I wont reply to Mister Gill's post. I am too angry. Flip Hallema is a friend. He gave us a great concept, and Mister Gill has deliberately EXPOSED it.

drmagico, above, has the right idea. Thanks "doctor"!

MR SHARPE, understands! Thanks!

Sonny! I'll try to reply to your well written, and excellent post about books, above, when I calm down from Mr Gill's post.

Sonny! I'll try to reply to your well written, and excellent post about books, above, when I calm down from Mr Gill's post.

Really?? There are those of us that respect the art of magic and know when, how , why and with whom to share. You just gave it away not even knowing who would cherish and really be interested.

I"m sure those third graders will respect what you chose to treat as just a show and tell. This type of give-away exposure is exactly what is wrong with the deterioration of the wonder of magic in recent years. If you were out performing like many of us here, you would know why your post was upsetting.

Calm down, I didn't say these are random third graders I met on the street or some kids I just met. These two kids are kids I know and meet on a regular basis. They have frequently been showing me tricks such as floating match, sv*ngali, spongeball stuff etc. over the last year. I wouldn't give anything away to random kids.
I gave them something to practise with until next time I see them. I really don't like that people on the Café jumps to conclusions, and starts flaming me. Please calm down.

I used to occasionally get a kid here and there in the magic shop I worked at who didn't ever have any money but really, really wanted to learn. If I knew they were sincere, I'd make them swear to keep the secret and practice (and show me the next time I saw them before showing anyone else), and would teach them the simple pinch-vanish of a penny. Next time I saw them, if the performance met with my approval, I'd teach them how to ditch the penny after vanishing it.

I always explained that I wasn't giving them something for free; "free" usually turns into "worthless" in most people's minds. I explained that the practice they put into learning the move (which they could usually at least squeak through by the time they left the shop) was part of earning the title of magician, and that I expected them to show me that they'd earned the right to perform it the next time I saw them.

This was a major part of how I learned magic myself; I was shown something, and told to go home and practice it, and not to show anyone until I had come back and proven that I had learned it well enough to perform it. Past a certain point, I wasn't even always shown the method; I'd be shown the effect and told to go and try to figure out at least one way of doing it myself.

In short, I had to earn it all through proving my sincerity and commitment every step of the way.

These days it's so easy for people to get ahold of so many secrets, and all it does is make the majority of them utterly worthless in the eyes of the person learning them. I think that if more people took the "baby steps" approach, and really thoroughly learned one thing before moving on to another, not only would they be more likely to really learn and remember things properly, but they'd place more value on what they'd learned.

If nobody had taken the time to help me learn, and insisted on my earning what I was learning, I'd probably have left magic by the wayside and ended up digging ditches for a living, or something awful like that. I'm forever grateful for the time and effort that was invested in me, and the time and effort that I was expected to invest myself.

Your third-graders sound like the kind of youngsters I used to teach the penny vanish to; I think that as long as they're sincere, and you take the thoughtful and respectful approach to magic that I think you probably do, you're doing more good than harm in teaching them magic. We all had to start somewhere, and I started the same way, as did many of the better performers I've known over the years.

IMHO, you need to learn to communicate a lot better. Contrary to Lewis Carroll ("Alice in Wonderland") words DO have meanings! You said, "some third graders". You didn't say that you were mentoring them, partcularly over a period of time.

Further, IMO, the Flip Stick requires more physical dexterity than most third grade (7 to 8 year olds) kids have. Why don't you teach them "white gloved split fans, or maybe the Tenkai technique? Maybe, the only reason is that you can't do split fans?

Agan,IMO, You have the knowledge (techniques, modi operandi, etc.) but, not necessarily the wisdom to mentor 8 year old kids.

I suggest you read the post following your last. He seems to understand how to work with the very young. Except for his last paragraph, I agree with him.

Hi Mortimer!

Thanks for your very thoughtful post.

How come I never met you when I was spending winters in NOLA? I think we would have enjoyed each other's company!

I like what you wrote. I'm just not too sure that Mr. Gill has the "...thoughtful and respectful approach...". It is possible that I'm inferring incorrectly, but, his first post was just a bit ambiguous.

Call me an optimist, but I like giving people the benefit of the doubt.

And I also feel that even if I'm wrong, being positive and sharing my own perspective with a feeling of optimism behind it as my subtext can help to make a difference.

I'm not implying we should all just pat each other on the back all the time and praise whatever anyone says, but in my experience, even if we're wrong in thinking well of others and their intentions and how they go about things, and even if we misperceive them, we can still inspire by example.

Before I knew enough magic to perform professionally I was what's known as a "spiritual advisor", what some would call a charlatan and others would call a poor man's psychotherapist, but at least I was an ethical one. An important thing I learned while doing this for a living is that most people, given the chance, really want to do good. All anyone wants is a chance to prove their worth.

Even hardbitten types are that way because they're embarrassed to be "too nice" or decent, because it feels like weakness. In giving them the benefit of the doubt, even some of the most wretched people I ever met were able to see that every moment is a chance to turn things around and do it right. I've even made friends out of people whom everyone thought were awful, and changed their lives for the better in doing so.

I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And even if I'm wrong, well, if nobody had given me a chance, and set good examples for me, there's no telling where I'd be now.