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Beautiful trouble Carlie Daggett

From the Principles page I was drawn to the selection “Everyone has balls/ovaries of steel” because not only is the phrase eye catching but  I felt that the phrase can have a variety of different usages with a multitude of subjects. The author describes the work of Andy Bichlbaum, a subversive artist behind the Yes Man group and explains how often people say that he and others have “Balls of Steel” regarding their work. The author points out that Bichlbaum was often terrified before conducting his experiments. I really resonated with the following: “What the Yes Men have, which is mistaken for courage, is a need to follow through on crazy ideas (single-mindedness), and an ability to goad each other on to do so (peer pressure). Really, this formula can be reproduced by anyone.” It’s a bit of advice I think I will keep with me for quite some time. 
In a tool found within the tactics page, I was intrigued by a piece written by L.M. Bogad called Electoral Guerrilla theater,which is the practice of a person running for public office as a creative prank or form of protest. This can be done in order to take down a particularly monstrous candidate or simply to stir things up. Given the current political climate of the united states and the person currently sitting in the oval office, I think this type of work leaves a particular string with anyone currently sitting on the right side of history. However that is not to say that it does not have value, in the case of the Drag Queen who ran for office particularly to mock a republican who demonstrated racist ideals, I think that electoral guerilla theatre can showcase the absurdity of a very real evil. Prior to the 2015 election, joke candidates were simply that; a joke. But what would it mean now to run for office without the intent of getting elected, but simply to stir things up?
I chose a selection about theatre of the oppressed from the tactics page. Theatre as an art form often walks a line as either an elite pastime or a grassroot form of active change. One statement that really had an impact on me is included in the following: “Boal points out that when we are simply passive audience members, we transfer our desire to take action onto the characters we identify with, and then find that desire satiated as the conflict resolves itself on stage, in films or in the news. Catharsis substitutes for action.” I have read some of Agusto Boal’s writings, but I have never analyzed his work involving theatre of the oppressed enough to see it laid out simply. Finding ways to get an audience involved, especially in a traditional theatre environment is tough, but I would like to start exploring 

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