COLLECTIVE BREATH – Week of Sunday, September 27th, 2020

Number of people attending Facebook (personal portion):

Number of people attending Zoom Meet (group portion):

A need to be held

The tongue will bend, tear, twist, and swell,

but it will not, it cannot be broken.

It holds no bones, yet if it isn’t held well,

it breaks hearts by cutting words spoken.

This micropoem was inspired by thoughts surrounding freedom of speech, stemming from this week’s writing prompt on Collective Breath. We ask ‘can we say something?’ more often than ‘should we say something?’

A brief stroll into nearly any comments section will quickly descend into mutiny of thought and grammar, mixed with a severe lack of mutual respect, civil discourse, critical thinking, and positivity.

Touching on a previous theme, I have a responsibility to use my freedoms wisely, and act in sustainable ways.

Introduction:

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.

This past week on Wednesday I had the good fortune and freedom to witness two great events in the world of poetry. One locally, one globally.

Locally: I was able to host the Spoken Views Collective Virtual Open Mic, video of which will be made available for later viewing and revisiting of poignant material. Amazing guests. Amazing audience. Amazing poetry having the freedom to speak in a safe cultivated space.

Globally: Never before in the history of America’s Got Talent had a poetry /spoken word artist made it to the TV stage before. Brandon Leake ( @brandon_leake_ctm ) not only got to audition again after a first bid years before, he received the golden buzzer from Howie Mandel, and proceeded to win the entire competition! That victory by a previous Spoken Views Collective Showcase Performer at our local Holland Project, a Simpson University Alum, Stockton CA native, that victory, will give the art form of poetry more freedom, opportunity, and exposure than has previously been encouraged or even possible.

Thank you Brandon for SLAMming down that wall.

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 question – When do you feel completely free?

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:(6)

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

— Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

“Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.”

— John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

— Søren Kierkegaard

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.”

— Jim MORRISON

“I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.”

— Kahlil Gibran, The Madman

“With guns you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism.”

— Malala Yousafzai

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)

FAST LANE

ELEVATOR

SOMEONE I CAN SHARE

Next Week’s Writing Prompt:

Which will also be posted across Collective Breath and Bruka Theatre’s social media platforms: Write on the topic of ‘Fall’ as we just went through the autumnal equinox. We will ‘Fall’ into next week.

Closing Sentiments and an Invitation

As you go about the upcoming week, exercising the freedoms you have, please marinate on these words in relation to actions performed and thoughts generated…

“Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

— Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

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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