The Joy Contagion

Laughter is infectious, and I want to pass it on...

It’s been a busy week, as you might guess by the later hour of this newsletter. Busy, but very good. I was thinking, as I came home from delivering a homecooked meal to friends, about how spending time with them laughing makes me feel so much better about life in general. Joy is contagious, if you’re open to it.

(Toast, short for Lightly-toasted Marshmallow, exploring my library of very little order)

I like to make other people feel good - which is why I like to feed people. We all need food, it’s pretty basic on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Food that fills you up doesn’t have to be fancy, which tonight’s dinner was not. Fried cabbage, peppers, onions, and smoked sausage all simmered up in a dutch oven. Food is right down there on the base of Maslow’s pyramid. In the middle - not at the top, but under self-focused needs, which means we need it before we can work on our inmost selves - is Love and Belonging. Friendship, community, family… all that is here in this section of your needs. Every human needs these things. Food is part of the glue that holds gatherings together. Laughter is part of it, too. We wouldn’t hang out if we couldn’t laugh about life and the universe and everything.

Joy shared is joy multiplied. No idea who first said that, but I learned it from David Drake, along with the corollary of ‘pain shared is pain divided’ and both are true and proven time and time again in my life. Laughter multiplies. One of the fun things about doing the Broadcast with the other two Moms of the Apocalypse is that infectious giggle we all share which then transmits through the video to potentially countless others on the internet. I love that. I love watching videos of people playing off one another, bantering and laughing and getting me to laugh at home with them. It makes me feel warm and happy. It’s not as good as being there in person, but it still works.

This is why I’m an entertainer. I’ve been doing this since I joined the Puppet Team in college (the first time around) at 18. The options were Chorale (and I had just recently been told I was tone deaf, so there was no way I was singing in public) and Street Evangelism (which I have issues with that have only been cemented over the years to realize that this kind of attempt at spreading the Gospel is likely counterproductive and overly indulgent without actually doing any good, that’s a whole ‘other rant, though) so Puppet Team it was. We were the misfits, the outcasts, and gosh! Did we ever have fun! It led, in an odd way, to clowning and into the balloon twisting, facepainting, comedy business that I was part of for another 16 years. Which was totally unrelated to the writing, but in a way it wasn’t. It’s been a strange path, and not one I anticipated for my life when I was that 18 year old girl trying to find a way out of being on stage.

Making people laugh is just good fun. I’m always delighted when I manage it. As a result, I try to do it often. Also, it means I’m open to laughing. I’m not just being a jokester (not my style, I like subversive humor), I’m looking for reasons to laugh and play. I’ve found that if I’m secure, I can relax and enjoy myself. If I’m laughing, the people around me start laughing too. My spirit is fed, and so is theirs. I feed people, it’s what I do. I’ve reached the pinnacle of Maslow’s pyramid, that of strength, freedom, and self-actualization, and I’ve done it while making fun of life.

I want that for you, too. Your path is going to look different, I hope. That’s part of the joy, is finding all our unique ways to the same destination. When our paths cross, I will try to feed you, and I hope you’ll be able to laugh with me.

There are some fun things coming up I wanted to share! This coming Friday, April 14, the next open call for a Postcard anthology opens up. If you email for an image prompt, you can write a 50 word story and submit it for a chance to get into Postcards from Fools, which is in honor of FoolzCon that weekend. Also on Friday, the second Postcard Anthology appears in print and in ebook, you’ll be able to find Steam-Powered Postcards at Amazon. It’s going to be another beautiful book! Such fun projects, and you, too, can be part of it…