Creative Collaborative Cagebreakers by Rhino Ravendove (no david read aloud txt) 📕

and trust in the Creative
Early on in the process facing an agreement to the collective, I felt pressure. What can I write about? Staring at the computer and reviewing the past week, I remembered an interesting experience in San Diego and from that wrote the Kook & Creativity. Fearing approbation from my colleagues and myself, I put a call out to the Creative and it responded.
Lesson #2, Be receptive to colleagues’ useful feedback.
Later, we were doing mutual critiques of each other’s work and one of the collective mentioned the tone of one of my poems. Initially, I recoiled and upon reflection agreed with his insight on an emotional topic I was too close to see.
Lesson #3, Those that start the journey with you may not be there at the end.
After about three months, during which time we wrote and edited the pieces, it was time to prepare for publishing. At this point the Techno Mystic missed a meeting. Repeated emails and phone calls yielded no response. We (the Rhino and the Ravendove) were at a crossroads. The collective of three was now down to a collaborative of two.
Lesson #4, The mission is more than any of its parts.
A decision was needed, do we wait for him to come around, do we shelve the whole thing, do we edit his works, or do we push on without him and his work? Incompletions can leave one wondering and clutter up the mind. And waiting can linger on until the juice is dried up and without power. We elected to carry on with our mission. It had become greater than the sum of its parts. It was more than our self-centered ‘pieces.’ I demanded completion.
Now, at the end of this written project is the beginning of the marketing of the work. The incubation from inception in August 2010 til the birth and publishing of the work is just step one. Step Two is also fraught with the unknown. Will both of us make it through this phase? Will it be totally on line? Or also use tried and true forms such as flyers and speaking engagements. Who is in our tribe or niche? How do we find and contact them? Is this a springboard for more creative collective projects? Do we want to monetize with ancillary products such as audio cds, t-shirts? Is there a place down the road where new collaborators contribute to the project? DON’T KNOW. And as the mystics teach, ‘knowing you don’t know is the beginning of awakening.’


Most Portem
by
The Ravendove

When I met with The Rhino and The TechnoMystic I had no intention of creating a book or any kind of project. They were meeting to talk about podcasting, with Rhino particularly interested in the ‘how to’ technology of it all. At that meeting, TechnoMystic talked about a project/experiment that would test the waters of creativity and marketing. The irony is that at the end of this journey, Technomystic is nowhere to be found.

Such is the nature of creativity. You have an idea, you make plans, dive in, and the results are…different. Perhaps if everything turned out exactly as you planned it, then that was a recipe, but it is certainly not experimental or creativity.

Sure we had structure, an outline, meetings, bullet points. This was wicker for weaving cauldrons to hold the creative, imaginary stuff we poured into it. When the heat of completion gets turned up the cauldron overflows, springs leaks, and sometimes cooks leave the kitchen.

Creation is an exercise in discipline, structure, wild-abandon, rule-breaking, stamina, and letting go. It’s discovery, finding out what you are made of. It is an act that carries you to yourself, holding up a mirror saying, ‘See the beauty, see the flaws?”
I saw mine. Where I excel: free form, unencumbered imagination. And where I exile; completion, willing to share my art, my work with the masses and the few.

That’s why collaboration is crucial. The quarterback doesn’t block, the running back doesn’t always pass. The team takes over where the individual’s skill set ends.
∞
There’s a sadness here within me. I think about the Fellowship of the Ring. Everybody didn’t make it. Even though they began with resolve and a swell of music in the score, they all didn’t make it. Not everybody does, and I get that theoretically, but my spirit, looking for a missing smile and not seeing it at the finish, mutters a prayer. I don’t know why he didn’t finish. I’m sure he had good reasons. Does it matter in the end? Not really. The project goes on, and that brings me a sense of peace, especially when I think about how often I wanted to quit or let it slip into the sticky enticing goo of boredom and PAD: Perpetual Almost Doneness.

