And Yet We Rise

We are happy to feature our friend and Lion & Pirate regular David Borden in this week's blog. David recently published And Yet We Rise, a truly fantastic graphic novel that tackles the complex, difficult subject matter of life with significant disabilities and caregiving with frankness, humor, and sincerity – something frequently lacking in much of the existing literature on these topics. (Click here for a more detailed review of the book by our own April Sullivan). We were thrilled to host David's book release party at our Lion & Pirate open mic and glad to hear a little more about the origins of his book:


I sat on the sofa, window blinds drawn with Savannah in my arms. She was so small, so beautiful. I was so tired. Dead tired. I could barely function. I was depressed, confused, and hungry for help or advice of any kind. Why wouldn’t she eat? Why wouldn’t she sleep? Why wouldn’t she stop screaming for hours… days at a time? I knew she had a significant brain injury because I’d seen the MRI images. I knew she had out-of-control seizures without seeing them etched by an EEG because she jittered and clenched more often than I could count.

David reading to Savannah

I knew the clinical side of the equation. The doctors had described it, labelled it, and examined it with excruciating detail. What I didn’t know was the human side. I hadn’t met other parents yet. We tried support groups, but neither my wife nor myself had the kind of personality that does well in a support group, so we remained isolated.

I looked for books, but the books people recommended, the best-sellers, so to speak, about disability, dealt with autism, Down syndrome, degenerative diseases, or mental illness. We found a few good books, but they often played it too safe, staying overly positive and inspirational. So, in the back of my mind, a seed was planted. I would write the book I wanted—surely someone else wants it too. I would write a book that dared to tackle the hard questions:

How do you care for someone year after year who won’t get better?

How do you care for yourself when you spend all your time and energy caring for someone else?

How do you deal with the conflicting emotions of grief and relief?

The whole family

I struggled with the manuscript for years. I couldn’t capture Savannah in prose. This vibrant, tenacious little girl who blossomed in her teen years stayed locked away from the reader because I found it impossible to create dialogue with her. Because she was non-verbal, I could only describe her reactions with smiles and eye movements so many times before these scenes became tedious. I abandoned the manuscript. The memoir had become just one more painful failure.

After Savannah passed away, just shy of her sixteenth birthday, her sister (eleven at the time), wrote me a touching letter. I didn’t know how to write her back. In my attempt to share her sister’s story, and my story, in an accessible way, I stumbled upon the idea of adding a visual element… make the book into a graphic novel (a long-form comic book that deals with serious subject matter). Suddenly, the book flowed and Savannah appeared in the pages.

Savannah

And as far as I can tell, there is nothing like it out there. As one reader noted: “this book takes a difficult subject and translates it into an easy to understand format: a beautiful story with simple, compelling drawings. This is NOT a Hallmark Special. If you’re looking for fuzzy inspiration, this is not your book. This is the book that challenges you to think differently, but also envelopes you in love and compassion.”

I have been so pleased by the overwhelming response that I’ve received from the book. Fox 7 ran a feature story, I was interviewed on the One in a Million Baby pod-cast, and had a standing-room-only book release party at Malvern Books with my good friends of the Lion and Pirate.

Click here for more information on the book or to download the first chapter free.

David with graphic novels

Creativity and Connection

This past Tuesday, Austin Playback Theatre was gracious enough to invite our organization to be the featured nonprofit for the June edition of their Tuesday Night Stories, a monthly improv performance series where all proceeds of each performance benefits a different local nonprofit organization. I didn’t know exactly what to expect from Austin Playback Theatre, but I must say I had a really good experience listening to other people’s stories and then seeing those stories expressed through improv.

For any of you unfamiliar with Austin Playback Theatre, it's an improvisational theatre in which the troupe elicits impressions and stories from the audience and then plays them back via improv. The troupe collaborates with the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Grover Street in Austin, who provides a space to perform at no charge so that all donations can go directly to the featured organization.

It was quite an intimate setting. A musician off to the side provided an ambience for each piece performed. Each actor stepped forward, gave their name and a short little story. Then the ensemble acted out the story, giving the audience a flavor of what the night’s improvisations would look like.

Improv actors portraying a story

A representative from VSA Texas gave a brief history of who we are, and then the emcee asked everyone in the audience to think of something we had recently experienced, basically a feel good moment, nothing elaborate, just something that we had connected to during the day. One story related an experience of rain, no power, eating pretzels and cheese, and playing scrabble by a lantern. The ensemble gave their interpretation of the story. It was amazing because I realized that through simply listening to the vignette, they were able to capture the feeling, the nuances of the experience, and relay it to the audience without much to do or say. It was a physical expression of the verbal story.

