Flawed Wednesday | The Direction of Intention

An Avalanche of Change [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on August 26, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Who knows why the mind associates one thing with another? Synapse firing often seems senseless. Sitting in the backyard, the warm orange and yellow sunset reflecting on the back fence, calling attention to the rusty sunflower, I was transported back in time to the Little Theatre, a converted mechanics shop tucked beside the maintenance yard on a high school campus. I ran a summer theatre program in that ramshackle-yet-sacred building for several years.

The memory that caught me while staring at the ferns and sunflowers at sunset was the day I arrived in town and found students stripping the asbestos insulation from the wiring of all the lighting instruments. Their teacher, the woman who taught theatre during the regular school year, had recently read an article about the dangers of asbestos. Since the lighting instruments were old and likely insulated with asbestos, she thought it was a good idea to have her students remove the insulation from the instruments.

I was gobsmacked. Asbestos is not dangerous until disturbed. Lighting instruments, like all things electrical become dangerous when the wiring is exposed and stripped of insulation. Not only was she exposing her students to the danger that she was trying to avoid but she was rendering the electrical equipment dangerous and a deadly fire hazard. She had good intentions. She had no idea what she was doing. In one fell swoop, she endangered her students lives on multiple fronts while ruining every single lighting instrument in the theatre.

I don’t know how ferns and sunflowers evoked that memory but I know where it took me: it immediately became a useful analogy for the current administration. Since they’ve cut and stripped regulations and oversight protections, Cyclospora, salmonella and eColi are run amok in our food chain. Measles are back with a vengeance. The Navy can’t feed its sailors as we fight a war without a reason. The oil reserves are disappearing. The healthcare system is collapsing. The justice department is soiling itself. Inflation is rising, but not nearly as fast as the national debt. They do not know what they are doing. They are stripping the asbestos from the lighting instruments. They let loose The Doge, elevated the Sycophants and are daily placing us in harms way while hampering our capacity to function. They are like the theatre teacher though not so well-meaning. This group is self-serving in its ineptitude.

Thankfully, my analogy doesn’t stop at the destruction. The actions of the theatre teacher ultimately served to remove her from her position. It was easy to see that she was a danger to her students and herself. The immediate necessity of having to resurrect or replace the lighting equipment was a tiny pebble that began an avalanche of change. In a few years there was a new theatre building with rehearsal space and shop space and updated technology. Our capacity to function not only improved, it opened doors to previously unimaginable possibilities.

That is my hope as I watch this kakistocracy systematically strip the insulation from our democratic wires. It’s becoming easier and easier to see that they are a danger to the people, the nation and to themselves. Ultimately, they will be removed and held accountable. The immediate necessity of fixing what they broke will lead to an avalanche of change that will prevent incompetence from every again grabbing the reins of the nation, and will open doors to previously unimaginable possibilities.

***

(During my time at the Little Theatre I would often take a break at sunset, climb to the roof and watch the world bath in warm orange and yellow light. I would take a breath in a busy day before climbing back down the ladder into the vibrant creative space – my laboratory space – that was a small black box theatre made from a converted mechanics shop. Sacred space. Maybe those synapses make sense after all.)

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SUNFLOWER SUNSET

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Metaphor, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: analogy, artistry, cyclospora, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DOGE, incompetence, kakistocracy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, regulation, story, studio melange, sunflower, sunset, the melange | Leave a comment »

What We Carry [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on August 19, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Purples and greens, secondary colors on the color wheel, accented with pops of vivid red, a primary color on the wheel. It is a brilliant study of contrast principle. The arrangement of opposites creates visual interest, dynamic, and focus. In other words, beauty. Remove the diversity of color and world is rendered bland.

The same principle applies to ingenuity. To the generation of ideas. To entrepreneurship. To good governance. Remove the contrasting ideas and the world is rendered insipid. It is a paradox: originality is a collision of a diversity of ideas and influences. Creativity requires an ancestry of imagination, a community of influence to stoke the fire in the artistic forge.

To all the white christian nationalists out there who would scrub this nation of color, keep this in mind: uniformity is by definition unchanging. In nature, the absence of diversity is a guaranteed wasteland. Only a wasted mind would strive for constant bland as its highest ideal.

