I feel lucky every day I go in to work my full-time job, because I am on different teams with the best people, working toward goals to make our community better.
Teamwork, collaboration, and community are on my mind a lot these days, and I find myself appreciating group efforts in my recreation time as well. Including:
American Symphony
I love Jon Batiste. I love his work and philosophy of art even more after watching the documentary American Symphony on Netflix, detailing a year in the musician’s life that was demanding both personally and professionally. The name of the documentary is also the name of a one-time live show performed in New York, bringing musicians and artists onto a stage they’d never shared together before. The symphony had only a short time to compose and practice the piece, and the results were brilliant and inspiring.
I am intrigued any time I get the change to peek at someone’s creative process, but the magic of musicians riffing and inspiring each other, of everyone creating something together in the moment, was palpable.
(The Peter Jackson Beatles documentary was this kind of magic for folks. For me, it was too long, but I did get to watch Paul compose a song while just waiting around for John to show up to practice. That scene stays with me!)
An Ode to Dropout
My household pays for fewer of the big-name streaming service these days, but we do pay to subscribe to the latest evolution of CollegeHumor via the app Dropout. The humor styles and nerd/gamer culture references match our tastes EXACTLY—it’s a little uncanny at times.
A game show where the rules change every time! Improv challenges! Quests! Theater kids all grown up! The shows have it ALL, as far as I’m concerned.
In an interview with NPR, Dropout CEO (“Daddy”) Sam Reich said, “[The name “Dropout”] connects to our story as a company, you know, dropping out of corporate America … I love the idea of not being backed up in traffic on the highway, but instead finding the sort of roundabout path that allows for you to skirt around gatekeepers. Someone a lot wiser than me once said – about what the [entertainment] industry is right now – that the traditional path is no longer the traditional path. It is really, really, really hard to do what we want to do for a living. I don’t really believe you can get there via traditional means unless you win the lottery. Wanting better odds means coming up with really creative solutions for getting there. … [Finding] ways to do it that are really pro-talent and pro-human, that really support and appreciate and celebrate the people who are making the stuff…“
I’m a nerd for all the behind-the-scenes content of producers pitching and trying to make zany ideas happen in front of a camera. So often, ideas come out of conversations and group meetings, so no one person can claim credit. I love watching something get born out of a collaboration.
Finally, “Total Forgiveness” is an amazing show and worth your subscription. I really don’t want to give much else more away, but I mean it!
The Rat King
Can I brag that I donated to independent theatre company The Shrill Collective to make “The Rat King” happen? This fiction podcast series is delivered like an amateur true crime investigation into a stalker who triggers infestations for his victim, and is smart and savvy and all-too-easy to binge.
I put down cross-stitch for many months but blew through this series in the past week, stitching once again.
Games Stores = Community
I was reflecting on all of this before our weekend away, and then I saw cool collaborations everywhere!
FARBO CO in Lancaster, PA drew us in with a sign promising “General Nerdery,” but then absolutely blew my mind with a collection of “RPG Zines.” I thought I knew about indie games via PAX Unplugged, but this is a whole new world to me.
Can we ALSO TALK about a cooperative boardgame where players re-design the world to be more sustainable in response to Climate Change??
Food and Art are everything I need
Then in Harrisburg, we spent a lovely morning at Millworks: a microbrewery, farm-to-table restaurant, AND an art gallery for local artists. Cannot recommend enough!
Other Stuff That Is SO GOOD!
I just need to share that Jacqueline Novak’s Get On Your Knees is so so so good, cannot stop thinking about it. This was a great interview with the comedian, though I think one of David Remnick’s questions was profoundly unfair (and uninteresting, except to prove a point: A COMEDIAN ISN’T CANCELED WHEN YOU ARE DISCUSSING HIM AT THE NEW YORKER!).
Overall, I am inspired and making connections as winter starts fading into spring. Today, I guided a meeting to make an agenda collaboratively, and more than one person said: Teamwork makes the dream work. It’s true!
Laura Eppinger 