Sparks from SPARKfest (Part 1)

In this week’s episode, you’ll get an extra special glimpse into SPARKfest 2024, our Spark File community retreat, held last fall at the beautiful Saunders Farm in Ottawa, Canada. When we say that The Spark File is a warm and wonderful clan of creatives, this is what we mean! Listen in and you’ll feel the live-in-front-of-a-crackling-fire ambience straight from the Saunders Farm ciderhouse!

Our SPARKfest attendees met the challenge of finding and crafting a spark to share inspired by their time on the farm. From this fearless crew of multi-hyphenates, you’ll hear about:

• what birds can teach us about empty-nesting
• how nature’s patterns reveal the intersection between science and art 
• the lessons mushrooms teach about collaboration and competitive advantage
• how pumpkins represent finding the right container for your work
• And, all the things you can catch with open arms.

We’ll share more SPARKfest goodness later in the season. For now get yourself by a warm fire or hook onto to your nearest zipline and join us for this first round of piping hot SPARKfest sparks! Happy listening!

BRAVE Creatives! Your creative work is needed now more than ever. 

Join us for The Spark File 2025 New Year Creativity Kickoff

January 1, 2025 from 11am - 6:30pm ET

This one day virtual retreat will help identify and clarify your creative vision, and chart a course for completion.

LEARN MORE 

Transcript

Susan Blackwell:
Welcome to The Spark File, where we believe that everyone is creative, but smart, creative people don't go it alone. I'm Laura Camien and I'm Susan Blackwell, and we are creativity coaches who help people clarify and accomplish their creative goals.

Laura Camien:
Just by listening to this podcast, you are joining a warm and wonderful clan of creatives.

Susan Blackwell:
But hold up. You may be asking yourself what exactly is a spark file?

Laura Camien:
A spark file is a place where you consistently collect all of your inspirations and fascinations. Every episode, we are going to reach into our personal spark files and exchange some sparks, and from time to time, we're going to talk to some human beings who spark us too.

Susan Blackwell:
And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take some of those sparks of inspiration and make something of your own. So, without further ado, let's open up The Spark File.

Laura Camien:
Oh my gosh, I’m excited. Ooh, that sounds like a wicked like. Um, like, yeah, kind of—but that's not this episode?

Susan Blackwell:
That's not this episode. I don’t know why.

Laura Camien:
Who knows why? But it's not a spooky Halloween episode, but it is a very special episode of the podcast and I'm super excited, honestly, about this one. We recorded this episode at the Spark File retreat, which we call SPARKFest, and we did it with extraordinary creatives from the Spark File community and I just love it. So, just so you can sort of picture the whole thing, we recorded on Saunders Farm in Ottawa, Canada, which is the most exquisite setting. We cannot recommend Saunders Farm enough. We love this place. It's such a beautiful place to visit any time of the year, but especially as the weather turns colder it's really magical. They have pumpkin fest, they have fright fest and it's only a six hour drive from New York City and that drive is gorgeous.

Susan Blackwell:
Truly, truly a gorgeous drive. Saundersfarm.com for all your autumnal needs. We love Saunders Farm. So, we recorded on Saunders Farm in a 100-year-old, what used to be a pig barn and then a cow barn and a hayloft and it's now called the Cider House. We recorded this sitting beside a huge hearth and a crackling fire and you're going to hear all of that on the recording—we are not in a studio. We are definitely recording on location and sometimes the laughter and the claps overwhelm the microphone, but I think it adds to the charm.

Laura Camien:
I know it does. I know it does. So, over the course of the retreat we talked a lot about the idea of support and how we support ourselves creatively, how we support others, and of course, I mean for us. Obviously, this podcast is one of the ways that we feed our own creativity and, hopefully, other people's creativity. It's our goal to spark ourselves and then to craft the sharing of a spark so that it may inspire others.

Susan Blackwell:
So the day of the recording, we asked our glorious group of creatives to head out onto Saunders farm and find something that sparked them. It could be something tangible, something that they saw or felt while on the farm. It could be a memory that was triggered, a book or a piece of art that they were reminded of. Truly anything, anything that sparked them on the very sparky Saunders Farm

Laura Camien:
And then we asked them to craft that spark of inspiration into what we would call a “mini spark,” with the hopes that they may share that mini spark and it may spark others. We really tossed them into the deep end, like have at it, but man, they really delivered!

