One for the money...

ver the years my sister has told me, in no uncertain terms, that I have no control over my facial expressions and that eventually, if they hadn't already, they would get me in trouble. That there were so many of them that she, after all these years, still had a hard time interpreting each eye-brow raise, twist of lips and rapid eye movement.

Yesterday, I finally saw with my own eyes what she meant.

In the morning, Judson Matthews and I shot my portion of the forthcoming Kickstarter video proposal. The last time I had to do anything akin to acting was Shakespeare & Company in fourth grade. Fortunately, Jud's an old hand and after a few rounds of takes we closed it out. He now needs about a week to edit those takes with footage he took the previous two days of B roll (time with little kids and their families, shots of an illustrator sketching out dry-erase board images) before I can then submit the project to Kickstarter for their approval.

After the shoot, I caught some of our session's playback. Jud did a great job making the scene look crisp and professional. But man, I had no idea that the face had so many moving parts. I also noticed the big difference I felt as a viewer when watching the presenter smile as opposed to being serious. Needless to say, you are all right: I should smile more.

The other good news from yesterday is that I now have an illustrator, Claudia Santillan, who put together this sketch of my pseudonym, Hooey Savvy. I look forward to working with Claudia as Hooey starts to hover off the ground.

The Calm Before The Storm

log's been awfully quiet since leaving Corpus Christi, but that, hopefully, is about to change. In the next few days the Kickstarter video proposal will be in the can, I'll submit the entire project for approval and then around Tuesday, June 12th the project should go live to the public.

Since starting Hooey this past fall, I've set out on a journey of a thousand steps. Finally submitting the project to Kickstarter and then, hopefully, to the public are the next big steps. Ideally, they represent steps #76 or #77, not #998 or #999. The next six weeks or so will be tell-tale.

Moment of Clarity

y last post, about twenty hours ago, asserted that, "the way forward is clear." After writing those words and before falling asleep I figured within 24 hours something would come along and muddle everything up.

On the contrary, the way forward has become more clear and simple. Go figure.

I've been banging my head against the wall under the assumption that the next step required landing an illustrator before I could start Hooey's Kickstarter campaign. This fell under the idea that the book had to be completely done, or at least appear so, to shop it.

I am a fool.

The emphasis now puts the focus on the Kickstarter campaign as the way to complete the project. Of course, the Kickstarter campaign will hopefully answer an even more important question: Does this project have popular support?

So what now? Now I revisit the script I've written for the Kickstarter video, I talk to videographers, tighten up the choreography of the Budget Dance, find some eight year old talent and maybe even a band to play a little ditty. I focus on the video, get it rolling and continue to monitor the rest.

Project Update: In search of an English to Mexican-Spanish translator, I posted a project description on Guru and have already received one application. Getting the translation done while I work on the video et al should be a time saver.

Corpus Christi Chronicle #3

riving into Corpus Christi on May 1st I put the fate of Hooey in the hands of a friend of a friend from college. Driving out of Corpus on May 14th, the friend of a friend and his wife had become my friends and the fate of Hooey looked sound.

I left Corpus Christi yesterday morning and while it's good to be back in familiar environs and not grabbing lunch from a hotel vending machine any more, I have to admit I already miss Corpus. I had just started to make friends, to make in-roads in the elementary school community and a couple restaurants already knew me by name.

A couple nights before leaving, a pair of cards from Houston living in Corpus asked me what it was like coming from NYC to Corpus and how I'd been received. It took twelve days for someone to ask me that. While it did surprise people that someone would come from NYC to Corpus intentionally, I was always treated well. I attribute that to the project.

I spent little time talking about myself and a vast majority of the time talking about Hooey. Time and again I got positive feedback and constructive criticism from locals. What I did not leave Corpus with is a green light to bring Hooey to a Corpus elementary school classroom in the fall. That being said, I'm merely sitting at the intersection waiting for the lights to change, not pulled over, four way flashers on, a dated road map sprawled out over the driver's wheel.

As always, there's more work to do, but the way forward is clear.

Project Update: First and foremost, big thanks to Bro Krift, Elaine Marsilio Krift and Nancy Vera in Corpus for their hospitality, their local expertise and their pick-up-the-phone-and-get-'er-done ways. Thanks also to Michael Kruse for putting me in touch with Bro. Unfortunately, the search for an illustrator continues. This remains the biggest roadblock to advancing the project to its next big stage: Kickstarter. With renewed focus, I'm talking to a handful of illustrators, but if they're to have Hooey ready by the fall school year, shit's gotta start very soon. If I have to start drawing stick figures I'll do it.