Improv of story

Several little moments from the audience were shared and played out in the same way, which primed us to share larger stories of how we connect with others through creativity, the theme for this month's performance. Soon, the members of the audience became storytellers: each would share a memory, and through answering brief questions from a moderator, a mini-play evolved.

Improv of story

The ensemble again caught the nuances with minimal activity. Stories were about sorrow and death, kittens, epiphanies of personal discovery, unity in a comical physical condition. The evening ended in a unified creative moment, and what happened was we got to know more about the other audience members. There were intense moments and funny moments, but no pressure to say anything, just observe or share. It was a very safe setting.

Relating a story to the improv facilitator

A little history about improv that I found interesting: unlike the foundations of professional acting, few historical records clearly pinpoint the official beginning of improvisation. To understand the importance of improvisation in a theatrical education, one must look at the first major occurrences of improvisation throughout history. There have been texts created at the moment of performance, referred to as improvisatory presentation, which was likely how the Atellan farce – improvised farces dealing with family problems or poking fun at historical and mythological figures – came to be so popular among Roman citizens. The Atellan farce became a literary genre in the first century B.C.E., as Roman authors began to write down the humorous and unplanned antics that occurred on stage, making the Atellan farce arguably the first well known improv troupe in recorded theatre history.

The improvisational theatre movement in America started in the late 1930s by Viola Spolin. In her twenties, she worked for the WPA as a social worker and “drama supervisor” at Hull House, Jane Addam’s famous settlement house in Chicago. Spolin used traditional children’s games and invented dozens of new games in workshops with immigrants to help empower them to become more spontaneous and less self-conscious and to build a supportive community (her games are collected in her seminal book “Improvisations for the Theater”). This little commentary is only a brief bit of trivia that offers us a window into the long history of improvisation.

Back to Austin Playback Theatre: their goal is to help nonprofits in Austin build community and awareness while raising money and building ties among Austinites who enjoy helping others & creating strong community connections! You can visit Austin Playback Theatre on the web for information on how to get your nonprofit featured in one of their shows.

Thanks again to Austin Playback Theatre for choosing VSA Texas as one of your featured nonprofits!

Celebrating the New Media Arts Semester Long Residency Program

A couple weeks ago I woke up and, as morning routines sometimes tend to go, my son had a meltdown. This one was a little different, though. He was really down on himself and started talking about how many shortcomings he had so I decided to keep him home with me that day. The hang up was that I had a showcase for Crockett High School to attend for work. The mama side of me knew these two did not coincide on accident.

The showcase at Crockett that day was the celebration of the 4 months of work by Ian Fry and his colleague Christina as part of our New Media Arts Semester Long Residency Program. They spent this semester teaching kids freshman aged and up about percussion and ended it with an ensemble performance where parents and teachers as well as other students could attend.

The child of a teacher, Ian told me that he started teaching 25 years ago when he was just 10 years old. He has a performance degree in Jazz and Classical Percussion and a Master of Arts and uses his skills to teach transitioning kids how to connect with music, specifically percussion. Ian is a staple in the VSA Texas family and seeing him interact with his students is something that is truly inspirational. I observed his ability to tune into what they needed individually and that is what a true teacher does. I got to chat with Ian today about his experience at Crockett and I want to share some of that interview with you today for our blog.

Percussion teacher Ian, dressed in black pants and a black shirt, uses a cowbell for rhythm as he warms up for the showcase with his students playing various types of drums.

Why is learning about music so important?

“It’s a shared human experience that we all literally resonate with and enjoy to some degree. It’s part of our life no matter what. I think that you don’t have to be objectively good at an instrument to benefit from it. Making those sounds and vibrations is so important to having a shared language.”

The first day vs. the last day:

“We didn’t know anyone, we had only met the teacher, but I remember them being receptive. It was really cool to walk in and have them be so welcoming. The students seemed so excited to be exposed to a drumming class, I don’t know if they ever had it before or not, but they were super excited, eager and focused. When we left that last day we were part of their family. It was great to, in those 4 short months, really connect with them and see them build their skills.”

What kind of things did you teach them?

“The program has an aspect of music literacy as well as learning rhythms and music by copying things. People tend to learn really well by repetition and in that repetition we ingrain those skills that we want to master. Each class, we ended up going over the same routine and that helped with the retention of knowledge. We learned a lot about Brazilian, Cuban and hip hop styles of percussion. It was all carnival rhythm.”