Susan Blackwell:
They did great. They did. So let's hear from them now, and we're going to start with James Melton. A note for listeners the more intrepid members of our group attended “Fright Night” on Saunders Farm the night before, including the extremely haunted “Shambles” that is a feature of Fright Night.

Laura Camien:
Listen also, we must admit, when you say the more intrepid members of the group, that did not include you and I. We are not the intrepid members.

Susan Blackwell:
No, no, girl, no no, but we did want to make sure you knew that the Shambles exist at Saunders Farm. And with that, James Melton, take it away!

Laura Camien
James. How do you identify creatively.

James Melton:
Oh, so many things I'm going to start with, or I'll go with today, an educator and arts administrator.

Susan Blackwell:
Awesome, awesome. Do you have a spark for us?

James Melton:
I do have a spark, so it actually begins here at Saunders Farm a year ago. I'm just going to read the titles for this spark–could be. We've Only Just Begun, Always Beginning, Starting Over, Extra Lives, It's Never Too Late. Who Said I Couldn't Do that? And…So I Visited the Shambles. And finally, lessons Learned at the Farm farm Don't Stay on the Farm. Sources include—thank you, Austin Sargent, because I'm an educator, we need to cite our sources, which include thedinninginstitute.com, brianna.io.beginner, the Spark File podcast, specifically “Creation from Destruction,” and the wise words of friends and expert beginners. So a year ago I made some drastic decisions to kind of start exploring a remaking of my career and what I wanted to do and have stumbled upon and stumbled into and have lucked upon, I think also, with great support, starting a career with the Missouri State High School Activities Association, which is, in one way, really awesome but in other ways, really unexpected, because I have to do a lot with athletics now and I'm not an athletic person or I wouldn't identify as an athletic person.

Susan Blackwell:
Sorry, I have to just jump in and challenge that lightly, because you are somebody who you are very invested in your fitness and you really take great care of yourself, including like exercise and yoga, and I couldn't do the crow pose and I set my mind to it and now I can do the crow pose. So however you felt about them when you were younger, or historically–

James Melton
I would say bits and pieces of that. I had a chance to kind of think about as honoring on the farm and thinking about, okay, a year ago and beginnings, so what does it mean to be a beginner and kind of start over but yet just hold onto the things that make you successful, but yet you got to start. You got to start someplace. But this all kind of came from thinking about…I love kids, I love everything that they want to do and that there's not a huge difference between a great art and theater and music kid and also the football player. Like, they're all out there pursuing passions. People will remark when I see them right now and they'll be like whoa, what's that? What's that like, like, did you imagine that you'd be doing that? And I had a day early in the first few days on the job where I was in my office freaking the — out and…

Susan Blackwell:
You can't say it because you're an educator.

James Melton:
I can't, because I'm getting ready too. I can't say it because what my assistant heard sitting out inside my office was “What the fuck am I doing?” Because I'm having to work on tennis championships and supporting this awesome community, and she sent me this incredible link. So one other source was one of the beautiful people that assist me, and her name is Leanna Long. In the Beginning: The Beginner's Creed. “I am a beginner. I'm entering a new game about which I know nothing. I do not know yet how to move in this game. I see many other people playing in this game now. The game has gone on for many years prior to my arrival. I am a new recruit arriving here for the first time. I see value to me in learning to navigate in this domain. There is much for me to learn the basic terminology, the basic rules, the basic moves of action and the basic strategies. While I am learning these things, I may feel various negative reactions, overwhelmed at how much there is to learn, insecure that I do not know what to do, inadequate that I lack the capacity to do this, frustrated and discouraged that my progress is so slow, angry that I've been given insufficient guidance, anxious that I will never perform up to the expectations in which my career depends, embarrassed that everyone can see my mistakes. But these moods are part of me being a beginner. It does not serve my goal and ambition to dwell in them. Instead, if I make a mistake, I will ask “What lessons does this teach?” If I make a discovery, I will celebrate my aha moment. If I feel alone, I will remember that I have many friends ready to help, and if I am stuck, I will ask for help from my teachers. Over time, I will make fewer mistakes. I will gain confidence in my abilities. I will need less guidance from my teachers and friends. I will gain familiarity with the game. I will be able to have intelligent conversations with others in the game. I will not cause breakdowns for promises that I lack the competence to keep. I have an ambition to become competent, perhaps even proficient, or perhaps an expert in this game, but for now I am a beginner.

