Joannie StangelandJoannie Stangeland » inspiration

Friday inspiration: Jack

joannie — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:26:06 +0000

Yesterday, Standup Poetry Guy Jack McCarthy died.

A light. A life lived well. And shared beautifully. An inspiration.

I first remembered meeting Jack on a magical night when he and Martha Silano and I read at Edmonds Bookshop. I remember he read this:

But this past spring, again reading together at Edmonds Bookshop, Jack reminded me of the time we’d met years before that, at Scott’s in Mount Vernon. I don’t think he introduced himself. We just talked about short and long poems.

Recently, on a sunny Sunday afternoon when I turned on the car radio, I heard this wonderful, soothing, familiar voice–and it was Jack! On Snap Judgment.

I feel grateful for the times I got to hear him read. I’d been thinking about him, hoping to hear him again.

My heart goes out to his wife, to all his family.

To Jack McCarthy, thank you.

Friday inspiration for you

joannie — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:29:37 +0000

This Move video made me feel so many things all at once.

From the site:

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..

= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn

This made me so happy

joannie — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:37:17 +0000

A colleague sent me the link to Sarah Kay’s TED talk.

(I’d try embedding it here, but I’ve been having trouble embedding videos.)

She said what I need to hear this morning–especially the part about writing your own poems. I’ve been writing my own poems, but it gets lonely. This helped.

This is how it’s done

joannie — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:41:00 +0000

In the ’80s, I moved to New York to be a modern dancer, and (almost) every morning, I took a ballet class from Jocelyn Lorenz. While I stood at the barre next to Gina Gibney or floundered across the floor, I was surrounded by people who danced for Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, and others.

As much as Jocelyn taught me—and that was a lot—I realized that I could also learn a lot just by watching these other dancers. Translating what I saw into my body was rarely accomplished, but at least I could see, up close, how dance was done when it was done really well.

Last night, I went to the Floating Bridge Review gala launch reading—what a wonderful night! Many poets read–two poems each, one from the Review and one free choice. The result was an evening packed with powerful poetry—and a lot of humor. I was in awe—inspired, but also increasingly filled with doubt when surrounded by so much poetry prowess.

I walked out feeling—yes, still inspired—but also kind of like a hack, like I didn’t even know where to start. Then I remembered watching Rob Besserer in Jocelyn’s class. At the reading, I’d seen and heard how it’s done. I can learn and grow from that. Now, to write.

Reading + inspiration

joannie — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Tonight, I’m attending and reading at the launch of Floating Bridge Review 3, over at Jack Straw Studios, 7:00 PM.

Hearing and reading poetry is always exciting, but tonight I’m going to read a poem or two inspired by work, my day job. Imagine Dilbert plus a prose poem in a Russian novel. Yes, my work inspired that.

What else is inspiring?

I’ll admit that I’m an absolute sucker for this, the kind of marketing videos that tell someone’s story. Yes, they’re marketing, but I love the stories. (And in this case, I love the fact that Microsoft made a video that includes poetry!)

Check it out, and if you’re in Seattle tonight, swing by Jack Straw and hear lots of poetry.

And let me know: What inspires you?