douglas brent smith

  As an occasional actor I've been known to buy my own props. Sometimes it's part of my process (of becoming the role) and sometimes it's because the theatre I'm working with has a small budget.  This picture (above) is no doubt the result of a stalking retail site (you know who) sorting thru my purchases (and views) and deciding that yes, Doug you need this: this marvelous pair of glasses. I don't. Not at the moment. But I'll keep it in mind if a role requiring that lands in my lap. It reminds me of other funny props that I've worked with: mouse ears, beaver ears, a bell, a wine bottle, real food (beef stew from a can, yum), and that's not even mentioning the many props I've used with children's theater when I toured with Child's Play.  What were your most unusual tools of the trade? Did you master them? Did they bring you fully into your role and make you seem more alive? Funny props are more than funny. They facilitate fun. -- doug smith

The whole universe is in motion. Keep moving. -- doug smith 

Do you like reading and committing to User Agreements? Of course you don't. They are pure rubbish. .Designed to make you read them, but written so that you can't read them (because they are confusing and massively too long) we mostly end up pretending that we did read them just to get on with whatever we want to do. Not fair. Not designed to be fair. Designed to cover the butts of the people who wrote the User Agreement and to restrict the rest of us from being ourselves, from doing what we want and need to do, and from exercising our rights. In a perfect world, all of those user agreements are unenforceable. Maybe, even in an imperfect world. Is it really an agreement if we don't agree to it? If we don't have any influence on what goes INTO an agreement, how is THAT an agreement? Enough! We need some sanity.  I hereby propose a universal User Agreement Rider to invoke whenever you've had enough of an evil User Agreement.  No lawyers have been involved in the drafti

  Sketch from Journal #61 douglas brent smiyth The cat in the middle wonders what Tom was thinking about.

  sketch by douglas brent smith (c) 2022

  Sketch in June, from Journal #61, 14 June 2021

  sketch by douglas brent smith What have you drawn today? Why not take a moment and draw something, anything?

A person starts surrounded by and covered with boxes of all sizes. These are boxes that must be unpacked for that person to be free. The boxes contain limiting thoughts, assumptions, cultural restrictions, religious constraints, bigotry, fears - lots of fears, illness, affliction, authority, rules, regulations, anarchy, chaos, regional assumptions, ethnic blurring, ethnic purity, ethnic ethos, ethics, non-ethics, commandments, sermons, skewed exegesis, historical oppression, satire, sarcasm, judgment, broken relationships, damaged relationships, power, powerlessness, pain, lost love, stolen love, broken love, broken promises, broken dreams, forgotten dreams, forgotten lessons learned, forgotten family, estranged family, substance abuse, sugar stars and swings, animal distancing and objectivizing, sexism, racism, greed, slander, lust, deference, danger, risk, confusion, misunderstanding, brokenness, separation, turning away, turning against, ignorance, stagnation, sloth, sorrow, and may

Things -- and people -- well cared for need not go obsolete. Getting tired of something is a choice. Discarding the old is a choice. While we should continually improve ourselves, our materials, our technology, there is still value in preserving what lives on with quality. That great guitar. That classic car. That recipe that still tastes good. There was an episode of "The Twilight Zone" on this week about "Obsolete." Burgess Meredith plays a librarian who in some autocratic society had been judged (under penalty of death) as obsolete. The last forbidden book he pulls from hiding, as he awaits his execution, is a Bible. He was not truly obsolete. His value as a being was unquestionable and though thru cleverness he brings his executioner to fear at being himself on the edge of facing his own imminent death, locked in a room with a bomb, the librarian does allow mercy (in God's name) to prevail, setting free his captor even though he himself will perish. Like man

Sketch by douglas brent smith 17 March 2021

Virtual Training on Tuesday, January 18 from 10:00 am ET to 12:00 pm Communicating for Results Explore and practice the communication skills you need to develop better conversations, more productive meetings, and more powerful presentations.  During this highly interactive virtual training you will: Develop strategies for dealing with barriers to effective communication Identify the keys to listening effectively Discover the secret to dealing with difficult personalities Practice CLUES to Success, five key ingredients for powerful and influential communication WHEN: January 18 from 10:00 am ET to 12:00 pm REGISTER  HERE Price: only $49.95  Testimonials from previous participants: "I've already used what I've learned. Literally I wrote an email yesterday which was more like a vent, then Doug was in my head clear as a bell 'is it helpful? Is it necessary? Is it kind?' and while therapeutic for me to get it off my chest, I ultimately put it to Doug's test and dele

Love crosses my mind every day. It's when it crosses my heart that it brings me to tears. -- doug smith  

I like eclipses...because that implies there is more to the story and that I don't know all of the answers because maybe (maybe!) the emerging nature of the universe (and certainly our perception...) allows new answers to form.  Maybe we can (do...?) try on new realities just for fun because (maybe...) there is no one permanent reality. (That is not to excuse ALL things or even to explain all things. It is to allow all things whatever is to be.) "That's crazy talk." "Yes. But, is it really?" -- doug smith  

  "Weather the Storm" digital collage by douglas brent smith 07 January 2022

  Digital Collage by douglas brent smith 06 January 2022