Susan Blackwell
What a beautiful start.

Musical Interlude

Austin Sargent:
My God, it is a hot seat.

Susan Blackwell:
It's warm! Just to paint the picture, Austin Sargent's and our backs are to this roaring fire right now. So, when you sit in the hot seat in front of the mic, you're also sitting in the hot seat in front of the mic. So, Austin Sargent, will you share with the people your name, your pronouns if you wish, and, um, what's your spark?

Austin Sargent:
Yeah, Hi! I'm Austin Sargent. My pronouns are he/him, and this spark is entitled “Nest-cessity”

Laura Camien:
I love it already.

Austin Sargent:
It's, uh, subconsciously inspired by the Saunders family. So sitting in silence is a nearly impossible task at Saunders Farm. There are, of course, the sounds of the people joyously at work with farm tasks, but if you listen closely you can begin to hear the chirps and tweets of a whole other life at work. This region is home to a variety of birds, including geese and cranes, ducks and doves, some of which Adair might spot while birding, but one trait that unites many of them is the evolutionary necessity to nest, or nest-cessity. Of course they nest for the safety and protection of their little ones, usually with sticks and mud and scraps of fabric, and many of these species return to their nests year after year to usher in the next brood. But I was curious to know if birds also experience empty nesting in the same way humans do…And according to an article on gizmodo.com, not sponsored, it's like I listened to this podcast! Indeed they do. In an article titled Even Birds Struggle with Empty Nesting, the author states and shares quirky traits that birds have picked up to encourage fledglings' departure from the nest. But he also says at the same time, evolutionary success holds a different meaning to the fledglings than it does to the parents. For the fledgling, success is measured by pure survival outside of the nest, but for the parents, it's the guarantee that at least one of their broods survives. Hence the desire among songbird parents to get their chicks out into the real world as fast as possible, since when a predator attacks a nest, it typically kills the entire brood and none of the parent's genetic material gets passed down to the next generation. But fledglings who have left the nest are spread out and mobile, dealing with life on their own terms and independently fending for themselves. So in the case of science, the most impressive and successful thing a parent bird can do is to become an empty nester. I wonder to myself and anyone else that would like to wonder with me, which of our creative ideas are ready to leave the nest next, and how can I and we infuse that not so empty nest with joy and celebration instead of sorrow.

Laura Camien:
Oh, baby, you are ready to fly!

Musical Interlude

Susan Blackwell:
So we are here with Melissa Moschitto. Melissa, how do you identify creatively?

Melissa Moschitto:
I am an investigative theater maker, a creative writer and a creative facilitator. My spark is entitled “Dahlias, Ferns, and Fractal Geometry.” You know, I was just struck by not only the nature, you know the beauty of the whole farm but how much nature has been brought into this space and on all the dining tables here and on the fireplace tables here and on the fireplace, we've got all these beautiful Dahlia flowers. And as you were, Laura, giving us the assignment, I was looking past you out the window and there was this beautiful fern plant which caught my attention. In looking at these beautiful naturally occurring plants I started thinking about the structure by which they are made. They are fractal examples of biology. A fractal is a pattern repeated over and over again, going into smaller and smaller scales. This comes from the word fractus, from the Latin fragmented or broken. Yet we're looking at all of these patterns that are linked together and repeated over and over again to create a much larger and complete structure. And I was struck in my limited research by the phrase “infinite intricacy,” that these are structures that are simultaneously complex and simple. And other examples of fractals in nature, naturally occurring fractals, snowflakes, succulents, pineapples (that was very exciting). Even the vessels in our lungs. So they're around us, they're inside of us, and I just was contemplating this idea of a simple, precise design or action that gets repeated over and over again to create a more elaborate whole, and meditating on that as, you know, in this group of, community of creators where we have an abundance of creativity and we're often laser focused on a specific project or maybe trying to, you know, go beyond our perceived boundaries of our creativity to try something else, and it can be a challenge to zoom out into the macro and look at everything that we've created as part of a whole. And so I guess my wish for all of us listening and in here today is to practice that zooming out so that you can see your fractal manifestation of your one beautiful creative life on this earth. Because you have made something beautiful!

