"The force that through the green fuse drives the flower, drives my green age"

Peering up from a London fig tree garden last month that line goes with the photo above - and goes with me, and probably has been with me since my young life. I am an artist first, and see the world very much from that vantage point. I love those words because they describe a kind of inevitable and explosive force. A force of creativity and growth that I have tried to nurture in myself (though not always succeeded). I strive to see the world that way every day as a writer, a teacher, an actor/theater artist, musician and as a guy bopping around the planet on airplanes (a bit too much) lately.

I trained as an actor and musician from a very young age. I started writing plays as a teenager and that has continued to this day. I have had many plays/projects/escapades produced in New York over the past 15 years. I also started working for an international theater-based consultancy about 10 years ago. I am a senior coach there and I travel the world working with C suite executives on their communication/vision/presence.

making an omelet
taking black and white photographs
not getting lost in the forest
seeing people
choosing a road less taken
choosing a road most taken
making Tom Waitsian music with objects I find lying around in your kitchen

I keep a little board on my wall with nine faces on it arranged sort of "Hollywood Squares" style. These can be people living or dead who are in this moment inspiring or influencing me. Some faces stay on the board for long periods of time, some just a few days. Here are the nine up now:

Top Row: R.B. Kitaj, Dorothy Parker, Kurt Weill
Middle Row: Harold Pinter, Fran Lebowitz (center square), W.B. Yeats
Bottom Row: Donald Fagen, Federico Fellini, Anne Bogart

the feel of skin on skin
a full symphony orchestra colliding on the first note that breaks the silence
the fervor to debate/challenge/question the world
moules provencale with sancerre
abject silliness
the feeling when you know its about to happen

The effect that people have on each other
How to help people realize their strongest selves
The political climate of the world
having a glass of white wine
strangers and what might be going on in their heads

"We are here on earth to help others, what others are here for I have no idea" - Auden