Original thought and critical thinking is dangerous to the cult of wasted minds.

We are among the most entrepreneurial nations that has ever existed precisely because we are diverse. We are a crossroad of culture where ideas collide, debate is welcome and insight explodes into form. We are a great nation because we carry the contrast principle in our national dna.

Individualism is not the absence of other colors. It is the pop of red made vibrant by the field of green and purple that give it context and meaning. If rugged individualism is what makes this country great then it is way past time to recognize that the individual right is only made possible by the dogged support of the diverse community that created, protects and believes in the sanctity of laws that guarantee individual rights. An individual right is a societal ideal.

Think about that as ICE sweeps up and deports people with no thought to the law. Consider the rulings made by the rogue Supreme Court that put one man above the law, suspended due process rights, habeas corpus and dismantles voter’s rights. Consider the threat on the contrast principle when you next hear the rabid dogs of of this administration bark at the law while stroking their white-uniformity-fantasy that demonizes women, people of color, and anyone who has an opposing point of view.

Think about the assault on the contrast principle when you experience the continued full frontal assault on voter rights from this administration. They make no secret that they will stop at nothing to remove the voice and power of the other party from governance. They want no contrast, no diversity of thought, no opposition, no free and fair elections.

Robbing any voter of their most sacred individual right, the right to vote for a diversity of representation, robs you of your most sacred individual right, too. If you care about your individual rights, you must first care about protecting those rights for all others. All others. No exceptions. That is how a societal ideal becomes manifest into action.

We are a great nation because we carry the contrast principle in our national dna. We have not come this far or fought this hard to give it all away to a cult of bland, wasted minds lost in a homogeneous control fantasy.

read Kerri’s blogpost about CONTRAST PRINCIPLE

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, contrast principle, critical thinking, culture, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, due process, entrepreneurship, free and fair elections, habeas corpus, ice, identity, innovation, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Opposition, story, studio melange, the melange, vote | Leave a comment »

Look Close In [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on August 12, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Like me, do you sometimes have trouble believing in the wonder of the ripening tomato? Incredible! Look close in and you might see what I mean. Where did that come from? Only a moment ago it was a tiny yellow flower on a vine.

There is a particular squirrel in our neighborhood who’s discovered the wonder of the tomatoes. His attraction to the tiny fruit né vegetable has made him a tomato robber. He cannot help himself – that is the nature of desire. He asks the same question as I do – only his version is more an exclamation: where did this come from! Delicious. On that, the squirrel and I agree.

A burst of tomato; taste the sun.

I wonder if the small tomato asks the same question of itself that the squirrel and I ask? “Where did I come from?” It’s an excellent question.

“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” ~John O’Donohue.

John O’Donohue also wrote that, to the Celtic mind, “…there is no satisfaction in certainty.” Asking the question is more tasty than having an answer. And, some questions, the most important questions, have no single answer.

The path to wonder runs through disbelief and uncertainty. Curiosity, living in the questions, opens the mind and heart to possibility, to wonder, to beckoning imagination. The impossibly rich unknown. Isn’t it infinitely preferable and wildly more rewarding to stand in a question rather than hold tight onto a white-knuckled certainty.

Looking for wonder? Begin by looking close in.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE TOMATO

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Filed under: Awakening, Flawed Wednesday, Possibility, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, John O"Donohue, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, possibility, questions, story, studio melange, the melange, uncertainty, unfolding, unknown, wonder | Leave a comment »

Try It And See [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on August 5, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

If, like me, your were born without a green thumb and are adept at withering even the hardiest of plants, I offer this handy solution: grow basil and mint. Basil and mint are intrepid and prolific. They will grow beyond their borders even in the bumbling care of the below-average gardener. They will make any thumb feel green, green, green!

There are rippling benefits to the illusion of green-thumb-success brought about by basil and mint. They incite belief that I, too, might someday be a better gardener than I previously understood. Basil and mint help assail the idea that green plants are a mystery never to be solved. If I can grow basil, maybe I can grow tomatoes, too! Or jalapeno peppers! And, if I am successful with a vegetable or two, maybe I will green-thumb my way into flowers! I might bring forth some color and beauty into the world!

