Once I was happy...

posted by Melissa Baumgart
It's not that I'll miss jumping off of a 23 foot high platform, or that I'll miss being bruised by silk, but I definitely feel like I am moving on reluctantly this month.  I was listening to more versions of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" today (and now again) and I felt forlorn.  Abandoned by the circus, by the magic, the quirkiness of it all.  But it's me that's leaving the circus behind, I feel like I am running away from the circus.

I really adored learning more about the circus by watching the documentary, and learning more about the circuses right in my back yard.  There's SANCA, School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts, and the Emerald City Trapeze, both of which offer not only classes, but also performances that the public can come and see.  We heard that on December 10th, SANCA is having a show highlighting their Junior Fly Team.  I definitely want to catch that!  (no pun intended, not even a high one.  OK, that pun was intended.)

With the calliope music in the background, and the Chimpmunks singing sharply in my ear (maybe it was their album where I first heard the trapeze song), I must move on.  On from the child-like awe that the circus brings, taking with me that feeling of knowing that we have it in us all to be extraordinary.

And I also must move away from the computer and all the You Tube videos of circus music, accordion music and watching trapeze performances.  Trust me, there's a lot of good stuff out there.  I'll leave you with this, and while it is certainly not the best video I watched in the past hour (yes, HOUR, I am unemployed, so what), it does bring together the circus and karaoke in a unique way.

"Circus life
Under the big top world
We all need the clowns to make us smile "

Who doesn't love a good Journey song for karaoke?

-Melissa

Your ability to be extraordinary

"Le Cirque" by Georges Seurat

posted by Melissa Baumgart

"We each have the ability to be extraordinary as human beings."

This was one of the last quotes said on the documentary, "Circus."  It was said to sum up what the message of the circus is to the people that come to be entertained by it all.  I would agree.  I feel totally inspired by the circus; the trapeze artists, the jugglers, the tightrope walkers, the clowns.  They dedicate so much time and effort to their craft, and the payoff is incredible.

This is the same feeling that inspired and continues to inspire my commitment to this blog.  We get to try so many new things, so many things that in the past I would have only given lip service to.  I can just hear myself saying to others at a party or sitting around a dinner table, "Oh yeah, I totally want to try the trapeze.  We should take a class one day.  Let's do it."  And then sadly, it would never happen.  Either time or money or both would become my excuse.  

Now here I sit, nervously anticipating, yet again, another attempt at something I am terribly afraid of doing.  But still something that, at one point of time, I thought sounded exciting and fun.  Probably because it was a thought, not likely to manifest in any real tangible future.  Because of the blog, because of my promise to  myself to follow through with every month to the best of my ability, I will be hanging from a high trapeze in little more than three hours.

You never know what new thing might just be the thing that you want to give that kind of dedication to.  For me, it could be yoga.  Sure I leave, but so far, I always come back.  And when I am in that room, I (almost always) give it everything I have.  Or it could be circus arts, after our aerial class Amy and I were very excited about trying it again, maybe practicing and getting better and better.

Maybe you already are extraordinary.  Or maybe you are still searching for a way to surpass limitations you have chosen to put onto yourself in this lifetime.  I say join us.  Find a friend and start your own "Good Luck with That!"  Pick things that you are afraid of, that excite you, that inspire you, that fill you with joy.  The best part is that you'll be trying 6 new things you may have never thought of.  And what's more?  You might just LOVE one of them.  After all, Dina picked yoga!

If you take on the pledge to join us, please let us know.  We love to hear your stories too.

And now, off to worry about the trapeze and how high it is for the next 2 hours and 50 minutes.

For real, wish me luck!

-Melissa

My Family was in the Circus!

 posted by Melissa Baumgart
I got an email from my Mom the other day after she read my post on my aerial class.

It read:  "Melissa, don't forget you have a cousin by marriage that worked the in circus, he was one of the Wallenda Family Tightrope walking human paramid, I beleive Eddy Harrigan was the lead guy."  

The Wallenda Family?  Holy Cow!  I  had just heard about them on the Circus documentary I was watching the night before I received this email.  As it is with all the claims of my family's history of heroics, like on my Dad's side with a Congressional Medal of Honor from the Civil War or pirates in my blood, I was a bit skeptical.  (Those both proved to also true, by the way)

Ed Harrigan (far left) leading the seven-man-pryamid.