Susan Blackwell:
Melissa Moschitto!

Musical Interlude

Susan Blackwell:
Welcome to the hot seat, Anne-Marie Pietersma. Anne-Marie, tell the people how you identify creatively.

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
I identify creatively as an actor, a writer, a comedian and a cheese educator.

Susan Blackwell:
You got a spark for us?

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
I do, and it actually has something to do with the links between arts and agriculture. Last night I was talking to Adair a lot about the links between art and science and how a lot of people view them as opposite worlds maybe, but they're actually very interconnected and very linked and I've been so sparked by all the nature around the farm, and one of the reasons why I fell completely in love with Angela and the entire Saunders family is that there is like an immediate shared language between arts and agriculture and arts and nature. Being a musical theater gal that grew up on a dairy, um, and is also Scandinavian, there's lots of stuff there, so I was marveling at a pine cone on my walk, as you do.

Susan Blackwell:
A little Walt Whitman over here!

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
And it reminded me of a book that I read when I was a teenager called Math and the Mona Lisa. It's by Bülant Atalay, and it's all about the Fibonacci sequence. It's a set of numbers, it's a system sequence where each number is the sum of the preceding numbers. So it goes like 1, 1, 2, 3, because 2 plus 1, 5, 3+1,, so on and so forth. This is also referred to as the golden ratio and you find it everywhere in nature and everywhere else.

Susan Blackwell:
Everything that’s pretty.

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
It is something that is like instinctive to us as humans, where we look at it and we deem that thing beautiful or marvelous. And it's in my pine cone, it's in, if you are like walking around—my pine cone. As if I own it. Laughter. If you look at the formation of branches and trees, ferns, flower petals, anything like that, you will see that formula go out and you find it in art all the time and that's what it explores in this book Math in the Mona Lisa. Because so many people are like what's the big deal about the Mona Lisa? Maybe not. I say that. I don't know if other people say that, what's the big deal?

Susan Blackwell:
Not to be a. Philistine, but I actually share that. I'm like why did we all decide? I'm looking in the eyes of Chris Pappas, who's a tour guide and also a phenomenal creative, and I'm sort of like why did we all collectively decide that we're all going to like clamor to stand in front of this?

Laura Camien:
But there's a reason related to–

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
Right! It's because the Mona Lisa, like features the golden ratio which is found in the human face in general. Like, Mona Lisa's not the most beautiful woman in the world. But we recognize it, that she's rocking that golden ratio. She's rocking that golden ratio, yeah moment in the world but we recognize it.

Laura Camien:
From what you're saying? Like and my understanding of it, like it's not something that we consciously choose or have a like, I think I'd like to look at faces that adhere to the golden ratio today. We're not actually thinking about it. It's something already in us.

Anne-Marie Pietersma:
And maybe, as you know, all of that like cooky bullshit that's like “We are made of stardust,” which is like alright, but actually marvelous and wonderful– I've just heard it so many times and I'm like everyone, fucking relax. But also it's like how beautiful. The Fibonacci sequence, yes. Is in the formation of galaxies yes, it's that same thing we see it like…if you've seen, the visual representation of it, like the Milky Way. So if we are in fact all made of stardust, it is in us. So maybe it's that thing where it's like, it's completely unintentional, we're not consciously thinking of it, looking for it, but it exists within us anyway.

Laura Camien:
Anne-Marie, I feel like I'm going to be like, okay, I am one of those people that, like we, are made of Stardust.

