, and we’re failing each other and our planet. I cry for the outrageous loss of life. I know we could do and could have done much more. And I forgive myself. I offer myself compassion. I offer you compassion. I forgive you too. We can all be more effective when we see clearly.
You might laugh at my compostable toothbrush, my attempts to avoid plastic, or even my weekly fast for Gaza, my small donations. Laughter is good for us! But I refuse to give up my earnest hope. I commit to fight harder, to speak out, to find joy, courage and the will to create now more than ever. I will not stop til my last breath.
artwork by Scott Sherman at ScottShermanStudio on instagram
The Prompt:
Laughter is the best medicine! Keep a Comedy Journal! I don’t. I have a hard time keeping separate journals for different topics. I like to keep one journal with everything in it, so I finish them often and feel as if I’m getting somewhere. My journals are full of random thoughts, but Judd Apatow recommends a comedy journal.
Comedy lifts us up and out of ourselves. It’s healing. Even if it hurts when we laugh, comedy gives us distance from our pain, and there is a lot of pain to get distance from right now. Comedy creates ways to reflect on our world, ourselves, our behavior and our stuck, cornered head-banging problems.
Here’s an example from my own journal, “All I want to do is simplify my life. So I got rid of our car. Now I don’t have to buy gas which always upset me because gas is a liquid.”
Here’s a prompt from Judd Apatow’s Master Class (which I highly recommend), “To kick off your writing process, sit down with your comedy journal (see!) and make the following lists: everything that makes you mad, everything you think is wrong with yourself, everything you think is wrong with the world (this won’t be hard), things you wish you could change about your personality, and things you wish you could change about your body… turn this assignment into a daily habit; spend time each day making a new list in your journal.” At the very least, you will start to crack yourself up. Instead of losing your mind, laugh.
Comedy teaches reversals and subversions which are really important if you want to change the world. For a fabulous treatise on comedy (and extra credit), read Sarah Ruhl’s play, Clean House.
Comedy can be reverse engineered to take the edge off our grief and rage. Where do you want to get? Start in the opposite direction. The flipping around causes us to laugh.
There is a structure to jokes similar to narrative structure:
Stasis > Conflict > Reversal
Take the old Rodney Dangerfield one-liner,
“When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother.”
Stasis: I was born. Conflict: I was so ugly. Reversal: the doctor slapped my mother.
Subversion: the expectation of being slapped after you get born is subverted by the conflict that causes our expectation to be reversed/changed. It’s the Conflict that creates the Energy for the Reversal or Change that leads to a new stasis.
Write down your conflicts. Make a big list. Pick one and describe it, and where you are with it, and where you want to get, and all the possible and impossible solutions. Stasis > Conflict > Reversal… repeat. Comedy from conflict will create unforgettable characters who both want and need change. Whether or not they get it, trying heals. Try it!
Do you know someone who wants to be more creative but they have trouble starting (or finishing)? With prompts, grounding practices, & discussions, Brave Space inspires even the most blocked creatives! Playwrights, poets, painters or potters! Writers of any genre & creatives that do things that don’t start with the letter p! Brave Space is a safe place to make meaning in community. $5-25 suggested per session. 5x/week! On or off camera. Try it!
Brave Space Schedule:
12/2 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/3 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching for ALL - for support around the holidays, self-regulation, self-compassion & connecting with parts, ask for a link!
12/4 Wednesday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/5 Thursday 10am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching
Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/6 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/8 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space & 730pm ET Sharing Salon
12/9 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/10 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching for ALL
12/11 Wednesday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/12 Thursday 10am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching
Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/13 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/15 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
12/16 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/17 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching for ALL
12/18 Wednesday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/19 Thursday 10am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching
Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/20 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/22 Sunday 6pm ET Brave Space for All Humans
12/23 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/24 - 12/26 NO Brave Space
12/27 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
Friday 3pm ET Brave Sharing Salon
12/29 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
12/28 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/29 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/workshop
12/30 through 1/4/25 Winter Holiday
Each week Tuesdays includes fast feedback for up to 1 page (@250 words) of writing or you can bring in a craft issue/ask for help with your project.
Each month there are 2 Sharing Salons: Second Sundays (730pm ET) and Final Fridays (3pm ET) for sharing up to 10 minutes of work (up to 1500 words).Amazing People Doing Amazing Things:
The Global Compassion Coalition is hosting a World Compassion Day Event tomorrow at 2pm ET to recharge your compassion battery.
