Things are feeling lighter. My initial wave of stress of getting things together and worrying about missed opportunities is calming down a bit. I am appreciating what is blooming in the seeds I have been able to sew already so far in the brief time I have. Misery seems to result from imposing one’s will onto the world, but this is also the source of fun. Life out here in the jungle, and in this strange community seems to exacerbate emotions; particularly when coupled with limited time.
The serendiptity abounds in this thick environment however. Just as I was walking home, I bumped into Fred, whom I recognized as a firefly person from his T-Shirt. He was driving back and forth in the middle of the night down the road. He looked lost but he was hunting. Hunting for fireflies.
I started talking to him about this firefly performance I was going to put on. I wanted to learn more about the particularities of these click-beetle fireflies we encountered. I mentioned my concern relating to the quote from Konrad Lorenz,
““artists must regard it as their most sacred duty to be properly instructed regarding those particulars in which they deviate from actual facts””
Fred was enthusiastic and mentioned that Lorenz was his advisor! He gave me loads of advice, especially about the typical north american fireflies that he studied. Not many people know exactly how the mating ritual of these creatures works. Fred has only seen a female once in his life. But this is alright for our purposes, we will note in our performance which aspects of the behaviors we are modeling come from which parts of the real world.