What if this is not a one way street? What if, as I tend basil, mint, peppers and tomatoes, they tend me, too?! (Let’s face it, some questions deserve double punctuation even if Ms. Hardesty would have circled my double-punctuation and drawn a frowny-face next to it.) Maybe basil and mint are like the kindergarten teachers of the garden. Maybe their whole job is to instill the thought, “Yes I can!” – in every thumb. “You can do it!” chirp my basil and my mint.

“Maybe I can do this,” I think as we harvest the basil and tomatoes for our pizza, the mint for our sun tea.

It occurs to me, as I rub a basil leaf and savor the scent, that all of those years directing young actors new to the stage, that my job in life might have been the same as basil and mint. How many times did I say, “You can do it.” How many times did I watch the vibrant blooming of a “Yes I can!”

“It’s all a laboratory,” I used to say. “Try it and see what happens.”

And isn’t it lovely that this wise old universe tossed me into a garden and suggested I take my own advice? Isn’t it profound that, as a first step to address my dedicated-disbelief-in-my-capability, some wise soul suggested that I start this life-experiment with basil and mint?

*****

(a note about the current state of the nation and the world: today I simply do not know what to say. There is fire. The ocean’s are heating. River’s are drying. Crops are dying. And, “Shell reported a massive surge in profits, posting second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $9.84 billion, more than double the amount from the same period last year.” What is there to say about people setting fire to their neighborhood and then finding pleasure in profiting from it?)

read Kerri’s blogpost about BASIL

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Filed under: Creativity, Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, basil, belief, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, encouragement, experiment, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, mint, story, studio melange, support, the melange, try, Yes | 1 Comment »

The Simple Basics [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 29, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Assess the damage. Begin the slow process of clearing the wreckage. Learn the forever-altered-landscape anew. Soon, the storm will be knit into a greater story. It will become the line between before and after.

After the storm there is clarity. Perhaps that is the gift of the storm? Standing amidst the wreckage it is common to hear the clarity: “No one was hurt and that’s all the matters. The stuff can be replaced but not the people.”

Neighbors who’ve rarely shared a word come out to help each other. The storm facilitates what countless sermons and public meetings could not. The fences are down. The politics erased. The devastation is owned by all. Helping hands are suddenly ubiquitous. Together, all share resources under the same narrative umbrella.

And why does it take a storm to bring us to clarity? To remember the simple basics of our shared humanity? The stuff can be replaced. Not the people.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE AFTERMATH

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, clarity, community, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, helping hands, humanity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, storm, story, studio melange, the melange, togetherness | Leave a comment »

Take The Keys [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 22, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

We’re writing a bit ahead so by the time you read this the smoke may have cleared. However, the challenge will remain.

Kerri just shared a short instagram piece. The cost of fighting the now mega-fires runs roughly a trillion dollars a year. The Instagram-speaker made it clear that, although forest fires happen every year, the mega-fires that are now an annual occurrence are avoidable. He asked an obvious question: why wouldn’t we put our trillion dollars toward combating climate change, toward green energy, toward the future…toward preventing the conditions that produce the mega-fires, tornadoes, floods and droughts that a heating globe produces?

There is a man in our community who claims to be climate scientist. Meet him on the street and he will loudly proclaim that climate change is a hoax. Hit him with some data and facts and he’ll reject it all as “fake science”. Apparently, his belief in himself is more powerful than actual science – which affords him the capacity to claim that only his science is real. It’s the same logic employed by RFK Jr., Dr. Oz and the rest of the authoritarian clown car, including the chief authoritarian who loves to yammer on and on about the virtues of clean coal. This is the same guy that suggested we shoot up with bleach to clean ourselves of COVID, the same man who lost an election six years ago and to this day refuses to accept the truth. His only recourse is to foment lies – much like the man in our community who thumps his chest on city streets and insists that he alone is the steward of facts.

It is no small challenge we face.

We took the keys from my dad when dementia unplugged him from reality. He slipped into a world all his own and that made him a danger to himself and to others. Listening to the confirmation hearings of Todd Blanche and Jay Clayton, the ramblings of a president in obvious mental decline, the white nationalist ravings of Stephen Miller…it’s time to take the keys. The whole maga country club is unplugged and dangerous.

