A challenge to do more.

Dr. Squeeze at the Piedmont Columbus Regional Children's Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. Taken by dr. tiny.

The patient looked back at me as he smiled. He was about to say something, but then he paused to think about precisely what he was going to say. After thinking it over, he said, "I bet you can't drop your hat down onto your foot and then toss it back up onto your head." 

He is challenging me. He finished his challenge with a nod that punctuated its meaning. The patient, I'll call him Mark, was an 18-year-old African-American young man. He was wearing a high school T-shirt that said "Class of 2020". He's one of the high school seniors who didn't get to have a graduation. I just finished doing a few hat tricks while dr. tiny, my clown partner and I are in his hospital room. dr. tiny, and I are visiting patients at the Piedmont Columbus Regional Children's Hospital in Columbus, Georgia.

This challenge was to do a hat trick I've done hundreds of times. However, today is the first day I've been back in the hospital performing since March, that's six months. Days earlier, I practiced ball and ring juggling and our music, but I didn't practice this specific hat trick. I took a deep breath and looked at dr. tiny. Mark, the high school graduate, looks back at us. He has a specific request, to see a hat trick where toss the hat onto my foot and them back onto my head. Mark still has that smile on his face. He just saw me do other, simpler hat tricks. He liked them, and now he wants to see a big finish. So, I take the hat off my head. I put all of my weight onto my left foot. I raise my right foot into the air. I flip my hat from my hand onto my right foot. I pause for a second to make sure Mark is watching. I see if dr.tiny watching out of the corner of my eye. Then I flick the hat from my foot, into the air, and back onto my head. Mark said, "That was dope."

 During this COVID 19 pandemic, we've had to adjust in ways we didn't expect. Several weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised when a board member from Clowns Without Borders approached me. They were interested in having me join their board. I jumped at the opportunity. I was thrilled to be asked to join the organization. I've admired their work for many years. Last year, I enjoyed going on my first Clowns Without Borders tour, a hurricane relief tour in the Bahamas. I'm excited to be joining them as we move forward and figure out how to function as clowns in this pandemic world. Last week I did an interview with other new Clowns Without Borders board member, Marisol Rosa-Shapiro. We are joining the board as arts organizations are learning how to continue their work during the pandemic. I'm honored that they wanted me to join them as they move forward in these times. I'm grateful that they value my voice and opinion. A link to our interview is here.

 Several weeks ago, I received another message. This one was from Christine Lesiak from Play Like A Fool Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She asked me if I would be interested in joining a panel discussion of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) artists. The aftermath of the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, among others, is bringing more focus on racial justice in our culture. Artistic organizations are reexamining how they deal with race in their companies. This focus on racial issues is long overdue. I said yes to Christine. I will be joining five other clowns from the United States and Canada for this discussion. More information about the festival and the panel discussion is here.

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