I immediately googled "Ed Harrigan Wallenda Family."  The first link I clicked on was an article written by someone else that was related to Ed Harrigan, Mackenzie McAninch.  Turns out he is his great uncle.  He wrote a very thorough article, with information he gleaned form a phone interview with Ed, all about his experience with the Wallendas and the circus.  Sure enough, my Mom was correct, and it was fun to see that most of the comments left on Mackenzie's blog were from family members I know personally.

I learned that Ed Harrigan, my mom's cousin by marriage, joined the circus in Wheeling, WV (just across the river my hometown of Bridgeport, OH) when he was about 14 years old.  He worked the ground crew and after trying the high wire after hours, without permission, he eventually gained some tutelage from Karl Wallenda, the leader of the Wallenda family at the time.

Ed, at the age of 17, went to Oklahoma to train with the Wallenda's.  By the time he was 19, he was working on a three man pyramid across the tightrope high wire.  After only months of training and leading the three man pyramid, Ed began to lead the seven man pyramid!   He even got to perform this act on the Ed Sullivan Show.

In his blog post, Mackenzie quoted Ed as remembering leading that pyramid by saying, "Oh, it’s a lot of weight! You wouldn’t believe that weight on your shoulders! You have to walk really slowly and when you hit the pause point in the middle, we all would spread our feet a little more to get a better stance. That trick probably lasts about seven to ten minutes."

Wow, I can't even imagine!  Thanks, Mackenzie, for your amazing and well written piece on this inspiring member of my family.  And thanks for letting me quote your article and share the photos you found.  I encourage you all to check out his post.  

Off to sign up for that trapeze class.  I promise, I will do it before the month's end.

This also makes me think:  I wonder what I will be remembered for?  I wonder if, when I am old, what will younger generations be inspired by through my life?  It is that kind of question that keeps me inspired to keep trying new things at time.  That keeps my forging forward to make something good of my life for the sake of others.  What do you want to be remembered for?  And if you aren't doing that thing now...what are you waiting for????

-Melissa

Let's join the Circus!

Photo by Amy Baranski

posted by Melissa Baumgart
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be in the circus?  Have you wondred if, since the days of your youth when you went to the Barnum & Bailey Circus, if there even was a true circus out there anymore?  I know, there's Cirque de Soleil, but I am talking more real, nitty-gritty circus folk.

I discovered, through the sweet little video rental place up the street, that such a thing does exist.  We started watching a documentary about the circus, aptly titled, "Circus"!  It is made by PBS and it is quite good.  I highly recommend watching it.

So far we have watched 2 and a half of the six disc season.  You get to see the high profile performers, the ones that don't make the cut and get fired, the behind the scenes families and the ones that go to jail for a alleged bomb threat.  This show has it all, if you are into that reality TV kind of thing.  Or, I have to say, if you are into human nature and sometimes dream of running away to the circus.

I could be wrong, you know, Amy and I are kinda known for our "all or nothing" penchant for living.  But I am thinking we could totally do this.  If we keep up with yoga, go to this booty camp work out thing that we signed up for next week, and do some more aerial this month and beyond....we could be the aerialist,  We could be the circus.

Or it could be just another thing that we get all excited about, make up $70.00 worth of flyers for (can anybody say OCCUPY?), and then decide that it isn't our scene after all.  And that's OK.  Because I think it is perfectly fine to try many new possibilities for your life, and discover that it isn't your thing.  Rather than to not try anything new at all, just for the fear that maybe you might end up looking like you gave up on this new thing that seemed sooooo cool.

Doesn't almost everything that takes tons of practice and dedication seem amazing from the outside?  Pianists, gymnasts, Olympians, actors, aerialists, yoga instructors, accomplished artists of all kinds.  It is all within our reach if we also choose to dedicate ourselves.  Did you know that Julia Child was nearly 50 years old when she published her first French Cooking book?  Or that Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't publish her first book until the age of 65!

The world is still your oyster, no matter what your age, health status, weight, height, state of mind.  Grab it, make it what you want.  Or at least try something new...it just might inspire you to become the next Grandma Moses!  (She was Anna Mary Robertson Moses.  In her 70s she began painting scenes of her rural life in upstate New York, and become one of the most revered American folk artists of the 20th century.)

-Melissa