Even though the actual fires are hundreds of miles away, the air in our region is too dangerous to breathe. That’s the way the systems on earth work. We are not separate no matter how much the current administration would like to pretend that we are. The number of tornadoes are breaking records. Record rainfall is causing flash floods here, there, and everywhere. “The world’s oceans absorb over 90% of the excess heat trapped in the Earth’s climate system. This relentless absorption is driving ocean temperatures to record highs, warming at double the rate they were twenty years ago.” (NASA Science)

The rising temperature in the ocean is akin to the canary in the coal mine. Our canary is currently motionless at the bottom of the cage.

We are the frog in the pot yet still might have the capacity to control the stove if we show up en masse to vote, if we fight to protect our vote from the crew that insists on living in their alternative facts, who claim to be cowboys but daily cry that they are victims of the past administration-or-plots-or-the-other-party, that their facts are the only facts, even when nothing they espouse lines up with demonstrable truth. They want power in perpetuity and will do and say anything to get it. Anything.

The reality that they deny – or are too morbidly wealthy to see – is that they, too, are frogs in the pot. They believe power and money will put them out of reach of the natural disasters that they conveniently ignore. Magical thinking. There is, after all, only one pot.

It’s time to take the keys before their hubris – or dedicated ignorance – kills all of us.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SUNRISE THOUGH SMOKE

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Filed under: Edges, Flawed Wednesday, Pattern, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, climate change, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fact, fires, forest fires, global warming, hubris, ignorance, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, science, story, studio melange, the melange, truth, vote | Leave a comment »

Say, “Enough.” [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 15, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Few symbols are as positive as a dragonfly. So we were heartened when two decided to visit, resting in the branch that we’ve wrapped in lights and affixed to our deck. New beginnings, spiritual alignment, harmony in relationship. They stayed with us for quite awhile. They were willing subjects with the spontaneous photo shoot.

Each morning we read the two Heathers: Heather Cox Richardson and Heather Delaney Reese (It’s A Lovely Life). The news is bleak but their message is hopeful: we will get through this authoritarian nightmare if together we show-up and speak-up. This full frontal assault on our rights by the executive, republican legislative, and judicial branch (the extreme supremes) is unprecedented. The Heathers have faith in the will of the people. They are calling the people, all of us, to assert our will in this extreme moment in our nation’s history. Government of, by, and for the people requires the people to stand up to their government – the people that they elected – when their government goes rogue.

I couldn’t help but project the positive meaning of our dragonfly visit onto the entire nation. Somewhere out there is a new beginning, a nation of people, diverse and complex, that values harmony over division. From this hot fire a Phoenix will rise. But first, the fire. What is becoming more and more clear is that we cannot wait to stand up. The election in November is not certain. The window is closing. The authoritarian attacks are ramping up. We are the hope of the nation – if we stand up and say, “Enough”.

Enough. This week ICE killed two more innocent men. Their crime? They were driving to work. Enough. Due process and habeas corpus are guaranteed to all people in our constitution, citizens and non-citizens alike. Where did they go? Concentration camps and deportation without due process are blatantly unconstitutional. They are also un-american, not to mention amoral. Enough. Our government should not be providing cover for a rapist and a global pedophile network. Enough. And why-oh-why are we at war? Enough. Enough. Enough.

The basic right that they would now corrupt is the right to vote. Our vote is the final line, the only thing separating us from an ugly fall into fascism. The line gets thinner and thinner every single day. There is no evidence – none – that our elections are or have ever been corrupt, why-oh-why are we inundated and permitting the incessant lies of a man so clearly afraid of a free and fair election. Enough.

Republican silence. Dedicated cowardice. A majority of ideologues populating the Supreme Court, wrecking our system of checks-and-balances in order to give an out-of-control executive unchecked power…it is anti-democratic. Enough.

Both Heathers caution that the days ahead will be darker because this administration is desperate. They – he – will do anything to hold onto power. Their – his -corruption is so egregious that they – he – will do anything to avoid accountability. Anything. And so we must meet their – his – “anything” with an equal and opposite force. A unified voice saying, “Enough.”

