I could have written this on Sunday afternoon, but I’ve kept myself busy enough to forget for a couple days.
November 19th was the Creative Arts Showcase hosted by the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota. Much like the onein26.org ad campaign, they asked me to take part and I said, “Okie dokie!” Maybe not in those words, but I agreed to participate nonetheless.
They had displays of paintings, photographs, someone had made a lot of quilts and shoulderbags… all very creative and all created by people with epilepsy. The same went for almost everyone who made some sort of presentation or performance during the showcase (the only exception was a poem written by the significant other of someone with epilepsy).
I first asked if they had a projector so I could show a few minutes of Arsenic and Old Lace. Alas, the venue was too small and they couldn’t have put a screen anywhere. “Curses! Foiled again!” … I guess this was really the first time I was foiled—my backup plan worked fine: I read Pre-Creation Creation for everyone. I made a few adjustments (things like changing the TV show from ER to NCIS and getting rid of the Budweiser frogs) and it worked out pretty well.
Aside from what I did, though, there were people who sang and gave short speeches (I think the youngest singer was 8 and backed up by her father on guitar), the final performer played a few songs on the piano… it was really kinda cool. The point of the showcase was to demonstrate that people with epilepsy are capable of developing and performing different kids of creative arts and that’s exactly what it did. I was glad I could be a part of it and I’m hoping I can do it again next year.
