COLLECTIVE BREATH – Week of Sunday, September 20th, 2020
Number of people attending Facebook (personal portion):
Number of people attending Zoom Meet (group portion):
Introduction:
We spent time in a previous episode of collective breath speaking about true power. This week we’ll be discussing a heavily related topic: Responsibility.
“With great power there must also come great responsibility”, or simply “With great power comes great responsibility”, alternatively known as the Peter Parker principle, is a proverb popularized by the Spider-Man comic books written by Stan Lee, though clearly conceptually dating from (at the latest) 1793, during the French Revolution. That formulation is used by book authors and journalists, in politics, royalty rhetoric, military exchanges, justification of law enforcement hierarchy, public safety, and across various media platforms.
A transcript of this segment and each subsequent session will be posted (for anyone interested) at http://www.sidewayseight.co which is my main outlet for personal poetry and photography: Sideways Eight Projects.
Posted on May 26, 2018
Neither do we exist in the past or the future as everyone already knows. However, the present moment dares us to share our souls and wear our hearts on our sleeves. We can address the elephant in the room, even if it leaves, assess the lack of compassion and the absence of responsibility, all while putting our own hearts out into the universe for consumption. Others may question our intentions and our motives, while scoffing at our efforts, and doubting our results, but they create nothing. We cannot a afford a pause or a stop in the momentum of love. But, we must pause to appreciate the moments of splendor that it brings. If need be we must find where the fabric is hidden that will allow for us to wear bigger sleeves, such that we might accommodate our ever growing hearts.
Hello fantastic people! My name is Jesse James Ziegler. I am the current Poet in Residence for the Bruka Theatre of the Sierra in Reno, Nevada. I am an active poet, special event MC, principle photographer, special event series host, and now weekly wellness writing workshop host in collaboration with Spoken Views Collective of which I am also a Board Member.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:
This week’s Prompt : Respond to the singular word: Responsibility
In mobster/mafia films such as the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, there are exchanges like the following…
Donnie Brasco (1997)
I’m telling you, this guy’s all right.
You vouch for him?
When I knew him before, he was all right…
You vouch for the guy?
Essentially, will you take it upon yourself? Are you willing to accept that it’s all on you if something goes south, or someone doesn’t work out? Will you be responsible for another person’s actions?
I want for this podcast style personal portion to contain information about famous writers and their quotes as well as, futuristically speaking, local guests to this program who help everyone involved gain a diversity of perspective and positively impact our individual process.
Quote(s) of the Week:(5)
Look at the word responsibility—“response-ability”—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” ~ Winston Churchill.
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”
― Noam Chomsky
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”
― Anais Nin
I’m hoping this sharing and vulnerability I’m demonstrating will encourage others who love creative writing as well to open up, by sharing from their innermost, related to the topic provided. I’m hoping we all gain perspective, compassion, hope, and discipline through such organized sharing.
Piece or Pieces of the Week: (3)
An acrostic is a poem (or other form of writing) in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet.[1] The word comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis, from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος “highest, topmost” and στίχος “verse”. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval.
This weeks writing prompt gave me the excuse to create an example of such a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out the title, and the contents of each line gives an example of the title in our lives…
Responsibility
Kingston
Response
Next Week’s Writing Prompt:
Which will also be posted across Collective Breath and Bruka Theatre’s social media platforms: respond to the question ‘When do you feel completely free?’
Closing Sentiments and an Invitation
Between now and next Sunday, on Wednesday, September 23rd, starting at 6:30pm, I will personally be hosting the Spoken Views Collective Virtual Open Mic. Participants can register at svcbooking@gmail.com. Audience is welcomed and encouraged by using the Zoom Meeting link provided in the Facebook Event page. (Link Here) https://facebook.com/events/s/svc-presents-virtual-open-mic-/1222247471465143/?ti=icl
That’s it for my personal portion. If this is where you get off this train of thought, because you checked in to listen, thank you for tuning in and absorbing. I appreciate your time and consideration. If you are here for the Weekly Wellness Writing Workshop group portion via Zoom Meeting, please transition to that application now using the link provided in the ‘Collective Breath’ Bruka Theatre Facebook Event Page.
Keep writing. Keep your heart open and your mind aware. Keep coming back for more. Keep going. Keep doing. Keep loving and creating. Keep each other safe and sound. Keep it real, and keep the faith. I love you. Goodbye for now.
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SIDEWAYS EIGHT PROJECTS 