There is no more time for complacency. Wait-and-see will guarantee the end of our democracy. No one is or will be untouched by what this administration is attempting (I am suddenly awash in a memory: responding to a woman in a workshop who expressed a desire to find her voice, my business partner asked, “If you had your voice, what would you say?”). There is no more time to search for voice.

For me, the Heathers serve as dragonflies sitting on the branch above us. Hope. A new beginning. They remind us each day that our nation, living the promise of democracy, is possible. This is a cusp. What happens next is ours to decide, not the spineless republicans, not the corrupt supremes, not the wannabe dictator. Ours. The line gets thinner and thinner every single day. Together – together – we must grow louder, stronger, every single day speaking with a unified voice. Enough.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DRAGONFLIES

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Perspective, Possibility, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, authoritarianism, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, dragonfly, fascism, Heather Cox Richardson, Heather Delaney Reese, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, symbols, the melange, voice, vote | 1 Comment »

Complete Verity [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 8, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Edward Hopper might have painted this scene. A lone person sitting on the bench would have sealed the deal. Everyday American moments of isolation made beautiful by light, line and perspective.

Edward Hopper would have wanted to paint Jack Smith sitting across the table from Nicolle Wallace during their recent interview. An American man isolated by his integrity. A few times during the interview, given the chance to complain or judge, he opted instead to elevate others. Rather than focus on the corruption he said he’d rather spend his time uplifting the true heroes of our nation, the people who honor their oaths and hold firm to their dedication to public service. People who seek facts and value truth rather than clamor for the spotlight. He would rather throw light onto the people holding the line of equal justice for all in our nation of laws.

Hopper most certainly would have been interested in painting Major Jason Watson as he was arrested on the steps of the Capitol. Isolated in his integrity, lonely in his commitment to upholding his oath to the Constitution, he held a sign, “Impeach, Convict, Remove”. A quintessential American moment. Protest. An action with real consequences for the actor. Strong lines and light. Perspective.

“Hopper created subdued drama out of commonplace subjects layered with a poetic meaning, inviting narrative interpretations. He was praised for “complete verity” in the America he portrayed.”~Wikipedia

Complete verity.

Verity: the quality or state of being true, factual, or accurate. Verity is in short supply in this republican administration.

A painter of verity. The America Hopper portrayed turns away from the noise and stares into the silent night. Hopper knew that lies are loud and mostly uninteresting. Truth is often whispered. Truth is tacit. Truth is worth honoring, dabbing brush into paint. Although the paper-cowboy-republicans might loudly proclaim exclusive ownership of the American spirit, Hopper would have no interest in them or their screeching leader.

Although the keepers of truth might appear isolated, most definitely under siege, made to look and feel alone by a raging authoritarian and his Murdoch-propaganda-fox-noise-machine, there are far more Jack Smiths, Jason Watsons, Nicolle Wallaces…out there – out here.

Jack Smith suggested that our path to reunification runs through reclamation of integrity, of attending to fact rather than losing ourselves in daily doses of ratings-driven-screeds.

Complete verity, as found on a lonely railway platform, staring into the quiet of a summer night. Waiting for the train. Strong lines. Powerful light. Perspective.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE TRAIN STATION

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Filed under: Art, Flawed Wednesday, Heroes, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Edward Hopper, fact, Jack Smith, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Major Jason Watson, Nicolle Wallace, perspective, story, studio melange, the melange, truth, verity | 1 Comment »

Align With The Dream [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on June 24, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Even in its decline it is beautiful. A day lily rendered prematurely old by the storms that met its blossoming. Lately, much of what captivates me is the revelation of the support structure: the fibers that give shape to the petals and leaves. They are as aesthetically pleasing as they are functionally necessary.

If you are like me, you are both surprised and not-at-all surprised at the support structure that has become visible in our national decline. The racism, the misogyny, the xenophobia exposed by the current administration and their white-male-supremacy is not an anomaly; it is a norm. Unlike the day lily, this fibrous framework is ugly.