Anne-Marie Pietersman:
Yeah, me too!

Laura Camien:
But when Melissa was giving her spark, I was like… and the fractals are evidence that we are all made of the same stuff, the pine cones and the people.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, I'm made of pine cones!

Laura Camien:
You are! The pine cones and the people. We are one and the same.

Susan Blackwell:
Nice Spark!

Musical Interlude

Susan Blackwell:
Dr. Peter Petralia, how do you identify creatively?

Laura Camien:
Besides as a doctor.

Peter Petralia:
I'm not a medical doctor, let's be clear. I can diagnose you…philosophically.

Laura Camien:
Oh, thank you.

Peter Petralia:
I identify as a writer across many different mediums that are generally performative.

Susan Blackwell:
Got a spark for us?

Peter Petralia:
I do Awesome. Okay, so I was sparked by one of the Allées on the farm. An allée is a fancy French word, I guess, for these long straight rows of trees, in the middle of which is usually a pathway, and there are a couple of them around the farm. One actually is the roadway into the forest at the back. It's sort of an allée, but they're generally like really tall straight trees and I found one.

Laura Camien:
It's like alley, but is it spelled like alley?

Peter Petralia:
A-L-L-E-E with a thing on it

Susan Blackwell:
So when you see a period film that's where the coach is going down the driveway.

Peter Petralia:
Right, and those are usually London plane trees on the side. They're really tall and straight. That's an allée, and that led me to think about collaboration as a competitive advantage. Go with me.

Laura Camien:
We are so with you.

Peter Petralia:
In my business consulting, I help clients to locate the thing that they can do better than anyone else. That enables them to sort of win in the marketplace. And one of the things I've noticed frequently is that when clients hear “competitive advantage,” as I call it, they sometimes think of it as us versus them. But that's overly simplistic, and in fact I've seen again and again that competitive advantage is often found in collaboration, which might seem counterintuitive. And this brings me to…mushrooms, of course.

Laura Camien:
I like this trip.

Peter Petralia:
Well, it's actually fungus because, according to the National Forest Foundation, mushrooms are actually just the fruit of the organism. The real organism lies underground in a vast network of these interconnected threads that are very, very thin, that are called Mycelium. These threads, they create a network between the roots of trees and they act as communication pathways. So in healthy forests–

Susan Blackwell:
The mycelium are the, they are the connector.

Peter Petralia:
So these little fungal mushroom threads are underneath the ground in healthy forests and they wrap around the roots and they go into the trees and they go into the trees and they essentially act as a network for some say, communication, but for, definitely sending carbon nitrogen and other nutrients, water, throughout the forest ecosystem.

Laura Camien:
And hot gossip,

Peter Petralia:
And hot gossip, totally.

Susan Blackwell:
Hot goss!

Peter Petralia:
So, in these healthy forests. So these things are called mycorrhizal networks, by the way, the network itself. So these little things are mycelium, the individual threads and the collection of them are mycorrhizal networks. So in a really healthy forest, you'll have a really strong network and they're sharing all of that stuff and at the center of it is always a mother tree. So the mother tree is the oldest tree and it has the deepest roots and it has the strongest fungal connections and she essentially shares her knowledge with all of the other trees about the various things she's experienced and seen, and lived through over the years, so she will understand what to do in various circumstances that might.

Laura Camien:
Like a drought or, you know, literally like a crisis, crises that trees have.

Peter Petralia:
And actually in really, really, really healthy ecosystems of forests, the tree networks are really diverse, so they don't just have one kind of tree, they have a lot of different trees and they have different trees of different ages, different requirements in terms of sun, in terms of water, and that diversity of trees and the strength of the mother tree in the network creates this really kind of powerful collaborative ecosystem. These forests literally feed and support each other via their fungal networks. They collaborate in order to succeed. So this makes me think about what we can learn about the value of collaboration as a source of competitive advantage from these fungal-powered collaborative forest networks? Some of you may have read the book Finding the Mother Tree. There was some nodding. I don't know if some of you read that book, but there's this book called Finding the Mother Tree.

