moving!

Dear friends,

To keep everything consistant I'm moving over to gombergformayor.blogspot.com. This is pretty complex for a guy who hadn't heard of twitter six months ago! Now I have a twitter account, a blog, and a facebook group... and I know where to find them on the intertubes!

So I hope to see you at the new blog... I'm still moving furniture around there and putting wallpaper up but it should be nice in a few days.

Shalom, Howard

180 Approacheth

If you're driving down the road in the same direction, you're liable to get where you're heading to. Is that where you want to go?

Toronto has drifted off course, and on April 28th I will be launching the campaign for Mayor, to correct this drift, if you get my drift! This launch is a symbolic 180 days from election day, October 25th. We're going to be doign a 180 in our thinking, from where we are to where we want to go. To do this, I will be inviting and challenging all who are interested to open and stretch their minds. For more than 30 years I have been studying how to do that, how to be more creative in our responses to situations, how to manifest our visions. How to bring stuff from thought to reality. The launch is on the April 28th, most likely at OISE (awaiting confirmation.)

I will be demonstrating group creativity process, and how to apply social artistry programs on a municipal level. The goal is to awaken our depth wisdoms and our capacities for creative response.

In other words, we are going to have fun! and we are going to challenge the status quo. Some wise person (also known as Jean Houston) suggested that we will either grow or perish. The choice is ours!

So on the 28th, BYOEM (bring your own expandable mind.) Come join Old Man Improv as we launch the campaign.

The Wholey Campaign begins April 28th

This is a wholey campaign. The purpose of which is to recognize our whole-ness. Everything is interconnected, interrelated, interdependant, interesting. There is no them, there is no there; there's only us, and we're just here. There is no future, there is no past. Now is moving very fast. We must proclaim our unity, fulfil our destiny, and as far as I can see, it's really up to you and me.

From a place of wholeness, we can begin to make decisions based on the implications of wholeness. For example: you have a body. If you were to stick a pin into your finger, it's not just your finger that hurts. You hurt, the wholeness of you hurts. So too is it with every decision we make. It doesn't just hurt a small part of the wholeness; the wholeness suffers by the pain that we inflict, in our environment, in our relationships with each other, and in the decions that we make about governance.

So, in this wholey campaign, let us joyfully recognize that what we do affects everything around us. What we think matters, thoughts are things. They have like wings. They fly from mind to mind. So what we're thinking matters. In fact, it matters most of all. Everything begins with our thoughts. If you want to build a house, or make a business, or prepare a dinner, it all begins with thought. So let's think about the kind of city that's waiting to be birthed. Let us from a place of wholeness midwife the new Toronto.

The Wholey Campaign begins April 28th, so please put that in your datebook or cell phone or whatever you use to keep track of things!

Mini Zoomer Manifesto

Why I decided to run for Mayor at the age of 71.

First of all, I need the work. I'm living on four pensions, and whatever part-time work I get. I understand this gig pays handsomely and I'm willing to share it with two co-mayors.
Second first-of-all, I'm tired of all the whining and complaining, especially my own. I can't continue to point fingers and say "why aren't they better than they are." I have to stand up and do something about it.

Third first-of-all was this photo to the right. I take this personally.

Fourth first-of-all was this headline. If our government can't provide us with clean, safe air, what can they do? That's the least we're entitled to, to breathe!

Why I believe I'm the perfect Zoomer candidate:

I am robustly healthy, vigorous and energetic. Because I've been a performer for almost 50 years, apparently I have the gift of the gab. I've also studied with some of the brightest minds of the 20th century and hope to bring their teachings into the municipal forum. While I still have the passion, I can still rant and rave if I have to, sing and dance as I prefer, and speak from my generation of our needs, concerns and aspirations. Let me carry your banner.

Back from Ottawa

I presented the Improv trophy that bears my name in Ottawa last weekend. This 33rd year, the winning team came from Vancouver Island. Congratulations!

The principles embodied in the improv games have a direct municipal application. The skills that are demonstrated by these young people can last a lifetime. The skills of working together as a team. When to be supportive, when to go solo; when to step forward, when to step back. To learn about committing oneself to the moment, to learn from each other. These skills are applicable whether you are a high-school student, a doctor, a lawyer, or a bank clerk. Everybody benefits if we listen, co-operate, learn and commit.