Jewish Voices for Peace has a webpage that offers helpful ways to have hard conversations this weekend and for the future. If you’re looking for that, click this link.
Marilyn Ness is raising funds to finish her documentary film about her play, POST MORTEM, that many of you remember we workshopped in the WriteNow Workshop with 29th Street (pre-pandemic)! Here is a link to the update where you can find out what she was able to do with it, and where it’s headed! Congratulations to Marilyn, and I hope we can all get behind this project with support of any size.
Streaming Tickets to Golden Thread’s 11 REFLECTIONS created and directed by Andrea Assaf featuring acclaimed Syrian opera singer Lubana Al Quntar and Turkish composer and violinist Eylem Basaldi - watch now online!
12/4 Fundraiser for GAZA at Yu & Me Books and writing workshops on other dates you can attend to support Gaza.
12/4 - 12/29 Get your tickets to the world premiere of the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) by Matt Barbot produced by Fault Line Theatre with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Latinx Playwrights Circle. Use the DISCOUNT CODE FLT10 to purchase any ticket at a 10% discount. It’s funny, it’s theatrical, it’s philosophical, it’s political and truly remarkable. I love this play! Go! (I’ll be there 12/5 - sit with me!)
12/6 Sair Kaufman (Fran from my play Winners) will be performing at the Pink Frog Cafe in Brooklyn. Join me!
12/20 online 11:30 am ET - 1pm ET Center for Mindfulness & Compassion IFS Research Fundraiser with Richard Schwartz, Martha Sweezy & others. Register for Free Here. Donations Here
12/21 Transcend, a trans/gender-expansive chorus, will perform their Winter Solstice concert in person and live-streamed from NYC. TICKETS HERE (start at $5 for streaming)
Opportunities:
12/4/24 for Creative Producers in Canada (citizens), a 2 year paid fellowship with mentoring and more, information here.
12/6/24 for Creative Producers in the United States, CIPA 2025 Fellowship Program which is a year-long paid fellowship for people who want to produce creative work. More info HERE
11/1/24 - 1/31/25 Autistic Oral History Project is offering grants of $3K to Autistic folks and Autistic-adjacent folks who want to participate in collecting oral histories.
11/1 - 12/31 Autistic Voiceover Artists is a new initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering autistic adults through voiceover training and practice. AVA’s mission is to create an inclusive and engaging space where autistic adults can explore voiceover as a means of self-expression, skill-building, and creativity. This November and December, AVA is offering free online voiceover workshops for Autistic adults! Webinar schedule and more info here.
11/11 - 11/18 Ojai Playwrights Conference will be accepting applications for their summer festival!
12/1 Produce your one act at The Chain! Submissions and more info.
12/15/24 The Orchard Project is accepting submissions for:
The Orchard Project Performance Lab (link), for development of work intended to be performed in front of a live or virtual audience.
The Orchard Project Greenhouse Program (link), for collaborators generating new works and collaborations in a multitude of forms;
The Orchard Project Episodic Lab (link), for writers working on the advancement of original TV scripts;
The Orchard Project Audio Lab (link), for early development of scripts and ideas in the audio storytelling form.
12/17/24 NYFA grant deadline for Playwriting/Screenwriting, Photography, Choreography and other disciplines for New York artists. For $8K, no strings attached, it’s a tough application, but worth it. Break a leg!
The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis offers the following programs to apply to:
-Core Writer Program - open to any committed professional playwright, deadline in January 2025
-Jerome Fellowship - for any early career playwright interested in spending two years in Minnesota, deadline in November 2024
-Many Voices Fellowship - for any early career BIPOC playwright interested in spending two years in Minnesota, deadline in December 2024
-McKnight National Residency and Commission - open to established playwrights outside of Minnesota, deadline in December 2024
-McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting - open to mid-career Minnesota-based playwrights, deadline in January 2025
-Many Voices Mentorship - open to beginning BIPOC playwrights based in Minnesota, deadline in December 2024
-Core Apprentice - open to playwrights in or recently graduated from undergrad and graduate programs, deadline in February 2025.
I love this comedy prompt and like all your prompts I could see how it correlates with my own work. When we first meet my lead character she does exactly that list. Here's a happy thought.. the largest unknown coral reef was discovered off the Solomon Islands. 🤪