Behind a Harlequin's Painted Smile

 

harlequin - noun - comically dressed performer who entertains with playful tricks and ridiculous behavior (Merriam-Webster)

For the past few weeks, the smile has been on my mind. I don't have a problem smiling. In fact, I prefer it over frowning as both take the same amount of effort. The decision is analogous to choosing to be an optimist as opposed to a pessimist. My new song that just premiered on Friday is about being able to smile through life's difficulties, which is challenging in itself. Just imagine those brave souls who decide to smile and laugh for a living, harlequins, a.k.a. clowns. They do so at the tremendous risk of being made fun of rather than being received with open arms. Quite a few people view harlequins as "creepy," thanks to a popular horror movie IT that premiered in the 1980s. The diabolical clown antagonist, no doubt, has stayed with people over the years, particularly my contemporaries, who are probably responsible for altering the happy-go-lucky image of clowns that was widely spread in the decades prior to the 1980s. Personally, I have never had anything against clowns, even class clowns :). 

Believe it or not, I have a friend Julius, a lifeguard who used to be a professional clown when circuses were labeled innocuous and were in their prime. He worked hard at it, landing at the top of his profession  touring with American troupes. Yet what had influenced him to go into the field was and is no laughing matter. A Neo-Nazi in Sacramento, California had murdered his twenty-year-old son, who as a student had been attempting to eradicate the malevolent movement. After learning of the dire news, my friend could have drowned in immutable waves of grief; his supine corpse could have been left drifting sans a direction in the vast ocean that is life. But he didn't drown. Instead he allowed himself to stay buoyant and alive by inhaling the ebullient, indefatigable spirit of his son and resolving to make people smile, laugh, chortle, guffaw, etc., rather than cry, weep, tear up, etc. Somehow he found the courage to study a harlequin's craft. Undaunted, he smeared white pancake makeup on his face, exaggerated his lips and nose with red lipstick, painted on black lashes extending upwards from his eyes, and donned a clown suit night after night to escape the ugliness of his reality. Extreme? Maybe. Audacious? Definitely. Rather than take people's sympathy, he gave them smiles. Pretty selfless, huh? 

Surely, life is filled with pitfalls and potholes in the form of tragedies and loses. We could take that black lacquered, chez lounge chair, recline back into the darkness, and let it all wash over us; or we could, like Julius, dare to commandeer a lemonade stand and make lemonade out of seriously rotten lemons. It, as always, is about personal choice. 

Choose happiness over misery. 

#word-to-words, #slice-of-life,  #blog, #blogging, #editorial, #reading, #vocabulary, #ReadersMagnet, #spilled thoughts, #good advice, #personal-essay, #writing community, #writing, #CreativeSuggestion 

Holding onto Ebullience

 

ebullience - noun - state of being joyful, cheerful, and full of energy.

These days it is hard to hold onto anything with ebullience attached to it, but it is possible to strive for joy and buoyancy despite challenging times. I suppose mindset is involved in maintaining ebullience. In other words, you have to put forth some effort to inhabit it. Even so, to walk on air is impossible to do 24/7 unless the Universe gives you a boost now and again. It blew some air into my balloon just yesterday.

As usual, I was driving sans paying much attention to anything (rather dangerous to do), when I came to a stoplight where a crew of ebullient Christians representing an obscure church were approaching the tentatively parked cars, collecting cash for the homeless. As I have a particular affinity for these people, itinerant Christians and the disadvantaged, I was glad to roll down my window and donate to a worthy cause. Opening my wallet, I found nothing but five twenties, so I threw one into the man's plastic paint bucket. Consequently, the verbal receipt that he provided was well worth the loss of one of the Jackson 5. "Don't let anyone steal your joy," he said with an expression of pure glee. I think I returned the favor, but it didn't seem as convincing and heartfelt as his. I drove away quite sure that God was winking at me via the sentence from an anonymous fallen angel. 

If we disregard these messages that the Universe sends to us directly, most likely we will miss out on invaluable advice or just wisdom. If we open our ears, eyes, and hearts to the motivational messengers, our lives may just get easier. 

Optimism can be real. Enough said. 

#word-to-words, #slice-of-life,  #blog, #blogging, #editorial, #reading, #vocabulary, #ReadersMagnet, #spilled thoughts, #good advice, #personal-essay, #writing community, #writing, #CreativeSuggestion 

The Tinge of Roses

 

tinge - noun - trace of a color (Google)

Yesterday was one of my favorite dates on the calendar. Some may call it a "Hallmark Holiday," but I don't. To the unromantic at heart, the day is all about capitalism. Okay, people do spend an average of just under two hundred dollars on their Valentines, but perhaps a bit more than groceries spent on just the right persons makes sense, especially if these individuals are beloved. 

