On my almost-daily walk in the forest with my dog there's a path that's less used because it's muddy all the time. Skunk cabbage is coming up around there now. A few months ago I noticed my own boot print in front of me on the path, so I put my foot in that same print and put weight on it. I do that every day now. It's almost always wet and receptive. You could call it a timid form of graffiti; or the desperate, sad act of a man determined to leave a mark, any mark, on the world he inhabits.

I think of it as performance art. My hope is that some day someone will notice that this print never goes away. It could even be the seed of a ghost story. Or it could really bother someone that I'm doing it. That would be OK too. I'm bothered by the man-made rock-on-top-of-rock balance sculptures that people leave behind to enhance the nature experience of others. It doesn't do that for me. I'm inspired by the carnage of fallen trees created by forceful winds. Perhaps the people who create these sculptures will fall into my footprint and vanish. That could be a great ghost story.

Improv Workshop (for you!): May 31st & June 1st (Sat 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) At The Valley School in Madison Valley $120 Relinquish a million "good citizen rules" for a few simple improv principles. Find out how release is a form of control. These workshops are fun and informative. No experience required. All are welcome. Email or call me to sign up: 206-842-1646.

Summer Intensive at Freehold

This is the 12th year. It’s the very best way to go to get deep into improv.
No experience required.
June 30th until July 25th (no class Friday July 4th)
Monday through Friday, 9:00am – Noon
Performances the evenings of July 24th and July 25th
This is all subject to some change because Freehold has just moved to 2222 2nd Ave in Bell Town, but I want to throw it out there.
Fee: approximately
$525. (not my final call)
This one’s the best. Call me for more info: 206-842-1646

I'm calling auctions almost every Saturday night this spring, which fulfills me. I also had a couple great performance gigs. One was for PEPS, Program for Early Parent Support that my sister used to support. I did a bit from "Beyond Kindness: A Childcare Guide". The other was an event that launched The Hanford Challenge, whose aim is to improve cleanup activities at Hanford. We had jump ropers, speakers and a game show where contestants guessed which outrageous Hanford clean-up stories were true. (Most were!) If you support their cause (staying alive), you can get a beautiful, fact-filled boat tour of The Hanford Reach, which I can recommend. If we get behind these guys there is hope.

In The Fall I'm doing the "entertainment" at a technical conference for Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE). IERE "supports environmental decision making based on factual information." Radical. More hope. I went to grade school with the director.

Cookus Interruptus is rolling along with 19 videos up on You Tube now. My Steel Cut Oats recipe is changing lives.

Scheduled are trips to Portland, NYC, LA, Austin, San Francisco and maybe Buenos Aires and/or Mumbai. These are for "Scrum" trainings, communication workshops, and other forms of improv facilitation. New clients include CC Pace, New Horizons and HyperQuality, Inc. Presently booked auctions include: Salish Sea Expeditions, Northwest Film Forum, UW School of Architecture, The Learning Tree, Northwest Networks, Seattle Public Theatre, Arts West, Detlef Schrempf Foundation, WWU, Bainbridge Rotary, NW Realtors, Vashon Allied Arts, The Valley School, Habitat for Humanity, Roosevelt HS Drama, Stevens Elementary, Ordway Elementary, Soroptimists, and U Prep. If you want to come to any of these let me know.

The secret code to let me know that you skipped to the end or maybe even read this newsletter is "Skunk Cabbage". Oh! We're re-doing my web site. We'd love to get some notes.

Have a great spring. It's going to get warm now. This morning, on my walk, I found that my boot print had been altered, and my knee-jerk conclusion was "foul play". But inspection showed the paw of a dog, and not a purposeful annihilation of my work. I reclaimed my canvas.