K.I.S.S. don’t forget to smile, and say thanks! :)

My mother’s favorite rule, the kiss rule. She’s a college professor as well as a very inspiring mother. Anytime I had a big paper to write, or an intimidating project, she would remind me “K.I.S.S., just keep it simple Stupid!”

I find it interesting that, like my mother, I am an incredible pack rat, I keep everything, clothes, letters, old bills, knickknacks, books, tapes, concert tickets and programs. I keep wondering how my mother, being the sentimental hoarder that she is, can at the same time be an incredible organizer. Besides the fact that she opens young minds to do incredible things for their community, she worked in the civil rights movement to help with voters rights, helped get resident doctors to a small town in rural northern N.M., and created a self-sustainable organization for wool growers, sheepherders and weavers in the rural north.

We both believe that “one day” we will get our own surroundings cleaned up and organized, yet I realize that’s not possible unless we quit doing what we are doing. Just because our own personal space is cluttered and filled with what others may call “junk” we are still able to be very productive.

I guess this rant about my genetic love of keeping things and cluttering my living space with everything from postcards to scarves is just an attempt to get myself ready for this new baby that will be arriving sooner than later. This baby is my film, yup, my film. Now like a proud parent I of course will be sharing the custody of this child with many, many wonderful people, a family if you will, but in the end it’s my first child. A creation of amazing proportions and responsibility and it scares me right down to my bones. But if you are an artist like me you know that the only way to keep your self sane and interested in this world is to do the very things that scare you.

So in the spirit of K.I.S.S. my first rule of thumb to keep the simplicity oiling the wheels of creation is: POSITIVITY. (I just might coin the term K.I.P.S, but it just doesn’t have the same ring.) My point, my dear familia, is that the more positive you are the simpler things become, especially in the creative process. Cameron and I have had a magical time in this preproduction phase of the movie, and I believe we owe that all to the positivity we have together. Realizing when things are going right and smiling about it can open so many possibilities up in the thought process.

Now before you think that I am on some sort of drugs or just a happy tree-hugging hippie (which I have been accused of and felt it was a compliment) I just enjoy a good smile, and as Mother Teresa said “peace begins with a smile.”

Dealing with the content of this daring film and the daunting responsibility of being the director are very hard on the mind and soul, I have felt helpless and hopeless many times, and we haven’t even started shooting. I have asked myself, “What did you get yourself into?” I am, after all, a middle school teacher who is finishing graduate school and helping to run a theater company. Why on earth would I fill my plate so full? Doesn’t that seem to go against the K.I.S.S. rule of simplicity?

Well, the way I look at it is very easy: do what you love, as much as you can for as long as you can. The K.I.S.S. rule does not mean to go easy on yourself, it just means that when you are faced with a difficult project or decision you must remind yourself constantly of your objective, stick to it and get rid of any negatively imaginative obstacles that get in your way. Smile and know that your doing something to better yourself and essentially the world around you.

I am incredibly excited to be on this project and so happy with how things are going so far. I realize that it is going to be a very challenging process and that is why I am so happy to have the support from all of you for the birth of this film. THANK YOU, THANK YOU,THANK YOU.

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