Call me trite, but I prefer to receive roses on Valentine's Day or any other day, but roses not tinged with red, which to me, is on the banal side because you can only stand so much of long-stemmed passion. A man who does the research in terms of the symbolism behind the colors of roses is a man who will dwell in the annals of my little black book forever. (I am, after all, a retired English teacher.)

In case you, too, are someone who seeks the symbolic significance of roses, I am here to enlighten you. Red, as you already know, is reserved for the mate whom you love with intensity. This person to you is the last of the red hot lovers and deserves no other hue than vermilion. Conversely, if the heat has waned and you need to take the back exit a.s.a.p., don't forget to leave at least one if not multiple yellow roses as they represent the end of a physical relationship and the start of platonic friendship, if that. White roses, on the other hand, point to new beginnings, which is why you tend to see brides cradling them as they trot up aisles to their smiling grooms. The love communicated is pure, innocent, if not a tad hypocritical, but I digress.

My LA man, who often does not diverge beyond a superficial path, took a walk on the wild side and sent me lavender roses for Valentine's Day. Whether or not he knew their symbolic value is dubious, but I do know and that's all that matters. Ladies, if your gentlemen send you lavender roses, you are lucky as the the tinge is all about love at first sight (the "ahhhhh"), true devotion and appreciation. All three rank highly in my book, probably because I have never had anything against love at first sight (Romeo and Juliet aside) or loyalty or genuine respect. They are all winners. 

So, in the future, ask for lavender, not red. If he or she asks why, tell him or her to look up the symbolism. If nothing else, you'll have something new and different to chat about. 

#word-to-words, #slice-of-life,  #blog, #blogging, #editorial, #reading, #vocabulary, #ReadersMagnet, #spilled thoughts, #good advice, #personal-essay, #writing community, #writing, #CreativeSuggestion 

You and A Celebrity Soulmate

oeuvre - noun - the complete works of an artist 

Have you ever looked on the internet just to see just how many celebrated persons share your birthday? I am guessing there are quite a few. Oddly enough, in addition to being a writer, I am a professional singer/songwriter who shares a birthday (12/12) with a small number of celebrity crooners, such as Connie Francis (You probably don't remember her), Dionne Warwick (Whitney's cousin who just made a documentary), Dickey Betts (of the Allman Brothers), Sheila E. (Prince's bandmate), and the inimitable Frank Sinatra. As a child growing up in the 1960s, I couldn't escape him as my mother, an astrologer who was up on birthdays, would always introduce me in the most embarrassing way: "This is my daughter Gwyn who was born on Frankie Sinatra's birthday." Could I have become anything else but a singer? Probably, and I did, but singing and obtaining work as one have always come easily for me, not that Frank bequeathed me his talent. It was a gift from God. Entertaining troops of special people in outlying places like nursing homes and shelters is probably my favorite pastime. It was one of Frank's as well since he volunteered with the USO during World War II. (Clearly, he was a much nicer guy than most might think.)

Anyway, have you ever done research on a celebrity birthday buddy just to see if you are his/her/their doppelganger? Chances are you might share just enough in the way of commonalities so that you could be somewhat soulmates.  Actually, I have a frighteningly substantial amount of Frank's traits, including his oeuvre of music. I have performed many of his hits throughout the years. But just in case you are curious, here are the remaining ways (in present tense) in which we are alike:

1. New Jersey is our home turf.

2. “Come Rain or Shine” is our favorite song to sing as professional singers who croon standards.

3. We have Italians as close relatives and had, at one time, loose mob affiliations. (Most in Jersey do.)

4. We despise racists and support African Americans and their charities. 

5. We have friends in high places or just a large collection in mediocre places.

6. We are philanthropic and genuinely like people albeit they can seriously get on our nerves.

7. We like to joke around, especially with audiences.

8. Even though we are extroverted, we like to slink off and go it alone sometimes.

9. We tend to fall in love too easily with good-looking faces who can be on the difficult side.

10. We gamble on horses (Frank put down more than two bucks per race, though. I don't.)

So there you go. I hope I have motivated you sufficiently to do some exploring on-line. I wish you could share your findings with me. I love to uncover more evidence that we are all truly connected in some way, even if it is just by a birthday. :)

#CelebrityBirthdays, #CelebrityFindings, #word-to-words, #slice-of-life,  #blog, #blogging, #editorial, #reading, #vocabulary, #ReadersMagnet, #spilled thoughts, #good advice, #personal-essay, #writing community, #writing, #CreativeSuggestion