What was one of the most impactful things you saw through the semester?

“There were two guys that stood out to me. One who was extremely non-verbal and the other one just seemed like he was on the spectrum, verbal but sometimes not very active. What was amazing for us to witness was from the beginning one would take his medication during the day and when he got to the class he was very tired; he’d be napping a little bit but when everyone started playing he would snap out of it and start playing energetically. The other one was super non-verbal, barely ever played at all, but by the end he was playing and not only making noise but playing a really cool triplet pattern that sounded really nice.”

At VSA Texas, our mission is to make art accessible to everyone, no matter their abilities and our program at Crockett did not fall short of fulfilling that mission. I am so glad I got to expose my son to everyone that day because a bad morning was made better by just being there and that is a priceless experience. I can’t wait to see how many more minds we reach by continuing to do what we do!

Connections

Hi VSA Texas friends! This is April, and I have been working hard on our veterans program lately. We have an exciting event planned for June 15th from 6-8 pm at Art979 Gallery, 210 W 26th Street in Bryan, TX.

Invitation for the 2017 Distinguished Artist Veterans Showcase that includes a painting of a gecko by Mary Ishler and a poem called The Desert by Judy Smith.

This will be our 8th annual Distinguished Artist Veterans art exhibit and we have something different planned. This year it is all about connections! We expanded our program in 2015 to include The Re-Integration Project writing classes. Our second publication of writings by veterans is out at the printer now and it is filled with 100 pages of poems, short stories and screenplays.

Cover of The Re-Integration Project publication including an abstract marker drawing by Valerie Short called Everyone’s Dream.

How is this about connections, you ask? Well, we have connected our veteran writers with veteran artists and songwriters by asking the artists and musicians to choose a piece of writing from the book and create a response. The art has been coming in all week to my office and every artist who drops off artwork is excited to tell the story of how their work was inspired by the veteran writers. Denise Knebel was here this morning from San Antonio. She created a painting in response to a short story “Terminal” by Thomas Orlando. In this story a junior officer butts heads with a colonel, but by the end of the story, their relationship becomes one of mutual respect. The connection that the officer makes with the colonel in the beginning of the story comes back around to him in the end. We find a similar storyline in Perry Jefferies “Club-Footed Frankenstein.” As Denise explained it, so much of what happens in the military is about connections between people. She portrayed that in her acrylic on canvas, “Connections…for us all.”

An acrylic painting with many layers including images of figures and planes overlaid by square patterns of purple bars, dripping veins of green and yellow, and circles of gold.

Beyond the art, we are also working with veteran songwriters. As they turn in their songs, I am finding a theme to the music. Most of the songs are soul- or country-influenced and all of them are about love. With titles such as “Tornado of Love” by Glenn Towery or “People Just Need Love” by Rick Milisci, the songs bring about a feeling of love and the connection each of us has with everyone else.

I am telling you, this is going to be a great event! If you can’t make it to Bryan on June 15th, I urge you to take a trip to view the show while it is on display until July 15th. Or visit our website, because I will be posting the writings, songs, and art there soon.

Finally, I want to say, this project would not be possible without funding support from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. In the spirit of connections, I want to share with you a fantastic blog by one of the Peer & Family Support Program mentors that was published on the Reeve Foundation's blog recently. The blog, written by Julie Rodes, describes her journey from being a patient with a new spinal cord injury to her recent acceptance into medical school.

Stay connected!

Horticultural Arts

Hi there. This is Celia and I want to tell you a little bit about a wonderful new program we have added to our weekend classes. In partnership with Mobile Art, this Sunday is the fourth class in a limited series we are calling Horticultural Arts. The classes are part playing with flowers and part healing. Led by organic gardner Mary Kraemer, the experiential workshops explore how flowering plants and their essence influence our lives in ways both seen and unseen. This Sunday, we will learn about taking photographs of plants and flowers and will begin to assemble a photo book. Here are some of my photos taken recently in the Northeast:

Tulips in Spring

Garden of earthly delights

Bleeding Hearts and Lilacs

I am looking forward to improving my technique on Sunday! Classes are only $10 and walk-ins are welcome. I hope to see you there!