Susan Blackwell:
Hey, listeners, it's post-production Susan. Letting you know that the author's name is Suzanne Simard, Suzanne Simard. Now back to Dr Peter Petraglia.

Peter Petralia:
She was a forestry person and she was also a biologist, and she discovered that there was something going wrong with a lot of these tree forests that were planted for wood, for cutting down, that they were not growing very healthy. Things were not going great. The soil was falling apart and she discovered that part of the reason was because the networks underground of fungus were disrupted and that there was no mother tree in many places, because the mother tree had been pulled out.

Susan Blackwell:
Amazing.

Peter Petralia:
So she says that “Plants are attuned to another's strengths and weaknesses, elegantly giving and taking to attain exquisite balance. There is grace and complexity in action, cohering in sum totals.” So it made me wonder what it would look like to elegantly give and take to obtain exquisite balance. To me that's the source of a true competitive advantage and it's how I intend to strengthen my practice as an artist and a human, and I feel like that's kind of what the Spark File is trying to do to help each of us find our own kind of exquisite balance with each other and as individuals.

Susan Blackwell:
Did you just call Laura Camien a mother tree?

Peter Petralia:
I did, and I called you a motherfucking tree.

Musical Interlude

Susan Blackwell:
Welcome to the microphone, Carey Seward. How do you identify creatively?

Carey Seward:
I write direct produce and perform theater, film and rock and roll

Susan Blackwell:
Amazing. And do you have a spark for us today?

Laura Camien:
Damn, you can do it all!

Carey Seward:
Yes, I have a spark. So right when you walk out the door, there's this huge wall of pumpkins. So I was thinking about pumpkins, and the Saunders’ have a dog named pumpkin.

Susan Blackwell:
Pumpkin gets a shout out.

Carey Seward
So I grew two pumpkins this year in my garden and I grew them from seeds and I was thinking about how you have to transplant little seeds from their small plant container to the next size container, to the next size container so that the plant can properly grow, because the plant needs enough room to grow, but not too much room so that the water something I don't know. It's not good.

Susan Blackwell:
Science.

Carey Seward:
That's not the point. Laughter. Since I'm a performing artist, the containers I work with are venues. So I was thinking about containers and putting the right size plant in the right size container, so putting your right show in the right place.

Laura Camien:
Yes

Carey Seward:
So you, you don't want your plan to have a container that's too porous, that absorbs too much water, if that's not good for it. You don't want a container that's too dark so it absorbs too much light, blah, blah. So, theaters. So when I'm thinking about a venue for a show, I think about everything from the first moment you're going to the theater. When you park and you get out, what are you wearing? Like, are the outfits that the people going to be wearing going to match the venue that you've chosen for this, like the expectations of what this place will be? When you get to the lobby, is it comfortable? Can you hear other people talking? Is it really loud and echoey or is it comfortable for normal conversation, especially since most of the theater going audiences in the world are getting older and older. We have to pay attention to these things. Can you sit for the seat in two hours comfortably? The sound in the theater can you hear? Are the acoustics good? Is it accessible? If people don't fit in the seats, do you have a place for them to sit? Is there places for wheelchairs? Are there elevators? Are there ramps, all the things? The temperature usually theaters get hotter and hotter with lights and bodies. Can it be both cool and quiet? If you turn on the air conditioning, is it incredibly loud and terrible? I love intermission–that's a whole other spark, but as intermissions are going away more and more in the world, it breaks my heart, because that's the time when I sell snacks and merch.

Laura Camien:
It's important!

Carey Seward:
It's an important thing for the producer. But you want to make sure that your lines for the snacks, the merch and the bathroom do not intersect. And then the last thing, is there a good exit strategy? So when you stand up, do you know where to go, or is it just a river that's going the wrong way? So, that’s my spark.

Susan Blackwell:
This is such a good spark and I also just want to add is, for artists as they evolve, as their careers mature, how the space that's appropriate for an artist who is maybe first swinging out into the world, is different than for an artist who's in like the full bloom of their creativity and their career. And meeting yourself where you're at and then folding in these guidelines to make sure that the spaces that you're choosing are appropriate, that you don't have this crazy pressure to sell out a thousand seats when that's just not where you're at.

