ESPrit de Corps

I’ve found that posting for the the first time to a blog is kind of like your first kiss with someone. Too spontaneous and it could be awkward. However, there’s certainly the downside to over thinking it. You want it to be packed with meaning and, deep down, maybe fear that it doesn’t mean as much to the recipient as it does to you. In the best possible scenario, it can act as the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

As I told my soon-to-be-great-friend Liz Weil (I am always hopeful, always positive), I was so excited and honored to be asked to be a guest blogger, that I totally forgot to say yes. Then there was that whole second stage which included Groucho Marx’s comment running through my head that basically calls into question the type of club that would have me as a member. Then, defying the Kubler-Ross model, I skipped anger and depression and went right into bargaining. ‘Well…’, I thought, ‘…people are interested in how this Irish-looking, Hispanic guy from Hoboken, New Jersey got into playing taiko’. Hopefully, if you take my creativity lab during Summer Seminar ‘08 and/or get to hear a taiko (Japanese drum) performance, you’ll be as hooked as I was. So my next step will be to tie in this art form with Summer Seminar and its focus of ‘habits of the creative mind’.

It’s been said that the boundaries of a Japanese village were determined by how far the sound of the village drum could carry. That speaks worlds to me, including and especially the thought of art and it’s impact, even creation, of community. Of course, the situation now is that we live in an age where I can type something here and that very same village in Japan (with the help of wireless towers) can read it almost immediately. Where does art lie in these times in relation to community? Is it in danger of being less relevant or does the immediacy of our lives demand more of it? It would be great to hear your thoughts about this. If you want to learn more about taiko, click here for a book called The Way of Taiko or click here for CDs of a great taiko performance group, Kodo.

I hope to see you at Summer Seminar ‘08. If we do chat and you’re interested, ask me about another experience of art and community I had in Japan. That one might make me tear up, but I won’t mind telling you about it, I promise. Best!