And here is Lynn Johnson on her Zen meditation reflection experience:

Hmm. I must say I have been intrigued from the outset, and there are seven more classes coming up with a kaleidoscope of offerings. The one I attended recently was “Flower Gazing Meditation, Mini-Japanese Zen Garden Making, and Learning Basic Meditation,” the latter essentially meaning to breathe and focus for about 3-5 minutes. It was very relaxing just breathing, which for me after all sorts of allergies and bronchitis, is a gift in itself. Mary read different meditation pieces, and we sat quietly and listened. As for the rest of the two hours... I cannot replicate nor remember beyond being in the present Zen moment, and we were all there.

I did notice large plastic jars filled with what appeared to be rice and sand colored dirt, some small plates, a collection of little gardening utensils, and a bowl of rocks. Everyone was asked to pick four rocks, representing different things such as "fresh" and "clear," a wall, and two other items I frankly don’t remember because I was still so focused on breathing, but I really liked my selection of rocks. We held each one in our hand and did a slight meditation holding the thought of the rock we had chosen.

Afterward, we put those aside, and then we got our small plastic bowl, and we chose our dirt to start making our mini-Zen Garden. Loved this process! I chose a dark, reddish dirt that had an interesting smell and tossed my rocks into the dirt very much like the “Chance Dance” that Phillip Glass, the great composer, used to do with modern dancers, playing music as the dancers improvised as they went along. So I chanced the Zen Garden rock throwing, letting the rocks land where they may.

We got our choice of tiny garden tools, (i.e. a rake, trowel, and three-pronged fork). I chose the little rake and proceeded to arrange my little garden as Mary read to us peaceful stories about Zen Gardens and showed us wonderful pictures from famous Zen Gardens. While we were busy tending to our 8” bowls of dirt, we listened to stories about Haiku poetry and how many syllables they contain, and we talked about what each of our rocks meant to us. I chose my clear rock as the pinnacle of my garden, meaning "awake and clear." We then each wrote a Haiku poem. Next we chose our Shinto shrine; mine was a little box with a little roof where I put my poem and a special rock.

My Haiku written in green ink on a white slip of paper:
“Loud bird sweetness sings
Soft wind joyfully flowing
Freedom soul awake”

  My mini-Zen Garden and Shinto shrine: pastel background, miniature blue roof with painted butterfly, tiny rake leaning on the roof and placed on red, gravelly dirt with a clear rock, gold rock, pink stone, and white stone.

A Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house one or more Shinto kami. Its most important building is used for the safekeeping of sacred objects and not for worship. Structurally, a shrine is usually characterized by the presence of a honden or sanctuary where the kami, or sacred object(s), are housed. My little Shinto shrine is now on my shelf in my office where it rests beside my mini-Zen Garden, in which I love to create new patterns in the dirt and scatter my rocks wherever they may wander.

There are many more classes to discover here at VSA Texas. These Horticultural Arts classes are available through July 16th. Visit the VSA Texas website or call me to sign up at 512-454-9912. Hey – it’s only $10, and you will never regret you came!

Here's to All the Moms!

With Mother's Day coming up this weekend, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate moms and share what motherhood means to us!

April:

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! My mother is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She is an artist and a scientist and an explorer of adventures. I grew up with the understanding that I could be anything that I wanted to be. She would tell me she would love me even if I sold pencils on the side of the road. That kind of reassurance made it possible for me to follow my dreams of being an artist and working in the arts. My sisters and I try to spend Mother’s Day with her but it gets harder every year with all of our busy schedules. Plus my sisters are both mothers now too. When we do get together, we try to go to the beach and have a relaxing getaway. This year, because I am so busy this weekend, I took my mom to the beach last weekend. She really wanted to go fishing. So we went to the pier and enjoyed the breeze and she gave it a go. Here is a picture of her fishing. She didn’t catch anything, but she had a great time and I enjoyed my time hanging out with her.

Janelle:

Every day feels like Mother's Day to me. Seeing my son grow and greet the day each morning, tell me about his field trips at school, use new words, discover new things, that's what being a mother is all about. I used to think I cared about presents and such, but what really makes me feel fulfilled is seeing him turn into the person he is supposed to be.

