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Art That Talks - Tapart Real News and Issues
Tapart News and Art that Talks is based on published letters, articles, topical art and editorial cartoons by Ray Tapajna and others at http://www.yestapart.bizland.com/tapartnews or short URL address is http://tapartnews.filetap.com Selected...
Budget Friendly Halloween Costumes
...by observing you, children learn how to create and they learn craft. These powerful memories imprint a more important message. They come to understand the superiority of the creative tightwad method. - Amy Dacyczyn, a.k.a. The Frugal Zealot ...
SCHOOL SHOPPING: Less is better for your wallet and your kids
SCHOOL SHOPPING: Less is better for your wallet and your kids Attention parents: It's back-to-school shopping time. This year, do your kids a favor by NOT buying them everything they claim they need. Of course, you will probably purchase some...
Stress is no kiddy matter!
Frankly, kids these days have more stress than an adult because of their hectic schedule. The role of parents is to help them learn how to deal with stress, de-stress when they need to….and not to give them more stress than necessary.
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Wedding Cake Toppers
When deciding on a topper for your wedding cake, try to find
something unusual or one of a kind. The kind of wedding you are
having, is a guide to the type of wedding cake topper you should
select. If you are having a very formal affair, a...
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The Joke's On You -- Who Should be the Butt of Your Jokes?
This article was prompted by something I heard (second hand) about the performance of a local magician at a child's birthday party. Now, granted, this wasn't done by a clown, but I've seen clowns doing similar things. As one of his tricks, he has a child (a young girl approximately 9 years old) holding two handkerchiefs knotted together. He pulls her hands apart, and instead of a third handkerchief appearing (or a flag, or whatever else) he has a pair of ladies' panties appear. The magician received the reaction he wanted: the audience laughed loud and long at the discomfiture of the young girl. She, however, was on the verge of tears, having been publicly humiliated, for having done nothing more than helping on stage when asked.
As I say, this prompted some thought on my part. The first thought I honestly had was about the insensitivity of this particular magician. My next thought was empathy and sympathy for the little girl. And my third thought was about how differently a clown would (or should) have handled that entire routine.
People think that a clown is someone who dresses foolishly, and does foolish things. This is correct, as far as it goes. It's also been said that a clown is a living cartoon, a Looney Tunes come to life, who sees and thinks differently than the 'normal' people. This, too, is true as far as it goes. But there's something deeper about being a clown.
As Floyd Schaffer puts it in his wonderful book, "If I Were a Clown", a clown is someone who lowers himself, in order to lift someone else up. This is not limited to any sort of theological context. David Ginn, one of my favorite authors, and a wonderful kid's magician, uses the same premise over and over in his book "Clown Magic" with his 'clown-in-trouble' routine. In short, when a trick doesn't work, it's never the fault of the child -- it's the clown who looks foolish. The child is the one who makes the rabbit appear, makes the ropes repair themselves, etc. We
performers are the foolish ones, who should have pie in our faces, who are the ones humiliated, who are 'brought low.' It is our audience, children or adult, who should be empowered, triumphant, lifted up.
For example, when I perform at birthday parties, I'll typically do a very old routine, making spring flowers appear inside a chick pan. As part of that, I'll have several assistants from the audience at various stage, including one where I use a breakaway wand. For the uninitiated, that's a wand that, unless it's held the proper way, seemingly breaks in your hand. Since we performers are the ones who should bear the blame for this, I take the blame myself, handing a normal wand to the child, and holding the breaking wand myself. Who broke the prop? Me! Who looks foolish? Me, not the volunteer. He's there to enjoy the birthday party, not to be a scapegoat.
In short, if only that magician had pulled the 'underwear out of thin air' when he was holding the scarfs, what would have been different? The child volunteer would have laughed as well (assuming that he'd previously had the trick work in her hands), the audience would have laughed as well, and the magician would have been remembered a little bit fonder than he was.
As Benjamin Franklin said, we have to learn from the mistakes of others; we won't live long enough to make them all ourselves. So, let's learn to make ourselves the butt of the joke, not our audience. After all, we're being paid to be foolish; the audience's job is to enjoy it. Remember, the joke's on you -- as it should be.
About the Author
Tom Raymond, aka Raynbow the Magic Clown, is a professional children's entertainer in the central Wisconsin area, and is available for parties, conferences, conventions and ministry events. Interested in clowns and clowning? Check out Clown Ministry, the largest clowning site on the web!
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