On GRIT: It ain't the pretty part.

"Grit is the disposition to pursue VERY long-term goals with passion and perseverance." - Angela Duckworth, from her TEDtalk.

GRIT.

Angela Duckworth's research found that with students, grit was the factor that influenced success the most, no matter what the student's background or tested IQ. What made the most difference in final grades was stick-to-it-iveness; getting up, putting one foot in front of the other, and continuing to work, eyes on the prize, Every. Freaking. Day, even though the goal is way, way beyond the horizon, nowhere in sight. So how is grit important to this here humble blog?

Grit is the professional Artist's secret ingredient. You have to have Grit in this industry. Grit to get up and go to 'work' every day in the face of a job market that on many days makes Absolutely No Sense. Grit to simply be prepared for The Call when it comes; whatever The Call ends up being. 

All this sounds very highfalutin' - here I am, dispensing advice from the Mountaintop. But here's my truth: I had a huge test come my way a couple weeks ago... and failed it. Biffed. Belly-flopped miserably. So grit goes beyond a simple blue collar, "lunch pail" work ethic; because sometimes, the truth is that grit tastes terrible. Sometimes it grinds in your teeth, sticks to your tongue, makes you want to gag. Weeks ago I reacted to losing out on that great job like the Angry Young Man of 20 years ago, instead of the more mature person I thought I was. So grit also means means accepting that I acted like a total doofus when I got the "Sorry, it went the other way" call; seeing, in the hard light of day, that I really EFF'd that one, I made your case for the Douchebag of the Year Award - and now, it's time to retrench and try to learn (or re-learn) something, for Pete's sake.  Grit also means that in the face of your own failures and foolishness, you extract what you can, then throw those events over your shoulder, leave them behind, and keep moving, doggedly. 

I wouldn't call myself a yogi, but I do attempt a weekly class. And one thing I've noticed from my teachers is that yoga is always referred to as practice; you can never truly be 'finished'. I'm finding that the pursuit of the Artistic Life is the same - it has cyclical units, ups and downs, big tests and small - but within all that you are always, always practicing. Especially in live theatre; the nature of film & captured digital is that at some point you have to go to Final Cut and say that this is your 'product', but I don't know a single Actor or Director that believes that their cut was ever actually done... there was always something more to do. They simply ran out of time before deadline, and it was time to post.

Thus, my response in the Theatre to "Great show!" is usually, "It's coming along." I love being able to say that. A little better every day, never finished: Process, process, process.

So we should engage in this Process whenever possible, right? Here's a lesson: If you always need practice then you should always be practicing. And Self-Production is a huge part of that. What I mean by self-production is that we sometimes have the chance to be a part of Art that is set up by others, but what if every day were a chance to produce...something set up by ourselves? If we're Artistic Beings who are never 'done', we should continue the practice of creation no matter what, yes? We should, of course, make these:

But we should also make these - 

...and these: 

And whatever else gets you excited to get up in the morning.

So what do you do, actually? How to get started on this mileage?

First; give yourself permission. Then, take a step: Grit. Rent a studio and sing. Grit. Work on your novel. Grit. Learn carpentry, one tiny part at a time...Grit. This Artistic Life is a marathon, not a sprint. And guess what? The miles don't have to be pretty or flashy; they just have to be there. Every. Freaking. Day.

Also? Grit may be the only way that we can realize that what's truly important is the Joy in the Journey, not the achievement, the gold star. Think about it: It's not the plaque on the wall, it's the story of how it got there. Damn, even the act of telling someone about your achievement is a journey! A story with a beginning, middle and end. (And if you're a storyteller, you should work on that, too.)

Even on the days when the grit gets between your teeth. Even then.

Listen: The starting gun just went off. 

How much GRIT do you have?

Fi-diddle-dee-dee: Back to the Berks for me!

Not since 2011, when I was there to do a play. But this time, a Musical:

Tomorrow I'm heading to the train and then to Western MA, where I'll be hanging with old friends Katie B., Graham, Joe and others (and making new ones) working at the Berkshire Theatre Group playing the terribly silly Dr. Kitchell, And Many Others. And of course at some point (perhaps many points), I'll be heading back to MOE's Tavern, because, well, #CraftBeer and #AmazingWhiskey:

Life is good, y'all: Life is good. This should be damn fun. Stay tuned for rehearsal updates!

On (being off) the grid: LudHaven Solar, and #Powerwall.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula - I grew up there. It's a very special part of the U.S. - remote, sparsely populated, and wild. Oh, and did I mention beautiful? Proof:

LudHaven - on the banks of the St. Mary's River, which connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron.

My parents live here, at LudHaven our place on the St. Mary's River about 26 miles south of Sault Ste. Marie. In the 1990s they found this little point with water on 3 sides that juts out into the river, with an old ramshackle cabin on property, and bought it with the intention of one day building the house they would retire to - and one day myself and my family will as well. We love this piece of land, one of the most special I've ever walked. In a place this remote, some days you half expect to turn around and see French Voyageurs (who helped explore the area in the 1600-1700s) paddling by in a canoe, reading by candlelight and lantern after sunset. 

Well, that historical image with the lantern part may soon be truer than you think:

This article in the Detroit Free Press explains the controversy.

A recent update in the Milwaukee Sentinel brings us more up to date - State government has staved off the increase for the time, being, but for how long? The upshot is that not too many people care about the power grid in the Upper Peninsula. Too few people, too little money. Much of the grid still functions on technology that dates back to the 1950s - 60s, and it's basically being held together with duct tape. And the power plant in Marquette, a main source of power for the local grid, as a coal-fired facility will soon be illegal. And for good reason, as it pours mercury and other heavy metals into the atmosphere/water in one of the prettiest places in the world. 

This huge strip of land has barely 300,000 people living on it. The grid is a mess, the politics are a mess, and and my parents already lose power around once a month. They do have a gas-powered generator that will run the base systems of the house, but in one instance, after a big windstorm that brought down power all over the Eastern U.P. for 3 days, Dad had to drive for nearly an hour before he found a gas station that had electricity to run the pumps, so he could get gas for the generator. Sound exposed? Yup.

So we're going to do something about it.

Is this an answer? Hope so...if, as promised, "It just works."

PowerWall is Tesla's answer to both renewable storage (a huge problem with renewable energy) and pricing spikes from the utility - these batteries are supposed to be able to store energy from solar during the day for use at night, or even buy electricity from the grid at night when it's cheaper, so as not to purchase it during the day when the rates can me higher - but unlike batteries already on the market, with the addition of a smart inverter, they do all of this seamlessly - according to Elon Musk of Tesla, "It just works."

Elon Musk premiered these batteries at a fancy event a few months ago. They're to be released late in the third quarter of 2015... and based solely on the hype, I WANT SOME. But how will they perform under real world conditions? Remains to be seen. I think they may need a test home with the particular challenges of the Upper Peninsula - don't you?

Specs. Notice the continuous output - a possible problem?

Our hope/plan is a full PV (photovoltaic) system, 20,000 kWh/year, with grid-tie operability and battery backup. Translation: We'll have power no matter what, and if necessary on most days the grid won't matter. My Dad looked into a PV system years ago, but dispensed with the idea when he did the math and realized that "It won't pay back during my lifetime." Well, it'll pay back during mine.

So I'm asking for your help, Folk of the Interwebs; any resources you can toss my way as KB and I figure our plan to make this happen would be most appreciated.

Also, anyone have an in with Elon Musk's PR people? LudHaven would make a damn fine model home to do one of the first installs of PowerWall, don't you think? Let's tell him so. :)