Photo by Layne Kennedy

Photo by Lloyd Brant:

I went to see the movie, He Named Me Malala, with my Mother today. I thought the Lutheran Mother Theresa should see a story about Pakistan’s Mother Theresa. She watched the movie smiling ear-to-ear. She was riveted by Malala’s story of surviving an attack by the Taliban after speaking out for a girl’s right to an education, Her mission of worldwide education really resonates with my Mom.

I told her, “Now that Malala is born the next generation is in good hands, so you’re off the hook from being the one to save the world through education. My Mother was a pioneer in education. She started her career in 1966 as a foot soldier LBJ’s battle for a Great Society by helping high school dropouts get their GED. Then when refugees started to flood into Minnesota at the end of the Vietnam War my Mother helped the U of M write the curriculum for Minnesota’s new English as a Second Language Program.  After nearly thirty years she retired from teaching, and began a second career as an Adlerian psychologist.

The reason my Mother has the “street cred” to be called a Lutheran Mother Theresa is besides being five feet tall and hunchbacked, she spent a year in India traveling from city to city teaching western style counseling. She then went to Africa to found a school for western counseling at Iringa University in Tanzania.

Her secret has always been to work one-on-one with her students; whether it was a single mother struggling to get her GED diploma; an immigrant from a war zone learning English; or a native African navigating the 21^st century global world.  My Mom has spent her live helping change the world one person at a time.

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I spent all day at the hospital with my mother today. Her doctor was worried about her heart, which was fast and arrhythmic. After multiple blood tests, two EKGs, and a chest x-ray the doc gave her a clean bill of health. He smiled and said, “There’s a reason your mother has lived to be 91-years old.” I guess her heart, lungs, and blood are all in amazing condition.

The tragedy is her Alzheimer’s disease. I’ve watched her extraordinarily bright mind slowly dim in recent years. To witness a woman who was a pioneer in education and psychology, have trouble remembering whether she ate breakfast is heartbreaking.

Luckily I recorded her life stories before Alzheimer’s began stealing her precious memories. Currently I’m writing a book based on these recordings called, The Mother of a Clown.

Stay tuned…

Photo by Marc Norberg

Photo by Rosie Cole:

My thoughts go out to my fellow performers and artisans at the Carolina Renaissance Festival that didn’t open last weekend due to Hurricane Joaquin.  Weather has always ruled our lives on the Renaissance circuit. Sun brings a full hat during the day, and a full stomach at night, while rain leaves you with an empty hat and belly.

We are all, “Beggars to God.”

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I spent the afternoon packing-up Witchwood Stage. All the windows and doors a bolted and locked, ready for winter.   There is a lot of history inside this old building. The original structure was built in 1974, and replaced board for board in the early 1990s. Last year the Festival changing the thatched straw to cedar shingles, and replaced the asphalt shingles in the back with a new rubber roof. I’m told that it is one of the few buildings strong enough to easily be moved to the new MN Renaissance Festival location. I like to think that by bringing along this small piece of history it will somehow plant a seed of magic wherever the Festival takes fresh root.

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In today’s post I will look back and reflect on what inspired me during each of my decades during my 40-year career at the MN Renaissance Festival.

In the 1970s mime was at the peak of its popularity in the United States. I received my training at The Valley Studio, which the New York Times described as, “The center of mime training in the country.” It was an age of innocence at the Renaissance Festival….     except after hours.

In 1980 I became a red nose clown after seeing Jacques Lecoq’s famous lecture demonstration on the Art of the Mask at the Festival of American Mime. He concluded by putting on a red nose, which he called the world’s smallest mask.

I was hooked.

In the 1990s Rosie and I came into our own as a husband and wife comic team. The MN Renaissance Festival was our springboard for the national festival circuit. We toured our red nose show from New York to Florida, and as far west as Arizona. During the 90s Renaissance Festivals popped up in almost every major city in the United States.

In the 21^st Century our two millennial children were raised on the road by parents who played chickens on stage. During the Renaissance period Shakespeare wrote about King Lear’s wise fool with a cock’s comb, and even earlier medieval fools were always pictured wearing a cap with a rooster comb top. We simply took the spirit of this idea to the extreme.

In 2008 we secured a US Trademark for our Emergency Clown Nose®.

Stay tuned…

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Photo by Linda Brant-Malm

Performing for 40-years at a single venue is an extraordinary experience.   Having a home to be able to return year after year is a rare gift as an artist.

I wish a deep thank you to the MN Renaissance Festival for supporting my work with Rosie for all these many years.

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