Laura Camien:
That's not where you're at, yeah, but I also love that again for, like, independent artists who are now, like even more frequently, creating a theater space or performance space out of something else.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah.

Laura Camien:
And our sweet Emma Callis just did it in our last blaze program.

Susan Blackwell:
Hi, Emma!

Laura Camien:
And she put the show in what was an art gallery, because it wasn't designed to be a theater, but we're going to use it as that, and so we should think through every one of these things.

Carey Seward:
So you have to imagine what the flower will be when it's in full bloom, when you're planting it in the little container, and you want to make sure it has enough room to grow, but not too much.

Susan Blackwell:
Beautiful!

Laura Camien:
Bringing it back around!

Musical Interlude

Susan Blackwell:
Hey, Adair, how do you identify creatively?

Adair Whalen:
I identify creatively as an actor, singer, writer.

Susan Blackwell:
Beautiful, beautiful. Do you have a spark for us today?

Adair Whalen:
I do. I took a long walk and just focused on taking a long walk, and then I ended up in a big open field out past the zipline—

Susan Blackwell:
Saunders farm has a zipline!

Adair Whalen:
And as I entered the big open field, I just threw my arms open and did the, did the walking with my arms open, just because I could.

Laura Camien:
Because when you do that in New York City, people think you're a little bit weird.

Susan Blackwell:
Something else happens.

Laura Camien:
You’re inviting in a lot.

Adair Whalen:
And then, I wrote.

Susan Blackwell:
Awesome.

Adair Whalen:
If I open my arms, I might catch feelings. If I open my arms, I might catch the sun or the rain or the wind or the morning. I might catch your hug or your last word or your first. If I open my ears, I might catch the chickadees I might remember. If I open my ears, I might catch forever or never again and I might hear what I am afraid of. Or I might catch my mother's voice. If I open my eyes, I might catch the sun coming up over the trees to greet me and the crows. I might catch laughter and joy and the drive to put one foot ahead of the other. If I open my eyes, I might catch anger and fear. If I open my eyes, I might catch you. If I open my mouth, I might catch flack, or I might catch flies, or I might catch criticism. If I open my heart, I might catch feelings. I might catch cold. It's possible that if I open the door, what is on the other side will be exactly what it is that I fear the most. Open doors go to other places, after all. If I open my hand, perhaps I will hold yours.

Susan Blackwell:
That was Adair Whalen. Laura, that writing reminds me of your creativity versus certainty spark. You know, if you open up, who knows what might come your way? Might be a whole lot of trouble, might be a whole lot of life. Only one way to find out.

Laura Camien:
Only one way. I love that. I love that and I just want to say I'm so grateful to all the sparklers who contributed sparks for this episode. Like, what a joy. We were not able to hear everyone's sparks today, but we're going to hear more from our sparklers later this season.

Susan Blackwell:
Something to look forward to.

Laura Camien:
A little teaser.

Susan Blackwell:
This episode of the spark file was made on the unceded lands of the Anishinaabe and Algonquin people and, as always, we hope this put another bunch of sparks in your file. Listen, if there's a spark you'd like us to explore or if you'd like to learn more about how to coach with us to bring your creative ideas to life, you can email us at getcreative @ sparkfile . com or submit it through our website, thesparkfile . com.

Laura Camien:
Friends we will even happily take your feedback, but you know the price of admission. First you have to share a creative risk that you have taken recently.

Susan Blackwell:
You can follow us on social at @ thesparkfile and be sure to subscribe, rate and five-star review this podcast. It really, really helps other listeners to find us. Also, if you like this podcast, we hope you'll share it with people that you love. And if you didn't like it, take off to the great white North and Saunders Farm.

Laura Camien:
At Saunders Farm! Friends, if something lights you up and gets your creative sparks flying, we're writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing that's been knocking at your door. It's your turn to take that spark and fan it into a flame.

Susan Blackwell:
You know you got to take it—

Both:
And make it.

Susan Blackwell:
I don't know why I was all like spooky at the top! …The shape of things to come…oooooh….

Exit Music