I like to wander. Or as someone once said, I like to wonder while I wander. I find gems and ugly truths like I’m a devoted Novelty Junkie. The ‘devoted’ part gives it a sacred twist, like a crucifix hanging on the neck of a wet rat. What I’m not saying is, I get bored easy and don’t like to complete things. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Just feels like it sometimes. I think I’m going to end here, feeling open, incomplete, and not knowing what else to say except “I came, I Saw, Created.”

SUGGESTED MEDIA LIST
Booth, Eric. The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life. I Universe, 2008

Keyes, Ralph. The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear. Henry Holt Co. 1995

Mailer, Norman. The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing. Random House, 2004

Moore, Thomas. Dark Nights of the Soul. Gotham Books, 2004

Moore, Thomas. Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospel. Hay House, 2009

Moore, Thomas. A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do.
Broadway Books, 2008

Osho. Creativity: Unleashing the Forces Within You. St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999
Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence, and Spirit. Bottom of the Hill Press, 2008

Sher, Gail. One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers. Arkana, 1999

Film: Curtiz, Michael (Director). Casablanca. Warner Brothers, 1942

BIOS
Ran ‘Rhino’ Klarin

Exploring and facilitating the Creative in all of us is the Rhino’s mission. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he completed a thirty year career in education and now devotes himself to service of the arts. Recently, he discovered his hidden, innate creative self that wanted to emerge and began to explore it in poetry, music, painting, and spoken word. In all of his works there is a bare bones honesty, toughness and sensitivity that has earned him the alias, the Rhino. He is committed to supporting others (especially older adults and teenagers) in finding and developing their own creativity and does so through his podcasts, salons, essays and poetry. His podcast with renowned multi-discipline artist, Adwin David Brown, can be found at www.rhinoravendoveriffs.podbean.com. They also facilitate creativity workshops called Expression Session More of Rhino’s poems can be found in is volume, Expression Is Liberation: Self, Sex, Society, and Spirit. . For his blog on creativity for older persons check www.liviingthedreamdeferred.blogspot.com.


Adwin David Brown, ‘the Ravendove’

Adwin David Alexander Brown aka the Flowmasta is an award winning poet and multi-media artist and explorer of the Imagination. “I was a shy, quiet, introverted kid with a vivid, active imagination. I understand the allure of creativity and the fear of being judged. My Walks with Flow have taken me from recording artist, to children’s health program designer, Native American flute whisperer, classroom teacher, creative education consultant, creativity coach, writer, and Imaginaut. For more info: www.adwindavidbrown.com.


GIVING THANKS & PRAISE

The Ravendove
is grateful

Big Ups and Gratitude to that elusive closer-than-my-breath source of wonder, The Flow. To The Rhino, my collaborative, cagebreakin’ cohort: your commitment to getting things done is unbreakable. Thank you for the encouragement and keeping my feet to fire. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown who let me draw on the walls (okay, sometimes), and jam in the living room with a four piece band. To my daughter, Nia, who teaches me patience, how to listen, and reminds me to keep the child within me alive. And to my beloved Lonia, whose fierce love yells into the tomb and calls out the creative man who has, once again, faked his own death. Finally, to you, the ImagiNative who answers the call to create, unconform, and blaze trails through dark caves and high clouds. This flow’s for you.


The Rhino

Teachers, guides, supporters on the journey all deserve ‘plenty’ gratitude and praise. And above all I salute the Creative which grows in and as me every time I put pen to paper, finger to keyboard, and brush to canvas. Awakening to the power we all share is the Gift. It is always available at no cost, indeed it is always on. In this particular endeavor I give thanks to the context that emerges when two or more are gathered. I salute the original advocate of context in my life, Werner Erhard, whose est training set the foundation for the ensuing thirty plus years. Much respect to Rev. Michael Beckwith of the Agape’ church who celebrates everyone he meets. In this specific container, I hail my colleague, friend, and co-cagebreaker, Adwin ‘the Ravendove.’ Adwin has consistently pointed to the next iteration in this digital creativity hurricane. Finally, my sincerest thanks to everyone who has read one of my poems, essays, and blogs; from Ms. Long in sixth grade to YOU. Everyone and everything counts in this world and it is all grace.
One Love