CIRCUS: JUGGLING, JUMPING, TENTS & TIGHTROPES

Decades ago, back in the 1980's, when Cirque du Soleil was still a small traveling circus, Phil and I saw it when they came to Houston, TX where we lived.  We were so inspired, bewitched and enchanted that we were ready to run away and join them!  Really.  I'm not making it up.  We talked with some clowns and they advised us to go to the Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Venice, FL and learn the tricks of the trade first.  Good advice.  I immediately sent for the school's information but after learning about the extensive curriculum and enormous fees, we decided to stay put and find a local clown class instead.  Phil's clown persona's name was "Bonkers" (perfect name for a psychiatrist!) and mine was "Koko."  At graduation, I received an award for Best Costume.  We started teaching clown classes ourselves and afterward took our clowns on trips to shopping malls, restaurants and hospitals.  On April Fools Day 1986, Phil and I held our second wedding (we've married each other three times without divorcing - but that's another story) wearing our clown costumes mixed in with the wedding clothes we wore at our first wedding.  Anyway, the circus is a place of magic for us.  So when I found acrobats practicing in the park, I was immediately drawn to watch them and to take their pictures too, of course. 

It would be hard enough to balance yourself on a tightrope, but to add juggling to it too?

 

And how about jumping?

The trick, of course, is in the landing.  

Hopefully on the rope.

Keep the circus going inside you

Keep it going

Don't take anything too seriously

It'll all work out in the end

~ David Niven

And thinking about circuses...  

Check out these tents erected in Kapiolani Park.

Check out the ceiling!

Wonderful sensuous forms.

I'm sure Rea, the Tent Goddess, had something to do with it.

And now, for a different kind of tent:

On King Street along Old Stadium Park...

Seven out of 10 Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless. 

 "When I was living in New York and didn't have a penny to my name, 

I would walk around the streets and occasionally I would see an alcove or something. 

And I'd think, that'll be good, that'll be a good spot for me when I'm homeless."  

~ Larry David 

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. 

The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. 

We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."

~ Mother Theresa