Corpus Christi Chronicle #2

hile I wait to meet with an attorney at the Corpus Christi Independent School District (CCISD), the principal of a school in that district (depending on how the first conversation goes) and a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),  I've spent the majority of my time lately praying for Mariano Rivera and building the case for Hooey Savvy's Cookie-Wise Pablo through the requirements of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS; pronounced teeks) for elementary school students from kindergarden through fourth grade. Now that Mo's assured us he'll be back, I can focus on the task at hand.

The TEKS identify what students should learn each year and what they should be capable of. On its own, Hooey addresses the former, but not the latter. To correct this, I'm drafting a book-affiliated list of activities for students in or out of class. Activities include drawing key scenes from a given story, recording a version of one of the book's songs, taping a kids version of the Budget Dance (akin to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", but with rent, food and transportation among other items); writing a book review of Hooey; asking one's parents about their first jobs; and polling fellow students on allowance dos and don't as well as allowance going rates.

Fortunately, the TEKS do a nice job of laying out what they're looking for. I just have to meet that need with a little Hooey for each grade level. The social studies TEKS in particular already include economics and taxation (government) so I can clearly say that this or that chapter of Hooey will meet this or that requirement for this or that grade level.

Nap time, lunch and recess aside, what were your favorite educational activities in elementary school?

The Closer In A City Of Closers

ast summer, by far the shittiest summer I'd had in quite some time, I attended a Yankee game in the Bronx with a buddy. After the game, we hit Stan's. In Stan's I found a poster, this spot-on New York poster, which gave me a little perspective and hope. After a litany of bad news, the poster reminds the reader that, "We have the Yankees" and features a picture of Mariano Rivera on the mound.

On days like today, days when Rivera is not in the bullpen, but on his way to the disabled list with a torn ACL and, quite possibly, the end of his freakishly consistent and superb career, it's easy to say, "No, we had Rivera." Say what you will about Derek Jeter's intangibles and the Core Four, without Rivera do the Yankees achieve the success they have since '96? It can be argued that Rivera was the difference maker; the one player who set the Yankees apart from all the rest. The Yankees could play nine innings: With Mo, the opposition could only play seven, especially in October, 14 out of the last 15 Octobers.

I take solace in baseball because like daily life there is far more failure than success. Hell, the best hitters of all-time, the guys in the Hall of Fame, failed 70% of the time. With that in mind, Rivera's success provided solace against all the failure: Batters failed against him 79% of the time (.210 BAA). Watching Mo pitch was like watching a beautiful aberration. His skill, his talent and his performance never diminished. Clocks stopped. Entropy receded.

In the summer of 2009 when the Yankees hosted the All-Star Game in the new Yankee Stadium, another ad ran in the subways. It ran horizontally and was broken into seven or eight square blocks each block depicting a different iconic part of the city. The line? One I'd never heard before, not even between fans, but which rang truer than any I'd ever heard describe Rivera: "The closer in a city of closers." Poetry, just like the way he pitched.

All the broken bats on a pitch everyone knew was coming. Go ahead. Hit it. Mo fooled no one and everyone. He even sent bat makers back to the drawing board. And to those few that did hit Mo's cutter? Congratulations. We tip our cap. You beat our best. You lucky fuck.

Of course, the "No, we had Rivera" reaction is just that. Complete knee jerk. Do I think he'll pitch again? Yes, I do. Will it be in a real game? Hey, it's Mo, so you never know. If nothing else he'll pitch on Old Timers' Day; that great Yankee tradition of local baseball immortality; that annual Thank You from fans to former players and former players to fans each for remembering the other. Some day. He may even jog in from playing centerfield like he always wanted to.

Till then, the poster's right: We have the Yankees.

Corpus Christi Chronicle #1

olks in Corpus Christi don't beat around the bush: And amen to that! Today I started knocking on doors, shaking hands and making my pitch to local school administrators. In return, I got two encouraging signs and two clear hurdles.

First, the good. Both school administrators, a director and a principal, approved of Hooey and the need for tools such as Hooey to address financial education.

Second, the hurdles. Both school administrators also made it clear that while they liked Hooey, it and the participation of students had to pass the legal smell test and the educational requirements of the state of Texas. Fortunately, the director walked me to the legal services office and the principal led me to the Texas Education Agency's Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the backbone of the state's public education system.

The attorney was in a meeting, but I'll follow up with him. As for TEKS, I'm writing up a compliance report for the principal that clearly delineates how Hooey satisfies the state's requirements on a number of fronts with specific examples from the book.

In other news: I met a sister-team that is putting together a quote to illustrate Hooey. New York rapper Maslab looks to cut a track from Hooey.

Tomorrow: Follow-up with the attorney; the search for an illustrator continues at the Metro School of Design; and other games of phone tag continue.