Hello! You could only ever be a me that looks back - neck turned, eyes reaching out for connection. I see you, and I see you - Thank you, and sorry. I know you're sorry for not writing. I'm sorry too, now. I guess I... time healed me. And I didn't need to write this stream of consciousness stuff any more. I look back at these posts now in 2026, and I find such pride in my writing. Not just because I wrote all of it before LLMs went public, but because I was so brave to put things down. Creative Courage - I tell this to my students all the time. And i practiced it, when i was you When I was you :) Or rather, when you read this - when you were me -- I am now at PROLOGUE, a coffee shop that the wife likes at Millenia Walk. Oh > I am married. But of course you already know that. The act of writing is a strange one isn't it? I am trying to write to a past self that will never see or read this, for a future self that I only hope might Staccat...
Emergent in the original and secondary literature on improvisation are four central principles of applied improvisation: (a) accept all offers, (b) recognize gifts, (c) build on every idea, and (d) support fellow players. 1 The improv mantra “Yes, and” encompasses the first three tenets. Saying “yes” means an improviser accepts any offer her fellow players present; she will not block or reject ideas. Johnstone ( 1979/2012 ) calls blocking “a form of aggression,” a default response to fear of the unknown or giving up control (p. 96). To think like an improviser is to reverse this tendency and become open to allowing the action to develop by accepting the ideas of the ensemble. Furthermore, saying “yes” means that a player is alert and listening to all the offers a scene partner presents. Because improvisation traditionally uses no props or costumes, improvisers must recognize everything that their ensemble says and does as a “gift” or “offer” that they might use to advance the scen...