We had a teriffic time. A group of ingeniously creative kids, Julie Geen, and myself talked about environment, and how environment can and should be treated just as a character in your horror story. A perfect recent example is Lemony Snicket’s new childrens book called The Dark. Delightfuly illustrated by Jon Klassen of “I want my Hat back” fame. I wrote a review here.
We took a trip to the Byrd Theatre like last year. It was a lot of fun to see the faces light up with wonder when we went to the spooky basement to see the cold spring that was dug up when first under construction in the 1920s. They housed it in a room called the “Pond Room” and has stayed there ever since. That water is usually 3-4 feet deep at any given time, and is cold at around 52 degrees. Our tour guide was the equally historic projectionist, Bill, who not only gave us great information on the Theatre but of some of the colorful employees as well, including one employee that dared to swim in the cold pond. Fantasic story fodder for the workshop!
I also came up with a thought the other day and maybe it will help others that may feel they have a lot going on in their creative lives. At times, I feel like my creative ideas are like buckshot from a shotgun. I need tofocus my energy on one thing at a time and become an assassin of one project at a time.
Okay, photos!
Phil Ford 