Me and T

Lynn:

It has been 25 years since I last celebrated Mother’s Day with a gift, a smile, maybe a pie, but always a card. My memories are so many: her arched eyebrow when I did something wrong, her hug after scolding me, many long years of her sewing clothes for me, including my wedding dress. Countless meals she made for us all, her attempts at fudge which never quite made it, our hot chocolates after midnight Christmas Eve mass. Clean sheets especially when I had a cold or flu, a cool washcloth for my forehead after crying over some silly boyfriend. Encouraging me to read everything and always providing a copious amount of books to read. Sticking up for me when she felt some teacher had done me wrong. Showing me the world and all the cultures it has to offer. She made a great pound cake and always had a jar of freshly baked cookies when she had the time. She taught me how to shovel sand, sod grass, paint baseboards, make a good cup of coffee. She let me cook at a young age. When she said "no," you knew she meant "no." She didn’t back down much to my chagrin. I could wheedle and whine and exasperate her so, but no always meant no. She was the worst joke teller, so she didn’t tell many jokes. People loved talking with her about all sorts of things – her oncologist who was getting married visited her many times in the hospital seeking advice about his upcoming nuptials. We were so different – she was tall and thin, I am short and not so thin, she had dark hair, I had light hair – but I realize now in so many ways we have become alike. I learned the same love of fairness, equality, and sharing with others. And I'm probably the next worst joke teller after her.

My mom and dad

Eric:

There is a whole lot I could say about my mom, but more than any memory, what comes to mind is how tirelessly she worked to make sure I would have the best life possible. And in addition to being a fierce advocate for me, she also advocated for countless other students with disabilities through her 20+ years of service as a special education teacher. Most of the good things I have in my life I owe to her. I value our close relationship, our ability to laugh at the most absurd and often painful situations, and I still reach for the stars knowing she'll support me each step of the way. Love you, Mom!

At a student awards ceremony with my mom and some seriously long hair

Celia:

My mother has been gone for a very long time. But I often think of her and how she and my father raised my brothers and I to be hard working, caring and honest adults. I recognize Mom in my mannerisms and many of my little sayings about the ironies of life. I wish that she and I could have had more time together because I think she would find satisfaction in her handiwork. Even though, I can still hear her voice telling me to "sit up straight and for goodness sake, cut your hair." Oh Phyllis. I like my long hair as much as I love you. Happy Mothers Day!


What are your favorite mom memories? Please tell us in the comments!

The Future of Me

First and foremost, I'd like to wish you all a happy May the Fourth day! May the force be with you as you navigate your Thursday afternoons! In this blog, I want to share with you all what I will be up to now that our grant from the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities (TCDD), our primary funding source for OMOD, has officially ended:

Social Media. Something I probably enjoy a little too much will now dominate a sizable chunk of my work life. This includes continuing my self-appointed role of "Blog Manager" and also scheduling and publishing our daily Facebook and Twitter posts. I feel honored to fill the role once occupied by Austin Hughes, our previous social media expert. And one final note about all things blog: we are always open to guest contributions to our blog, so if you have a piece about arts and disability or your participation in one of our programs, or would like to write a piece, please contact me and we'll find a space in our blog schedule to publish it!

Open Mic. As my co-worker April Sullivan devotes more time to our expanding Veterans Services and Artworks programs, I will head up the VSA side of the monthly Lion and Pirate Open Mic at Malvern Books, playing the part of co-host alongside Laura Perna of CTD's Pen 2 Paper writing competition, signing up performers as they arrive, and occasionally demo-ing the features of my new power wheelchair (see below). Our next open mic is Saturday, May 20th, 7:00-9:00pm. I hope to see you all there!

VSA Texas @ Library Live! I am excited to announce this quarterly concert series at the Carver Branch will resume this September. My role in this series will be booking the bands, working with the library to schedule show dates and promote the series, and emceeing each show. I cannot be happier to bring this much-needed opportunity to local musicians with disabilities, especially to our open mic regulars looking to step up their live performances. If you yourself are a musician with a disability or if you play in a group with one or more musicians with disabilities, please email me at eric@vsatx.org for an application form!

Michael Tidmore and the Rollers performing at our first Library Live event this past January

OMOD. I could never forget OMOD! OMOD will continue to thrive, albeit in a limited fashion. In addition to promoting our speakers to conference and other event hosts, which we will do through our new website set to go live later this month, we will also hold monthly meetings – much like Toastmasters but OMOD style – in Austin for our speakers to present new stories, get constructive feedback, and seek local speaking opportunities. And, at least once a year, we hope to facilitate our usual six-week writing workshop for new and continuing OMOD speakers followed by a showcase for friends, family, and community members. So be sure to stay tuned for more great events and opportunities from OMOD!

A group photo from our 2nd Annual OMOD Showcase reveals a solid lineup of 16 speakers with a wide range of disabilities; we have more than doubled our pool of trained speakers since then.

And that's about it! I look forward to continuing my journey with VSA Texas and seeing what new creative opportunities I can bring to the disability community in Austin and beyond!