Currently there are several books hot off the presses and even more podcast pundits outlining a plan for what we must do to make sure this never happens again. I’ve yet to read them. I hope they are filled with good ideas and even better strategies for strengthening our democracy and eliminating once and for all the potential for authoritarian takeover by the monied elite who, let’s be frank, desire the return of indentured servitude and a slave class. Superiority needs inferiority. One need only look at the Epstein Class, read Project 2025, or listen for 10 minutes to fox news to see the machinery. Freedom and justice for all is nowhere to be found in their playbook.

Systems do what they are designed to do:

The fibers of the plant reach through the stems and uplift the petal to drink in the sun. The color attracts bees and insects to spread pollen, to spread life.

Our system, as we are seeing clearly, was designed to divide. Our founders, in their division design, unwittingly laid the groundwork for our demise – unless, of course, we are capable in this moment of full exposure to transcend our design. We must answer once and for all who we mean when we say, “We the people.” Do we mean everyone? Do we mean a select few?

We have bumbled along through history attempting to have it both ways. We have repeated this cycle over and over again. If, when we say, “We the people,” we mean everyone, then an entirely new and bold structure is called for, as divergent from our current framework as an the skeletal structure of an adult differs from that of a child. A bone structure that develops into maturity.

We are, in this analogy, as is evident in the current administration, a Peter Pan nation, resistant to reality and afraid of growing up.

The cross-purpose was baked into our nation’s foundation, declaring all men are created equal while simultaneously legislating that black Americans were only 3/5ths human, that voting is a privilege extended to white-male-landholders while proudly declaring “freedom and justice for all”. It is a polarization structure that guarantees the continued algae bloom cycle of attempted autocratic takeover. It’s predictable. It is structural. It is schizophrenic.

It’s not enough to vote blue in the midterms. It’s way past time that we looked in the mirror of our history and dealt honestly with the dysfunctional structure that produces division, exactly as it was designed to produce. Superiority for the few requires a structure that guarantees inequality for the majority; inferiority-by-design. Equality demands a structure that fosters equality.

No system can endure when serving cross-purposes.

Equality is built on an entirely different armature, as beautiful as it is functionally necessary. We know how to do it. It remains to be seen if we – as a diverse community – have the will to align with the dream of equality, the dream of democracy for all that we espouse.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE DAY LILY

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, autocracy, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, equality, equity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, midterms, story, structure, studio melange, superiority, the melange | 1 Comment »

Hand It To Chance [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on June 17, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Mark the mark on purpose, hand it to chance, and see what comes back.” ~ Nicholas Wilton

Quinn always said, “Cultivate your serendipity.” Allow luck to greet your ability. Or, as I am learning again (and again and again…), to grow, ability needs to let go of control.

The final lesson learned by a performer, perhaps the hardest lesson of all, is to let go of the work. All of the rehearsal, all of the study, all of the repetition, the preparation, the quest for perfection…needs one final action to fulfill itself: the performer has to get out of the way. Hand the good work to chance. Let it go.

After weeks and weeks of research, she chose the peony that she wanted to plant. The root arrived with specific instructions. She chose the best spot in the garden and the right day in the right season and planted the root at the right depth facing the right direction. And then she waited for spring. She fretted the prescribed amount, no more, no less.

The little green stem broke through the earth and seemed to stall. She studied appropriate amounts of water, she studied angles of the sun and questioned her planting placement. We put up a tiny fence to protect the tender shoot from critters and our Dogga who digs. I believe, although I do not know this for a fact, I believe she offered daily prayers to the peony-powers-of-the-universe. Her little stem, like the little engine that could, struggled and produced one tiny blossom.

She studied when and how much to cut back her peony, what to do over the winter months – namely, nothing – but sometimes arriving at nothing requires copious amounts of study. At some point, feeling as if there was nothing left to be done, nothing left to investigate, somewhere between the dark of winter and the return of the light, she surrendered. She gave over. The little peony was on its own.

Ability met luck. A wet spring with warmer than usual days had peonies a-poppin’! The little stem returned with some serious chutzpah, producing not one but many vibrant beautiful blossoms. It now stands in our canon as the single most photographed peony plant in our entire peony history. “I can’t stop taking photographs,” she said, “It’s so amazing!”

And, so it is. A performer’s lesson as played in the garden. And just look what came back!

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE PEONY