It's Not Everyday

Hello. Welcome back, Riley!

It's been a surreal two weeks stacked on top of an everything kind of Summer. I feel like I have a lot to write about. Most of it is going to have to wait, as I have to run back to my day job through The City in a gray dust cloud with my lanky limbs wildly gesticulating through the edges.

Here's one thought: Throughout my Clown Summer, I sat and stood in many circles. oftentimes, I was fortunate to be a teacher introducing children to clowning for the first time. Us teachers did our best to instill a sense of sacred into the moment when they would be lent their red noses to play in clown character. I developed my own version of a speech about how one should take time to enjoy the discovery process; from holding the nose cupped in both hands, to bowing heads and closing eyes while donning the nose, to slowly and gently looking up to greet your fellow young clowns for the first time. As the shy and playful new clowns would test their new waters with eye contact and smiles, I would tell them: "It's not everyday that you meet such a big group of clowns. This is clown community."

And then, the beautiful moments would begin.