the timboucher experience

“The fire in heaven above shines far, and all things stand out in the light and become manifest.” -Richard Wilhelm, I Ching, Hexagram 14

Continuing my almost-no-internet or phone streak. It has been fine, as my daily routine is pretty consistent, and I generally have access to someone else’s phone at least part of the day and access to the web once in a greater while. One great thing that’s happened is that I’ve simply gotten off my computer. Most of the “empty cycles” of activity generally taken up by surfing the web have been swept up and re-directed towards things that are maybe ultimately more productive: like writing songs. That is, more formal, or at least generally more focused writing that hangs together and is easily delivered and understood orally. There will be a day maybe, when we’ll have to tell each other things face-to-face again. I want to make sure I remember how.

This past Sunday, I spent two hours juggling clubs on the Ave and gave out fruit. I was only able to give away about half of what I’d bought at the store: a big bag of clementines, bananas, two kinds of apples, some pears. The bananas went quickly. Most people still pretended they didn’t see the juggler in the corner – nevermind the free fresh fruit being offered for general consumption. So I had to start inviting people as they walked by, “Have some fruit!” Sometimes having to append, “It’s free.” A lot of people even still would not respond. They might turn their heads or look, but it didn’t seem like they were comprehending the situation at hand. Which I guess is part of why I undertook this particular experiment: to test a certain threshold, people’s reactions to novel situations. See who responds and in what ways. I learned a lot. Too much, really, to condense into written form. The poorest-looking people, the neighborhood people, were the ones who most freely and most graciously accepted the offering. Some people said they just ate, and thanks. I talked to a man who’d been in and out of prisons and asylums and said he killed a child murderer in self-defense, but was under investigation.

The guy who plays the trumpet up by Superfresh and the Cold Spring Dunkin Donuts appeared as soon as I put the blindfold on. If people did not expect on this particular Sunday afternoon to see a juggler or a juggler handing out fruit, they most certainly – I figured – wouldn’t be expecting a juggler wearing a red blindfold. I kept dropping them, obviously. Juggling without sight is really hard. But I kept trying. I wanted to show people that that’s all it takes, and be able to show it wordlessly in a way that would reach even the subconscious of the person who pretends they’re unable to see me not seeing them, or hearing them laugh at me. I laughed too. When you’re out there, you don’t get to choose why people laugh.

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