C.O.V.I.D. has caused fundamental changes to how clowns work. Many of us are doing virtual clown work. We stare at computer screens and do our best to entertain our audiences. This is a new challenge for performers…

I recently had a conversation with Ampie Alblas. They are a blogger from Belgium who writes a blog called Collecting Clowns. Ampie was working on a story about a film made in 1916 called “Natural Born Gambler.” This film is unique because it is considered one of the first films directed by a black man, Bert Williams…

I've been thinking about representation recently—specifically the representation of Black people in our society. Many people seem to be willing to take an honest look at the role race plays in our culture. I am encouraged by this reckoning. I also have some earned pessimism.

Recently this ripple of cultural change has been felt in my professional world. There's been a lot of discussion in the circus and clown world regarding racial issues. Some of our performing/circus organizations function under the presumption that "we performing artists" are not racist.

I am taking a walk this morning. I walk through my neighborhood across the campus of Agnes Scott College and into Downtown Decatur. My destination is the courthouse, specifically the site where the Confederate monument once stood…

We have seen the video of the policemen killing George Floyd. Mr. Floyd was killed in Minnesota in broad daylight by police officers as he was stretched out on his stomach with his hands in handcuffs behind his back. A police officer unnecessarily forced his knee into the back of Mr. Floyd's neck. He died moments later.

That black man in the street just didn’t look right. (Sounds familiar to me.)

Today, I joined many others as we run for Ahmaud. I am one of many people running or walking 2.23 miles

One of my favorite moments when I'm performing as a clown is the…. pause—a moment of stillness before a big reveal.

There is a moment when the tension builds. The clown has been busy working. Will the clown succeed or fail?…

Yesterday I had two meetings with a bunch of clowns.

It started as a big mess—clowns talking over each other. One clown played the ukulele while another clown played a completely different song on the kazoo. There were lots of missteps as clowns introduced themselves,

I shaved my face today.

I was careful not to cut myself. I took the time to focus and made an effort to do the job carefully. This is not unique. I shave on a regular basis. Today, I’m taking the particular note of this because it’s one of the things that is somewhat “normal. “ I did this because I wanted to have something routine. So, I shaved, knowing that I had no plans of going anywhere today….

If you're reading this, thank you.

This blog is where I have come for the past year to express myself. I started it in the winter of 2019. I needed a place to record my thoughts, my ambitions, the things that were turning in my mind. I needed a place to be … me….

I wait in stillness for a reply. After a moment, the preteen boy interrupts the pause by speaking.

A woman showed me an image on her cell phone. It was an image of an old photo. By old photo, I mean an image many of us remember as a film picture before the days of digital cell phones. As she showed me the photo, she said, “Does this look familiar ?“…

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of M.C.ing the talent show at our church called "Oakhurst's Got Talent." It is still on my mind today. This evening was a lot of fun. It was an excellent fit for our church community, an opportunity for everyone to come together outside of typical church experience…

I've been a lifelong fan of Buster Keaton. I remember as a child watching his films. More so than the movies of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, it was Buster Keaton who got my attention…

Today is October 25, 2019. At the time that I'm writing this, it appears that the clown scare of 2019 has not taken hold…

I like this picture, great clowns/comedians. I also love how Buster Keaton is set apart from the other three…

Dr. Gizmo and I were traveling walking through the pediatric ICU unit of the hospital. Many of the patients in this area are unconscious. However, sometimes, we find a patient who is awake and eager to see us. Today that's what happened…

Today is my mom, Florence Gordon's birthday. I'm writing about her now, but I think about mom all the time. One of the things I remember most about my mom was her unassuming nature. She didn't make a big deal about herself. However, She was a force to reckon with…

This summer, I received an award. It’s from the Tanne Foundation. The foundation identifies artists and supports them with the award…

I went to my area carrying my props, juggling balls, baseball bats, and my juggling hat. As I was getting ready to perform, I heard a voice. It said, "I went to high school with you."

Dr. tiny and I were doing our musical yo-yo routine. dr tiny does his best yo-yo tricks while I play the ukulele. The patient was a 10-year-old Hispanic boy. He sat in his wheelchair and laughed as tiny went through his yo-yo repertoire.

I had the pleasure of participating in the second Decatur Dinners on August 25. There was an earlier dinner on April 28. These dinners offer an opportunity to discuss racial issues in a way that is personal and intimate and hopefully in a way that leads to more conversations and progress…

OK, something that's been on my mind recently. It's a song. It came to me when I was listening to a jazz station on Pandora. The music got my attention…

A seven-year-old boy stands up from his chair and looks at the clown. The boy has a serious look on his face. The clown looks back with an expression as if to say “what should I do?” The boy looks at the clown and gives him a big gesture…

“I don’t want to be in this picture either,” I said.

We were taking a picture because mom was insisting on it. Moms do that sometimes. When her mom told us to pose together for the photo, I saw the look on this 14 year old’s face; the eye roll topped off with practiced indifference…

On July 2-4, I attended the Circus Arts Therapy Training at Carrie Heller’s Circus Art’s Institute. This training was an opportunity to step back and look at the social circus work I’ve been doing. I first began doing social circus work in 2001, with Cirque du Monde…

In my post on June 15, I mentioned the monuments at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. There was a story about these monuments in the June 27 edition of the AJC. Dekalb County is in the process of accepting its monument from the memorial.

This thought made me think of the lyric, "this is not my beautiful house .." from the Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime. It was my reaction that Marcia saw. Thinking of this song made me smile.

Marcia, Grace, and I went on a trip to Alabama last week. We visited the locations on the Civil Rights Trail in Alabama. We started at the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham. From there we went to Selma, to see the Edmund Pettus Bridge…

Tiffany Riley has written a book about medical clowning. I’m pleased to say that she decided to include an essay I wrote in her book, Beyond the Red Nose – The Serious Business of Healthcare Clowning.

I was strumming my ukulele as I walked through the hospital. One of my clown partners was with me singing along to the music. As we were traveling down the hallway, I noticed a woman with a subtle look of confusion on her face…

I was hired by Liquid Sky Entertainment to perform at The Battery outside SunTrust stadium before Braves home baseball games. I've had a lot of fun working with the artist there.

I had a great day working in the hospital today. My partner was Reuben Haller, who like me is a musician. Working with Reuben got me thinking about the different ways we use music as clowns in our work in the hospital…

Fear of clowns #3 - A solution.

In my previous post about clown fears, I talked about ways of dealing with Coulrophobia, fear of Clowns…

I’ve been listening to a lot of bossa nova recently. It started when I found myself listening to the Antonio Carlos Jobin station…

Coulrophobia is an irrational fear of clowns.

Fear of clowns is a big issue in my world. As a professional clown, I come across this issue more often than I would like. What drives this fear is irrational…