To all my improv relatives, this is another invitation to you to get involved in the campaign. Improve through improv. Above all, let's have a good time.

Me Too

I'd like to call out to my extended family.

First, I want to call out to the seniors of Toronto. Like you, I am concerned with the slow erosion of that which makes Toronto a great city: from the quality of air that we breathe to the safety on our streets, to the accessing of public spaces. Do you see these as significant problems? Me too.

Second, immigrants. Like you, I left my country during a time of neverending war and came to Canada to seek a better life. I honour your courage, your willingness to sacrifice to make a better life for yourself and your families.

Three, the creatives. I have spent a lifetime working in the creative arts and like you, I have struggled with budgets, acceptance of my work, and the frustrations of a society that values accountants and lawyers over creatives.

Four, spirit folk. Many of you are familiar with my multi-faith work, bringing together people of diverse faiths to sit with each other with respect, honour and dignity. You have dreamed a bigger dream, of the re-spiritualization of Toronto. Me too.

The improv nation. For more than forty years, I have trained people to use improvisation: to explore, and perhaps better, their lives. There are tens of thousands of you living here in Toronto whose experiences in the Improv Games are one of the highlights of their lives. Me too.

To the healers of Toronto, those who believe that we can be more creative and proactive in taking responsibility for our own health. You dream of a healthier, less medicalized city, with less dependance on our medical systems to give us the life we deserve. Me too.

To the why-bother-voting folks. Like you I have stayed away from municipal politics from the same despairing feeling that nothing will happen. Why bother? But now I feel this is an open moment. If I can call out to you in a way that respects and excites you, together we can make the changes necessary to move the city ahead. Most people in Toronto don't vote for the mayoralty election. If you do, we can accomplish great things. Do you want to go for it? Me too.

To the advertisers and marketers of Toronto, like you I have spent decades promoting products and services. Now it is time to use the best and brightest ideas in marketing our city to the world. I know you love this town. Me too.

To the despairing ones and the hurt and the sensitive. Like you, I have known the sadnesses of betrayal and broken dreams, the fears of the future, the pains of the present. But I believe that we, together, can uplift one another and see within each other the possibilities to re-create our lives. While we are still alive, let's bring back hope. Are you up for it? Me too.

To my brothers and sisters in the Unions. I have been a proud union member all of my adult life and I'm currently a member of six craft unions (but that's another story.) I feel I can call out to you legitimately and say that we have forgotten our purpose as Union people. We have traded in our vision of a brighter tomorrow for a larger hat with which to beg. This is the 21st century, we need a new mind. We're better than that.

And finally, to the entrepreneurial class. For decades I have been an artistic entrepreneur, creating employment opportunities for myself and others. I call upon you to create a vision that is filled with abundance, that acts like a magnet and attracts to Toronto the best entrepreneurial minds in the world. Let's call out to the world that Toronto is in renaissance mode, come join the excitement. Do you love this town? Me too.

Do you believe that we are just beginning to tap into the potential of what this city offers to the world? Me too.

On April 28th we will have the official launch of my campaign. Please stand by for the when and where. I look forward to seeing you then.

Improve through Improv: the sequel

Old Man Improv here, about to head off to Ottawa, for the 30-somethingth national finals of the Canadian Improv Games. I have the joyous opportunity to give away my trophy to the winning team.

Improvisation is like the fountain of youth, it keeps the mind agile, you have creative responses to situations around you, it's a playful point of view. The jolt of youthful, positive energy that I get from the Games propells me like a rocket into the next year.

Last year, we had teams from Australia come and play with us, and we did the feet-in-the-air pledge (from 6:30 to 8:00 on the video, roughly.)

What does this have to do with running for Mayor of Toronto?

By now, tens of thousands of you graduates are living here in Toronto, and somewhere in your memory is the joy and the positive experience of being involved with the improv games, whether you were a player, a friend/relative or spectator, you know what an optimistic experience that was.

Now I call upon you, you who have become artists, doctors, lawyers, politicians; now is the time for us to join our energies together in an improv revival to help revive the vision of Toronto. Join me on April 28th, get your improv muscles together as we improve through improv.